About bloody time I got a shot of one of these guys, it took me long enough. A red headed Barbet up at Altamira station in Amistad International Park.

This shot was taken during a Dept of Environment bird survey at the Altimira station. There were about eight teams who got a total of 270 species in a eight hour period. Birds are usually identified by their calls.The Costa Rican birders, guides and biologists have a wonderful ability to isolate and identify the quietest calls in the cacophony of sounds that exist in the jungle all day long. The best of all of them in my opinion is Noel Urena, whose team I was on when we nailed 154 species. the previous single day record for a single team for that station was 132 species.

Noel is a professional bird guide in Costa Rica who does occasional surveys for the Dept of Environment as well as running the largest Christmas bird count area in Costa Rica.
An unbelievable experience, especially when the Spider Monkeys started throwing sticks at us.

redheaded barbetamistad international parkaltamira stationtropical feathersNoel Urena

From Mostly Twigs