Great Birds, and the Perfect Flan

So many and varied were the birds at Bosque de Paz that it's hard to believe we were there for only half a day. Everyone wanted to stay in the lodge, enjoying the gardens and the cloud forest all around.

Not to mention the flan, best of the trip. I do love a good flan, swimming in caramel sauce. Mmm. Eggily delicious.

The purple-throated mountaingem female, with a male green-crowned brilliant. 

There was a lot of sparring. A green-crowned brilliant strafes a violet saberwing. These are not small, shy, retiring hummingbirds. They're F-16's.

The saberwing retires to a shrub, glowing like a candle, incandescent violet.

We found the orange-bellied trogon hen deep in the forest by following her soft whoop. Can you see her long eyelashes?

The gallery forest along the trail was beautiful and quite birdy, wreaths of mist swinging in and out of the leaves.

I got a smile out of Mario.

Back at the lodge we gathered and did a little more birding before departing. I was drawn to a black phoebe who was perched in front of a satellite dish. In the US, we try to make them blend in, so they're generally a dull gray color. In Costa Rica, they must be a status symbol, because they're fire-engine red, sprouting from every roof. Hey! We have satellite TV!

I loved this shot, this staunch little bird taking in the world from a jungle of wires and steel.

So enthralled was I with the phoebe and his scarlet backdrop that I nearly missed a male scintillant hummingbird. Mario yelled to me to come right now!!

I hustled over and grabbed a shot.

I believe in dragons and winsome little fairies too, and I know where to find them. Bosque de Paz, in the Central Highlands of Costa Rica.