Angry Birds

At least that's how the first one strikes me. A snowy egret, I think, with a bad attitude. Mean claws, too.

We took a two hour boat ride on the estuary between Tamarindo and Playa Grande with a local guide, Gerardo Santana, who knows his stuff. Almost all of the waterway is undeveloped and wildlife is left to itself but for a few small tourist boats. At one point we went up a small side channel, pulled up to the shore and walked through the forest looking for howler monkeys.

The bird taking off is a great blue heron. My traveling companion and family naturalist tells me that the third is a yellow banded black heron. Not sure about that - the beaks are so different.

Oh, and not a good idea to take a swim here.           

Tropical Water Birds

There is a large estuary between Playa Tamarindo and sparsely developed Playa Grande, the next one north, where a species of sea turtle comes to lay their eggs. We took a boat ride on the inlet. I am no nature photographer but I'll pop the shutter button at anything that passes in front of the lens. Here we have snowy egrets, tri-color herons and a couple of tweeters whose names I don't remember. The guide's English skills and my Spanish were equivalent. He explained about all of them but not all the info stuck. For all I knew the frumious Bandersnatch was around the next bend.  

There was yet more to see.                 

Bite Me

They got crocodiles in the river here!

Actually, not quite a river. There is an estuary between Tamarindo and Playa Grande that goes a couple of miles inland. Playa Grande is a national wildlife preserve. This is the beach where leatherback turtles come to lay their eggs. You can take a boat tour, which we did yesterday. The lower reaches are salt water, a perfect hangout for crocodiles. 

There is lots of other wildlife, particularly birds. I think that's a snowy egret in the second photo. Beneath that, the cute iguana is a much less menacing cousin of the croc. We don't know the birds in the bottom photo. Any insights?