Ace of Spades

Golden-crowned Spadebill
This morning we caught a flycatcher the size of a hummingbird with a shovel attached to its head. It’s called a Golden-crowned Spadebill, it lurks in the dark understory of tropical rainforests, and it’s one of the coolest birds I’ve ever fondled. Like a feathery cotton ball with a big mouth.

Then, just after we closed our mist nets, the sky opened. Tortuguero, where Ed and I are staying right now, gets more than 500cm of rain a year: 200 inches! Two weeks ago they had 24 inches in less than 24 hours; the river overflowed the kitchen table and the overhead powerline got cut by someone driving a boat over it, so communications were out for a while. Hope this rain peters out by morning.

2 replies
  1. Denise
    Denise says:

    lovely little bird! Looking forward to your CR posts! It is Dec 25, so I am wishing you a very merry (and birdy) Christmas.

    From rainy, chilly, Napa, CA
    Denise

  2. Noah Strycker
    Noah Strycker says:

    Hey Denise – Yeah, the Spadebill was awesome! Hope you had a birdy Christmas, too. It’s been deluging now for five days straight, so we had an extremely wet holiday here as well.

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