La Carolina Lodge Toucan Time (Costa Rica)

Year 13

A blizzard rages at home in Duluth, but thankfully Molly and me got out of Dodge a day before the storm hit. Instead after 13 hours of travel we arrived at La Carolina Lodge in the rain forest near Costa Rica’s Volcano National Park. This is our third visit to this fantastic eco lodge, which raises most of the food eaten by guests, and has super birding. If you want air conditioned luxury La Carolina Lodge is the wrong place for you, but if you want to truly experience Costa Rica Pura Vida, visit! A few years back, I even wrote and photographed a birding guide for the NW region of C.R. While the printed version is out of print, anyone may download for free a PDF version of my book.

Back to the birds … sunrise was about 6 am, and although the golden orb was hiding behind clouds, by 6:15 am I was “birding the bananas”! I have only processed a few of my photographs, but I decided to focus upon the Yellow Throated Toucan. While I really wanted flight shots, I also ended up with “hopping images” which I think are very funny. The toucan looks like it is photoshopped into the hopping photos, but the pics are real. This large bird has strong legs and often hopped rather than flew between perches.

At the end of the post I have just a couple more photos of three other species … one a lifer which I was amazed to capture with the camera given the dark light and the lightning quick subject.

Hopping Yellow-Throated Toucan

Flying Toucan

Stationary Toucan

And the lifer … Long-Billed Hermit Hummingbird

Blue-Gray Tanager

Chestnut-Headed Oropendola

One final note, I brought my OwlSense birdsong listening device south with me. It is listening outside my cabin.

In closing, the Toucan told me it wanted to be in the movie! (video link for blog email subscribers)

Your host (Rich Hoeg) interviewed on NPR about birds!

Year 11,

Well heck, what do you think National Public Radio would talk to me about, frogs?! As past readers know, I have been building small computers, BirdNET-Pi’s, which combine my techie knowledge with my love of birds. I donate both my time and the cost of the computers / birdsong listening devices to Northeastern Minnesota Nature Centers. I then combine that effort with my birding knowledge to help with research.

The NPR show, Here and Now, decided to interview a number of us (not just me) about our efforts to perform bird research, preserve habitat and help with the fight against global warming. The Here and Now episode is titled, “This Fairyland Bog is a Beacon for Winter Birding, and a Sponge for the Climate”. You may listen to the piece, or read the transcript! The correspondent, even focused upon how I became interested in birds as a young child. Quoting Chris Bentley interviewing me: “I’m a retired techie, and I had always been intrigued with birds here in northern Minnesota,” Hoeg said. “When I was a young child, I lived next to a forest, and I was allowed to go traipsing around the forest by myself and just had to be home by suppertime.”

Anyhow … your options:

As an aside, I could myself not listen when the episode first broadcast nationwide last week. Minnesota Public Radio has a program, Minnesota Now, which plays on my local MPR station instead of the NPR feed. Uff dah. So much for telling friends and family to “tune in”.

Canada Lynx Scent Branch!

Year 13

Remember this guy (or gal)? This Canada Lynx lives near my Greenwood Creek Bird Feeders in the Superior National Forest / Sand Lake – 7 Beavers Nature Conservancy Preserve. I took these two photographs last April when the Lynx and I had a stare down on a remote trail.

Well, the big kitty likes my birdfeeders! I suspect it likes the fact that Snowshoe Hare and Grouse like my birdfeeders! The Lynx has been visiting my feeders throughout the winter, but NEVER actually walks through the parking area. Via the use of my trailcams I have now discovered the cat’s scent branch. Recently the Canada Lynx is visiting the branch at least once per day. Yesterday I moved five trailcams. They all now point at the scent branch from various angles. Learn more about “scent branches / scent marking.

Enjoy these five videos. If you would like to see some of the Canada Lynx’s friends which visit the “scent branch” including snowshoe hare, moose, timber wolves and more visit this YouTube Playlist I created which specifically focuses upon the scent branch (all videos taken within 20 yards). Interestingly enough, during the “Blue Jays” video I was actually standing about 125 yards distant from the Lynx. I knew the Jays were upset, but the 2.5+ feet of snow discouraged me from bushwhacking!

Video Links for Blog eMail Subscribers:

Winter 2025 / 2026 Lynx and Friends YouTube Playlist