JABIRU, ROUTE 922, BEGACES TO PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK,GUANACASTE,COSTA RICA, 6/13/18

    We can ID this stork as a Jabiru by its very large size; very large, black, slightly upturned bill; black head and neck with a featherless red stretchable pouch at the base and white plumage elsewhere.
   The Jabiru is the tallest flying bird found in South America and Central America.  It often stands at nearly the same height as the flightless and much heavier American Rhea.  For the continent, it also has the second largest wingspan, after the Andean Condor (that is excluding the Great Albatross, occasionally found off the coast of southern South America).
   The Jabiru is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 791.

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS, ROUTE 922, BEGACES TO PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK,GUANACASTE,COSTA RICA, 6/13/18

WOOD STORKS, ROUTE 922, BEGACES TO PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK,GUANACASTE, COSTA RICA, 6/13/18

GREAT EGRET, ROUTE 922, BEGACES TO PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK,GUANACASTE, COSTA RICA, 6/13/18

BLACK-NECKED STILT, ROUTE 922, BEGACES TO PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK,GUANACASTE, COSTA RICA, 6/13/18

LIMPKIN, ROUTE 922, BEGACES TO PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK,GUANACASTE,COSTA RICA, 6/13/18

LAUGHING FALCON, ROUTE 922, BEGACES TO PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK,GUANACASTE, COSTA RICA, 6/13/18

   We can ID this raptor as a Laughing Falcon by its pale buff head, broad black face mask, blackish brown wings and pale buff underparts.
   The Laughing Falcon is also called the Snake Hawk (although it is not a hawk) because this Neotropical species is a specialist snake-eater.  It catches mainly snakes and lizards, and, to a lesser extent small rodents, bats and centipedes.  This raptor is called a Laughing Falcon because of its call:ha-ha-ha har-har-har or haww harr herrer. This series may be introduced by faster hahahahahaha calls, suggestive of maniacal laughter, particularly when the bird is startled.
   The Laughing Falcon is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 790.