Author: Jim Gain
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ANHINGA – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
The Anhinga is among the most distinctive of North American birds, with long, snakelike neck, straight bill, large fanlike tail resembling that of a turkey
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MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
The Magnificent Frigatebird is a massive seabird of warm tropical oceans and coastlines.
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WOOD STORK – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
Huge, long-legged, black-and-white waterbird, about the size of Great Blue Heron. White body with black flight feathers. Adults have a wrinkly bald head and fairly dark bill; juveniles have paler bill and more messy feathering on head and neck. Bill is thicker and more curved than herons. Forages mainly for…
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SUNBITTERN – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
One of the most dazzling of all the world’s birds; the intricate yellow, red, and black pattern on the spread wings is truly otherworldly. When standing, rather heronlike shape but with a more horizontal posture and longer tail. Also look for striped black-and-white head and barred back. Found singly or…
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ROYAL TERN – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
The Royal Tern is a large tern, found strictly in coastal areas.
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ELEGANT TERN – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
The Elegant Tern is a long-billed tern of the Pacific coast, from the U.S. to Chile.
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SANDWICH TERN – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
The Sandwich Tern is a pale medium-sized tern with a geographically variable bill pattern: black with a distinct yellow tip in most of its range
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BLACK SKIMMER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
The Black Skimmer, one of North America’s most distinctive coastal waterbirds, is noted for its unusual voice, bill, and feeding behavior.
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HEERMANN’S GULL – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
Unique smoky-gray gull with red bill. Breeding adults have a clean white head that blends seamlessly into the gray neck; nonbreeding adults have smudgy dark streaking on the head. Immatures are entirely dark brown with a yellowish or reddish bill with a dark tip. Almost exclusively coastal; usually seen in…
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FRANKLIN’S GULL – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
The Franklin’s Gull is a small, black-hooded gull that nests in small to very large colonies in marshes of interior North America.
Reflections of the Natural World 