Hoffmann's Woodpecker in San Jose

Today I traveled to the Dominican Republic, but yesterday at a school in San Jose, Costa Rica, I got a better look at a Hoffmann's Woodpecker than I did when I was there last year. It's just now occurring to me that I've seen eight species in this group of very similar woodpeckers, including the endemic Hispaniolan Woodpecker here in the D.R. I hope to see that one again tomorrow on the same school campus where I saw it last year.

Traveling by air can be a kind of torture for a birder. When we stopped briefly in Panama today, I had tantalizing glimpses of several islands just offshore. I can only imagine what treasures must be waiting for a birder on this one that appears to be totally unoccupied by humans.