A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
It could be a comma...or a question mark...don't you have to look at the underwing to be certain?
The light-coloured bird of prey in question is a Red-tailed Hawk. This can be positively identified as one for two reasons. First, the tail is noticeably reddish in colour. Second, the bird has dark patagial bars (the area on the leading edge of the wing, between the 'shoulder' and the 'elbow'). Any hawk you see with dark patagial bars in Canada is a Red-tailed Hawk.
The yellow marking on the top of the head suggests either an American Three-toed Woodpecker, or a Black-backed Woodpecker. One can further differentiate the two by the amount of black on the back of the body. Since this bird has white on its back, it's an American Three-toed Woodpecker.
I'm going to have to disagree. A black squirrel is just a darker form (melanistic) of the Eastern Gray Squirrel.
Very good point. However, after reading your comment, and looking at the possible Motmot species in Costa Rica, this must be it. If you look closely, there is actually a good chance that strong black band across the shoulders is actually a shadow. :)
Although it looks remarkably similar to the Pale-billed Woodpecker, this is indeed a Lineated Woodpecker. The primary different between the two is the extent of coverage of red feathers on the head.
In response to AshishNimkar and Thurd13, contrary to what the Wikipedia article says, this is not a selectively bred animal in captivity. This is simply selective breeding over a long period of time in the wild. The dark form must have provided advantages with respect to camouflage, as it is considered fairly common in some areas of the north.
One of my favourite species!
