Merry Christmas to all!

Near, and mostly, far. Mini-B (right) and Akila got into the holiday spirit (albeit begrudingly) and sported their own mistletoe.

The Great Kiskadee

Makes a regular appearance this time of year at breakfast. It has a high-pitched, grating squawk that is pretty hard to miss once you hear it a few times.

This is the

Blue Crowned Mot-Mot. Not as large as the Rufous Mot-Mot, though it has the same type of tail. We see these a bit more often than the Rufous. You can see a bit of the tail off to the right, on the side.

Akila is now

officially a tree house dog. She has a cone after having a small tumor removed from her right, rear leg. The biopsy results won't be known until the middle of January, most likely, but the vets were optimistic.

Now, a 1.5-year-old dog is enough of a handful. Put a satellite dish on her, and it's chaos. Very rough on the shins, when she's tearing around. We have to keep her inside for a while to let the wound heal up, and she's getting antsy, and we're dodging a dervish with extra armor.

No pictures, as she won't hold still long enough.

The Mighty Pirates. . .

Not a Christmas carol, but still a catchy tune for the Whitworth University Pirates, NWC All-Sport champions running:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th95NrSJt9Y

The non-artsy shot. . .

Though the editorial department tried (ham-handedly) to clean it up. This is the Collared Arakari. It is a cousin to the toucan and they travel in bunches, normally. They come down, particularly at this time of year, to load up on the plantains.

This is also

Untouched, but it looks like something that could be artsy-fartsy (again from the editorial department).

We'll post a better picture of this bird coming up, and it is a favorite of all when they come down to feed in the mornings.

OK, more pics. . .

Though while the other pictures, the editorial department fiddled around with the sharpness and brightness, etc., (and it shows) this one is untouched.

The males are the blue Honey Creepers while the green ones are the females. The blue ones really catch the light and are just amazing.

And this is. . .

Fill in the blanks, bird fans: R_d Th_ _ _ _ed A_ _ Ta_ _ _ _ r.

This has to be more fun than Wheel of Fortune.

This bird is eating some of the plantains that we put out daily at breakfast. The plantains are picked clean in about 20 minutes this time of year.

Three different kinds, including the. . .

national bird of Costa Rica. From left, there is the Red-legged Honey Creeper (female); Red-Legged Honey Creeper (male) and the Clay-Colored Robin. Which is the national bird, and what is its Spanish name?

Bonus points for any regular readers that can identify the national bird and its Spanish name.

Your prize?**

**Absolutely nothing. Readers from Wisconsin, Hawaii, Washington, D.C., Washington State, Tokyo are not eligible for the grand prize. That also goes for former residents of Hawaii now residing in or near Oregon and Nevada!

Best marathon in the U.S.

You can see how folks do here:

http://www.honolulumarathon.org/

And for some of the faithful, congratulations and well done!

It's birding time!

This is the best time of year to spot great birds here at the hotel. This is a Rufous Motmot. They have long tails, and there are two feathers at the end that look like tennis rackets. Prime birding season at the hotel starts around the middle of November and goes through February and into early March.

Bejuca III

Here is the gang from just a bit before Bejuca died. There's Mini-Bejuca (Mini-B) to the left and Akila in the background.

Akila is a bit more lost these days as she and Bejuca would play tug-of-war over anything that Akila could get her teeth/paws into. Mini-B, who is about 9 years older than Akila and a whole lot smaller, does not have the patience that the gentle giant Bejuca did.

Bejuca II

For those lucky enough to meet Bejuca, this is a familiar pose. Waiting on her back for someone to scratch her belly and give her some love.

Bejuca

Sadly, there is one less name plate on the doggie tree house here. Bejuca, a fantastic dog, is no longer with us after a bout with bone cancer.

It came on quickly and started in her front leg and unfortunately spread to her lungs and other parts.

Been gone a while. . .

Actually, quite a while. . .

We were all finishing up the annual refurbishing of the tree houses;

Then we high-tailed it to Wisconsin to visit our two most faithful readers;

We returned with major colds;

And we mourned the passing of Bejuca.

We'll post more in the future, honest.