As I mentioned in the comment section of a previous posting, the Blue Grey Tanager that was making his nest in the bars of our shower is gone (What, you don’t read the comments religiously?? Shame on you!). He left after our nephew checked the nest to see if there were eggs, and he reported that there were two. We asked him if he’d touched the nest, and he said “No,” which is Spanish for, “Definitely.” So, the Pervert Bird is gone. In its place we have a new nest in our garage, made by Costa Rica’s official National Bird, the Yigüirro. The only thing stranger than the name is the way it’s pronounced. In any case, this one seems to be in for the long haul, and the nest is fortunately out of reach of any kids. Also, Angela is now convinced of the merits of letting the bird keep its nest there. She also threw out the first two nests that the Yigüirro made because it kept shitting on our car, but it seems to have learned its lesson, and has subsequently stopped. Now it gets to keep its house, and we get new national birds.

By the way, the best part of the national bird is its scientific name: Turdus grayi. I absolutely swear this; look it up. I know it’s not the prettiest bird, but still, you’d think a lush tropical country could come up with a flashier national bird than one with an onomatopoeic common name and a scientific one that looks like “gray turd.” Oh well.

In any case, I’ll keep you posted.