Walking along the track which winds through the forest to our entrance gate, I came across this black vulture which did not fly off when I approached, and I realised it had an injured wing. I did not think much more of it, but some time later it appeared in the field just above the house, being pursued by our dog Lara.

Lara clearly thought it was great fun, the vulture less so. Strangely, however, it made no attempt to crawl back into the forest but carried on down towards the house.

It hung around for a couple of days, returning every time I tried to chase it away, seeking shelter in odd places such as behind the washing machine. At first I worried about hygiene, but reading up on it I realise that vultures are in fact very clean as they have developed ways of killing bacteria to avoid getting infected themselves from all that carrion.

A more obviously attractive house guest is this Red-breasted Toucan, which came to perch just in front of our bedroom window this afternoon. Whenever this species comes to visit it causes consternation amongst the other birds nesting nearby as it is a notorious egg-stealer and will even carry off fledgelings. I have seen toucans being mobbed by gangs of Great Kiskadees chasing them noisily from tree to tree to protect their nests.

The main nesting season is now over, and there are lots of juvenile birds around - for example this green-headed tanager, one of the most common species to come to our banana feeder, which has not yet developed the bright yellow patch on the back which completes the multi-coloured plumage of the adult. For comparison, see the adult below.

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