Here's a bird pic to brighten anyone's day. My trip to Costa Rica in March 2020 had to be abandoned half way through due to Covid, but fortunately not before we visited Rancho Naturalista, a wonderful lodge where this photo was taken.
The aptly named snowcap was my main 'must-see' bird of the trip, and Rancho was the place to see it. These hummers don't visit nectar feeders and none of them seemed to be visiting the plants round the lodge itself. The owner, a lovely lady called Lisa, knew how badly I wanted to see one so she took me to another part of the premises where there were lots of verbena shrubs, much loved by snowcaps, and left me there for a couple of hours. There were at least two males (like this one - the females are much less striking) but they're not easy to photograph as they constantly flit from flower to flower and then fly off to a remote perch. This one very obligingly flew to a much nearer perch at eye level and allowed me to approach closer and closer until I was just a few feet away. Just as I finished snapping away Lisa came to collect me - had she turned up five minutes earlier I'd have missed my golden opportunity. For once Sod wasn't sitting on my shoulder!