Costa Rica 2024 - Day 3

Saturday, January 20, 2024

We met Johan on the raised deck at 5:45 to check out the feeders. The feeders are filled with fruit pieces early in the morning, mostly watermelon and papaya. The biggest birds dominate the feeders first thing, so Great Curassow, Montezuma Oropendola, and Crested Guans fly in early and eat much of the fruit. 

Great Curassow - female

Great Curassow - male

Crested Guan

It is wild to see the turkey-sized Curassows fly up from the ground and land on the rather slender feeding perches, but they do so fearlessly. About ten Coati gathered below the feeder to feast on the fruit being dropped by the birds. One Coati climbed the adjacent tree and was trying to figure out how to jump onto the feeder, but finally gave up. We were glad, as the fall would have likely seriously injured or killed it. 

After watching the feeders for about 15 minutes we headed across a suspension footbridge to check out some large garden areas, hoping for Black-crested Coquette. We did see a female perched in some flowers but not a mature male. We had good looks at Pale-billed Woodpecker as well a Golden-olive Woodpecker.  

Black-crested Coquette - female

Pale-billed Woodpecker - female

It was foggy/drizzly much of the time, which made it a little difficult for photography and even seeing birds well. 

Mark & Johan on the trail at Arenal

We did see a few hard-to-find forest birds, like Ocellated , Dull-mantled, Zelodon’s and Spotted Antbirds. The pictures aren't great because of the mist and darkness, but you can see what they look like!

Ocellated Antbird

Spotted Antbird - male

We came in for breakfast at 8:30, and went back out at 9:00, setting out on the “Los Monos” trail. By now we were seeing a little more rain, so had to break out our umbrellas now and then, and worry about keeping binoculars and cameras dry. 

Staying (mostly...) dry

We saw a nice variety of birds as the morning went on, including both a male and female White-ruffed Manakin, a Wedge-billed Woodcreeper and the National Bird of Costa Rica, the rather plain Clay-colored Thrush.  

White-ruffed Manakin - female

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

Clay-colored Thrush

At about 11:00 it started to rain more heavily, so Johan took us to a sheltered spot overlooking a beautiful section of garden. He’d been told that the male Black-crested Coquette had been seen feeding here the past couple of days, so we sat down in some dry chairs and waited. The garden was full of Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, which can be particularly aggressive towards smaller species like the coquettes. But finally a beautiful mature male showed up and fed on verbena blooms that were directly in front of where we were sitting. These are tiny little hummingbirds that move constantly, but I was able to get some great pictures, and we headed back to the lodge. 

Black-crested Coquette - male

We decided to drive to the nearby town of La Fortuna for lunch as it would put us close to our afternoon birding area. We stopped at La Rana Roja (The Red Frog) and had a good lunch. We're not really sure why the restaurant was named "The Red Frog" but it was catchy and the food was good. 

Nachos - Messy but delicious

Next - Sendero Bogarin

Costa Rica 2024 - Day 2 continued

We left Cocora Cloud Forest at 12:30 and headed to our next birding site and lunch spot, San Luis Canopy, arriving at 12:45.

This was a combination restaurant, zip-line, adventure hiking, and bird feeding spot. There were a couple of big buses that had hauled cruise ship passengers inland for their Costa Rican shore activity, and the place was absolutely mobbed with folks. 

We sat down for lunch immediately as the area around the feeders was crazy crowded. We could see the feeders from our lunch table, and did spot some good birds. 

Lunch served on a banana leaf

Coke sin azucar (without sugar)

The cruise folks left pretty quickly so after lunch we headed over to the feeders where we saw some great birds. Collared Trogons, Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, and lots of tanagers including the Emerald and Speckled. Best bird was the rare Blue-and-gold Tanager, a lifer for us. We got great looks and pictures. 

Collared Trogon female

Collared Trogon male

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Bay-headed Tanager

Blue-and-gold Tanager

Speckled Tanager

We left about 2:00 and headed for Arenal Observatory Lodge.

As we neared the lodge we saw a group of birders at a bridge looking at the river below. We quickly spotted the Fasciated Tiger-Heron that they were seeing, as well as a Spotted Sandpiper and Black Phoebe. 

Fasciated Tiger-Heron

We made a couple of stops on the road just below the lodge to call for Keel-billed Motmot, but no luck. 

At the lodge we headed right for the deck overlooking the feeding area. Things were pretty picked over from earlier in the day, but we still saw plenty of birds. 

Mark & Johan on the Arenal Observation Deck

Both male and female Great Curassows were picking up scraps below the feeders, and we got great looks at a female Black-crested Coquette. The male is on our target list for this location, so hopefully he’s around. 

Black-crested Coquette - female

Great Curassow - female

We got checked into our room and had dinner at 6:30. Then caught up on some lists, the journal, etc. and a good nights sleep. 

Next - Birding at Arenal, La Rana Roja (The Red Frog), and Sendero Bogarin. 

Costa Rica 2024 - Day 2

Friday, January 19, 2024 

We met Johan in the hotel gardens at 5:45. It was just light enough to see birds. We picked up a bunch of common species quickly, like Great Kiskadee, Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Brown Jay and Clay-colored Thrush.

Johan had heard a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl earlier, so we set out to locate it. It was responding only sporadically to calls, but then we saw a group of birds mobbing a branch of a tree and sure enough that led us to the owl. These little owls prey on small birds, so when they find one in the daylight they try to harass it out of their area. The owl stayed hidden for a while, but finally perched out in the open. 

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

We headed in for the breakfast buffet at around 7:15, ate, and then left the hotel around 8:00.  We drove thru Heredia where there was a surprising amount of traffic and a back-up do to a minor accident, and then out toward Arenal.

We stopped at Cocora Cloud Forest at 10:00. This is a private property with a small restaurant, gift shop and some lodging. 

They maintain a hummingbird feeder set-up and that was the reason we’d stopped. 

Orchid

We immediately started seeing Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, Crowned Woodnymph, Green Hermits (unusual for them to be coming to feeders), Brown Violetear, and a Costa Rica endemic, the Coppery-headed Emerald. It was a nice set-up for viewing and photography. 

Coppery-headed Emerald

Crowned Woodnymph

Green Hermit

Green-crowned Brilliant

Brown Violetear

As I labelled the pictures, I am reminded of how few tropical hummingbirds actually have the word "hummingbird" in their name!

We also saw a few non-hummingbirds. 

Bananaquit

Blue-black Grosbeak

One of the workers there was interested in butterflies and moths, and showed us a pair of moths that he'd found on a nearby building. They were from the silk moth family, and adults like these live only a few days, only long enough to mate and lay eggs. He was going to take the eggs and raise the caterpillars. 

Automeris postalbida

We moved over to an area where some Heliconia were blooming, and where the staff had seen a White-tipped Sicklebill the previous day. We staked it out for about 30 minutes, getting a quick glimpse of it flying by but not stopping. We did watch a beautiful Coral Snake cross the path. We had a Purple-crowned Fairy feeding on some nearby flowers. These don’t use hummingbird feeders so it was a nice find. 

Coral Snake

Purple-crowned Fairy feeding on Heliconia

Next: San Luis Canopy

Costa Rica 2024

Thursday, January 18, 2024 

We had a 5:30 a.m. flight this morning, so were at the San Antonio airport by 4:00 and at the gate by 4:15.  Early morning check-ins go fast! The flight was on time, and we spent most of our 3 hour Miami layover in the American Airlines Lounge which was nice. 

We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica at about 2:00, spent 30 minutes in line at immigration, grabbed our luggage and headed outside. We wondered if we could spot our friend Johan in the crowd of folks waiting on passengers before he spotted us in the line of people exiting the building. But Johan is a very good spotter and found us first! 

We drove to the nearby Hotel Bougainvillea and checked in. We've stayed at this hotel many times and our room overlooking the extensive gardens was familiar.

We headed out to the gardens to see what we could find. The hotel has ten acres of gardens that are full of beautiful tropical plants. 

Our first birds were a pair of Lineated Woodpeckers, followed by a group of screeching Crimson-fronted Parakeets flying over. There were plenty of plump Red-billed Pigeons "woooing" as well. 

Lineated Woodpecker - male

Crimson-fronted Parakeets

Red-billed Pigeon

Our target bird for this location was the endemic (found only in Costa Rica) Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow. We'd stayed at this hotel six times since 2008 and had failed to find this bird every single time. Johan told us that while it could occasionally be found in the hotel gardens, it was better to go to a nearby coffee plantation. So off we went. We walked a narrow gravel road separating two plots of coffee plants, playing the bird's song. 

Coffee Plants

Shortly one popped up on a fencepost, giving us great looks.  We also saw a group of Brown Jays, along with a few Hoffman’s Woodpeckers and a Baltimore Oriole. One of the great advantages of an experienced local guide is their knowledge of where to find specific birds like this. 

Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow

We returned to Hotel Bougainvillea and birded the grounds till about 5:40.  Johan found a pair of Mottled Owls well hidden in the giant stand of bamboo. This is another advantage of birding with a good guide. They are so adept at spotting birds embedded in shadowy, thick vegetation. We also saw a Lesson’s Motmot and a pair of Rufous-naped Wrens. 

There are owls in there somewhere...

Mottled Owl

Lesson's Motmot

We enjoyed a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was a traditional Costa Rican meal of grilled chicken, rice, black beans, fried plantain, and a small salad. 

After dinner we went out listening and searching for Tropical Screech-Owl and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. No luck on these. 

We were back to our room at about 8:00, and asleep shortly after a long travel day.

Next - Off to Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge

 

Colombia 2023 - Souvenirs

I forgot to include pictures of our souvenirs from the Colombia Trip. Since we didn't spend much time in touristy kind of places, opportunities for souvenirs were few and far between. 

The nicest keepsakes were two small crocheted/needlepointed dolls that Daniel bought for Teri at Convent of Santa Clara la Real in Tunja. These were in a case near the entry and Teri admired them. Local artists create them to raise funds for the convent. 

At the airport Teri found a simple "Colombia" magnet to commemorate the trip as well. The Keel-billed Toucan (the Fruit Loops bird!) is always a fun bird to see, so it seemed a fitting subject for our Colombia 2023 magnet!