South Llano River State Park - Texas

One of the fun things about volunteering is looking for new places to volunteer.  We had started thinking about possible winter 2019 opportunities.  We want to stay in Texas but were looking for a new site.  Mark sent inquiries to a couple of state parks that we have enjoyed visiting in the hill country area and got a response back from S. Llano River State Park in Junction.  We have stayed in this park many times but never volunteered there.  We got a response that they had an opening in January of 2021!.  We told them to go ahead an put us down for it.

In the mean time we had a day with nothing planned and decided to visit the park.  Mark called the volunteer coordinator, who is also the Superintendent, Scott, to see if we could meet with him.

We visited with Scott for a couple of hours.  Turns out he has worked at three other state parks we have volunteered at.  He showed us the volunteer sites and the maintenance buildings and then informed us that the volunteers for this coming winter (November-January) were not going to come back and that time slot was open, if we wanted it.

We told him we would let him know and thanked him for taking the time to talk with us.

There are 4 bird blinds in the park so we decided to do a little birding while we were here. 

They are very well maintained and most have beautiful water features.  One of our jobs as volunteers would be to fill bird feeders every morning. Scott was also intrigued that we were birders and mentioned that they would like for us to lead bird walks as well. 

This is a great area to see birds. Some of them are large and colorful.

Woodhouse's Scrub Jay

Spotted Towhee

While others are LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs).

Lincoln's Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

This water feature was popular with a group of Cedar Waxwings and a Robin.

We also saw the strangest looking Gray Catbird we'd ever seen. This poor bird had no tail. Absolutely none!  This wasn't a normal feather replacement, so we guessed that some predator had gotten a hold of it by the tail and had yanked the entire thing off.  The bird was flying awkwardly but seemed to be getting by.

Gray Catbird - No Tail!

Gray Catbird

After seeing some great birds we stopped by the visitor center once again and told Scott, We’ll take it!.  So, we know where we’ll be this coming November!

Hummingbird Pools

There is a stream running in the bottom of a canyon at Rancho Naturalista. Along the stream are  small pools that are popular with hummingbirds in the late afternoon. Rancho has constructed a viewing platform that looks down on the pools from a height of about 40 feet.

Here is a short video of a Snowcap using the pool. The sunlight really brings out the unusual purple color of this tiny hummingbird.  Click on the box in the lower right-hand corner to make these videos large enough to actually see!

And here is an even shorter video of a Crowned Woodnymph using a different pool.

We were thrilled to be able to watch these tiny jewels taking their afternoon baths!

2019 Costa Rica Journal - Day 11 - Hotel Bougainvilla

Our last morning at Rancho Naturalista left us with some time for birding before our driver picked us up for the 3 hour trip to Hotel Bougainvillea.

As always we went up to the balcony to check out the feeders.

The White-necked Jacobin males and females were putting on a good show.

White-necked Jacobin male

White-necked Jacobin female

The big, flashy Violet Sabrewing also posed for a picture. 

Violet Sabrewing

Blue-gray Tanagers are among the most widespread birds in the tropics. We have seen them on every trip that we've taken to Central and South America, so we had to include one in the blog. 

Blue-gray Tanager

Before long we had to say goodbye to Rancho and head off toward San Jose and Hotel Bougainvilla for our final night.

Our last morning in Costa Rica was spent walking around the grounds of the hotel. The hotel maintains a few feeders, and a Grayish Saltator was taking advantage of one.

Grayish Saltator

We've seen a motmot on each of our previous stays at this hotel, and this trip was no exception. 

Lesson's Motmot

Among the many different trees in the gardens, this one stood out. I imagine that these thorns would deter any animal that was thinking about climbing this tree.

Our flight left San Jose at 2:30 p.m. and we arrived back in San Antonio at 9:00 p.m.

Our fourth trip to Costa Rica was just as much fun as the other trips!

2019 Costa Rica Journal - Day 10 - Rancho Naturalista

We walked around for a while before breakfast.  There are very nice gardens around the lodge, with flowering plants and trees. The Blue Porterweed was again busy with hummingbirds, including a Stripe-throated Hermit.

Stripe-throated Hermit

Stripe-throated Hermit

There were some flowering trees behind the lodge that attracted fruit-eating birds. A White-crowned Parrot seemed to enjoy eating the blossoms. 

White-crowned Parrot

In front of the lodge a Keel-billed Toucan kept an eye on things. 

Keel-billed Toucan

After breakfast we went out with Harry again.  This time we headed up on some trails above the lodge, hoping to see some new birds. 

The first bird we came across was a Bicolored Hawk that was dismembering some prey that we couldn't make out. The hawk was concentrating completely on it's meal and paid no attention to us.

Bicolored Hawk

A little further on a group of Carmiol's Tanagers moved through. 

Carmiol's Tanager

A beautiful Golden-winged Warbler fed overhead. This is a bird that breeds in the forests of the USA and Canada, but heads down to Central America for the winter. A true Snowbird!!

Golden-winged Warbler

We came out of the forest and into more open areas. It made seeing some of the small, colorful birds a little easier. 

Green Honeycreeper

White-vented Euphonia male

Olive-backed Euphonia male

We got several looks at Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, which in spite of their name seldom show their bright red upper legs. Though we got glimpses we never got a picture with them showing. Nevertheless it is a very attractive bird.

Scarlet-thighed Dacnis male

Scarlet-thighed Dacnis male

We did see an unusual Dacnis that is either a young male or a female. We couldn't be sure. 

Scarlet-thighed Dacnis

Toward the end of our walk Harry spotted a large wasp nest, and suggested that we steer well clear of it. We had no intention of getting these guys riled up!

After lunch we spent some time on the balcony and relaxing outside our room.

At one point a Crested Guan crashed into a tree overhead and began squawking loudly. Guans are large, turkey-like birds and can make plenty of noise, and this one was doing just that!

Crested Guan

Next - Moving Day

2019 Costa Rica Journal - Day 9 - Rancho Naturalista

We met our guide Harry before breakfast to find some early-morning birds. Rancho Naturalista occasionally runs a bright blacklight at night to attract insects, which in turn attract insect-eating birds. So we headed for the blacklight to see what we could find.

Many of the birds that come in to eat the insects are shy, cryptically colored forest birds like the various Woodcreepers.

 Plain-brown Woodcreeper

 Spotted Woodcreeper

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

We also got outstanding looks at this Buff-throated Foliage-Gleaner.

Buff-throated Foliage-Gleaner

As you can see, not all tropical birds are brightly colored. Many of the forest dwellers are pretty well camouflaged. 

At breakfast Harry asked us if we had any particular "target birds" while we were there. We mentioned that we'd like to see some of the tiniest hummingbirds, including the Snowcap, Green Thorntail, and Black-crested Coquette. After breakfast we headed off with Harry on a private walk in search of those, and other species. 

Harry is from England and has been a guide at Rancho for 8 years.  He was great at identifying bird and their songs.  He was also very knowledgeable about the trees and flowers in the area.

Lush green forest

Great views

We started at a nearby residence where the owner has feeders and allows the Rancho folks to visit. We saw a male Green Hermit at one of the feeders. Hermits are a type of hummingbird known for their long curved bills and elongated tails.

Green Hermit

Lesson's Motmot (formerly Blue-crowned Motmot) is a well-known tropical species. Motmots are known for their distinctive "racket-tipped" tails. 

Lesson's Motmot

Lesson's Motmot

A Squirrel Cuckoo made an appearance. They can resemble a squirrel moving through a tree with their long tail, hence the name. 

Squirrel Cuckoo

From this first residence we birded down the entry road until we came to Racho Bajo, the home of the family that owns Rancho Naturalista. They have some amazing gardens around the home, and this was the place to find the tiny hummingbirds.

First we saw the Green Thorntail. This tiny (3") hummingbird looks like a bee as it flits around the flowers. The males distinctive long tail is unique.

Green Thorntail male

Green Thorntail male

The female lacks the tail extension but is very striking.

Green Thorntail female

Next we found a Snowcap. The name is obvious once you see the bird. The bright white cap contrasts with the dark coppery-colored body and makes photography very challenging.  As with many other hummingbirds, the female looks very different. 

Snowcap male

Snowcap male

Snowcap female

The third tiny hummingbird of our search was the Black-crested Coquette. The male has a long, wiry crest and collar of black feathers, but we never saw one. We did however get good looks at the female, so we were successful in our Tiny Hummingbird Trifecta!

Black-crested Coquette female

BTW - can you tell that Blue Porterweed is the finest hummingbird plant in all of Costa Rica??

Next time:  More Rancho birding.