Costa Rica July 2021 - Day 5

July 10, 2021

(Teri) We had heavy rain during the night.  The electricity went off for about a minute.  We’re lucky it came back on quickly.  With just a ceiling fan and no air conditioning, the room started getting stuffy fast.

Our morning started early.  Our guide, Nester was ready to bird at 6:00 am. 

We birded from 6:00 to 8:00 then headed in for breakfast. 

 

I got the American breakfast and Mark got French toast. 

About 8:45 we were ready to bird again.  Unfortunately, the rains came.  We had to wait it out on the deck for a while.  Since the birds still have to eat, even in the rain we saw a few birds while standing under the restaurant eaves.  

We walked down to frog pond.  The tiny eyelash viper was there along with a red-eyed tree frog.  

Red-eyed Tree Frog 

We also found some frog eggs. 

We birded until it was time for lunch.  We parted ways with Nester, who turned out to be a very good bird guide. 

Mark and Nester going over the bird list.

Lunch was very good.  I had chicken soup with chocolate ice cream for dessert, Mark had a club sandwich with coconut flan for dessert.

When we got back to our room, the maid had been in.  She made an animal out of the towels.  I really couldn’t make this into any recognizable animal.

 

The back end looked like a pig. 

We were really glad we were able to move to this larger room.

 It’s a room with a view. 

 

And this is the view: 

Arenal Volcano 

7/10/2021 (Mark) – We met our bird guide for the morning, Néstor Villalobos Rojas, at 6:00 a.m.  We birded the restaurant deck for a bit and then headed off down the road and through the gardens around the various rooms. We saw plenty of birds, including Yellow-throated and Keel-billed Toucans and Collared Aracaris. Brown-hooded and Red-lored Parrots, both Oropendulas, a couple of woodpeckers, and some flycatchers.

Collared Aracari

Keel-billed Toucan

Yellow-throated Toucan

In the garden area we watched hummingbirds on the Blue Porterweed, seeing mostly Rufous-tailed but also Blue-vented (formerly Steely-vented), and Violet-headed. Nestor excitedly pointed down the hedge to a Black-crested Coquette female. The male was there but flew before Teri or I could see it, but we watched the female for several minutes. 

By breakfast time (8:00) we’d seen about 45 species of birds. It was raining off and on and we occasionally had to seek shelter, but for the most part we were able to bird and walk. 

Black-crested Coquette female

Once we finished breakfast it really started to rain, so we stood under the restaurant eave and watched the feeder pole for quite a while. I was afraid that we were going to have to scrub the rest of the walk, but it lightened up and we headed off once again. It was a misty, drippy walk on the forest trails, and pretty slow for much of the time. 

We got into a couple of mixed flocks with Golden-crowned Tanagers, Stripe-throated Wrens, etc. Nestor started hearing different antbirds, and we started finding them one by one. Often the views were fleeting, and Teri saw a few that I didn’t and vice-versa, but many were seen well. 

Nestor had a very good ear and was good at figuring out where to look for the various birds. Toward the end we got great looks at a Dull-mantled Antbird on a pedestrian bridge and watched an amazing performance by a Nightingale Wren no more than 10 meters off of the trail. 

Dull-mantled Antbird

Nightingale Wren

The final climb up a long set of stairs back to the restaurant about finished Teri’s knee off, but she made it and we were happy to sit down to lunch.

(Teri) After lunch we sat out on our patio and enjoyed watching it rain.  We saw a few more birds, and a group of Spider Monkeys passed through the trees near our room.

Spider Monkey

Our dinner reservations were at 6 pm.  Mark had sea bass that was very good and a drink called soursop.  It was also very good.  I had Ragu and penne pasta.  I believe there was coconut flan for Mark also!

Next time:  A VERY special day!!

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