July 14, 2021
(Teri) Breakfast was at 7am this morning and consisted of an omelet, fruit, and bread.
We stayed on the photo deck until 9am. The manager of the lodge (Adolfo) lived just a short drive from the lodge and had lots of hummingbird feeders and bananas out for the birds. One of the outings offered was a visit to his garden.
Our ride was a 50+ year old Land Rover owned by the Lodge. In fact, they had two of them!
There was no way I was going to be able to climb into the back of the Land Rover so I was the lucky one that got to sit in the front.
It was quite cramped in the back for three people and a bunch of camera equipment.
From what I could tell, none of the gauges worked and I could see the ground from several holes in the floorboard. But the windshield wipers worked and it got us to our destination even in the pouring rain.
When we got to Adolfo’s place it was raining and when we got settled in it started raining even harder and got quite dark.
Adolfo took us around to another patio that was more open and had a little more light.
Eventually the rain slowed down and the sky lightened up a little bit and Mark was able to get some good pictures.
I always enjoy watching (and hearing) the parrots and parakeets. I took a bunch of pictures with my little camera as more and more Orange-chinned Parakeets showed up to eat bananas.
We don’t get to see a full bunch of bananas very often and I always forget how large a stalk is.
The one other couple at the lodge came with us and they decided to try to hand-feed the parakeets.
Normally the parakeets are not very cooperative with each other
and squabble and bite.
But when they were being hand-fed, they were very quiet and calm.
The bees were a bit of a problem.
The Orange-chinned Parakeets stayed around until we left at
12:15.
Lunch was chicken and rice, pureed black beans, salad and fruit.
Mark signed us up for a boat trip for the afternoon and luckily, it only rained a little bit while we were out.
At 1:30 we headed out on the San Carlos River toward Nicaragua and the last town in Costa Rica (Boca San Carlos). It was a private tour. The driver didn’t speak English and our guide from the lodge was a young man that served our meals. He didn’t have binoculars and didn’t know any of the birds. But he was very nice.
With all the rain, the river was running high which left no
muddy banks for shorebirds.
This is Nicaragua:
It looks a lot like Costa Rica, doesn’t it?
We didn’t cross into Nicaraguan waters. We docked at Boca San Carlos and walked the
one path through the town.
We walked down to a small restaurant and bought a couple of cokes for us and a beer for our guide.
We didn’t get back to the lodge until 5:30. It was nice to be on the river with a cool breeze.
After dinner (fish, veggies, and plantain), Adolfo loaded Mark and me back into the Land Rover and once again headed to Adolfo’s place. This time to look for frogs. Adolfo would make a frog noise and the frogs would start talking back. It was funny listening to the talk.
We were out for an hour and saw several tree frogs.
It had been a long, hot day.
7/14/2021 (Mark) We were up really early (5:30 ish) and out on the photo platform before 6:00. Lots of great birds, but sometimes it was all Oropendulas, or Parrots, or Curassows that ran everything else away.
We were beginning to wonder if this trip was going to pan out at all, but eventually the rain stopped and the sky brightened some, and we ended up getting decent shots at some new birds including Pale-billed and Chestnut-colored Woodpeckers. We finished at about 12:30 and returned for lunch.
We didn’t have a lot planned for Lagarto, so I signed us up for a boat trip on the Rio San Carlos and we left at 1:30. The boat driver spoke no English but did a decent job of spotting some things and getting us on them. A young man (Donato) from the lodge accompanied us to “spot” but since he had no binoculars and didn’t know the birds really wasn’t much of a help! The land adjacent to the river was pretty cleared out for agriculture and the thin line of trees along the river didn’t really hold many birds. The river was high and muddy which probably impacted what we saw as there was no muddy bank.
The main thrust of the trip seemed to be to get up to the Nicaraguan border and visit the last Costa Rican town, Boca San Carlos. We got off the boat and walked the main street. Very simple place with only about 40 people living there. We stopped at a local bar and had Cokes or beer, and then got back in the boat and returned. We were out a long time (till about 5:15) and didn’t see a lot, but it was a decent way to spend the afternoon.
At 7:30 Adolfo loaded us back up in the ancient Land Rover and we headed back to his gardens for frogs. The Red-eyed Tree Frogs have a very distinct call. Adolfo would call to them and several would answer. It was fun to hear. We stalked around the garden and he spotted a couple of Red-eyed Tree Frogs and a Mexican(?) Tree Frog. I got some pretty decent pictures and we headed back to the lodge after about an hour.
We were both soggy and hot and ready for showers
after a long day!
Next time: Back to the beautiful Hotel Bougainvillea
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Another set of great pictures. How can you tell the difference between the male d as bd female woodpeckers? Size?
ReplyDeleteHey Randy - As with many woodpeckers, it comes down to the amount of red on the head. It isn't terribly obvious from the pictures, but the top of the crest on the female is black and that extends almost to the base of her bill. They are pretty much the same size.
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