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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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