Costa Rica – December 13-23, 2011 – Trip Report

Another one of my favorite hummingbirds, the female Purple-throated Mountain-gem

And, Common Bush-Tanagers were, well, quite common...

Several Central American Agoutis were always hanging around the feeders and were quite active early and late in the day

Bosque de Paz is one of the best places in Costa Rica to see the Black Guan, they are quite abundant not only at the lodge but also the surrounding areas

This is a Wandering Spider, don't know the exact species but they are quite abundant and large...  This one was wandering across my bed the first evening of our stay...

December 15th

Today we spent time between rain showers hiking around and exploring the area. It rained most of the day, not heavily but enough to keep us in ponchos and constantly drying our out our camera gear. It was actually chilly most of the day. Bosque de Paz sits on the edge of the Juan Castro Blanco National Park at nearly 6,000 feet in elevation so even when it isn’t raining, it’s relatively cool and comfortable but when it is damp, dark and rainy it’s actually quite chilly, the temperatures seemed to hover in the high 50’s to low 60’s most of the day. We also drove up the road a bit to even higher elevations searching for the magnificent Resplendent Quetzal which I have seen in this area on a previous trip but alas, to no avail on this day. Here are the highlights of the day along with some additional commentary:

The Violet Sabrewings (and also the Green-crowned Brilliants) here are quite tame and inquisitive. It was not unusual to have one or more zoom right in front of the camera lens or in my case right up to my glasses.  If you don't move quickly, they will literally get right in your face and check you out.  I have a Violet Sabrewing briefly perch on my camera lens while I was holding it...

White-tipped Dove looking for scraps in the garden

Torrent Tyrannulet is a specialist flycatcher of the tropics, they are closely tied to swift moving streams (hence their name).  This one was quite easily seen around the lodge as it worked up and down the stream all day fly-catching.

This Wood Thrush was a nice surprise as it suddenly appeared right in front of the lodge dining room at breakfast time.  Lynn and I both ran out in the middle of breakfast to take a few pictures...

A female Purple-throated Mountain-gem watching it start to rain...

And the male counterpart.  This is one species where both the male and the female, while quite different, are both quite attractive

Evidence that territorial disputes are not left up to the males of the species!  Here two females get into a bit of a squabble over who owns the leaf perch...

Another beautiful male Purple-throated Mountain-gem

Yellowish Flycatchers are also quite common in this area and are usually very cooperative photographic subjects as well

This is a great view of the hummingbird nectar collecting apparatus (their tongue)...

Another spectacular tropical bird, the Silver Throated Tanager, enjoying a fruity meal near our lodge room

This is the stream that the Torrent Tyrannulet favored...

Many times, if you just sit patiently, good things will come... In a matter of a few minutes, I was able to catch this Mountain Elaenia and then right after it, the bird below...

This is a male Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, another one of my "favorites"!

There are many interesting and beautiful plants just about everywhere you look if you spend the time.

Just about everything has something growing on it, in it or through it...  Here we have lichens, moss and bromeliads

This is another epiphytic Bromeliad

Hairy Woodpecker, much darker than the ones seen in the US but the same species.

Yellowish Flycatcher perched overlooking a stream

Swainson's Thrush

This is another Bosque de Paz specialty, the Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch!

The young males of this species (Green-crowned Brilliant) have rusty colored cheeks which makes them look quite different from their parents and can be quite confusing to someone beginning to bird in the tropics.  It would be easy to assume this is a different species from the adult.

This young male put on quite a show for Lynn who captured a great sequence!

One interesting fact about the Green-crowned Brilliant is that it typically feeds while perched unlike many species of hummingbirds which tend to hover while feeding on nectar, etc.  This young male repeatedly sought nectar from the flowers while on his perch.

Feliz Navidad!  From Costa Rica - would be the title of this shot...  A beautiful male Violet Sabrewing perched on some Christmas decorations...

F

The Black Guan

One of the resident warbler species, the Slate-throated Redstart

And another resident warbler, the Three-striped Warbler

This is why they call it a "cloud forest" it's pretty much like this most days, at least in the late morning and afternoon

The plant growth here is incredible and very difficult to capture appropriately in pictures as you lose the scale and enormity of the place.  The Philodendron leaves in the foreground of this image are easily six feet long for example...

The water was flowing quite well in the streams that surround Bosque de Paz

This is secondary-growth forest, being rehabilitated in the area.

This is the road that leads to Toro Amarillo, it's a great road to walk down early or late in the day as you have easy access to many flocks of tropical birds traversing the area.

This is looking up the slope across from the Bosque de Paz lodge, the tree in the center here is HUGE, it's hard to judge the scale but the lower "shrubs" surrounding the tree are probably 15-20' high to give you an idea of how big this tree really is!

This beautiful Golden-winged Warbler was flittering around a mountain slope above the lodge

These pictures were taken late in the day outside of Toro Amarillo as we stopped to check out a few river crossings, the weather remained quite cool in this area, I am wearing clothes I would much more likely be found wearing in San Diego in the winter than in the tropics.  I don't think it got much above 60F while we were at Bosque de Paz...

Here's Lynn taking a brief respite from her picture taking...

December 16th

Today was our first travel day to another destination. It was also the first day the sun actually peeked out behind the cloud cover and we started the day off with a magnificent morning with crystal blue skies and warmer weather. This lasted until around 8:30 when the clouds started moving back in and the persistent drizzle started up again. We spent the early morning doing some photography around the reserve and then packed up and headed toward our next destination, the La Selva area along the Sarapiqui river. We stopped about a mile from Bosque de Paz to catch a mixed flock of tropical birds that were moving along a high ridge along the side of the road and spent an hour or so photographing a nice mix of species. Lynn also found our first herp of the trip, a nice Anole (see below). We had a couple of more stops along the way driving through completely new areas arriving at our next destination, the Selva Verde hotel at 2:00 PM.   Here are some morning photos from around Bosque de Paz and the trip to Selva Verde:

Looking out from our room balcony toward the primary growth rain forest that surrounds the property

The place was thick with Purple-throated Mountain-gems, much more so than my last visit here, this male was aggressively defending his perching area in the garden below our room.

One of the many hiking paths at Bosque de Paz that leads through a variety of habitats

Orchids were both growing naturally as well as planted throughout the grounds.  Bosque de Paz boasts one of the most extensive Orchid gardens featuring native orchids in Central America

A female Yellow-faced Grassquit in the early morning sun

This is the only place in Costa Rica where I have reliably found the Golden-bellied Flycatcher (as seen above)

Purple-throated Mountain-gem (female)

Green Hermit

This was the first time I have actually seen a Green Hermit perch.  I am sure they do it all the time but they are quite active birds and it was a welcome sight after taking hundreds of less-than clear shots of these great little birds...

One of the hummingbirds I regularly photograph in SE Arizona in the summer, the Magnificent Hummingbird

Another Violet Sabrewing

Blue-and-White Swallows came in to roost right in front of our room each night we were there.  A group of about 30 or so would roost under the overhang of the roof on a wooden beam.  During the day the same group was quite active around the lodge.

A female Green-crowned Brilliant

A North American migrant and very commonly seen throughout the trip was the Wilson's Warbler as seen above

A "life" bird for me on this trip, a nice Brown-capped Vireo made a very brief appearance at the right time for me to get a few quick shots before it quickly flew away...

Another Green Hermit shot...

Male Purple-throated Mountain-gem

And another shot of the beautiful Violet Sabrewing

Yellow-thighed Finch were around here but a bit skittish and usually just glimpsed flittering around in the undergrowth...

Violet Sabrewing

Yellowish Flycatcher

When we left the lodge on our way to our next destination, we stopped for a very active and large flock of tropical birds that were moving through the area about a mile down the road.  This is another North American migrant, the Blackburnian Warbler, in a bit drab color phase but an interesting warbler anyway...

Variegated Squirrels were seen at just about every stop we made on this trip.  Lynn grabbed a great series of action shots as the squirrel foraged around in the lower and mid-levels of the canopy

Same squirrel, reaching out to grab a quick snack...

The bromeliads grow everywhere!

Lynn found this Swift Anole (Norops tropidolepis) along the side of the road while we were chasing a mixed flock of birds around...

Another winter visitor from the states, a Black-headed Green Warbler made an appearance.  As I have written in other reports, it's actually easier to see North American wood warblers in Central America during their winter migration then it is to hunt them down in the US as they are concentrated in the same areas.   So while this bird would be a nice rarity to find in San Diego for example, it's quite easy to find in Costa Rica during the winter migration.

This little guy was flittering around in the bromeliads and was quite difficult to photograph, in particular since he kept quite a distance from me.  This bird is called an Ochraceous Wren...

Another one of my favorite neo-tropical birds is the Woodcreeper, they are similar to Woodpeckers but they do not tap or "drill" into the wood, they use their large bills to seek out insects under bark and on the trunks of trees.  This is a Spot-crowned Woodcreeper (above).

Yellow-faced Grassquit (male) were common in open areas, large flocks busily foraging for seeds...

This is a female of the same species as above.

The ever-present Clay-colored Thrush (used to be called Clay-colored Robin).

We ran into a several Broad-winged Hawks on our drive from Bosque de Paz to the Selva Verde hotel.

We had a couple of more stops along the way including seeing a large mixed flock of Montezuma Oropendola and Brown Jays (both pictured later in this report).  We drove through a variety of completely new areas (for us) before arriving at our next destination, the Selva Verde hotel at 2:00 PM. The Selva Verde hotel was a bit of a disappointment and I would not recommend it if you are staying in the La Selva area. First, we found the employees less than friendly and certainly less than helpful. The hotel sits right along the edge of the Sarapiqui river and while the hotel website states that there are lots of activities, wildlife, etc. what they don’t say is that all of these activities are off-site and have to be reserved and arrangements made through the front desk. The hotel also states that they have working phones and internet neither of which were working when we were there. Also, if you are a photographer, the way they have the hotel set up is an issue. Many of the pathways around the grounds are completely covered. While this is great for keeping you dry, you can’t see above and the cover really messes with your metering of shots and it also makes you feel a bit claustrophobic in my opinion. Lastly, of all of the places we stayed at (and all served food) this location had the least palatable food (while not bad, it wasn’t great like Bosque de Paz or Rancho Naturalista).  Even the pay phones in the hotel lobby which were supposed to take credit cards did not work...  The phones were a major issue for the first few days as I was having problems with my Verizon Blackberry world-phone and was not able to send or receive calls or emails for the first four days of our trip. This turned out to be due to a mix-up with Verizon who instead of activating my SIM card for use in Costa Rica, actually disabled it. Once this problem was cleared up we were actually able to send and receive calls making the trip a bit less stressful since it was impossible to make calls otherwise. We actually had to have the hotel call the U.S. for us, which they couldn’t seem to figure out how to do either, it took three trips to the reception area to get this done. Also of note was that the parking for the hotel was remote, at least 500 yards or so from the rooms and they offered absolutely no bag service, and for that matter any other service and again, in complete contrast to everywhere else I have ever been in Costa Rica, the people working at this hotel definitely had bad attitudes and seemed in general to be very unhappy. I usually wouldn't even mention this but when you are paying about $400 for two nights in a hotel in Costa Rica, you would at least expect there to be some way pay someone to help lug your bags a quarter mile... 

One more word on logistics if you are planning a trip to Costa Rica and going to drive: Get the GPS option with your rental car! It works FANTASTIC! This was actually one of the highlights for me as I find it a bit stressful to try to navigate in foreign countries with no road signs or lights or highway numbers with less than detailed maps and trying to find very specific locations. We got the Costa Rica GPS navigation system from Hertz ($12 a day but worth every penny) and never had any issue in finding anything! All directions were completely accurate and in English and it really took a lot of stress off of us in terms of finding specific destinations! It even had very accurate warning information regarding dangerous bridges (one-way traffic), yield areas, speed bumps, dangerous curves and even speed traps with traffic cameras in the larger cities of Limon and San Jose. Anyway, that’s it for the complaining and critique, back to the trip…

We spent the afternoon walking around the hotel grounds, trying to make phone calls and reorganizing. Lynn also booked us on a boat trip on the Sarapiqui river the next day so after dinner and after a long day, we hit the sack by 8:00. Here are some additional photos from the afternoon around Selva Verde:

Lynn and I ran into this little guy while we were hauling our luggage to our room at the Selva Verde lodge.  They turned out to be quite common around the area including on the hotel grounds.  We saw at least two dozen of them while there.  (Green-and-Black Poison Dart From - Dendrobates auratus)

This is the Sarapiqui river that runs right behind the Selva Verde lodge.

I ran into this little guy at night walking back from the lobby of the hotel.  It's called a Litter Toad.

While they look quite similar to a frog, for example a Rain Frog, the large parotoid glands (seen above as the big bumps on either side of the back right above the front legs) give it away as a type of toad...

December 17th

I awoke to torrential rain around 6:00 AM, it was pouring but we checked with the front desk and they said that our boat ride was in a covered boat and it went down the river rain or shine and departed promptly at 9 AM.  The rain actually let up for about an hour in the morning and we did a quick walk around the hotel grounds before breakfast.  Getting back to the lodge just as the skies opened up again.  Here are a few shots from the early morning at Selva Verde:

All of the rooms here are above ground on stilts, not sure if this is due to the river flooding at times or because of heat dissipation but given that the river was cresting here and it was pretty close to the top of the banks I would assume that this area floods on occasion.

The grounds were planted with many nice tropical varieties

Another Poison Dart Frog.  We would see them in bunches of three or four at a time as we walked around the hotel grounds.

Here I am standing along the banks of the Sarapiqui River along one of the trails that wends its way around the hotel grounds.

Sarapiqui River

And one more dart frog...  You would think that they would be easy to photograph but they are not.  Not sure if it's the color combo or the reflective qualities of their skin or what but we took dozens if not hundreds of images and barely any of them were decent enough to show...

The Great Kiskadee is never far away, they are ubiquitous in Costa Rica, I cannot recall ever not seeing MANY of them in a day down here.

This Northern Barred-Woodcreeper was near the fruit feeders in front of the hotel lobby

Blue-gray Tanagers are nearly as commonly seen as the Great Kiskadee, another very attractively colored tropical bird

And then it started to pour again...

The grounds at the Sarapiqui Eco-Observatory.  The gentleman that purchased this land told me that it was once an Oil Palm plantation and that after he removed the palms he replanted it to attract birds.  He has a nice set up in front with great backgrounds for taking pictures.  The property behind us here is primary and secondary-growth rain forest and an river island that abuts against a much larger reserve.  I would have loved to check out this area on a day that was not so nasty.  I would guess that we received about 3 if not 4 inches of rain in the morning.

Despite the downpour, several hummingbirds stayed active including this Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

As well as several White-necked Jacobins

White-necked Jacobin, presumably trying to try off its wings...

Another shot of the White-necked Jacobin

A female Passerini's Tanager with a Blue-gray Tanager looking on in the back

A pair of Montezuma Oropendola, seemingly drenched as well were doing the same thing we were, watching it rain mostly...

This is the "back-yard" at the Eco-observatory.  The train was very steep and muddy and with it pouring, Lynn and I decided to forego a trek into the area but it looked very, very interesting.

This was the sign that caught our attention the day before...

Another extremely common species is the Tropical Kingbird, we sometimes get these in our back yard in San Diego in the summer as they are somewhat migratory.  They are also quite common in SE Arizona during the summer months.

Back at the hotel for lunch, the rain had stopped and the animals were back at the fruit feeders picking out scraps left over from earlier in the day.  Variegated Squirrels were commonly seen here as well as other areas we visited

A very nice example of Heliconia, not sure which species but these are very impressive plants!

Another bird you can see in the U.S., a Summer Tanager

Any yet another migrant, the Louisiana Waterthrush

This is one you will NOT see in the US unless you have a box of Fruit Loops in front of you or you are at a zoo...  Chestnut-mandibled or Swainson's Toucan depending on which naming convention you wish to abide by...

As I said earlier, missing the morning boat turned out to not be a bad thing as the rain stopped around 1:00 PM and the sun actually started to poke through the clouds. That being said, we arrived at the boat dock right on time at 2:00 just in time to see our boat once again heading down the river without us… Apparently, they never got the word that they were expecting two more people on the boat and it departed with a couple from North Dakota on board about 5 minutes before we got there. Lucky for us however, this time the owner of the operation was  able to call the boat back to pick us up… Day saved! Here are some highlights from our trip down the Sarapiqui River: The rain started up again just as we were getting back to the docs and the other interesting thing was that the river was starting to crest from the substantial rain that had fallen all day, so much so that the dock that we had been standing on to get on the boat a couple hours earlier was not a good two or three feet under water and the river was raging! The boat captain had to actually beach the boat and we had to get off it at the bow along a low point on the river bank as the landing was completely submerged under raging brown water! We drove back to the bird watching place to spend the last hour or so of light taking some pictures as the rain was merely a drizzle at this point, got back to the hotel for showers and dinner and another early night in bed. Here are some additional photo highlights from the day:

First bird seen was this Mangrove Swallow perched on a stick jutting out of the middle of the river.

The morning rain storm was starting to be felt on the river as well.  You could see the river rising and gaining velocity as we continued our journey up river on the Sarapiqui.  Here you can see that the river is nearly cresting by looking at the plant life along the banks.  There is no space between the bottom of the green and the brown of the river, indicating that this is about as high as it flows on a regular basis...

We spotted a Two-toed Sloth high up in a tree along the banks of the river.  Two-toed sloths are much bigger than their three-toed cousins and also have a slightly more varied diet, adding some fruits and additional vegetation to their diets.

You can see the two claws on the front foot of the sloth, giving it the name "two towed" sloth.  Both the two and three-toed sloth have three claws on their hind feet...

A female Green Kingfisher was along the bank of the river

This is the other species of Toucan found in the area and typically not as gregarious, this is the Keel-billed Toucan

The most commonly encountered animal on the boat trip was the Green Iguana.  I think we saw at least 8 and perhaps as many as 10 of them along the banks.  This male with the orange fringes was extremely large, probably over six feet total length with tail.  A much smaller iguana, perhaps a female is perched below.

Another male, this one probably about 4 feet total length.

Any yet another Iguana

A Great Egret was watching us motor by

And right next to him, this Snowy Egret

Beautiful Oak Trees along the banks of the river, certainly not in any need of a good watering here.

Another large Green Iguana, this one a little closer to the boat...

This is an Anhinga, it is related to the Darters and is cormorant-like in appearance.  Also called a "Snake Bird" some places.  They are different in that their wings do not have the same oily substance that covers the likes of ducks and other water birds so while water is repelled by a ducks feathers, an Anhinga's features can get soaked and waterlogged.  This works to the birds favor when it is fishing for food as it dives under the water and is not as buoyant as a duck for example so it can go deeper.  The problem is that the wings need to be dried out when they get to wet which is what you see here.

A closer look at the Anhinga

These Black Vultures seemed to be mimicking the Anhinga and drying their wings as well... it was a wet day!

We had the pleasure of meeting this nice couple, Roger and Deb from North Dakota, who were our companions on the afternoon boat trip, they were already heading up the Sarapiqui river when it was turned around to pick us up at the dock...

After we finished our boat ride, we decided to revisit the eco-observatory we had visited earlier and finished the day up there.  It was pretty late in the day by the time we got there but we did manage to get a few more pictures, highlighted below...

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Lynn took quite a few pictures of some interesting and beautiful tropical plants, this is another great example of Heliconia

I believe this is some sort of ginger...

Another interesting ginger of some sort...

More....

After dinner at the lodge, Lynn and I took a quick walk around the grounds to see if we could spot any interesting nocturnal animals.  These rainforest millipedes were quite common both here and in other areas we visited.

This is a very interesting spider, I believe it's some sort of Harvestmen spider (daddy long-legs family).  It has a thin, plate like abdomen that extends out quite a ways from the main body, it looks sort of like a dead leaf.  It had extremely long, thin legs and tiny little silver nodules where the legs attached to the body.  If anyone knows what species this is please email me through this web site, would love to know the identity.

This is another Wandering Spider, not sure what the species is but it was rather large, tarantula sized, perhaps 2-2.5" body length and was prowling around a banana tree on the hotel grounds.

December 18th

Another travel day today, we spent the early morning before breakfast at another area of the hotel which is actually across the road from where we were staying.   Lynn was walking along one of the concrete sidewalks and it was covered in some green moss which turned out to be more like green slime which turned out to be the equivalent of ice, I watched her as she totally lost traction and slid toward a large pond of water, her arms flailing to try to keep her balance and finally ending up with one leg in the pond and the rest of her body inclined on the concrete walkway. I had run over to try to do something, not sure what but I lost my traction too and just about ended up on my butt as well. Lynn was quite lucky ending up only with a contusion on her ankle and some bruises and soreness the next couple of days, could have been a lot worse! Other than the near disaster, the area was actually much nicer and wilder than the area across the street at the main grounds and I actually got into a quite exciting little flock of tropical birds including some Trogons, Squirrel Cuckoos, etc. Here are highlights from the morning at Selva Verde:

This is the dining area at the Selva Verde hotel.

This is the pond that Lynn ended up in after her nearly disastrous slide and fall on the slick, moss-covered walkway

The hotel grounds across the street from the main lodge were quite a bit less well maintained, there are studio-type accommodations on this side of the road and it didn't appear that anyone was staying over here.  While the area may not have been as aesthetically pleasing, there was certainly more wildlife on this side of the road.

Gray-capped Flycatcher very early in the morning

I spotted a pair of Trogons and then a second pair, all within a few minutes of one another.  This is a male Slaty-tailed Trogon, the female was perched just a few feet to the right of him.  Unfortunately, he was fairly high up in a tree and the backlighting was horrible.  The morning was quite bright but the cloud cover made it very difficult to photograph anything that wasn't near eye-level.  I have much better pictures of this particular species from other trips but just for documentation purposes I included him here.

Another new bird for me was this Rufous-winged Woodpecker who made a brief appearance in a very nice mixed flock of birds that was working the general area.

Right alongside the woodpecker above was this Black-cheeked Woodpecker

This is a Cinnamon Becard.  As you can see, he stayed a little higher up in the trees so again, there were issues with backlighting due to the bright overcast morning.  These birds (Becards) are very similar to flycatchers both in appearance as well as behavior.

One of the highlights of the morning was this little guy.  He's not real spectacular to look at but is an interesting species, he is one of the few hummingbird species to have pink feet which is basically how you identify him.  This is a Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer.

Passerini's Tanagers were quite common in the area and always draw your attention with their shocking red rumps

A little flock of Red-lored Parrots also came in for a visit and Lynn was able to capture several good shots of these raucous birds!

Red-lored Parrot

We made our way back to the lodge for breakfast before packing up to head to Rancho Naturalista and during breakfast they restocked the fruit feeder on the hotel grounds.  This in turn brought in a nice variety of birds that ate alongside us...

Collared Aracari - There was quite a debate going on about how to pronounce this birds name.  Most people pronounce it ARE-A-CAR-EE, but the correct pronunciation, according to the experts and my research is actually ARE-A-SAR-EE 

The ever present Great Kiskadee

The first close-up looks we had gotten of Montezuma Oropendola, a very interesting bird and very common in the area.  I started thinking of them as if they were the equivalent of crows back home...  Just more colorful!

A female Green Honeycreeper

The beautiful Olive-backed Euphonia

At the feeding station here we have a Clay-colored Thrush, with a Blue-gray Tanager and a Great Kiskadee on the sidelines...

Here is an apparent squabble between a Clay-colored Thrush and a Palm Tanager.  Look guys, there are plenty of bananas to go around!

A female Red-throated Ant-Tanager

Another Blue-gray Tanager

The impressive Buff-throated Saltator

Another bird you may see in your backyard in the US, the Baltimore Oriole

Male Baltimore Oriole at the feeders...

A Buff-throated Saltator watching the activity at the feeding station

Another Blue-gray Tanager

This is a female Blue Dacnis, another fruit-eating bird of the tropics

This is a male Red-throated Ant-Tanager

Summer Tanager

A group of Blue-gray Tanagers fussing over the bananas...

Orange-billed Sparrow was another bird first seen by me on this trip here and at Rancho Naturalista

Olive-backed Euphonia eyeing a meal...

Olive-backed Euphonia, grabbing a meal

Olive-backed Euphonia, eating and running...

Male of the same species as above (Olive-backed Euphonia)

This is a Blue Morpho butterfly.  It's interesting for a couple of reasons.  First, the inside of the wings are neon blue, it's quite spectacular in flight and a common sight in Central America.  Second, is the drab bottom of the wings, shown here.  Note the large eye-spot.  This is thought to mimic the eye of a large predator, an owl for example and scare away potential butterfly predators such as a bird who may think twice before taking an easy snack off the twig...

Here's Lynn with her gear, in good spirits and shape despite her fall earlier in the morning.

As I described earlier, a lot of the walkways at the hotel are covered like this one, I guess it's great for when it's raining but it really makes it hard to see what's going on around you and the grounds.  I found it a bit frustrating and stifling myself...

As we were lugging our gear the quarter mile back to our vehicle to leave this Central American Whiptail (Ameiva) crossed our paths...

We departed Selva Verde around 11:00 AM for the Caribbean foothills and Rancho Naturalista, about a 3 hour drive through some very scenic country and a very sparsely populated area of the country along the side of another active volcano. We arrived at Rancho Naturalista very late in the afternoon, around 4:00 and were able to sneak in a few photographs before losing the light completely. Here are the highlights from the late afternoon at Rancho Naturalista:

On our way to Rancho Naturalista we passed by one of several active volcanoes found in the country.  In the distance you can see the Turrialba volcano, it has erupted violently several times in the past couple hundred years...

One of dozens of rivers that transverse the valleys in the area.

On a quick pit stop we captured this butterfly.

In pleasant contracts to our previous accommodations, we found Rancho Naturalista to be top-notch in every possible way!  I would highly recommend this lodge for anyone that is interested in Costa Rican natural history.  It's in a great location with easy access to a variety of habitats, the lodge itself is quite comfortable, and the staff and guides were pleasant, helpful, friendly and knowledgeable.  All the things you would expect from a world-class eco-lodge which it is!  So, that being said, we arrive around 4:00 and Oscar, who I believe was cooking that night, greeted us in the driveway and showed us to our room.  He helped with some of the luggage and we were all settled in and ready for a quick walk-around as the sun was getting low on the western horizon...

White-necked Jacobin were quite common in the gardens and at the hummingbird feeders

As were Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds

The spectacular Violet-crowned Woodnymph was also obvious although not as plentiful as the first two

A male Rufous-tailed Hummingbird in a slightly agitated state!

The feeders were quite busy in the late afternoon, White-necked Jacobin, Green-breasted Mango were busy getting in a few more sips before the sun went down.

White-necked Jacobin

Female Violet-crowned Woodnymph

Male Violet-crowned Woodnymph

December 19th

Turned out that we were the only guests at the hotel for our brief 2 night stay and we had excellent service, excellent food, excellent rooms and excellent wildlife as well as weather on this portion of our journey. As stated above, Rancho Naturalista would come highly recommended by me. Not only in terms of the actual location and staff but also the wildlife and in particular the birding was excellent! There was also a visiting bird guide, Oliver Slessor from the U.K staying there.  We had met Oliver the previous night after our arrival and discussed using his services to guide us.  Lynn and I decided to go it alone the first day and focus on photographing the areas around the hotel and various trails and made arrangements with Oliver to guide us the following morning to explore some different areas around the region but for today, we explored the area on our own.

During the day we basically took a few short hikes around the area, mostly down the road that starts from the hotel and goes down a steep, winding hill back toward the town of Tuis. There was excellent birding all along the road but we started the morning spending some time before breakfast at the feeders, here are some highlights from then: 

A view from Rancho Naturalista as the sun was starting to rise

Gray-headed Chachalaca were ready to go at sun-up!

The ubiquitous Variegated Squirrel hogging a whole banana

Another view from Rancho Naturalista toward the "lowlands"

A young Orange-billed Sparrow - the bill has not turned orange yet indicating a first-year bird.

The hummingbird feeders were quite active, this is a male Green-breasted Mango with the early-morning sun on his back

Another shot of the same species again reflecting the morning sun

A close-up look at the White-necked Jacobin

White-lined Tanager were seen frequently in the gardens

This is a female White-necked Jacobin

The Green-breasted Mangos were spectacular!

Another White-necked Jacobin.

A sort of 3D effect from the hummingbirds (White-necked Jacobin) and looking down to the valley

Female Passerini's Tanager

Another Violet-crowned Woodnymph

Bananaquit

Male Green-throated Mango

Busy at the feeders!

This single, beautiful Crimson-collared Tanager made a very brief visit to the lodge grounds, the only one  have ever seen and/or photographed

As stated earlier, we decided to spend the day hiking around the general area.  After breakfast, we headed down the road we had driven up the previous day.  The first bird I encountered on the walk was a new species for me, the White-collared Manakin

Next, a Squirrel Cuckoo came cruising across the road and perched in a tree almost directly above my head.  I had to back-track to get a photo as I was too close to the bird at first.  He was quite busy catching insects so I only got a few seconds to get a good shot of him...

Lynn had one of the best finds of the morning when she found this Long-tailed Tyrant.  She didn't even know it was anything interesting to me, the long tail equated to her to either the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher or something else with a long tail that she knew I had seen already.  I asked her if she had seen anything interesting and she said something like, "no, just one of those long-tailed birds.."  This of course got me quite interested and when she pointed it out to me I was quite happy to see one for the first time...

Long-tailed Tyrant from another perch, he was quite actively fly-catching as we observed him

I stood in one place for more than an hour as a small mixed flock of tropical birds was working its way up and down a little side canyon off the road.  I caught this Common Tody-Flycatcher ever-so-briefly as it whizzed around catching small insects.  These little guys are extremely active and hard to catch sitting still!

My best find of the morning was this Rufous-tailed Jacamar which I saw out of the corner of my eye as he caught an insect in flight and then returned to his perch which was quite well hidden in the dense growth of the canyon.  If he hadn't of gone after that insect, I would never of seen him in a million years...

White I was photographing the Jacamar, this little hummingbird came slowly up the hill inspecting red flowers, I had seen this species before but never photographed it.  This is a Stripe-throated Hermit...

Stripe-throated Hermit

And another shot of the Rufous-tailed Jacamar

This Yellow-throated Vireo was part of the mixed flock of birds I mentioned earlier

As was this Chestnut-sided Warbler

This Tropical Gnatcatcher was loosely associated with the flock as well although I think we was working more of a home territory as he seemed to stay around longer than the other birds and I think I saw him in the same general area later in the day.  However, mixed flocks also can have regular routines as well and visit the same areas over and over, in any event, he was busy fly-catching as well...

Tropical Gnatcatcher

Long-tailed Tyrant

A butterfly of some sort...  still need to ID a lot of insects!

Palm Tanager at the fruit feeder at Rancho Naturalista

The hummingbird feeders seemed to always be buzzing.  The brilliant male hummingbird above is a Violet-crowned Woodnymph

I ran into a nice flock of Golden-headed Tanagers my second time down the road, there were a couple dozen slowly working a stand of trees off to the side of the road. 

Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds were the common hummingbird you would see away from the feeders, they were present just about everywhere there were a few flowers.

This Spot-crowned Woodcreeper was working a up a tree on my second hike

This little guy is called a Green Thorntail - they were rather uncommon but we did manager to see a few of them.

A very small hummingbird that reminded me of the Coquette hummingbirds I have seen in Panama

This is another Rufous-tailed Hummingbird feeding

Female Yellow-bellied Seedeater

And more Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds...

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

This is the Green Thorntail in flight

A nicely colored Dipper...

This is an Olive-striped Flycatcher, the little white patch behind the eye is the key identifier of this elusive little bird

Back at the lodge we had a visit from another small group of Montezuma Oropendola in the afternoon

The Variegated Squirrels were regular visitors of just about every fruit feeder we saw in Costa Rica

This Passerini's Tanager had a band on its leg, obviously part of someone's research project

Another male Passerini's Tanager

This Buff-throated Saltator was quite willing to allow close approach for a photo shoot

The Slender Anole (Norops limifrons) is probably the most commonly seen Anole in Costa Rica

Another Slender Anole

This little secretive guy almost got stepped on.  He was deep in the forest on a small trail covered with leaf-litter.  I believe this is a Pug-nosed Anole (Norops capito)

We also had a visit from a confiding Black-cheeked Woodpecker looking for a quick, free meal

Lynn snuck this picture of me outside our room looking up some of the days observations in my field guide

At dinner, the guide I mentioned earlier (Oliver) told us that Rancho Naturalista also features a huge concentration of tropical moths and had a cool bug light set up that they were happy to turn on so we could photograph some of the local insect life, so we planned on turning on the light and waiting an hour or so to see what came in. While it wasn’t really productive that evening, possibly due to an early evening storm that rolled through or the fact that they had just replaced the bug lamp and the new one was not as bright,  but we did have some cool insects never-the-less. Oliver also suggested getting up at first light in the morning and hanging out at the bug light area which they would leave on all night as many forest bug-eaters would likely be around the place looking for an easy, early morning meal of the insects still on the bug screen so we agreed to meet at 5:45 AM and walk over to see what would show up.   Following are some photos of a variety of insects that we found that evening:

December 20th

As mentioned previously, the plan today was to get up early, check out the birds around the bug light, grab breakfast and then bird the ponds around C.A.T.I.A. research station (a few miles down the hill from Rancho Naturalista).  As I mentioned earlier as well, we hired Oliver Slessor, the resident guide currently staying at the lodge, to take us around in the morning before we left for our final destination of the tip.  

We met up with Oliver shortly after 6:00 AM and spent about an hour around the bug light, we saw Cocoa Woodcreepers, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Plain Antvireo, White-breasted Wood-Wren, Golden-crowned Warbler, Tawny-Breasted Flycatcher, Bay-breasted Tanager and Tawny-capped Euphonia at the bug light, there was quite a bit of activity as the birds cleaned up on the insects, something I would never of thought of doing, many thanks to Oliver who go me my first life-bird two life-birds of the day with the Tawny-Breasted Flycatcher and the Golden-crowned Warbler...

Highlights from the early morning:

White-breasted Wood-Wren

Cocoa Woodcreeper

Red-throated Ant-Tanager

Plain Antvireo

Tawny-chested Flycatcher

Golden-crowned Warbler

Rancho Naturalista looking at it from the entrance road.

After breakfast we loaded into my rental car and Oliver asked us if we wanted to make a quick stop at the Rancho Naturalista's owners residence to see if we could spot the Snowcap hummingbird which I had searched for but missed the previous day.  I of course agreed and sure enough, this beautiful, tiny male hummingbird was there at its favorite flowers!  We were able to get a bunch of photographs of it as well as some additional species that were hanging out around the feeders.   Here are the highlights from around the area:

Snowcap (Microchera albocoronata)

Snowcap

This Green Thorntail was also feeding in the same group of flowers

Male Green Thorntail perched

And another shot of the Green Thorntail

The tail is very interesting with the two long streamers...

One more shot of the Thorntail...

And more Snowcap photos...

This Chestnut-sided Warbler was easily seen from the balcony overlooking the garden

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Oliver also spotted this nice Tennessee Warbler foraging around

Female Green-breasted Mango

Green-breasted Mango

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Green-crowned Brilliant

White-necked Jacobin

Nice male Green-breasted Mango

Green-breasted Mango at the feeder (note the maroon colored tail feathers)

And a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird in flight

And another Green-breasted Mano

A brilliant male Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

And an oddly colored White-necked Jacobin...  Was trying to figure out if this was a molting bird, a young bird molting to adult plumage or perhaps a hybrid...

And another shot of a beautiful Green-breasted Mango

And one more time back to the Snowcap

After we were satisfied with our shots of the Snowcap we made our way to the C.A.T.I.A. ponds for a nice hike around the area.   This area is a research facility and a learning institution however they open up the grounds and the botanical gardens to the public for a small fee.  The area is actually quite expansive and we walked through some nice habitat.  We didn't see anything too earth-shattering here, mainly species I have seen in other locations but it's a great place to pick up some of the wading/waterbird species if you need them.   Oliver led our walk through the area with scope in tow and we had a nice morning strolling through the area.

This is the main pond

Lots of different water lilies grace the pond...

Water Lilly

And another type

There were quite a few Northern Jacana doing their walking on water act...

This Purple Gallinule added a nice splash of color to the morning's activities

Oliver (left) and me watching a variety of sparrows hawking insects over a large grass field

There were several species of Swallows present including Northern and Southern Rough-winged Swallow

Black Ibis were also easy to spot here.  I have seen Black Ibis previously but never gotten good pictures until today.  In addition to the Ibis, Boat-biller Heron's, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, etc. were easily observed

This is a young Northern Jacana

Social Flycatcher on a perch overlooking the pond

I spotted these two turtles way across the pond.  I believe the one on the left is a slider and the one on the right is a Wood Turtle...

Another beautiful lep

There was a lot of Spanish Moss here

Lynn was sneaking pictures as we walked through a residential area of the facility

Closer view of the Spanish Moss

And another young Northern Jacana

We decided to make another stop by the house before checking out and heading to Cahuita trying to catch the elusive Brown Violet-ear hummingbird that sometimes shows up there as well. And, as luck would have it, today, we had success!   Many thanks again to Rancho Naturalista and the great staff and guides there!  Here are the final highlights from our last morning there:

Another nice Rufous-tailed Hummer on perch

Green-breasted Mango

Another Butterfly, perhaps some sort of Sulphur?

Green-breasted Mango

There are several great captions that could go with this picture...  

And one last shot of a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Brown Violet-ear Hummingbird.  

Lynn had asked me what the bird looked like that we were searching for and I said, well, it's a larger-sized hummingbird and sort of drab brown in color, it will have some violet/purple coloration around the head if you get it in the right light.  I turned around to look at something that Oliver was pointing out when Lynn said, "you mean like that?", I turned around to say something smart like, Yeah, right!  But she was pointing at the Brown Violet-ear that had just decided to visit the feeder she was standing in front of...  Sometimes, things work out right!

After packing up we were checked out and on our way to Puerto Limon, the longest drive of our journey arriving at our destination at the Suizo Loco (The Crazy Swiss) hotel shortly before dark. This hotel is just outside the town of Cahuita and is run by a family of Swiss expatriates, it was another nice hotel with a beautiful pool which Lynn and I soaked in before dinner that evening.

December 21st

First thing in the morning we took a walk around the hotel grounds and down a couple of the roads that went by the hotel, here are a few shots from an early morning walk near Cahuita and the Suizo Loco hotel:

Female Summer Tanager

The Caribbean Sea

This Red-fronted Parakeet was observing us from the very top of a very tall tree...

Variable Seedeaters were common in the area

Ruddy Ground Dove perched on a utility line

Black-striped Sparrow

Boat-billed Flycatcher

As we were walking back to the hotel a massive flock of White-collared Swifts came soaring by, they numbered easily into the hundreds.  Unfortunately the overcast morning and bright conditions made it hard to get a good photo due to the backlighting.  It was quite a site to see them soaring higher and higher in the early morning breeze.

You can clearly see the identifying marks on these birds however their relatively large size (as compared to most other swifts) were also a give-away to their identification

Another nice butterfly from the hotel garden

This young Central American Whiptail (Ameiva) was sunning itself right next to the entry to our hotel room

On our drive south from Puerto Limon the previous day Lynn had spotted a Sloth sanctuary and wanted to check it out so that was our first stop of the day and we ended up spending about five hours there. What a neat place it was. The sanctuary is run by a woman (Judy) originally from Alaska and her grandson also helps to run the place. It started out long ago when she was found out to be someone who would care of wounded or sick animals and over time it mushroomed into a full operation. Today, they care for over 150 Sloths, have a remarkable setup, a tour, and are conducting research on these fascinating animals.  Here's a link to their website:  Sloth Sanctuary  They also have a cool little guided boat tour which takes you around the property to see the variety of wildlife along the brackish water system throughout the area. Here are some highlights:

A life-sized statue of the extinct Giant Ground-Sloth.  I for one have no problem with them not being around any longer... 

The front of the facility

And me walking toward the main building

There is a nice, brackish water lagoon that surrounds their property and part of the tour is a guided canoe ride through the waterway.  We saw some neat stuff in a short period of time.

A young Central American Whiptail was right at the water’s edge

Social Flycatcher getting some shade

Lynn was doing some promotional shots for Canon...

These bats, which I believe are Chestnut Sac-winged Bats, were hanging under a log that was over the waterway.  I think they were a bit surprised when we got right up under them and started taking pictures...

Loads of dragonflies...

I had just asked our guide about Caimans, perhaps five minutes earlier and he had told us that there were Caimans there but that they were very shy and you usually could only see them at night.  Well, we came around a bend in the waterway and this is what we saw...

A nice 4-5' Spectacled Caiman, he was fast asleep and getting some sun.

The place was also loaded with Green Basilisk.  Unfortunately the only ones we were able to get near enough to photograph were the young ones.  The adults are much more spectacular with their large crests but these guys are still cool.  You can see the massive feet they have which lets them run across the water for extended distances giving them the nickname "Jesus Christ Lizard" for their apparent ability to "walk on water".

This young Green Basilisk is just starting to develop his crest

And another Basilisk

Lynn led the way down the waterway...

At the conclusion of the boat tour, we were given a tour of the rest of the facility and a presentation about what they do there to take care of and rehabilitate their guests.  We spent quite a bit of time talking with the owners grandson (below), he was very knowledgeable about the Sloths and for that matter other wildlife in the area as well as the challenges they have had working with the Costa Rican government who seems to only be concerned with protecting already endangered animals...  Lynn happened to mention to him that we were also interested in photographing reptiles and amphibians. He told us that they knew a guide that would take us out at night to look for stuff and so we agreed and made arrangements to meet a guide at 6:30 to take us out to look for snakes. More on that later…

If nothing else, these baby sloths are quite cute...

They hand feed the very young ones that have come in orphaned or injured.  They have done quite a bit of research and had great success in keeping young ones alive.  I was shocked to hear that the average zoo specimen only lives for 2-4 years.  The folks at the sloth rescue attribute this in part to the zoo keepers general lack of knowledge regarding the dietary requirements of a sloth...

Our tour leader put these three sloths into a little bucket so we could watch them close up as he fed them their favorite snack, an apparently really tasty pink flower that they begged for more of!

Note the two claws, these are all Two-toed Sloths...

They really loved these pink flowers, some sort of Hibiscus I think, the really munched them down and begged for more...

They have several adults that were not able to be rehabilitated back into the wild for various reasons and they keep them on display.  We were able to get right next to them for close-up inspection. 

This sloth cared less about us, and was quite happy to continue its nap after we were done...

There was also a fruit feeding station at the sanctuary for the birds and I was able to take a few more shots...   This is a Passerini's Tanager

Female Summer Tanager

Female Passerini's Tanager

Black-cowled Oriole

Black-cowled Oriole

Passerini’s Tanagers (females)

Buff-throated Saltator

Scarlet-rumped Cacique

Great Kiskadee

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Great Kiskadee

After we had our fill of the Sloth sanctuary, we were going to explore the Cahuita National park but it started to rain again, we had spent too much time at the sanctuary and now we needed to find rubber boots which were a requirement for the evening snake hunting activities according to the guide who we were introduced to at the sloth sanctuary.  He told us he wouldn’t take us out unless we had rubber boots, so we decided have a good dinner, look around the town for boots and then get ready for our evening looking for reptiles. It took a lot longer than expected to find boots but we eventually did, they we found a place to eat, went back to the hotel for a brief soak in the pool and got ready for the evening activities… Of course we tool a few more pictures, below:

An interesting plant from the hotel grounds

This Yellow-headed Gecko was in the same spot that the Whiptail had been on in the morning.  Guess if you want to find reptiles, you shouldn't leave your hotel room...

A small group of Red-lored Parrots and a single Aracari came calling at the hotel as evening approached.

These palm trees are quite interesting, they are called XXX

Here's the hotel pool, it was nice to take a dip in after hiking around even though it really never got that hot or uncomfortable at any time during the trip...

Me again, this was actually an entryway to a trail that led out of the hotel grounds and into some secondary-growth forest

And Lynn, as we prepared for our evening adventure...

As luck would have it, it started to get rainy again as the sun went down, we left the hotel at 6:00 and met up with our guide, who buy the way, spoke not a word of English right at 6:30 in front of the Sloth sanctuary.  He was walking down the road, a large machete on his belt, looking a bit ominous. I remember thinking to myself that it was interesting. We were meeting someone we did not know, who didn’t speak English, in a foreign country to take us out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, nobody knew where we were or where we were going and he was carrying a very large and sharp machete… Perfect!

He whistled to someone on the other side of the big gate that enclosed the Sloth sanctuary and all of a sudden the gate opened and he directed us to park our car inside there, that we were walking from here so I did as instructed. Unfortunately, while backing up the car to get into the drive, I didn’t see a large wooden sign that was along the side of the road and backed squarely into it, denting the rear hatch of the SUV and cracking the driver side rear light. There goes the $500 deductible I thought to myself as I parked the car… The guide thought it was pretty funny as he was smiling broadly as I met him at the front gate… We started walking down the road with our camera gear, rubber boots on, flashlights blazing and into the unknown… He took us to an abandoned banana plantation, just a few hundred yards past the Sloth sanctuary. We hadn’t hiked more than a few minutes when it started to rain harder… A few minutes later however we had found our first snake, the first of three Eyelash Vipers that we would find. A beautiful snake, very potent venom and responsible for several deaths a year in Costa Rica and a target of mine for some time! We also saw a number of very large spiders, a couple of frogs and an Anole, it continued to rain harder and finally after about an hour and a half of tromping through very thick and slippery mud in the rain with our camera gear getting soaked, we decided to give up. I was also getting eaten up my bugs, my bug repellent had long ago washed off by a combination of rain and sweat and despite long sleeves and a hat, I knew I was getting eaten up by the mosquitos and other flesh eaters that were out on this damp, warm and humid night. We got back to the car around 9:00 and were back in our hotel by 9:30. Here are the highlights from the evening activities:

This was our guide for the evening, note the large machete on his side...

First of MANY large spiders we saw, this is probably another Wandering Spider, sometimes called Banana Spiders, probably when they are crawling around on banana trees like this one was...

Another spider of some sort, this was a smaller one, half-dollar sized.

The pictures of the first Eyelash Viper didn't come out so well, this was the second one we encountered.  All of them were yellowish in color but one of the things these snakes are known for are the tremendous color variations, they can be green, yellow, reddish, mixed, etc.  The large scales over their eyes are where they get the name "eyelash viper" from.  It is thought that these modified scales help protect their eyes when they are foraging through dense undergrowth.

Like many vipers they are "ambush predators" in that they sit and wait for long periods of time for their prey to come by.  These guys eat frogs, lizards, birds, and small mammals occasionally.  They have a very potent venom and are responsible for several fatalities a year in Costa Rica.  I think one of the reasons for this is that they tend to sit higher up in the brush than many other snakes, often at chest or head level so one could imagine that if you didn't see it (this one for example was right at eye level) you could get bitten on the head or neck or chest which is much more serious than getting bitten on an extremety as the venom typically disperses much quicker due to the proximity of the bite to the heart.    Still a cool looking snake!

This grasshopper had incredibly long antenna! 

This was another interesting find...  This skull was sitting alongside the trail, our guide seemed to think it was a sloth skull, to me it looked more monkey like but it was still sort of creepy...

This was the third Eyelash Viper we found.  Unfortunately by this time, we were in near monsoon conditions, the humidity had risen sharply, the insects were out in large numbers and biting and our cameras were wet and getting steamed up...  This picture is a bit foggy due to the deteriorating condition of my camera...  It was at this point we decided to turn around and head back to the car.  I should also tell you that this was not an easy hike through some sort of orchard.  It was through hills and valleys and up and down steep slopes with lots of fallen trees, I face planted more or less once, and the more it rained, the slicker the mud got.  It was really a great experience...

And yet another spider

The Marine or Cane Toad.  This is the same toad that is causing widespread damage to the ecosystem in Australia.  Here it's totally under control because it is native and predation and a balanced ecosystem keep it in check.  This toad was introduced to Australia to control an eruption in cane beetles that were destroying the sugarcane crops in Australia.  It was thought that the voracious appetite of this toad would help to control the population of cane beetles.  Unfortunately, nobody in Australia checked to see if the "cane toad" actually would even eat cane beetles... Turns out they do not, but do eat other things and multiply at an enormously high rate.  That plus being totally toxic to almost any animal in Australia that may try to eat one and you have a huge, man-made problem on your hands...  But that's another trip report...  Here in Costa Rica, they are NOT a problem.

We also found this little toad which has turned out to be a bit of a mystery...  It fits the description of Bufo luetkenii or Yellow Toad however they are not supposed to be found in this area... 

After additional research on this it appears to be a Climbing Toad -Incilius coniferus...

And, last but not lease, this nice Carpenter’s Anole was resting comfortable on the edge of a banana leaf as we made our way back to our car and then hotel for the night...

December 22nd

This was our last full day in Costa Rica and the original plan was going to be to go to Cahuita National Park at first light and explore until around noon before heading back to San Jose and the Hampton Inn to prepare for our 10:30 AM flight the next day. However, once again, the torrential rains found us, and I do mean torrential, it was pouring at first light so we made the decision to bail on Cahuita and head back toward San Jose hoping to first get out of the rain and secondly to find an interesting place to visit as our last stop. We packed, ate breakfast at the hotel and were on the road by 9:00 AM. I had wanted to visit the La Paz Waterfall Gardens as part of the trip, they have some hummingbird feeders there that are a recommended stop for serious birders visiting Costa Rica however the area was badly damaged during the 2008 earthquake and I was not sure about the area but since now we had some “free time” I decided to plot a course to there as our final destination or at least heading and if we made it we did and if not, perhaps we’d find something along the way. Again, thankful at having my Garmin GPS system for Costa Rica I plugged in the La Paz Waterfall Garden as my destination and I was on my way… It took quite a bit longer to get there than expected, Lynn and I arrived there around 3:00 PM, the roads were in good shape and so was the garden which is really more like a zoo. After paying the rather large entry fee of $75.00, we went directly to the hummingbird feeders picking up a couple of new species. Once again, shortly after arriving, it started to rain but we were able to get in a good one hour of photography. Highlights below. We stopped for a good steak dinner on the way back to San Jose and started packing up for the morning flight back to San Diego.

This species had eluded me elsewhere, the Black-bellied Hummingbird

Green-crowned Brilliant

This little guy is called a Coppery-headed Emerald, another new species for me!

Violet Sabrewings were present here as well

Another Green-crowned Brilliant

And yet another one...

Coppery-headed Emerald

Violet Sabrewing

The seemingly ever-present Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

And another Black-bellied Hummingbird trying to do his best Don King impersonation...

Female Coppery-headed Emerald

And some additional shots of the male Coppery-headed Emerald

Young Purple-throated Mountain-gem

Green Thorntail were present at the hummingbird gardens as well

Another Black-bellied Hummingbird

I captured this little Coppery-headed Emerald at just the right angle as he was flitting around the grounds...

Male Purple-throated Mountain-gem

Same bird, different pose...

And an aggressive display by the same bird...

I think a good alternate name would be the "black-beard"...  This little Black-bellied Hummingbird had a serious flat-top to go along with his black beard...

And a couple more shots of the Coppery-headed Emerald

Coppery-headed Emerald

Coppery-headed Emerald

Unshaven bald-headed tourist

Red-legged Honeycreeper

And, one last shot of a Purple-throated Mountain-gem

We had a nice steak dinner at this place on the side of the Arenal Volcano

After a very long day and drive from Cahuita to San Jose and back to La Paz Waterfall Gardens

And Lynn thinking... I can't wait to get to the hotel and get some rest...

December 23rd

As expected, due to the damage to the rental car, it took nearly two hours to get checked out and to the airport but still made it in plenty of time for our flight back to Dallas and then San Diego, landing in San Diego on time at 6:40 PM and ending a whirlwind tour of Costa Rica. Hope you enjoyed the brief narrative of our trip down there, please check back for more adventures and pictures!

Thanks for looking – Brad

List of species seen on trip:

Birds (178 species seen)

Reptiles and Amphibians (17 species)

Green Iguana

Green Basilisk

House Gecko

Yellow-headed Gecko

Litter Gecko

Slender Anole

Pug-nosed Anole

Carpenter’s Anole

Swift Anole

Central American Ameiva

Black Wood Turtle

Spectacled Caiman

Eyelash Viper

Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog

Litter Toad

Climbing (Evergreen) Toad

Marine (Cane) Toad

Mammals (7 species)

Two-toed Sloth

Three-toed Sloth

Mantled Howler Monkey

White-throated Capuchin Monkey

Central American Agouti

Variegated Squirrel

Chestnut Sac-winged Bat

Report posted:  01-28-2012

Updated:  01-30-2012

Updated:  02-05-2012