COSTA RICA - DAY 1 - FEBRUARY 8TH 2014

ARRIVAL DAY AND MEETING UP

NO PHOTOS BECAUSE SOME DIPSTICK TOOK HIS CAMERA WITHOUT A MEMORY CARD

Some of the group arrived last night, including me, so we arranged to meet up mid-morning to transfer to our first hotel. Six others were arriving later in the evening and were to be collected from San Jose airport.

This morning the weather was bright and sunny and a little breezy with a temperature of 15C

 

My first birds seen from the hotel room window were Clay-coloured Thrush (the national bird of Costa Rica), the beautiful Rufous-collared Sparrow, Great-tailed Grackle and Great White Egret which flew over.

 

After breakfast I had a couple of hours to kill so I went for a short walk and found myself in an industrial estate very near to the airport. However despite the environment there were well maintained gardens with flowering shrubs and a babbling brook. It was smashing, I stood and watch a family party of Hoffman's Woodpeckers, both the parents were visiting a nest hole, Blue -grey Tanagers flew over as did a Great White Egret, Turkey & Black Vultures and a few White-winged Doves.

 

At the stream I spent a magical hour watching from the vantage point of a large rock. The melodic song of the Rufous-naped Wren rang out and I soon found a pair of these beautiful beasts in the hedgerow and luckily for me more two other species of wren came and foraged at the stream, I saw Rufous and White Wren and the common House Wren. Two kingfishers perched near me too, alas I never took my scope and camera as both the Ringed and the Green Kingfishers sat very close. A Black Phoebe jumped from rock to rock along the stream catching flies and a Chestnut Sided Warbler worked the bushes on the opposite bank.

 

On the way back I saw my first hummer of the trip the Rufous-rumped variety and a Tropical Kingbird hawked flies from a post. Well that wasn't a bad start I hope the others in the group are doing equally as well at their hotel this morning, if not I'd better keep my mouth sealed!!

Roy my Costa Rican guide turned up on time and we drove to the meet the group members that had already arrived. We sat and chatted for a while before taking our bus to the Hotel vista de valle where we tour begins and where the second half of our group will come to meet this evening after their late flights.

After a brief settling in period we set off for a walk in the grounds of the hotel. The lodge and most of the cabin are built not far from a very deep gorge where fantastic views can be had of the gorge and surrounding countryside. It has extensive gardens and trails we hadn’t got far before finding a pair of lovely Rufous-capped Warblers, such stunning colours on such a small bird. We then moved onto open ground and discovered a couple of flowering Poro trees where a couple of dozen of Baltimore Orioles were feeding, they were joined by 2 Hoffman’s Woodpeckers, Palm tanagers, Blue and Grey Tanagers, Black-cowled Oriole, and a Yellow Warbler. We then found a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, lots of Montezuma’s Oropendolas, Masked Tityra and a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak .

As we approached the ‘creek trail’ we stopped to watch a Yellow-throated Vireo and a Blue-throated Goldentail, this was our third hummer of the walk! We then walked to a small lake which was both pretty and quiet, just a few Kiskadees and Tropical Kingbirds. On the way back we found a huge mixed flock of swifts overhead, they included White-collared, Chestnut Collared and Vaux’s Swifts. Other sightings included: White-winged, White-tipped and Inca Doves, Red-billed Pigeon and a beautiful Blue-crowned Motmot.

We then sat on the veranda which overlooks the gorge and watched as the sun went down, we added a male Rose-breasted  Grosbeak to the list as well as Broad-winged Hawk.

Well that ended our first  day in Costa Rica, a very good start to a promising trip. We ate dinner before myself and Roy drove to the airport to collect the remaining six group members.