Feb 15th – COSTA RICA - DAY 15

Palo Verde national Park

OUR FINAL BIRDING DAY OF THE TOUR

Palo Verde is an extensive seasonal wetland area, it sits on the edge of the Temisque River at the northern end of the Bay of Nicoya. Covering about 12 hectares (32,000 acres) and during the  wet season it is teaming with wildlife.

We arrived at a time when the amount of water was drastically and the concentration of  was at a maximum. The dirt track to the reserve entrance from the main highway is 20km long, we stopped many times along the way to look mainly at, raptors and flycatchers. We added the strange looking Scissor-tailed Flycatcher to our list there were many of these super little birds flitting about in the trees in the open meadows. We also found two beautifully marked Streak-backed Orioles, what a fabulous looking species that one is.

We eventually arrived at the wetlands, it was truly amazing the whole area was covered in thousands of birds. Herons, egrets, ducks, waders and swamphens to name but a few. We had close views of Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Common Gallinule,  Purple Gallinule and thousand of Black-bellied Whistling Duck.  We also saw our first Fulvous Whistling Duck, Limpkin, American Coot and American Wigeon.  Raptors appeared from time to time, a pair of Peregrine falcons swooped down over the ducks a couple of times, a Harriss Hawk perched on a tower and a Roadside Hawk perched along the track.

We drove around to another area of the marsh and just stood amazed at the shear number of birds. Hundreds of herons included Great-Blue, Little-Blue, Bare-throated, Green, Snowy, Cattle, Tricoloured and Black-crowned Night Herons were all present in good numbers. The open marshes held hundreds of Blue-winged Teal and to our great delight there were two adult Jabiru a 100 meters or so from the track. A great result and a much wanted species by the group.

It was now getting very hot so we retreated into the forested area and ate our picnic lunch in the shade of the trees. We spent some time watching other wildlife, Howler Monkey, Whoite-faced Capuchin and Spider Monkeys were all present in the trees above us. On the ground we watched family parties of the Coati, Small Red Squirrels and the occasional Agouti. Many Spiny-tailed Iguanas were crawled around the picnic area.

Back in the forest we followed a couple of trails and found a few new birds: Black-headed Trogon was a superb find and Scrub Euphonia was hard to get on to but we all managed it.

It get extremely hot in the afternoon so all we could do was rest in the shade, the birds did the same. Back at the marsh area on the return journey we spent some time watching the colourful mass of birds out there.

Our journey back to the Main road was taken as the sun was going down, we saw many Tropical Kingbirds sitting on top of the sugar cane, they were joined by Red-winged Blackbirds and small flocks of our last new bird of the trip – the Yellow-bellied Seedeater.

We arrived back at the hotel in the dark, the birding was over as we had to leave the hotel fairly early in the morning. We never reached our 400 target but we got very close, no-one was disappointed, the target was just a bit of fun, we enjoyed the 390 that we did see and have no regrets on missing the odd 10 that we missed.

484. Fulvous Whistling Duck

485. American Wigeon

486. Jabiru

487. Glossy Ibis

488. Harris’s Hawk

489. Common Gallinule

490. Limpkin

491. American Coot

492. Black-headed Trogon

493. Orange-fronted Parakeet

495. Brown-crested Flycatcher

496. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

497. White-lored Gnatcatcher

498. Yellow-bellied Seedeater

499. Streak-backed Oriole

500. Scrub Euphonia

Feb 14th - COSTA RICA DAY 14

CERROS LODGE TO HOTEL PACIFICA NEAR CENAS + BOAT TRIP ON THE TARCOLES RIVER

We started the morning with a 6am walk along the track adjacent to the hotel. A strange crow-like call grabbed our attention and soon we were onto our first White-throated Magpie- Jay, what a lovely bird. Along the track we found a Stripe-headed Sparrow and a Common Ruddy Ground-Dove which were both new for the trip. On the way back we found a flycatcher in one of the larger trees which turned out to be a Gunning’s Flycatcher another new bird for us.

Many parrots, parakeets and macaws were flying over us, it was like the bird house in London Zoo. The majestic Scarlet Macaw loses all of its dignity as soon as it opens its mouth and issues that loud, raucous call.

We took breakfast at 7am and at 8am we loaded up the bus with all the luggage and we checked out of the lodge. A Rufous-naped Wren sang to us as we passed the entrance gates on our way down to Tarcoles.

At 8:30am we transferred to our boat in readiness for the River Tarcoles boat trip, we had commissioned our private boat for this tour. The weather was perfect, a nice breeze, lovely sunshine and a low tide, fantastic. We had a great time, for the first hour we set off up river where we found a few new waders and got really close views of all the herons, including the beautiful Yellow-crowned Night heron and the odd looking Boat-billed Heron.

Many crocodiles were in the water or on the bank and our captain done the usual ‘tourist’ bit when he jump overboard and hand fed a huge croc. 

We also sailed into a mangrove swamp where we found the beautiful Yellow Warbler feeding in the mangrove trees, the male, with its brown head and yellow body looks simply stunning. As did the American Pygmy Kingfisher which also showed down to a couple of meters, it is surprising how close you can get when you are on a boat.

At 11am we disembarked and jump back onto the bus for the long journey to Canas in the north. We arrived at our hotel at 3pm and met up at 4pm for a walk in the hotel grounds. However, we were driven from the grounds by thousands of biting mosquitoes, so we drove to a nature reserve some 40 minutes away.

The National Park at Tenorio (volcano Tenorio) lies on the slope of the mountain and consist of tropical rain forest. We travel a few kilometers along the approach track but did have time to go all way to the reserve entrance. It was slow going, clouds thickened and looked ominous but we enjoyed the last 90 minutes of daylight and found some birds. The Pale-billed Woodpecker is always nice to see, we also found Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (a male), White-vented Euphonia, Vaux’s Swift and several common species.

We drove back to the hotel in the dark and ate a lovely dinner in the superb restaurant at the hotel.

Tomorrow is our last full day and we intend to make the most of it by visiting the fabulous reserve at Palo Verde, watch this space.

P.S.   very loud Howler Monkeys are calling outside my room as I write this, it comes to something when I am up before the ‘howlers’.

ADDITIONS TO THE COSA RICA LIST AND TO MY 2013 YEAR LIST

472. Double-striped Thick-Knee

473. Killdeer

474. Least Sandpiper

475. Common Ground-Dove

476. American Pygmy-Kingfisher

477. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

478. Nutting’s Flycatcher

479. Streaked Flycatcher

480. White-throated Magpie-Jay

481. Red-winged Blackbird

482. Stripe-headed Sparrow

483. White-vented Euphonia

FEB 13TH - COSTA RICA DAY 13

 CARARA NATIONAL PARK

We assembled at the car park at 6am for a stroll before breakfast. A calling owl got our attention before we set off anywhere. The Ferruginous Pygmy Owl was sitting in the tree above us, very nice too. Then we found a pair of Torquoise-browed Motmots, they posed for the cameras for a while. Several Scarlet Macaws flew over and two of them landed in a small tree right next to the Car park, click-click went the cameras. A couple of White-fronted Parakeets flew over and they were new for our list.

The only other new birds for the trip were a flock of Costa Rican Swifts flying high over the lodge complex. We settled down for breakfast at 7am before setting off at 8am for our morning birding session at Carara forest.

Carara is one of the Costa Rica’s most famous birding sites and the most northerly site found on the South Pacific slopes. It preserves some 5000 hectares of primary forest and offers two well maintained trails both of which are easily accessible. We took the ‘river trail’ and spent 3 hours walking through dense forest with open areas and finally wet sat by a large overgrown pool. It took a while to find any birds but eventually we caught up with a prized species in the shape of the Royal Flycatcher, it was found near it’s hanging nest just a meter or so off the trial, a great bird but you never see it with its crest erected.

A Common Potoo was another super find and our second one of the trip, this one was much nearer and it opened it eyes to look down at us. Boat-billed Herons showed well at the pool, they sat in their usual roost. The ant-birds and ant-shrikes took up most of our time and attention on the trail, they were hard to see and took some finding at times. But it was the Orange-collared Manakin that got most of the praise and applause. These little gems were coming down to a ‘lek’ area (a small area where they had cleared the leaf –litter) and where the males performed their courtship dances and displays, fantastic little birds.

At Lunchtime we drove towards Tarcoles and took a delicious lunch at a beach-side restaurant whilst watching many sea-birds. At one stage we counted 82 Magnificent Frigatebirds whilst many Brown Pelicans sat on the water.

After lunch we took as second trail into the Carara forest, it was now very hot and after 30 minutes of walking we hadn’t seen a single bird. So we decided to return to the lodge and use the swimming pool and relax for the rest of the day.

At dusk the sky filled with Scarlet Macaws flying off to roost and many Lesser Nighthawks came out hawking insects, the sky turned red as we watched a beautiful sun set over the pacific ocean. The end of our 13^th day, just two more to go and we still need 40 new birds in order to reach our 400 target.

ADDITIONS TO THE COSTA RICA LIST AND TO MY 2013 YEAR LIST

455. Double-toothed Kite   

456. Mangrove Cuckoo

457. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl

458. Costa Rica Swift

459. Long-billed Hermit

460. Ruby Throated hummingbird

461. Charming Hummingbird

462. Cinnamon Hummingbird

463. White-fronted Parrot

464. Yellow-naped Parrot

465. Black-hooded Antshrike

466. Dot-winged Antwren

467. Dusky Antbird

468. Royal Flycatcher

469. Rufous and White Wren

470. Turquoise Browed Motmot

471. Bairds Trogon

FEB 12TH - COSTA RICA DAY 12

Talari Lodge grounds -  Quepos bay – Rio Parrito – Cerros Lodge

Another eventful day and another good one for birding. We all got up early and took a walk in the extensive grounds of the lodge, our walk last night produced such a lot that we thought the area had tremendous potential. Unfortunately our expectations were not brought to fruition. Howvere we did a good variety of species and had some excellent views of species that were mere glimpses yesterday. The Olivaceous Piculet showed very well as did the Lineated Woodpecker and we got short views of a Smokey-brown Woodpecker.

Other new species included a fly-over Fork-tailed Flycatcher and a beautiful male American Redstart. We all enjoyed a lovely on the covered terrace at the lodge and from there we watched the bird feeders where we saw several species that came to within a couple of meters from us. Bothe the Green and the Red-legged Honeycreepers showed up as did a stunning Speckled Tanager. Although the tanager was not our first trip sighting it was new for most of the group.

From Talari lodge we spent 1 ½ hours travelling to Quepos, we stopped a couple of times when we found a Gray-lined Hawk on a telegraph pole and an Amazon Kingfisher near a pool of water.

At Quepos we stopped to look over the bay and soon found many new species: Brown Pelicans were in good numbers as were Laughing Gulls, Black Vultures and Magnificent frigatebirds. A single Royal Tern sat with the gulls and nearby in a creek we saw Tricoloured Heron and Green Heron as well as Spotted Sandpiper. A White Ibis flew over us just as we were leaving.

After a roadside stop for lunch we set off heading further north along the Pacific Coast. The river at Parrita has always provided many sightings, and a host of species, today was no exception. The shrimp farm that lies along the south bank is usually teaming with life when the lakes are full. Today they were virtually empty of water but still held a number of species.

The river itself was extremely good as the tide was reaching its’ high point, many waders had come upriver to roost on the grassy banks along with herons and egrets. Firgatebirds were also patrolling the water and chasing the Royal and Elegant Terns to steal their food from them. We found a Roseate Spoonbill, a Wood Stork, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Great Blue, Little Blue, Green and Tricoloured Herons all in one place.

A few waders included: Black-necked Stilt, Whimbrel, Willet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Southern Lapwing and Spotted Sandpipers.

We continued right down to the beach where we watched lots of seabirds fishing off-shore or following fishing boats. The only new species seen there was a few Brown Boobys.

It was now getting late so we set off for the final drive up to Carara and the Cerros Lodge; we had two very exciting stops along the way. The first was to admire a superb Scarlet Macaw which was sitting on a dead tree along the roadside and the second was to watch about 20 Lesser Nighthawks hawking insects just above the track to the lodge. It was still daylight and we had great views of these ‘night’ birds, what a fantastic way to end the day.

ADDITIONS TO THE COSTA RICA LIST AND TO MY 2013 YEAR LIST

427. Wood Stork

428. Magnificent Frigatebird

429. Brown Booby

430. Brown Pelican

431. Tri-coloured Heron

432. White Ibis

433. Roseate Spoonbill

434. Gray-lined Hawk

435. Southern Lapwing

436. Black-bellied Plover

437. Collared Plover

438. Semipalmated Plover

439. Black-necked Stilt

440. Willet

441. Lesser Yellowlegs

442. Western Sandpiper

443. Laughing Gull

444. Royal Tern

445. Elegant Tern

446. Inca Dove

447. Lesser Nighthawk

448. Smokey-brown Woodpecker

449. Scarlet Macaw

450. Fork-tailed Flycatcher

451. Lesser Greenlet

452. Barn Swallow

453. Whimbrel

454. American Redstart