Costa Rica 2019: Tour 1

March 2019. Costa Rica. Two back-to-back tours. Our 9th and tenth tours respectively since 2004. What some have billed as the “farewell tours”. Farewell tours? Yes, our long-time friend and guide, Richard Garrigues, served notice that he was retiring as a guide. Well, ‘retiring’ in that he will have more time for contract work organizing ground logistics for other tour companies. And continue work on the next edition of his highly successful “The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide”, now in its second edition (now available in Spanish).

But first we had to get Costa Rica. On the day of our flight, we were in the process of being driven to the Tucson airport by friends Ron and Renell when a keen-eyed Border Patrol agent at the usual checkpoint spotted a large bolt embedded in the front left tire of their SUV. Rather than risk a blow-out, and worried about the amount of time it would take to change the large tire, we called friends Ken and Jenniene, literally getting them out of bed on a Sunday morning. They collected us from Ron and Renell’s vehicle, eventually dropping us off at the airport well within the time allotted to board.

Meanwhile, our American Airlines app had indicated our flight was at the gate but that there was a “15 minute delay”. Standing in what seemed like a very long line to check our bag, we finally discovered that due to a “mechanical problems” our flight would not take off on time to make our connecting flight in Phoenix. To that end, American Airlines rebooked us on a later flight.

Rebooking sounded innocent enough but our rebooking now had us leaving Tucson at 4:45 in the afternoon (we had already been at the airport since 10:00 a.m.). Our connecting flight in Phoenix wouldn’t depart Phoenix until - wait for it - 1:25. a.m. the next morning! Oh, and now instead of a direct flight to San Jose, we had a connecting flight in Miami!

Making this delay even more frustrating was that our original flight to San Jose had been to fly out on an overnight Sunday flight from Tucson-Phoenix-San Jose, arriving early the next morning. But a month or so after we had made that reservation, American Airlines informed us that they had cancelled it, instead, bumping up our flight to have us arrive in San Jose a day earlier. This meant that we now had to make an extra hotel reservation due to arriving a day sooner. Arriving early in Costa Rica is never a problem. In fact we encourage all our tour members to do the same.

However, with this current series of delays, we wound up arriving in San Jose a day later, ironically on the day we had originally planned to arrive. In the process, we wound up having to pay a $140 for a room we never got to use - and for which there was no refund.

During our long ordeal at both Tucson and Phoenix we learned that a) American Airlines customer service sucks, b) there is a free shuttle that runs from Tucson to Phoenix that had we known about, we could have made our connecting flight, and c) even taking an Uber from Tucson to Phoenix would have cost about the same as our delayed flight (and gotten us door to door service). We swore never to use American Airlines again but also acknowledging that U.S. domestic airlines in general are all bad. It’s just that AA seems to be leading the pack for worst service.

Having been up for nearly 36-hours, tired and upset, we were happy to have finally arrived. Silver lining? We were able to check immediately into our room at the Hotel Buena Vista - the one we’d paid for but hadn’t slept in yet.

Marge was apparently happy to be out of Wisconsin winter weather

Jo Anne, Cici, Tom, Betty

Our first group was comprised of Carol’s sister, Marge Hill, long time friend Betty Dunsmore, Connie and Russell Upstill (we first met them while Carol and I volunteering at Boyce Thompson Arboretum SP), John Bruder and Resé Foster Bruder from Colorado (a ouple we’ve known on several other tours), and two people from Colorado we’d never met but had been recommended by the Bruders, Jo Peterson and Cici Lee. Marge and the Bruders have traveled to Costa Rica with us on prior trips. Betty and her husband Dave had spent a week with us in Costa Rica when we had rented a cabin but this was Betty’s first ‘official’ birding tour. For the Upstills, Jo and Cici, this was their first visit to CR.

Risé and Connie were happy to have arrived as well.

Connie and Russell had arrived the day before (we should have been on the same flight from Phoenix-San Jose but obviously missed it). John and Risé arrived at the same time as we did. The rest of the folks arrived later in the day and by the evening of Monday March 4, we all managed to share adult beverages and an evening meal in the now very familiar Hotel Buena Vista.

Spicy Margaritas - a crowd pleaser

The official tour wouldn’t begin until the next morning which allowed an extra day to pursue various options. Some elected to hire a van to visit historic Alejuela, a small town at the foot of the hills below the hotel. Others elected for pool-side relaxation and birding the hotel grounds. By late afternoon our guide Richard appeared and with introductions all around, we learned about what Richard had outlined our first day’s activities. No more sleeping in for anyone for the next few weeks!

John, Marge, Betty, Carol, Russ, Connie, Risé, Jo Anne  on their walk-about

It is worth noting that the staff and accommodations at the hotel were, as always, superb. The hotel menu is broad and varied and the bar well stocked. This year the popular drink was a special “spicy margarita” and the ever popular selection from the menu, a “watermelon gazpacho”.

kicking things off on the hotel grounds

Wednesday March 6 kicked off at daybreak with a leisurely stroll around the grounds, for many in the group, their first introduction to some of the more common neotropical bird species: rufous-tailed hummingbird, tropical kingbird, blue-gray tanager clay-colored thrush, Hoffman’s woodpecker, crimson-fronted parakeet, great kiskadee, and our first motmot of the tour, the recently split from blue-crowned motmot, lesson’s motmot. Even some wintering North American warbler species: Tennessee warbler. Over the course of the month we would encounter several more familiar neotropical migrant warbler species.

Great Kiskadee

Following a continental breakfast we met our driver Didier (we knew Didier from past tours), loaded our luggage aboard our spacious coaster bus and began our journey by heading out of the Central Valley toward the Pacific coast lowlands and Carara National Park.

over the years one of our favorite stops

“Carara” takes its name from the Huetar Indian word for crocodile. Visitors to the area will know of the Tarcoles River Bridge where views of crocodiles resting and swimming in the river below. As for Carara NP, the principle habitat is comprised of tropical rainforest lowland and tropical dry forest. Arriving just before mid-morning we had time to experience part of the trail system where we encountered stripe-throated hermit, slaty-tailed trogon, Bairds trogon, pale-billed woodpecker, scarlet macaw, riverside wren, long-billed gnatwren, plain xenops and an unusually out of range green ibis.

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Our overnight was at the Hotel Villa Lapas where we arrived in time to catch lunch (buffet style) followed by a brief down time during the heat of the afternoon to explore the hotel grounds: yellow-throated toucan, fiery-billed aracari, piratic flycatcher, and lineated woodpecker kept people from resting too much!

Black-hooded Antshrike

Mid-afternoon we returned to Carara for a bit of late afternoon birding. One spot in particular is an ideal location for up close views of members of the manakin family: blue-crowned and red-capped. Other late afternoon birds attracted to the water included northern waterthrush, great tinamou, and eye-ringed flatbill. Additional species along the trail included blue-black grosbeak, chestnut-backed antbird, streak-chested antpitta (seen walking on the trail ahead of the group), black-faced antthrush, black-throated trogon, northern schiffornis, and blue-throated goldentail. Fortunately, Didier always has his binocular with him on the coaster so when Russell accidentally left his pair back at the lodge, Didier loaned his pair! Didier is quite the birder and over the course of both tours, he on several occasions, spotted birds for us.

Red-capped Manakin

Early morning or late afternoon is always a good time to bird in the humid lowlands so our late afternoon foray was very productive. We’ve enjoyed this site many time in the past, however, on this particular occasion, while we were observing the manakins, a noisy fellow arrived on the scene talking loudly on a cell phone. It turned out he was a park ranger who brusquely urged us to leave - that the park was closed!? We had never before encountered such a rude person at Carara but the guy was so insistent. And loud. Richard tried to reason with him but there was no convincing the guy otherwise. So we reluctantly began our journey out of the preserve (it was actually close to the time we usually leave anyway). Apparently not fast enough for the ranger as he kept rudely saying saying “I don’t mean to be rude but you have to leave now!”. In the meantime there were birds to be seen so Richard kept stopping - much to the annoyance of the ranger who was far more interested in pushing people rather than appreciating us appreciating what he, as a park ranger, was supposedly there to protect.

Richard in discussion about being tossed out of the park

By the time we arrived at the end of the trail where our coaster was waiting, more park officials had gathered demanding Richard and Didier show their papers (plus photographing the coaster’s registration). Was Richard going to be hauled off to the calaboose? Would we have to storm the officials (we far outnumbered them)? In the end Richard, the preeminent author of the best selling Birds of Costa Rica was officially kicked out of the park and told not to return. The joke of course was that Richard was retiring anyway and that this was in fact his last tour of the park in his official guide capacity. But lots of other tour companies visit this park and this particular spot at this time of day. What will be be in store for them?

all th lodges have tables set aside for their birding groups

Back at the lodge there was time for libations, our evening meal and the first introduction to logging of the daily checklist. This was also the time Richard reviewed what would be in store for us the next day. Suffice to say this was only the first day of the tour but for those who had not birded Costa Rica before (or not been in the tropics before), it must have been overwhelming.

Up early the next morning we boarded the coaster for a short drive to the boat docks on the Tarcoles River where Richard had reserved a boat to tour the mangroves. The river originates on the southern slopes of the Cordillera Central and flows south 70 miles before emptying into the Gulf of Nicoya. We’ve done the same river tour a few times in the past (once in a downpour) but we have to say that this tour was by far the most pleasurable. 

Even before we reached the boat, there were turquoise-browed motmots, ferruginous pygmy-owls, and black-headed trogons in the parking lot! Once aboard, there were several species of shorebirds and water birds (oh, the boat-billed herons!), as our boatman negotiated the main channel and eventually out to the mouth of the river. But there were some special birds found only in this habitat we were searching for - and were not disappointed. Mangrove hummingbird (not as easily found or seen as one would expect), Panama flycatcher, mangrove vireo, melodious blackbird, and red-breasted meadowlark. There were ringed and green kingfishers but the star of the day was the American pygmy-kingfisher - several were observed quite close to our boat! As we were leaving the parking lot Didier stopped to share with us a roosting black-and-white owl he had found!

Back at the lodge, an evening meal, daily checklist and instructions for the next day: a walk before breakfast, pack, then journey to our next destination, the region of Monteverde. Along the way we roadside birded which netted us double-striped thick-knee, stripe-headed sparrow, streak-backed oriole and the “Sheldon bird”, white-throated magpie-jay. An early afternoon lunch stop at Restaurant El Sol gave us time to peruse a few bird species from the restaurant’s deck adding olive sparrow, rufous-naped wren and a flock of orange-chinned parakeets feeding on nearby fruiting trees.

Rufous-naped Wren

Nearing the town of Monteverde we gained in elevation, transitioned from dry forest to cloud forest, and as we did, the air became cooler and the countryside greener. Prevailing northeast trade winds can be gusty at times, evidenced by windy conditions when we arrived at the Hotel de Montaña Monteverde. We had just a short time to hike down to a small lake and even with such windy conditions, we picked out gray-headed chachalaca, red-billed pigeon, Cabanis’s wren, Morelet’s seedeater, and yellow-faced grassquit. Then it was time to sample the hotel’s bar, go through our daily checklist and a quiet meal in the hotel’s restaurant before retiring.

Monteverde is a small village located in the Cordillera de Tilarán mountain range. Various pre-Colombian artifacts indicate the existence of Clovis Native Americans but the most recent history from the 1950’s is the presence of Quakers who farm the area and who are largely responsible for setting aside land for conservation - the present day Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve.

Hotel grounds

Weather at Monteverde is iffy at best in March…which is true of many cloud forest habitats. Sunny and bright one moment and enveloped in dense fog the next. We’ve experienced both on previous tours. The weather this morning looked promising.

Before breakfast, while waiting for coffee, we surveying the hotel’s hummingbird feeders on the restaurant balcony: steely-vented hummingbird, rufous-tailed hummingbird, magenta-throated woodstar, lesser violetear, and violet saberwing. On the ground below, the all too common (but nevertheless handsome) rufous-collared sparrow and a few white-eared ground-sparrows. In the distance, brown jays.

Violet Sabrewing

Following breakfast we were off to our first stop, Santuario Ecológico, a private reserve where three-wattled bellbirds had been reported. A member of the Cotinga family, these birds breed in the montane region of Costa Rica and are altitudinal migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, usually arriving by March in CR. A striking bird with white head chestnut body and remarkable long grayish-black wattles hanging down from the base of its bill. But as striking in appearance as this bird is, what’s even more striking is the loud, piercing “boi-nng” sound.

that calling bellbird has to be around here somewhere!

Every birder always has a “nemesis” bird - a bird they have searched high and low for on repeated occasions but have yet to see. The three-wattled bellbird was John Bruder’s nemesis bird having missed seeing (or even hearing) a bellbird on previous visits to Costa Rica. To say that John was eager to find one (as was the rest of the group to help find one for him) was an understatement. So imagine John’s heart rate when we stepped out of the coaster and immediately heard the distinctive bellbird ‘boi-nng”! The bird is large and can be very vocal, it’s not always the easiest to spot - but within minutes we were on a male bellbird perched high on a bare branch. No more nemesis bird for John, (and a very nice life bird addition for several in the group).

Richard, on all of his tours, whenever possible, much prefers stopping for lunch at a local cafe or restaurant versus packing a box lunch. In Monteverde we were hankering for pizza and that meant a stop at Tramonti Ristorante E Pizzería! And no lunch would be complete without stopping just up the road at the Monteverde Cheese Factory for an ice cream treat!

Connie and Russell

Next up, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Established in 1972 it encapsulates eight life zones with 8 miles of trails and is home to over 100 species of mammals, 400 species of birds and 1,200 species of amphibians and reptiles. It’s a very popular destination for thousands of tourists each year and while it’s gratifying to see it be so popular, “popular” also means crowded trails. For birders, crowded trails with at times boisterous tourists can be frustrating. The best time to visit is either early in the morning before the influx of large tourist jammed buses arrive, or, late in the afternoon after most of the tourists have headed back to whence they came. We opted today for late afternoon.

There were still a number of vehicles in the parking area so we were dropped off at the Monteverde hummingbird gallery (a small cafe outside the park grounds) where several of the species we’d seen earlier at the hotel feeders were present…but in much greater numbers and closer in proximity, zipping and zinging over and around our heads. This was also a good spot to add stripe-tailed and coppery-headed emerald. A short walk to the park entrance with a few minutes to shop the gift shop, avail ourselves of the restrooms, and we were off.

One bird synonymous with Costa Rica, and Monteverde in particular, is the resplendent quetzal. It’s THE bird even none birders appreciate and seek out. And as with John’s desire obsession to see a bellbird, another in our group harbored a lifelong desire to see a quetzal. At one point as we were crossing a narrow hanging bridge, a male quetzal was first heard and then landed near the bridge. Somewhat buried in the foliage, we got eye level views. Not the greatest view but definitely an exciting time for JoAnne.

Jo Anne's quetzal celebration libation

As other tourists walked onto the bridge we started moving off to make room. A few moments later, the quetzal called and as he did, we turned back in time to catch the male emerging from cover, flying into the dazzling sunlight, it’s resplendent tail feathers trailing behind, an iridescent spectacle of green streaking across the valley. We’ve seen quetzals before in even closer circumstances but the vision of this bird’s blazing green feathers will be forever etched in our minds.

Resplendent Quetzal (photo from one of our previous tours)

Reaching the end of the bridge we stopped for a group photo to mark the experience. That’s when we noticed JoAnne, apparently overcome with emotion, was crying. Tears of joy! It’s moments like these, when an unforgettable experience occurs, that makes these tours so worthwhile to us!

local guide get's Richard to autograph his field guide then shows off his tat

Of course there were other bird species found at Monteverde: tufted flycatcher, lineated foliage-gleaner, slate-throated redstart, crested guan, black guan, gray-breasted wood-wren, slaty-backed Nightingale-thrush, slaty flowerpiercer, and even more bellbirds! By  late afternoon just as the park was closing we staked out a quetzal nest where a female made a brief appearance…but nothing to compare with our earlier sighting. Back to the lodge for celebratory bellbird and quetzal drinks, dinner, the daily checklist and our marching orders for the next day.

Slate-throated redstart

Breakfast and fortified with much needed caffeine, we grabbed our luggage and began our day trip to Celeste Mountain Lodge. But before departing Monteverde, a stop at the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Similar habitat to the Monteverde cloud forest trails but a good location for adding some of the “skulkers”, birds that are vocal but shy to make an appearance from dense underbrush that we had thus far missed. Birds like silvery-fronted tapaculo. We also encountered spotted barbtail, ruddy treerunner, black-faced solitaire, ruddy-capped Nightingale-thrush, and slaty-backed Nightingale-thrush.

Our route to Celeste took us along several back gravel roads through rolling farmlands north to the pass between Tenorio and Mirvalles volcanoes and more roadside birding. Swallow-tailed kite were plentiful. Brown-crested flycatcher, groove-billed ani, laughing falcon, social flycatcher, boat-billed flycatcher, tropical pewee, and gray-crowned yellowthroat. Skirting the western shore of Lake Arenal provided unusually clear views of Arenal Volcano (we would stay at Arenal Observatory Lodge later in the tour).

lunch stop at Cafe & Macadamia on Lake Arenal

The usual ‘go to’ restaurant was closed so we back tracked a bit to a place on the lake we’d seen signs for on earlier tours but thought it might be too touristy. Didier convinced us otherwise. Cafe Macadamia was definitely worth a stop. Sandwiches were massive and soups divine! Plus a nice view of the lake from their outdoor seating section. Very family friendly and fast service considering the number of diners.

Celeste main floor

After passing through the small bucolic village of Bijaqua de Upalla we arrived at Celeste Mountain Lodge. Just enough time to check in and relax with our usual late afternoon adult beverages while taking in the lodge’s contemporary architecture and landscaped surroundings. A row of stools at a counter facing outward through a massive opening provided views of the setting sun over Cerro Montezuma. Tantalizing aromas teased us from the open kitchen while scarlet-rumped tanagers, red-legged honeycreepers, black-cheeked woodpeckers, and yellow-throated euphonias provided entertainment at the feeders just a few yards away. 

This eco-lodge has “eco” with a capital “E”. Designed by Costa Rican resident, Belgian-born architect Jacqueline Gillet, the lodge adheres to a philosophy of sustainable tourism with low environmental impact and eco-friendly practices. You won’t find a Coke or Pepsi product sold here. No water in plastic bottles. The entire concept, use of furniture and decorations conceived by the owners, were in large part the result of using recycled materials.

Our evening’s offering of French-influenced fusion cuisine meal arrived on the lodge’s signature “plates”, wooden boards with a layer of banana leaves as our host described in detail the evening’s menu. Stuffed, we retired to a convenient lounge area for the daily checklist and learned what lay in store for us the next day. 

Out the door by 5:45 e headed toward the lodge’s undulating private trail system which weaved through forested foothills. The trail is unique in that an underlayment comprised of a web-like material provided a guard against erosion as well as surer footing. Celeste has been a reliable location for finding the smallest of the motmot family - tody motmot. A pair was found feeding a some distance up a small ravine. Scouring the understory we found russet antshrike, streak-crowned antvireo, chestnut-backed antbird and spotted antbird. A tiny sprite of a bird, the scale-crested pygmy-tyrant, while hard to see, when seen, almost always that makes the tour’s top five favorites list - nice looks with it’s raised crest. Nightingale wren, stripe-breasted wren, orange-billed sparrow, and Carmoli’s tanager before returning to the lodge for breakfast. A few more species added to the lodge’s feeder watch - crimson-collared tanager and green honeycreeper.

Crimson-collared Tanager

After a filling breakfast we boarded our coster for a short - less than 1km - drive to the Tapir Valley Nature Reserve, a reserve started with the vision of protecting valuable rainforest habitat for many mammals including Baird’s tapir. Largely nocturnal we harbored no illusions of actually seeing a tapir so we were not surprised when we didn’t. But our walk through a large portion of the reserve (dodging rain here and there) did put us in touch with an amazing number of bird species. Probably one of our best stops, bird-wise, on the tour: squirrel cuckoo, white-collared swifts, green hermit, long-billed hermit, (even an unusual for Costa Rica ruby-throated hummingbird), bronze-tailed plumeleteer, white-throated crake, bare-throated tiger-heron, double-toothed kite, white hawk, gartered trogon, broad-billed motmot, keel-billed toucan, brown-hooded parrot, thicket antpitta (pretty much heard only), common tody-flycatcher, white-ruffed manakin, masked tityra, bay wren, black-faced grosbeak, rufous-winged tanager, shining honeycreeper, and thick-billed seed-finch. Whew! Clearly there would be a lot of checks added to the daily checklist tonight!

Gartered Trogon

Back to the lodge for lunch then a little downtime. Well, down time for a few who elected to stay back at the lodge while the majority of the group chose for a return hike into the lodge’s private trail system to mop up a few species we’d missed earlier in the day. The upside was that while we added new species, the downside was that the trail we took was supposed to have a “shortcut” section leading back to the trail we’d covered earlier. And it did. Unfortunately, the shortcut section was closed. “Under repair” the sign read. But by this time we were better than halfway through the longer section of trail. Turn back or forge ahead? Nah. We forged ahead and as a result logged a lot more distance (and elevation gain). We certainly earned our adult beverages and evening meal! As for the added bird species we got excellent looks at purplish-backed quail-dove, rufous-tailed jacamar, wedge-billed woodcreeper, rufous mourner, tawny-crowned greenlet, golden-crowned warbler, and repeat looks at tody motmot, always a group favorite.

Marge chose to stay back and watch the feeders

The next morning (grabbing coffee first, of course), we checked a spot near the lodge’s parking lot for a bird some had missed earlier: white-tipped sicklebill. An impressively larger hummingbird with a deeply curved bill suited for probing flowering heliconia…which is where we found the bird, frequenting a stand of heliconia! We collected our luggage and bidding farewell to Celeste staff, we headed into the lowlands toward the Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge and Nicaraguan border.

have you ever seen a box lunch packaged like this?

What? No breakfast at Celeste? Not exactly. The lodge had prepared a “box breakfast” for us to take on the road. In keeping with the lodge’s signature meal presentations, we discovered that all the food was individually wrapped in banana leaves held together with toothpicks. The one “utensil” we were given to eat with was a wooden tongue depressor! And without doubt, the best box breakfast we’d every experienced.

Travel time to our next overnight wasn’t very long giving us time for more roadside birding. In the past we’ve walked/birded a dyke road through part of the Medio Queso Wetland. The road leads to a small ferry across a narrow channel used by people traveling to and from the small town of Los Chiles on the border with Nicaragua. Quick historic fact: During the 1980’s, it was a strategic location on an important supply route for the Contras fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaraqua. During that time, U.S. military were a common (albeit illegal) sight on the streets of the town. By late afternoon when we arrived at the ferry, but this time Richard had a surprise in store for us - a local guide was waiting to take us on a water trip through part of the wetland.

See the crakes? We did but yes, they're that tough to spot.

Here we fleshed out our trip list with more wading birds but the prize we were seeking was  two crakes species: yellow-breasted and white-throated. During our time at the landing plus in the flat boat as it was maneuvered through tangles of aquatic vegetation, we added plain-breasted ground-dove, green-breasted mango, southern lapwing, northern jacana, wood storks, pinnated bittern, roseate spoonbill, Amazon kingfisher, peregrine falcon, fork-tailed flycatcher, mangrove swallow, Nicaraguan  grackle, and of course both crakes! Sightings of several distant jabirus was icing on the cake!

By the time we returned to the ferry landing it was early nightfall and time to get to our lodge where they were holding an evening meal. On the back road trip to the lodge we came upon a striped owl sitting atop a fence post next to the road. Totally nonplused the bird sat giving us excellent looks. Dead easy owling!

Hotel De Campo was our overnight. Given that this is at a very low elevation, the air was thick and humid which made our drinks at the bar taste all the sweeter. After checking into our lodgings, we enjoyed an evening meal in the open walled restaurant where we finished off our daily checklist. The next morning’s outing would come early enough so off to bed in our thankfully, air conditioned rooms.

Green Kingfisher

Another day and another early morning. This time it was for our third boat trip of the tour: a float up the Rio Frio toward the Everglades-like Lago Caño Negro. More for our checklist included honest-to-goodness real muskovy ducks, russet-naped wood-rail, purple gallinule, limpkin, Neotropic cormorant, white ibis, olive-throated parakeet, crimson-fronted parakeet, barred antshrike, northern barred-woodcreeper, streak-headed wood-creeper, slaty spinetail, bright-rumped atilla, southern rough-winged swallow, scarlet-trumped cacique, gray-headed tanager, and a very satisfying look at sungrebe swimming next to our boat. Unfortunately, a section of river where green-and rufous kingfisher were being reported was blocked by several downed tree limbs. Maybe if we had a small kayak…

Pied Puffbird

Back to the lodge for breakfast and pack up our bags, we bid the humid lowlands farewell as we made our way back up to higher (cooler) elevation. Our first stop was on the outskirts of La Fortuna for lunch followed by a mid-afternoon walk through the maze of trails at an urban park, Sendero Bogarin. Upon entering the trail system is a small platform with benches for observing several feeders and a small wetland. White-throated crakes made regular visits darting in and out of vegetation and a large family of gray-headed chachalacas feeding several young birds in tow. Collared aracari, great kiskadee, yellow-throated euphonia, bananaquit, buff-throated saltator, graysih saltator and black-headed saltator frequented the feeders, all within a few feet of the observation platform.

Collared Aracari

Grayish Saltator

Further into the trails we found black-throated wren, stripe-breasted wren, dusky-capped flycatcher, great antshrike and a real crowd pleaser, one of the smallest woodpeckers, a smaller than a warbler, olivaceous piculet.

Darkness fell as we arrived at Arenal Observatory Lodge. Usually we stay in the second story “standard” rooms directly across from the restaurant but on this occasion we were in for a surprise - our rooms were located in the 3-story Observatory Museum building with wonderful views of the gardens behind and the volcano as a backdrop. The front of the building overlooked the spring-fed pool and spa. The only downside, if you could call it that, was that to reach the bar/restaurant required a walk of several hundred yards. But this was a hardy group and we would survive. Drinks in the lounge/bar, dinner, then our daily checklist. By now we were well over 300 bird species!

room with a view

AOL has 870 acres of gardens and tropical forest (7 miles of hiking trails in all). At 6:00 the next morning we gathered outside our rooms to explore some of what the grounds have to offer.. Breakfast wasn’t going to be served for a while so what better way to use our time than go birding? Adding to our bird list we encountered common-tody,flycatcher, cinnamon becard, gray-capped flycatcher, Nightingale wren, stripe-breasted wren, white-breasted wren, song wren, scaly-breasted hummingbird, crowned woodnymph, black-striped Sparrow, buff-rumped warbler, and golden-crowned warbler.

Breakfast was buffet style in the main restaurant. Massive windows overlooked an expansive deck with the volcano as a backdrop. Staff regularly place fresh fruit on suspended feeders just off of the deck that attract a variety of birds resulting in closeup looks plus an opportunity for photographing wildlife. Wandering out onto the deck we found honeycreepers red-legged honeycreeper, green honeycreeper), emerald tanager, golden-hooded tanagerr, scarlet-rumped tanager), black-cheeked woodpecker, golden-olive woodpecker, and the star of the show, acrobatic Montezuma oropendola. In the distance Howler Monkeys made their presence known while coati patrolled the ground beneath feeders for fruits dislodged by the a multitude of birds including great curassow.

Montezuma Oropendula

The deck also was an opportunity to socialize with other guests. Years ago during our first visit to Arenal, we made the acquaintance of an eager young birder, Christian Campos, who had started working at the lodge as one of their guides. Following our meeting we helped him secure his first pair of binoculars (gratis Eagle Optics). It was reassuring to see he was still employed as we talked briefly and posed for photos.

Tom, Christian, Carol

Back out on the trails again for the afternoon we scored a roosting great potoo, violet-headed hummingbird, blue-throated goldentail, rufous motmot, russet antshrike, olivaceous woodcreeper, plain xenops, white-collared Manakin, masked tityra, rufous mourner, band-backed Wren, carmiol’s tanager, bay-headed tanager, and yellow-faced grassquit.

Rufous Motmot

During our walk we encountered a young couple who were new to birding. They had just gotten their copy of Richard’s latest birds of Costa Rica. “Would you like to meet the author?”, we asked. The look on their faces was priceless - and of course Richard signed their field guide.

a very surprised and pleased birding couple

Later afternoon we boarded our coaster for a short drive and roadside birding on the Arenal Peninsula Road toward Lake Arenal Dam. For our efforts we were rewarded with swallow-tailed Kite, keel-billed and broad-billed motmots, white-fronted nunbird, fasciated antshrike, bare-crowned, chestnut-backed, and spotted antibirds, scarlet-rumped cacique, and black-headed saltator.

Broad-billed Motmot

Keel-billed Motmot

The next morning, another walk around the grounds followed by breakfast before loading up our coaster for our next, and last destination of the tour. As always, though, we rarely race from point A to point B without some stops in between. In this case, a lunch break at Catarata del Toro, (Devl’s Waterfall), a privately-owned ecological waterfall project.

The property boasts an impressive waterfall tumbling into an old volcano. With our lunch orders made at the small restaurant, there was time to view the waterfall and birds in the surrounding gardens. A short loop trail through a forest was our main attraction. There is a more strenuous trail leading down to the water’s edge but given that it was A) raining, and B) the waterfall trail would take longer than we had time, the gardens were more than enough.

Black-bellied Hummingbird

This stop was our best opportunity for seeing black-bellied hummingbird. More hummers included green thorntail, green Hermit, green-crowned brilliant, and coppery-headed emerald all within easy sight of the covered restaurant. In fact bird sightings became such a constant interruption to our meals it’s a wonder anyone actually finished..

Back into lowland birding, La Selva Research Station, established in 1968, was initially a farm dedicated to sustainable forest research owned by Dr. Leslie Holdridge. Today the station provides key training and research for numerous professional scientists from all over the world. With more than 2,077 species of plants, 125 species of mammals (72 of them bats), 470 species of birds, 48 amphibian species, 87 species of reptiles, 42 species of freshwater fish and tens of thousands of insects, arachnids and other arthropods, it’s little wonder why we like La Selva so much.

Dropping our luggage at cabins now situated some distance from the main facility, there was time to walk the Comandancia de Sarapiqui Road toward the main buildings. As it was still misting/raining umbrellas were in order. Humid conditions on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, we ticked: slaty-breasted tinamou (heard), orange-chinned parakeet, a real show-stopper - great green macaw, long-tailed tyrant, and white-lined tanager.

La Selva is first and foremost a research station so our accommodations were not nearly as plush as we had at Arenal. Food is served cafeteria style. The dining hall was filled with students and researchers which offered us the opportunity for learning more about their projects and studies first hand. Because research goes on 24/7 there was always a ready supply of hot coffee although the seating and lighting and noise levels made it hard to do our daily checklists.

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Before breakfast the next morning we birded the entrance road to the reserve: short-billed pigeon, white-collared swift, slaty-tailed trogon, great antshrike, cocoa woodcreeper, bright-rumped atilla, black-throated wren, black-cowled oriole, red-throated ant-tanager and even a neotropical migrant: hooded warbler.

Pale-billed Woodpecker

The preserve has several trails, many of them paved. Following breakfast we headed out with one of the local guides: purple-crowned fairy, blue-chested hummingbird, double-toothed kite, pale-billed woodpecker, olive-throated parakeet, wedge-billed woodcreeper, purple-throated fruitcrow, black-headed tody-flycatcher, lesser greenlet, olive-backed euphonia, and white-vented euphonia. By the time we returned to our rooms, gathered our checklists, and returned for our evening meal, it had started to rain again. Placing our orders for a boxed lunch we boarded the coaster for a evening ride back to our rooms.

Jose Alberto Perez - but everyone knows him as "Cope" 

During our stay at La Selva folks discovered a nice gift shop full of T-shirts, books and local art. Some years back at this same gift shop we had purchased an original painting of an Ivory-billed Woodcreeper on a large dried leaf done by “Cope”. He's lived his entire life in real Caribbean lowlands and is a 100% self-taught artist. Now, years later, we were headed to Cope’s home where he had set up a small wildlife viewing area.

Upon arriving, Cope boarded our coaster and directed us down a dirt road where he knew of a couple of day roosts for Crested owl and Spectacled Owl. The trail was a bit muddy from recent rains but we managed. Added bonus was Cope sharing a day roost of diminutive Honduran White Bats that day-roost under banana leaves.

Spectacled Owl

Honduran White Bat day roosting

Returning to Cope’s home we bunched up alongside a small wetland stream eating our boxed food from La Selva: russet-naped wood-rail practically within arm’s reach. Green-breasted mango, bronze-tailed plumeleteer, long-billed hermit, and black-crowned antshrike.

Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer

White-necked Jacobin

This, our last full day of birding and we were making the most of it. One last stop on our way back to San Jose lat a small roadside restaurant. Years ago, on one of our first Costa Rica tours, we’d stopped in this small village of Cinchona. A few years after our stop, an earthquake and subsequent landslide, all but destroyed the village. We were happy to find the small roadside restaurant - Mirador La Cascada - had rebuilt. In addition to offering food, they had a collection of tables and chairs on a small deck surrounded by platform feeders and hummingbird feeders. Easy up close views of violet sabrewing, common chlorospingus, white-naped brushfinch, scarlet-thighed dacnis and a whole host of tanagers. A buff-fronted quail-dove lurking below the feeders provided extra excitement.

Finally, back at the Hotel Buena Vista where our tour had begun, there was time to unwind, finish packing and of course, a little more birding - or even a dip in the pool. We gathered once more at the bar for one last Margarita (or two) before our farewell dinner with one last chance for Richard to autograph field guides.  Our time had passed so quickly! Dinner finished, top favorite birds of tour in the record book, a group photo and it was time to say farewell.

L-R: Tom, John, Connie, Russell, Carol, Richard, Risé, Betty, Cici, Marge, JoAnne

The next morning those returning to the states did so. Carol and I and the Bruders would be staying for the second tour which began in a few day’s time. Stayed tuned for Tour 2!