Costa Rica 2008 (Jun_jul)

In late June 2008 I went with my family to Costa Rica. I had for quite a long time dreamt about this as it´s often recognized as a prime spot to explore the Central America. It´s well developed for tourism and considered safe. At many places it´s also decently easy to spot some good birds and other wildlife. As I don´t like to travel in organized groups I planed and booked everything by myself. During our 16 days we made a classic tour involving Aranal Volcano, Monteverde Cloud Forest and 10 days beach life close to the great Carara national Park. When staying here you can make a tour into the mangroves and river mouth of Tarcoles River. You can also do a trip down to the lovely Manuel Antonio National Park. On our first stop towards the volcano I took this photo which shows how the private shuttle bus looks like. They are easily booked at the web and there are fixed prices for each route.

Arenal Observatory Lodge which is beautifully placed close to the bottom of the volcano. Here you can see the lava running down the slopes during the nights.

Like most restaurants they have some feeders which attract different types of birds and here I saw mt first hummingbird, the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird.

There are some trail here and the surroundings are just marvelous. Realizing how many awesome and colorful birds there are in this country, it´s hard to understand how they can choose the Clay-colored Robin as their national bird.

Walking these trails can give you the chance of seeing White-faced Capuchin and The stunning White-necked Jacobin.

We moved to an other lodge in a more open landscape but still with stunning vistas of the lake and the volcano. Close by we saw this amazing "bug" called Hercules Beetle.

and also some more common birds like this "TK" Tropical Kingbird and the Rufous-collared Sparrow.

Going to Monteverde from here give you some different options. You can take a horse ride, going both by boat and bus or just bus all the way. My wife chose the horse ride and I took the kids by boat and bus. By the lake I found this Green Kingfisher.

Monteverde is world famous and a mecka for nature lovers. Seeing the birds in the jungle can sometimes be quite difficult. This Yellowish Flycatcher was cooperative though.

However, the hummingbird garden next to the entrance is full of glistening hummers. They come for a short second to visit the feeders and then they are gone again. I found it easier to take photos through finding their resting spots as they seem to favor one or two, to which they will return. Even here you have to be quick as they are very restless. Here yo can see Green Violet-ear in two different plumages.

 Watching them for a while make you realize how different they appear depending on the light and angle. This aspect and also the many types of plumages make it sometimes quite difficult to tell which species it is, like this one which I think is Canivet´s Hummingbird because of the forked blue tail, but I´m not sure.

Also the  Green-crowned Brilliant can look very different as with these two.

Costa Rice does not have so many endemic birds as you might think but this Coppery-headed Emerald is one of them and favors  Monteverde.

One of my favorites was the Purple-throated Mountain-gem here represented by a female in different poses.

Easily identified by its rufous wing band is this Stripe-tailed Hummingbird.

One day my family took a horse ride while I birded some more open areas. Here I found this Yellow-throated Euphonia as well as a "true" Coral Snake. Do you know how to separate it from the false? Red to yellow, kills a fellow for the true and "Red to black, venom lack" for the false.

From this beautiful place we continued towards the coast and a resort called Punta Leona which is abutted to the big national park of Carara. This is lowland rainforest and full of birds. Taking photos in the dark jungle is, like I said before, not easy and I didn't´t get many pictures but next to a small river I found this Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. 

If you are going with your family or just want to rest by the sea and a good pool, while you have good birding just outside your door, this is a good place to visit. The iconic Scarlet Macaw usually nests around here and birds like Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and Hoffann´s Woodpecker is readily seen. There is also a big butterfly house which you can visit and the the different phases of their lives, here a Giant Swallowtail Butterfly.

Other animals is quite often seen like this White-nosed Coati, Varigated Squirrel and the Ctenosaur.

As the resort is just put into the the edge of the jungle some birds will be seen from the swimming pool like this Great Kiskadee which spent some time by the pool every day.

This cute Racoon was hanging around our house but be aware, they could easily come up too close and be aggressive if they think they can get food from you.

Some more odd and rarer birds seen at Punta Leona was this juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron just next to the beach, Cocoa Woodcreeper and White-whiskered Puffbird.

One day we took a guided tour to the Tarcoles River. This is an excellent spot to se some birds and animals related to mangrove and river habitat. We saw quite a few Am. Crocodiles, a few of them quite big like these two. In front of the second you can see a Wood Stork. 

Further up the river we saw some colorful and powerful birds like these Roseate Spoonbills and Crested Caracaras.

One species I really wanted to see was the Boat-billed Heron. Our guide knew exactly where to go and showed an areas with trees where this guy was hiding. Next to it, the much more common and obvious Green Heron.

We also made a family trip down to Manuel Antonio National Park which is much more well-known for its natural beauty than wildlife. However, Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth is sometimes easy to find and just north of the park is one of the best places to see the awesome Red-backed Squirrel Monkey. Below my excellent and friendly guide Randall Ortega Chaves.

If you saw the film 1492 with Gererd Depardieu many years ago you might recognize the beach. The beach at Punta Leona is the place where many scenes were taken. Pure Vida Costa Rica.