Category Archives: Travel

Last year Arthur and I visited Costa Rica for 11 days in May. This is Part 3 of my little 3-part series. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them. Now I’ll post some highlights from our time traveling from Monteverde to the Los Quetzals National Park area.

May 13 2016
Friday the 13th we had an epic drive from Monteverde to San Gerardo de Dota. We drove along the Pacific Coast and had a few stops before arriving at our lodge well after dark. At Playa Galardonda we added Scarlet Macaw to our life list. We stopped at a ditch along the highway when we thought we saw a kingfisher — we ended up adding both Amazon Kingfisher and Ringed Kingfisher to our list. The best sighting of the day was a brief but clear and diagnostic view of an adult King Vulture flying over the car along a stretch of highway where it was unfortunately impossible to stop.

May 14 2016
Saturday morning we joined a bird walk from a local guide. The target species for this walk was the Resplendent Quetzal and we were not disappointed with great views of at least 5 individuals. We spent the rest of the day birding around the lodge’s property and hiking to a local waterfall. Over several checklists we added 31 lifers: 16 species total; 39 species; 9 species; 13 species.

Male Resplendent Quetzal

Exploring Los Quetzals National Park

Rufous-collared Sparrow at Los Quetzals National Park

May 15 2016
We remained on Savegre property on this gloomy day. In the morning we walked around and looked for birds along a steep and buggy trail. In the afternoon there were torrential rains so we stayed inside. Late in the day we had another short bird outing for the last time on the trip. The following day we picked up huge packed lunches from the lodge to take with us to the airport for our flight back home.

Flame-colored Tanager at Savegre

Black-faced Solitaires at Savegre

Costa Rica Lifers May 13-15 2016

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Last year Arthur and I visited Costa Rica for 11 days in May. This is Part 2 of my little 3-part series. Here’s Part 1 if you missed it. Read on for some highlights from our time around Monteverde.

May 10 2016
Tuesday morning we had a guided bird walk arranged by the hotel. During the hike we saw 36 species; we ended up with 20 lifers for the day. We had lunch at a nearby well-known birding hotspot, Stella’s, but it was practically devoid of birds during our visit.

Exploring around our Monteverde hotel

May 11 2016
The Monteverde area is well-known for zip-lining and hanging bridges. On May 11th we visited Selvatura Adventure Park for a self-guided walk around the hanging bridges and a nice long visit to their famous hummingbird garden. We added 14 lifers at Selvatura, including 4 species of hummingbird. Bird lists: hanging bridges walk; hummingbird garden.

Hanging bridge at Selvatura Adventure Park

Hummingbird garden at Selvatura Adventure Park

Green-crowned Brilliant iPhone picture taken at Selvatura Adventure Park

May 12 2016
Thursday we took it easy and had a morning walk at a local preserve, Curi Canchi. Here we recorded 24 species, including 5 lifers.

Lesson’s Motmot at our hotel

Costa Rica Lifers May 10-12 2016

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Last year Arthur and I visited Costa Rica for 11 days in May. We flew into San Jose on May 6th and rented a car for our trip. We stayed in three different locations for casual birding and exploring on our own: Arenal Oasis Eco Lodge in the shadow of the Arenal Volcano in Fortuna; Hotel El Bosque in Monteverde; and Savegre Hotel Natural Reserve & Spa inside the Los Quetzales National Park. Here I’ll post some highlights from our time around Fortuna.

May 7 2016
In the morning of our first full day we had a guided birding walk arranged by the lodge. We hiked around the lodge’s property and picked up a modest list of 25 species, 22 (!!) of which were lifers. That afternoon we went to a local park, Ecocentro Danaus, where we had a guided walk and explored on our own. Here we picked up 24 species, 15 of which were lifers. Besides birds we saw a 2-toed Sloth with baby, Spectacled Caimans, and an Agouti with a baby. Later in the afternoon we walked to La Fortuna Waterfall and had a dip in the cool fresh water. That evening we took a night hike on the lodge’s grounds and saw lots of interesting snakes, frogs, and insects. I recorded highlights on an eBird list with no birds, including Fer-de-lance, Loquacious Tree Frog, and a baby Hognose Pit Viper.

Collared Aracari at Ecocentro Danaus

May 8 2016
Sunday morning we birded a bit at our lodge and then headed to a famous local birding site, Arenal Observatory Lodge. I tried to book this hotel for our trip but they were full. Luckily day visitors can explore the grounds for birding. Here we walked the trails and picked up 14 lifers over several hours and checklists: 16+1 species total; 10 species; 17 species; 3 species; 4 species.

View of Arenal volcano from the Observatory Lodge

Passerini’s Tanager at Arenal Observatory Lodge

Blue-throated Goldentail at Arenal Observatory Lodge

May 9 2016
We started the morning with a little bit of birding around the lodge before packing up and heading to Monteverde. On the way we stopped at a big cat wildlife rescue center, Centro de Rescate Las Pumas, where we saw 5 species, including 3 lifers. On the drive we picked up several other lifers, including our first Keel-billed Toucan. We arrived at our hotel late in the afternoon and signed up for that evening’s night hike. This time we did manage to find a few birds.

On the road to Monteverde

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron at Las Pumas

Costa Rica Lifers May 7-9 2016

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