The early morning of our second day was once again spent wandering the grounds of Hotel Bougainvillea. I’ll emphasize the early part. The birds started loudly singing around 4:00 or 4:30 in the morning and didn’t quite down until the sun fully rose around 6:00. With the hotel grounds being an oasis in the midst of the city there was a high concentration of birds to sing. Before we even left our room Jody spotted a pair of Yellow-headed Caracaras, a large falcon, out the window. They hung around a bit and we were able to see them perched on the top of one of the hotel’s buildings. The owl we found the previous day had moved on, but we did get a great look at a couple of Lesson’s Motmots. One posed nicely in the early morning sun, showing off its beautiful colors. They are strikingly colored birds, and the unusual tail really makes them unique. For whatever reason they have caught my imagination so getting a well-lit capture of one that morning remains a favorite moment of the trip.
After breakfast, we finished packing, loaded the car, and hit the road. We drove out of the Central Valley, headed for the Arenal Volcano and our lodge there. As we drove away from the cities around San Jose, the forest became more prominent. There are many types of trees, vines, and flowers everywhere. The mountains were covered in a carpet of vegetation. A couple of times we saw Keel-billed Toucans flying high over the road. I took this as a good sign – they were one of my target birds and I really wanted a picture of one. Alas, that didn’t work out so well this trip despite getting numerous looks at them.
Time on the road was always interesting. Alex would tell us about the geography, history, current economics, and people of the areas we were driving through. We learned much about Costa Rica as we traveled. While a small country it has many different regions, each with its own flora and fauna. Some birds are common everywhere, and others only in very small climatic areas; some are only in Costa Rica. The list of birds seen in the country is over 900 species, so there is a lot to see everywhere you go.
On the way to the Arenal Observatory Lodge we had a couple of stops planned. One was on the itinerary and the other was a place that Alex thought we’d like because I’d talked about how I enjoyed photographing hummingbirds. Bosque Nuboso El Cocora is a place that raises butterflies and sells the cocoons to zoos, botanical gardens, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is where Seattle’s Pacific Science Center gets their butterflies for the butterfly garden. There are hiking trails and an area devoted to hummingbird feeders. We stopped and spent a bit of time watching the hummingbirds fly around the feeders. It started to rain, and the heavy overcast made the lighting challenging, but I got a few pictures of the half dozen different types of hummingbirds. Thankfully, the viewing area is covered, so I could take pictures in the rain without getting wet. With the photographic conditions deteriorating we made the visit brief and headed to our next stop, the San Luis Adventure Park.
The San Luis Adventure Park started out and still is primarily focused on Zip-lines and trails. However, they have a covered deck that looks out into the forest canopy. There are several perches and fruit feeders for the birds. We spent a couple of hours there eagerly looking at the many different species. As the first one of each new species flew in, Alex would excitedly point it out. Initially there was just too much to see and absorb. After a while I was able to focus on getting good photographs. There were six species of tanagers, two kinds of honeycreepers, woodpeckers, and more. Altogether I had a dozen lifers there. Most of the tanagers of Costa Rica are very colorful and their names reflect that. Scarlet-rumped, Crimson-collared, Blue-gray, Speckled, Bay-headed, Emerald, Silver-throated, and Golden-hooded. Tanagers were one of the species I spent time focusing on in my year of studying before the trip. I had worked to learn the names and characteristics of the different species. I read the field guide cover to cover, researched the lodges and the species at each location, watched YouTube videos of people’s trips, and tried to identify each bird before the caption came up. It was gratifying when I was able to correctly identify many different species. Eventually, I tore myself away from the colorful birds, and we headed into the town of La Fortuna for lunch.
After arriving at a restaurant and ordering lunch, Alex led Jody and I around the grounds of the restaurant. I had mentioned that I wanted to see a Boat-billed Heron and Alex knew where there were some on the grounds. We got to see the herons sitting up in trees and calling back and forth. In addition to being very strange looking birds they have a very unusual vocalization. It took me a bit to realize that the herons were making the raucous sounds I was hearing. It was fun to see such an unusual looking bird for the first time. You can see why they are named “boat billed. I was happy to get good pictures of them later in the trip. After a delicious lunch, we headed up the road to our home base for the next three nights, the Arenal Observatory Lodge. The long dormant Arenal Volcano had a major eruption in 1968. It devastated a large area – three villages and numerous lives were lost. The Lodge was initially built to accommodate researchers who were studying the volcano as it continued to erupt up until 2010 and grew to a tourist destination over the ensuing years. We arrived to drizzle and then a good solid rain. Little photography was done the rest of the day.
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<Day 1 - Hotel Bougainvillea
Day 3 - Arenal Observatory Lodge>
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