We were up for 5:45 coffee time and on the trail behind the lodge by 6 am for our birding walk on the trail behind the hotel. I don't know how long this trail is as we have been on it several times now and it never seems to end. We had some great birds Buff-rumped Warbler, Streaked Flycatcher, Black-billed Seedeater, Riverside Wren , the Dusky Antbird and the Lesson's Motmot. Sami managed to get photos of birds we barely viewed (Stub-tailed Spadebill AND the Purple-crowned Fairy).
The Hotel Villa Lapas was a lovely place but the internet was iffy and it cut out frequently. I tried to send photos from my iphone to save on my computer so I could post them to the blog and they have yet to arrive. They must be lost in cyberspace somewhere.
We said good bye to the Hotel Lapas and we drove up and out of the lowlands by mid-morning. It was so hot when we stopped at Quepos at the supermarket to stock up on traveling supplies (junk food, nuts and drinks, etc), we were looking forward to cooler weather up in the higher elevations. At Domical we turned off to travel up steep narrow and busy roads to climb to the highest place on the drive of 10,200 feet at Cerro de la Morte which is near Georgina where we stopped at several hummingbird feeders. The way here is several hours of hairpin turns on a busy narrow road. I loaded up on Gravol and Sue gave me some ginger pills for nausea.
We made a top before that at Bosque Del Tolomuco, a B&B with lots of feeders in the cloud forest. It was sunny when we arrived on the very steep private road and we were greeted by Enzo, an Australian Heeler. The owners of this B&B are Rolf and Lise Zersch who built this beautiful spot with cabins, hot tub and swimming pool up in the clouds. They moved here from Winchester, Ontario 17 years ago. It took them 4 years to build the home and B&B and they have not been back to Canada since. There are two other smaller dogs who are real sweeties. Here we had good looks at the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, the Green-crowned Brilliant, the Flame-coloured Tanager (spectacular) and the Ruddy Pigeon to name a few. We had a very nice visit there and the view is from the side of a mountain so one can see for miles. It is a very special place.
Once we went over the mountain, literally, we started to come down into the Savegra Valley is located at the very bottom. In a couple of km, we came down 2,000 feet. We stopped at a turnout to bird and we saw so many special mountain specialties: the Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher, which is just stunning and the Flame-throated Warbler. We were enjoying this stop but we had to move on. We think that we were extra boisterious because we had spent the better part of the day in the bus, we were tired of sitting, or the altitude had gotten to us and we were mixing up our words etc. Our guide had to tell us to "Focus please". Steve knew that we had the chance of really great birds at this mountain stop.
We continued driving down and of course we came upon construction hold-ups. While waiting we saw the Sooty Thrush and the Acorn Woodpeckers. Traffic started to move and the route down was steep and slow. We arrived safely at the Hotel Savegra thanks to our fantastic driver Vernon. Thank you Vernon. He has done this drive many times. It was much cooler here and soon it was dark. Tomorrow we head out in the early morning and we will be able to see the feeders here also.
According to Steve our best birds of the day were the Volcano Hummingbird, the Flame-throated Warbler (or according to some us "the Flame Thrower Warbler")Warbler and the Barred Parrots.
A super day going from stinking hot to coolish temperatures which will be so much better for the trails.
Here are some great birding moments today.
Barb, Emily, Sami & Lynne
The Hotel Villa Lapas was a lovely place but the internet was iffy and it cut out frequently. I tried to send photos from my iphone to save on my computer so I could post them to the blog and they have yet to arrive. They must be lost in cyberspace somewhere.
We said good bye to the Hotel Lapas and we drove up and out of the lowlands by mid-morning. It was so hot when we stopped at Quepos at the supermarket to stock up on traveling supplies (junk food, nuts and drinks, etc), we were looking forward to cooler weather up in the higher elevations. At Domical we turned off to travel up steep narrow and busy roads to climb to the highest place on the drive of 10,200 feet at Cerro de la Morte which is near Georgina where we stopped at several hummingbird feeders. The way here is several hours of hairpin turns on a busy narrow road. I loaded up on Gravol and Sue gave me some ginger pills for nausea.
We made a top before that at Bosque Del Tolomuco, a B&B with lots of feeders in the cloud forest. It was sunny when we arrived on the very steep private road and we were greeted by Enzo, an Australian Heeler. The owners of this B&B are Rolf and Lise Zersch who built this beautiful spot with cabins, hot tub and swimming pool up in the clouds. They moved here from Winchester, Ontario 17 years ago. It took them 4 years to build the home and B&B and they have not been back to Canada since. There are two other smaller dogs who are real sweeties. Here we had good looks at the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, the Green-crowned Brilliant, the Flame-coloured Tanager (spectacular) and the Ruddy Pigeon to name a few. We had a very nice visit there and the view is from the side of a mountain so one can see for miles. It is a very special place.
Once we went over the mountain, literally, we started to come down into the Savegra Valley is located at the very bottom. In a couple of km, we came down 2,000 feet. We stopped at a turnout to bird and we saw so many special mountain specialties: the Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher, which is just stunning and the Flame-throated Warbler. We were enjoying this stop but we had to move on. We think that we were extra boisterious because we had spent the better part of the day in the bus, we were tired of sitting, or the altitude had gotten to us and we were mixing up our words etc. Our guide had to tell us to "Focus please". Steve knew that we had the chance of really great birds at this mountain stop.
We continued driving down and of course we came upon construction hold-ups. While waiting we saw the Sooty Thrush and the Acorn Woodpeckers. Traffic started to move and the route down was steep and slow. We arrived safely at the Hotel Savegra thanks to our fantastic driver Vernon. Thank you Vernon. He has done this drive many times. It was much cooler here and soon it was dark. Tomorrow we head out in the early morning and we will be able to see the feeders here also.
According to Steve our best birds of the day were the Volcano Hummingbird, the Flame-throated Warbler (or according to some us "the Flame Thrower Warbler")Warbler and the Barred Parrots.
A super day going from stinking hot to coolish temperatures which will be so much better for the trails.
Here are some great birding moments today.
Barb, Emily, Sami & Lynne
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