March 6 - The rain gods followed us for most of the day

Today we awoke to the sound of rain but for Costa Rica and the rainforest this is not unusual.  It usually rains overnight.  This rain did not let up.  One could not even see the massive mountain/volcano in front of the deck this morning, the mist and clouds were so low.  It rained pretty well all morning and into the afternoon.  It only cleared up around 3 pm.

We started birding here at Arsenal at 5:45 am. We drove on the property to the butterfly and garden area and we had lovely looks at the Scaly-backed Hummingbird, the Woodstar and the Brown Violetear Hummers.  We watched in the rain as these little birds went from one Verbena blossom to the next.  The rain poured.  We went for breakfast and then we drove down the mountain to Sanersos Boganin and the feeders there.  We were sheltered on the deck so it was a good idea to visit this place.  They even made us fresh coffee here.  We had the Grayish Saltator, the Buff-throated Saltator and Hoffman's Woodpecker to name a few birds.  It continued to rain but at the same time the feeders were filled and everyone was cozy.

The Grey-headed Chachalacas seemed to be acting like lovebirds today.

This was the White-throated Crake that came out of the bushes to feed in front of us at the feeders today (bottom of the mountain).  Isn't this pretty!  It is really hard to get a good photo as the birds move so quickly even thought they are walking on the ground.

We returned to Arsenal Observatory Lodge and had lunch.  It continued to pour and we had a break until 2:45 pm.  I got a couple of things ironed since I borrowed an iron from the Front Desk.  Emily keeps teasing me about the ironing but my clothes are wrinkled out of the suitcase!!  I even had a half hour nap and fell asleep listening to the rain. 

The sun finally came out and we only had a few showers in the later afternoon.  Out we went in the minibus again.

For the afternoon we went down the mountain again and hiked the Old Road to the Dam which will become a National Park in a couple of years.  The road was dirt, rock and muddy in sections but still pretty good.  This area is heavily treed and has lots of bushes and has lots of birds hiding in the bushes but only a few were willing to come out.

These birds were along the road down from the mountain.  Red-lored Parrots.

We birded here until 5:20 pm which allowed us to make to happy hour.  Our best bird this afternoon, according to our guide was the Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet.  It is a very small bird which has a very vibrant yellow belly.  Again we had a big supper - the food is very good and the portions are really big.  We ended the day, doing two days of bird lists and now we are just chilling and on our computers.  Tomorrow morning is another early morning start.

This was Toucan that visited the trees overlooking the deck of Arsenal.  The Chestnut-mandibled Toucan.

Sami & Lynne are also enjoying the trip and Sami has taken thousands of photos!

Barb, Emily, Sami & Lynne

March 5 - to Arenal Volcano and the simmering mountain

I slept great last night, even the thundering rain on the tin roof did not wake me up.  Emily told me that it had rained heavily last night.  I slept like the dead and woke up for 5:30 with the alarm.  The sky was mainly blue this morning with just a few overcast areas.  This was our last night at La Quinta which is a well designed lodge and overall a lovely place.

After an early morning breakfast we hiked the trails on the grounds of La Quinta.  Here we found the smallest trogon, the Black-throated Trogon.   The bird is striking and the tail has intricate black and white.  The bird gave us some great views!

 WE also had Black-headed Grosbeak, Boxer Swift and Chestnut-collared Swifts.  We then had to pack up our stuff and the suitcases were loaded into the minibus.

On the way north we stopped at a fast flowing river and our elevation was high enough for Dippers but no luck.  We did view the Torrent Flycatcher and the Black Phoebe on the water and in and around the rocks.  A Green Kingfisher was also on the rocks flying around.  It was really hot here.

We continued our drive and we made a stop at the supermarket for anything anyone needed which ranged from tea, to junk food, to wine to beer and whatever.  Each one of us was fully stocked.  Right after leaving the area we drove by fields and someone spotted the stunning Red-breasted Meadowlark and the red was so bright, it stood out very easily in a huge field.  

We drove up back to the cloud forest to see if anything was flying around in the sunny day and the thermals that would be generated.  We were not disappointed.  We had a Barred Hawk, and Short-tailed Hawk (both light and dark morphs).

We had lunch at a Costa Rican restaurant with great local music playing and good hearty food.  We ate like usual, outside and under cover.  This restaurant was on the main street of a tourist town with Luigi's Pizza and Luigi's Hotel and Casino signs.  The girls in our group were looking at the Spa sign across the road which offered a special for a 75 minute massage for $35 US.  This looked real interesting to us.  At the restaurant, the waitress ground our coffee at the table in an old fashioned manual grinder and then made coffee at the table, adding hot boiling water to the bag of grinds filtering into another tin pot.  The coffee was amazing!

From here we headed to the Arenal Volcano, about a three hour drive in total from La Quinta.  The volcano was quickly visible from a great distance with the top surrounded by clouds.  We did not get rained on today except for a sprinkle.  There have been no eruptions of Arenal since March 2010.  But it remains a "simmering volcano with steam generated by the thermal activity in the volcano's bowl.

As we drove closer the clouds disappeared and we could see the flat top of the volcano which are the sides of the bowl.  We made a stop in the shadow of the volcano and we saw the Magpie Jay.

Arenal Lodge is against Arenal Volcano/Mountain.  The lodge is 1.7 miles away and one can see the trails of the volcanic eruption down the side of the mountain.  The roads look covered in volcanic ash and maybe that is how the ash is used.  The view is stunning and to the west is a huge lake created by the hydro dam built upriver.  The area is stunning and the trees are Eucalyptus and what looks like pines.  The back deck of the place over looks feeding stations and everyone (birds and mammals) get a chance at fresh fruit.

The Euphonia bird below was at the feeding station and anything that is dropped to the ground, the Coati cleans up.

 Once we got settled we went for a 1 hour hike and saw this poisonous Viper in a hole in a nearby fence.  It was a bright yellow colour.

We met for supper at the lodge and we ordered our supper which was excellent but the continuous days of activity are catching up to everyone on the tour and by the end of the meal it was decided to delay the bird list to tomorrow.  We still have an early start tomorrow, for a hike before breakfast, so an early bedtime is necessary.  Today we saw a lot of different habitats but the excitement generated by seeing the volcano from a distance and then closer up, the view is amazing.  We are hoping for a "bit" of activity from the volcano while we are here, but just a bit...  The volcano is the nature view of the trip for me.  The mountain volcano is awesome.

Barb, Emily, Sami & Lynne

March 4 - to Rio San Jose, Old Butterfly Garden and Cope's Antpitta

A day trip to Rio San Jose for the Fasciated Tiger Heron  and Howler Monkeys to the superb Old Butterfly Garden and the local guide Cope's Antpita visit and his feeders.

We had an early start today again and the weather looked dubious today which was overcast and sunny at times.  We had downpours several times today and "ran for it" with our optics and cameras.  The other day nothing worked after we got everything wet.

We travelled and walked along the Rio San Jose which was a semi rural area with small chicken operation and farms.  We crossed a walking bridge to the other side to view Fasciated Tiger Heron chicks and the parents in a tree which were well hidden.  We walked to a large Fig tree which had tons of activity with Tanagers and Hummingbirds. 

At the shores of the Rio San Jose, we had great looks at a bird that rarely shows up in Ottawa.  Florida is where I saw my first Yellow-crowned Night Heron and it is a spectacular bird. The Yellow-crowned Night Heron was standing in the water very still waiting for some prey to come by then moved very quickly.

We then loaded up the minibus and travelled to the Old Butterfly Garden which was brimming with hummingbird activity.  White-necked Jacobin, Coquette and Snowcap Hummers were present and entertained us for over an hour.


We then traveled down the road to pick up our local guide.  He showed us the local Potoo in a tree snag and sitting on an egg in a snag during a heavy rain.  We then took the rainy period to have lunch in a nearby restaurant.

Cope took us to the forests near his town of La Union to see the Spectacled Owl and the Thicket Antpita.  Both were wonderful to view.  We were in the forest and we had to watch out for snakes and slippery rocks and on the way back, rain.  We saw three Spectacled Owls and the Antpita came out when it was called and it was a very pretty bird.

From here it rained on us again and we ended up our late afternoon at Cope's feeders which had the Belted Aracari and Pale-vented Pigeon and a Mantis and lizards.

Cope's feeders had male and female Green Honeycreepers visiting the fruits and here are the pair.

Plus Cope is an artist and several of us bought his prints.  We loved this place and there was always something to see.  There were stools to sit on and on the other side of the property there was a Three-toed Sloth which was awake and eating in an overhead tree.   This mantis was huge and was responsive to certain movements that Cope made.

We returned to the La Quinta, our last night here and had a lovely meet up at the end of the day.

Here are some photos contributed by Sami and Emily.

Barb, Emily, Sami & Lynne.

March 3 - La Selva Biological Station and only one shower today

This morning we had an early start and I packed an extra shirt, umbrella and my winter car coat (all nylon black stuffable weighs nothing) so if I got wet, I could change.  Yesterday I was soaked and my camera and binocs had to be blowed dried last evening to get rid of the fog inside.  Today we were lucky and we only had one shower and I only used the umbrella once.

We left at 6:15 am after breakfast for La Selva which is the International Bilogical Station where research is done here from all over the Americas.  This place was started by Duke University in the fifties and now run by an international board.  There are labs here and all kinds or research done on plants, mammals etc.  Emily was a bit under the weather so she stayed behind.

We arrived to the early morning chorus of birds,  the flycatchers were out (Tropical, Social), swifts and other birds.  We spent all day here and got all kinds of birds this morning, Becards, Jacamar, and doves.  There were Mangrove Swallows and Gray-breasted Martins flying around.  We were fortunate that it was overcast as it was 28 degrees very early on.  We walked the trails and had to be careful with stepping off the path (lots of snakes).  We did not see any!

We walked into the forest to see the  Vemiculated Screech Owl and it was a pretty owl to see and we went into the forest trail two at a time.  There was the Rufous Mourner, Rufous-winged Woodpecker and the Grey-rumped Swift.  There are a lot of birds here.  We came across the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog and its call is really loud for such a tiny frog.

This butterfly was in the Butterfly House at La Quinta and is quite spectacular.

We saw several other birds at the feeders at La Quinta today.  The Passerini's Tanager couple.

 This is the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog and it is the size of a loonie.  We also saw several in the landscaped areas of the restaurant we had lunch at, so they are everywhere.

We also viewed this slow moving lizard at La Quinta

This was the afterglow after the sunset at the end of the day.

We returned to La Quinta for lunch.  Emily is fine and joined the group for the rest of the day.  During the siesta time I stayed at La Quinta's feeders and watched some lovely birds.  I did have a short siesta and we went back to La Selva for an afternoon of large birds such as the Crested Guan and the Great Currosaw, in addition to many other birds.  .  We saw the Giant Tinnamou and on the way home the Gray Hawk and the Scarlet Macaw.  In between we had many many other birds.

We waited in the near dark to see the Green Ibis to fly down river and could hear them but never saw them.  We also fought the mosquitoes which came out in the evening. 

Both Sami and Emily contributed to the photos yesterday and today.

Bugs are not bad here but then I used a lot of Deet today.  From our balcony today we found a Fasciated Tiger Heron in the creek across from us.  Another beautifully patterned heron.

This was a full day of birding and there are not many hummingbirds in the Caribbean Lowlands.  I did not see a single one and Emily saw one only.

Barb & Emily

March 2 - from Robledal Hotel to Poasito to La Paz Waterfall Garden to Chinchona and little Pueblo

We all met at 6 am to bird the wonderful grounds of Robledal Hotel.  Last night we arrived in the dark so we could not really see the place.  In the daytime the grounds here are beautiful.  We had the National Bird of Costa Rica, the Clay-coloured Thrush.  It has a beautiful song but it is a dull looking slate-coloured bird.  Our guide Steven told us this bird's song is the notice to farmers that spring is here so this is why it is the National Bird of Costa Rica.

It was a sunny and overcast and rainy day, several times over and over again.  We had wonderful humming birds at Poasito along with some other lovely birds.  Then it rained.  I had brought my long coat instead of a jacket and it was a good idea.  I remembered how cold the cloud forest was in Ecuador and thought I had better bring something warmer than a windbreaker like I did for Ecuador.   I wore my coat in the rain and it was cold as were went up 4500 feet into the mountains.  So then the sun came out again.  This repeated itself over and over again all day.  My coat never dried between drenching showers and then my clothes were damp.  It was not only me, but everyone was damp.  Some of us had extra shirts and jackets.  My camera got damp and I was protecting it, then by the end of the day, my binoculars got fogged like my camera.  Emily's camera just stopped working.  Sami changed shirts several times and by the end of the day, he wore no shirt but a jacket.  I was envious of this as I would have done the same thing, my shirt was so damp but could not go without HAHA...

We went and spent the rest of the morning at La Pas Waterfall Garden which is a wonderful park with a zoo.  We saw wonderful birds near a fig tree and in other places there.  In addition we saw the snake zoo which was good because we could familiarize ourselves with all the venomous snakes and boas here.  We saw the big cats and some birds and the butterfly house.  There were trails also but we were walking in the mist or rain or sunshine and stayed on the well traveled walkways which went up up up or else all the way down.  This is a wonderful place and it would be good to visit here for several days.  The hummingbird garden is magical with all kinds of hummers, creepers, hermits and others.  We could have spent all day there.  We had lunch there and it was delicious also.  There is a hotel there along with a pool and hot tub which looked really great also.  But that is for another trip.

We then went to the Chihchona area where in 2009 an earthquake devasted the village and all that was left was the lookout and the cafe there.  We had really wonderful birds here and it was hard to leave.  We had both the Barbet species here and every time our guide Steven said "let's go" another special bird showed up.  No rain up here either.  From here we traveled down the mountain to the caribbean side of the Costa Rica into the farmed lowlands.  We traveled and stopped several times on the road to La Pueblo and then on to the La Quinta lodge.

We had lots of birds here including the Chestnut-collared Swift and the Lessor Violetear, Coppery-headed Emerald (on the way down the mountain), Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Great and Streaked Antshrike.  Barbr would be happy to hear that we had an immature Crested Caracara.  We also saw some Ontario spring warblers in their winter habitat including, Blackburnian and  Black & White warblers  At La Pas we had the highland endemic, the Flame-throated Warbler. 

This the Barred Antshrike male and female and it is a good bird to get here.  So after looking and listening for the call, the pair showed up along the roadside.  The pair will be soon breeding and sitting on eggs.  They are a striking couple. 

This is a another lovely bird that is just stunning with its colours.  It is like one asked a child to draw a bird with crayons.  Most of the birds were so unique and wonderful.  

We arrived at La Quinta, another lodge in the forest with no internet or TV in the room.  We had a lovely supper and did our bird list and now I am sitting in the lobby typing this out.  Got to go, we have a 5:30 start tomorrow and they are turning out the lights here.    

Barb,Emily and Sami and Lynne
Photos are care of Sami and Emily                       

March 1 travel to Costa Rica - and hair raising/cutting experience

For the second time in four months it took a while to get out of Ottawa.  Today it rained heavy in the early morning and then cleared by the time I left around 10 for the airport.  No problem right? 

At the airport the fog rolled in and our plane from Toronto which we would be going back on, came but could not land and went back. The fog moved around and in and out until we left until 3 pm when we finally could leave.  This left us with a really quick connection to our San Jose flight to Costa Rica.  I ran to the departure gate when we finally landed at debarked at 4:15 with a 10 minute walk/run to Terminal E69 and a departure at 5 pm.  All of us made it but one couple for another tour did not.  I was with them in the debarking of our Ottawa flight in Toronto, but I ran.  I was at the back of the large plane and all of the group has also rushed to make the connection.

No worries, a nice 4.5 hour flight to Costa Rica.  My seatmate was traveling to Monte Verde for a month and was an artist from Vancouver and was going there for the art.  Aaron also showed me his art portfolio photos which were amazing.

We arrived after a short ride at the Hotel Robedal.  We booked into our rooms and then went for a quick evening walk to see the Tropical Screech Owl which is on the landscaped grounds of the hotel.  This is a beautiful property with many birds and even has owl boxes.  We watched the male Tropical Screech Owl male bring food in the dark to the roosting female protecting the eggs.  We also saw the White-winged Dove roosting in a structure.

Emily was on the internet which we had in connections in our room.  I had taken a shower and then I started blow drying my hair with this huge hotel hairblower and I thought "wow really turbo", like a jet engine.  I had a brush which I normally never use for my hair.  I know I packed it and it was the only one I brought.  Blowing some of my hair I got the hair tangled in the brush and the hair brush ended up tight against my scalp.  I tried everything to get it unstuck and it was impossible.  I put all the conditioner I had and got back in the shower to get the brush out with some success but it was still stuck to my scalp and hair.  I asked Emily to help me and it was too much of a mess. I tried for about 40 minutes and finally ended up freeing some hair and cut the rest of the mess out.  The mess in the brush was impossible.  I did the Nadine thing and said "for God's sake" and pitched it all..  Luckily I have some long hair coverage and so I don't have a bare spot on the side of my head.  This has never happened before and what a mess.  I washed my hair again - had to wash all the conditioner out, dried it with a towel and hit the sack it was 1:30 am.  Gosh, not a good start with something stupid like that.  I was too tired be upset once I got that brush out of my hair. 

Slept like the dead and our wake up time was 5:30 am for a 6 am start.

One more week to go before Costa Rica!!

One more week to Costa Rica.  I am trying to finish off my Trinidad and Tobago items so I won't have an old to-do list when I get home.  When I get home from this trip I will be busy.  So an early set-up of the blog and address 2017BarbCR.blogspot.com.

It is still very mild here and maybe the grass will be out by the time I get home.  I am really looking forward to Costa Rica as everyone who I know has really loved it for birding.  I remember our guide in Ecuador, Alejandro, was from Costa Rica.  He was the best bird guide ever.  He talked about the birds in Costa Rica and the various habitats of Costa Rica.  Now finally I am going to experience it for myself.