Costa Rica – Part 4

Day 8 (25th Jan) Ensenade Lodge, then to Arenal Lodge

I heard a Whimbrel calling as it flew the lodge at 3am.

Ensenade Lodge grounds - The Black-headed Trogon and a Yellow-naped Parrot again.

A new species of Hummingbird was Canivet’s Emerald, and I think this is the only shot I got of it. Another nice shot of Cinnamon Hummingbird in the sun (showing the rufous tail this time). We also had Ruby-throated again.

And this female Green-breasted Mango showed nicely.

The Red Cracker butterfly (Hamadryas amphinome) has brick red colour on the underside of its hind wing. (Lying with flat wings for camouflage is not seen in our butterflies.) This male Streak-backed Oriole showed off its colours in the morning light.

Four Hoffman’s Woodpecker in one tree ! And a Great Crested Flycatcher (I think).

A flock of White-fronted Parrots were feeding noisily in some trees – a video shows that they are easy to hear, but not so easy to see !

Transit - When Chris shouted “Jabiru”, even Erick was jumping around the coach ! It had just flown up from a fish farm, which we stopped at. There were 7 Limpkin in the ponds. Also a Wood Stork, 3 Cormorants, Least Grebe, Snowy Egret, And in fields over road, 40 Little Egret and 40 unidentified small waders.

4 Lesser Scaup were diving for molluscs (only viewable from inside coach, and higher view).

Northern Jacana (2) and Grey-breasted Martins (7). Also an Osprey circled.

Arenal Observatory Lodge – our new destination was also amazing. Our first view of the volcano from the coach (and this view was not seen for the next 2 days, as cloud covered the top!). And the view from the room’s balcony was straight into the dense forest.

But even before we got our room key a fruiting Fig Tree by reception had attracted these Yellow-throated & Keel-billed Toucans – look at the colours on that bill !

And from the room’s balcony I found this Spotted Woodcreeper (the only one we saw).

The next overwhelming moment for the sense was the first look from the balcony of the lodge – with the volcano looming in the background and an amazing feeding station in the foreground; it was so full of birds. The view to the left wasn’t too shabby.

The photo below has 18 Red-legged Honeycreepers ! (Zoom in and check carefully for the green females.) Crested Guan and Collared Aracari.

Yellow-throated Euphonia (different species to the similar Euphonias we have had – that is the beauty of Costa Rica.) Male & female.

Tennessee Warbler is common, but comes in various shades to catch you out. And Melodious Blackbird.

Red-legged and Green Honeycreepers up close. Wow, they are bright !

A troop of Coatis calmly went through the gardens, and a Silver-throated Tanager

Black-cheeked Woodpecker and Clay-coloured Thrush.

This Long-tailed Tyrant performed the whole time we were there. And Montezuma Oropendola. There were also Chestnut-headed Oropendolas.

Buff-throated Saltator and Black-striped Sparrow.

Red-rumped & Emerald Tanagers. We also had Crimson-collared, Golden-hooded and Hepatic Tanagers.

This was a good one to get a photo of – Tropical Parula. And Violet-headed Hummingbird. We also had our only Scaly-breasted Hummingbird.

This Sphinx Moth was by the restaurant, and one of the few Orchids we saw in flower (Sobralia citrea).

We saw Chestnut-sided Warbler many times, but they are a delight. This a female. And this is a Tarantula Hawk wasp – it is 6cm long and reproduces by stinging a Tarantula spider, burying it, and laying an egg (then the larvae eats the still-alive spider). To do this it has the second most painful sting of any insect – the first is the Bullet Ant – see later.

A male Variable Seedeater (this is the Caribbean subspecies, nearly all black) and Orange-chinned Parakeet (with brown shoulder).

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird was the one we saw most often, but nicely showing the rufous rear end here.

Pink Bananas and Crimson-collared Tanager.

A Spider Monkey used its prehensile tail to swing through the trees.

The other notable sightings this day, were an Ornate Hawk-eagle which flew low over, scattering a flock of Oropendolas, and a 3cm long baby Gecko that landed on our driver’s (Luis) shirt at diner !

Day 9 (26th Jan) Arenal Observatory Lodge

Lodge grounds – As the sun rose, 6 Great Curassow came out of the bushes to feed, including this black male. Also 3 Crested Guan. Next the Oropendolas descended on the feeders with 15 Montezumas and a couple of Chestnut-headed Oropendola.

Then the smaller birds came in, including a lovely Golden-winged Warbler. Then we went for a walk and found a Hummingbird nest under construction, from lichen, moss and spider web. It was only about 4cm wide.

I think that these two are Mistletoe Tyrannulet and Boat-billed Flycatcher. We also saw: a Stripe-breasted Wren (and heard 2 more), heard a Black-throated Wren (and seen in silhouette briefly), a female White-ruffed Manakin, a male White-necked Jacobin, female Black-crested Coquette, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Tawny-capped and Olive-backed Euphonia.

Tiger Longwing butterfly and the Coatis were in the forest.

The Red-eyed Tree Frog hides during the day, but we saw them come out at night. Back in the room, this large Silver Argiope spider had its ‘X’ pattern within the web – it is not known exactly why, but it seems to do with UV light (either detering predators or may be attracting prey).

After breakfast, a better photo of the Long-tailed Tyrant, and 2 Masked Tityra.

Then we went for a walk from the lodge, and had a female Scarlet-thighed Dacnis and a nice female Slaty-tailed Trogon.

Rufous Motmot (the racquet-tails hanging below the branch) and I think this flycatcher is one of 2 Tropical Peewee.

Then Cinnamon Becard and this pair of White-necked Jacobin.

Then we had a raptor-fest ! Starting with this White Hawk.

Then a Great Black-Hawk

And then an Ornate Hawk-Eagle took to the air.

And then a different, moulting, Ornate Hawk-Eagle (we had 3 different ones in all). One landed in a distant tree ! (Photo by Chris Jones.) We also had a Short-tailed Hawk.

Nightmare spiders, and what the volcano looked like most of the time. Northern Rough-winged Swallow (we had four here).

This was one of the sightings of the trip – Wilson’s Snipe in a muddy ditch by cow sheds – apparently a first for the Arenal Observatory ! And also a Black Phoebe there, and another Northern Waterthrush.

Social Flycatcher and Blue-black Grassquit.

A pair of Yellow-faced Grassquits (photo by Chris Jones) and a pair of Giant Cowbirds – see the red eye.

This is one of the most commonly seen birds – Tropical Kingbird (about to cough up a pellet). And glad to see a Bat Falcon.

Lodge then road trip, in afternoon – After lunch, we met on the lodge’s veranda, and I found this Olive-sided Flycatcher (which was the only one of the trip) and there was also this male Tawny-capped Euphonia.

And a couple of birds from this morning seen again; Slaty-tailed Trogon and Black Phoebe.

The half-moon was out, and showed the difference in appearance from at home; the half being horizontal, rather than at an angle, as near the equator.

Some of the Costa Rican birds are so lovely and easy to photo; White-faced Nunbird and Keel-billed Motmot (which has a restricted CR range and is rare).

Broad-billed Motmot. We also had 2 Bay Wren and 20 Grey-rumped Swift.

The 5th instalment of the trip will be here !)