Costa Rica Part 3

Day 5, Monday 18th

We had a little pre-breakfast birding around the grounds, seeing Pied Puffbird and Rufous-naped Woodrail by the swimming pool. 

Natural Lodge, Cano Negro

Rufous-naped Woodrail

Pied Puffbird

We drove down to the river and eventually managed to locate a calling Grey-headed Dove. Just as we were about to leave a Jabiru appeared so we all bundled back out of the bus and down to the river to see it.

Jabiru

Morelet's Seedeater

Yellow-throated Euphonia

After breakfast we returned to the river for another boat trip. We went along the main river for a while then turned up a side stream. It was a different habitat to yesterday’s trip so we saw a different selection of birds although there were still the usual herons and kingfishers.

I'm pretty sure they do!

Green Basilisk

American Crocodile waiting for a swimmer

First up was a trio of Green Ibis roosting in a tree. 

Green Ibis

We got off the boat a couple of times for some birding on the banks. At the first stop we called in a superb pair of Bare-crowned Antbirds, the male having a dazzling blue bald pate instead of feathers. 

Anhinga

You should have seen the fish I just ate - it was this big

Neotropic Cormorant

Russet-naped Woodrail

We then saw a family group of three roosting Pacific Screech-Owls to make up for missing them last night. Several large kettles of raptors were swirling around to gain height before migrating, the first containing at least 50 Swainson’s Hawks and we also had a single Cooper’s Hawk, a relatively scarce bird in Costa Rica.

Snowy Egret

Pacific Screech-Owl

Northern Jacana

Mangrove Swallow

Bare-throated Tiger-heron

Green Kingfisher

Northern Waterthrush

Great Kiskadee

Grey-breasted Martin (only ever found perched on wires in towns!)

We returned to the hotel, checked out and drove a little way to a restaurant for lunch. Afterwards, we made a stop not far away for a regular Great Potoo on its day roost. 

Great Potoo

Most of the afternoon was spent driving to our next destination but we did make a few roadside stops for Double-striped Thick-knee, Keel-billed Toucan and both species of Sloth. 

Double-striped Thick-knee

Oropendola nests

Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth

Howler Monkey looking for the Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

Mantled Howler Monkey

We arrived at La Quinta around 5pm and had a stroll around the extensive grounds seeing Proboscis Bat and Strawberry Poison-dart Frog (AKA Blue Jeans).

Day 6, Tuesday 19th

An early start for a 5.30 breakfast and getaway at 6.00. On the way we made a brief stop for nesting Great Green Macaw.

Great Green Macaw

Upon our arrival at La Selva we spent an hour outside the reserve looking for birds in the open. After a while, three Snowy Cotingas arrived and perched in the tops of tall trees. We also saw Semiplumbeous Hawk, Mealy Parrot and White-necked Puffbird.

Pair of Semiplumbeous Hawks

Snowy Cotinga

Once in the reserve we had time for coffee and then hit the trails. It had already got quite humid now that we were in the Caribbean lowlands. We spent about four hours walking around seeing a good selection of birds and other critters such as poison-dart frogs, Spider Monkey and various insects. Bird highlights included a Great Tinamou, two separate Middle-American Screech-Owls and another cotinga – Purple-throated Fruitcrow.

Northern Black-throated Trogon

Broad-billed Motmot

Cinnamon Becard

Middle American Screech-Owl

Purple-throated Fruitcrow

Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog

Yellow-bordered Owl Butterfly

We returned to our lodge for lunch and a siesta before going back out to La Selva mid-afternoon. By the football pitch we soon added Dusky-faced Tanager, a pair of Gartered Trogons, Fasciated Antshrike and another Snowy Cotinga. We took a different trail but after plodding around for an hour saw very little so left the reserve and birded outside. We finally connected with Cinnamon Woodpecker and added other new birds like Scarlet Tanager, a pair of Grey-headed Kites and an Osprey.

dragonfly sp

Searching for Grey-headed Kite along the river

Cinnamon Woodpecker

Dusky-faced Tanager

Gartered Trogon

Grey-capped Flycatcher

Scarlet Tanager

We drove to another river and stood on a rickety bridge to look for Short-tailed Nighthawk but drew a blank, instead seeing Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and three Boat-billed Herons that flew in at dusk.