In October of 2025 I was fortunate to get to participate in accomplishing a "Bucket List" trip I have always wanted to do. Visiting Costa Rica has been a dream of mine since I became aware of birds, watching them in the wild, and seeing some of the remaining unspoiled places they live in. Costa Rica ranks as one of the top destinations to see over 900 species of birds that call it home, or migrate through.
The Raptor Research Foundation, an organization dedicated to the communicating of scientific research by professionals the world around, hosted its yearly meeting in Alejuela, Costa Rica this year, a suburb of their capital San Jose. I am not a member of this august organization, but my friend Foxfeather is! She decided to attend as soon as she found out it was planned, and invited me to attend with her husband Roman, and friend, Anastasia (Balaa).
Below is the opening page to a written journal that I attempted to keep, but quickly fell behind, as we were doing so many things I just could not keep up. Pictures and videos had to stand in for my memories, and finally, as the year ticked over into 2026, I've compiled everything to document the journey.
The journey was divided into several sections. I created a Relive Video for most all of the road trips. From here on out, if you see something in RED, it is a link that can be clicked to go see a video, or some background supporting information or web site.
Some pictures were posted out of order as when they occurred as I used them to better explain some of the things we did, saw and experienced. I will also try to identify the scientific name of all the species we encountered to the best of my ability. I am not 100% certain on some of them.
Our journey began with a:
Layover in Florida
We flew out on Wednesday, October 8. Because of the schedule of the planes it was just easier to fly to Florida first, and have a layover in a comfortable hotel. The following morning, beginning a sleep/wake pattern that would follow me throughout the trip, I was awake earlier than my travel companions. I left the room and walked outside into the Florida sunshine. I listened for unfamiliar birds. I did hear the familiar song of a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). I have heard these throughout my life in Texas, but they sadly do not come up into Minnesota. At least, not often. A search of eBird show they are seen as accidentals from time to time. Maybe they will begin to extend their range up here. An unfamiliar crow turned out to be a Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus). It had a different dialect than I am used to. Only using the Merlin App allowed me to ID this crow. They are hard to differentiate by visual observation.
Upon arrival we were shuttled to a pre-arranged car rental place outside of the airport. Caution must be exercised when renting a car, as there are many scams and loopholes that need to be met. Fox did her due diligence, and we had a quality SUV booked for several days for a pre-conference experience in the North of the country in a beautiful resort. This leg of the journey was a gift from Fox to myself and her friend Balaa. It was a wonderful start to our adventure. Roman was our driver, and I do not envy his job. The roads are narrow, poorly marked, frequently pot-holed, and drop off precipitously on the edges. It is not for the faint of heart! He delivered us safely to our destination and back. Thanks MBala!!
2-Day Excursion North - Boca Tapada
Here is the first of several travel videos I made, mostly in country as we completed each leg. I could only include pictures from my cell phone, or stealing off the Internet. Accessing those on the fancier camera that Rich let me borrow would only happen once I got home, and are now used in this blog. There is some duplication, but I tried to keep that at a minimum. The Relive App allowed me to track our journey via cell towers, mostly. Some spots lost coverage as there are many remote places away from the capital. Click the red for the video.
RELIVE VIDEO
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The lodge rooms were comfortable and air conditioned. The attached bathrooms (separated with a solid door to keep the cool air in the sleeping room) were open air with live plants. If it was raining, you could add that rainwater to your shower, however it did not rain while we were there and wanting to clean up. At least twice a hummingbird zoomed into the room to check everything out. We spent two lovely nights here.
After our arrival, well after dark, the Lodge's kitchen was available for an evening meal. This would be the first of many, usually very similar dishes. Always, there is some kind of protein. I had a lot of fish, because I LOVE fish, and it is fresh in Costa Rica. There is usually rice and beans, some kind of green salad, and frequently plantains, either fried, or smashed into chips, called patacones. Our drink was usually some kind of fresh tropical fruit combination. Refreshing and Delicious!!
↓ A Happy Foxfeather in Costa Rica ↓
↓ A Happy Roman (MBala) in Costa Rica ↓
↓ A Happy Balaa in Costa Rica ↓
↓ A Happy Carolyn in Costa Rica ↓
It having been a very long day, we retired to our rooms for sleep shortly after our meal. Each room also had an attached covered veranda that is open to the rain forest, and the river below. We were cautioned to keep our sliding room door to the veranda closed, especially at nightfall, to keep the jungle bats from coming into our sleeping room. We heeded this warning! Hummingbird guests in the bathroom are welcome. Bats should stay in the jungle outside.
The following morning I was awake early, because of my excitement to be in this fabulous place. I wrapped myself up in a blanket and sat out on the veranda and recorded the rain forest waking up. I used the Merlin App to attempt to identify some of the birds I was hearing. It is not always reliable, and birders like to ID with visual confirmation if they can, but it did indicate there was a Green Ibis (Mesembrinibis cayennensis) skulking around the water's edge somewhere, as well as Boat-billed Flycatchers (Megarynchus pitangua). As the sun rose higher the resident Orange-chinned Parakeets (Brotogeris jugularis) began calling among themselves from the tree tops. I never saw any of these birds, only heard them.
When our whole group was finally awake and out of our rooms, we convened to the same Lodge kitchen for our first Costa Rican breakfast. This is also usually predictable throughout the country, consisting of something they call Gallo Pinto (Spotted Rooster), which is a rice and bean combo with herbs (probably leftover and mixed from the previous night's dinner), eggs to your preference, a slice of cheese, a tortilla, some fried plantains, and usually a sliced fruit plate, with the fresh juice drink.
As we ate this first morning in country we enjoyed the view and sounds of the open jungle just beyond our dining area, and a bird feeder with fruit that attracts in the tropical birds. On this first morning there was a mammal guest, a coatimundi, called locally pizotes. This is essentially a Central and South American racoon. We caught pictures of our first tropical birds.
Balaa was my room-mate on this journey. Here she is on our room veranda.
The next morning I made a point to lay in the hammock and enjoy the dawn chorus.
There are tropical flowers everywhere!
↑ Male Red-Legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus)
↑ Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)
↑ The top of the Kiskadee's head, again with the Honeycreeper
↑ Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)
↑ Crested Guan (Penelope purpurascens)
↑ Buff-throated Saltator (Saltator maximus)
↑ Passerini's Tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii)
↑ Some kind of tanager, most likely, that was blue/green/grey. I could not ID.
↑ Golden-Hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata)
↑ Clay-colored Thrush (Turdus grayi)
This is actually the National Bird, called Yiguirro. As boring looking a species as could be selected, when there are so very many more other more colorful birds to select from, it is ubiquitous throughout the country, familiar in city and rural areas, and sings a very beautiful song which usually marks the start of the rainy season. People are happy to see and hear him.
Here is a video of the bird singing. It is very similar to our North American Robin, which is also a thrush. This is from YouTube, and not my recording.
Our journey this day would take us up the road for a special kind of bird feeder. My friend, Foxfeather, is especially interested in the world vulture species. In the valley we were visiting you could see King Vultures. Down the hill from the blind and feeding station was another fruit feeder that attracted more colorful local residents.
↑ Collared Aracari (Pteroglossus torquatus) ↓
↑ Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
↑ Yellow-throated Euphonia (Euphonia hirundinacea)
↑ Red-legged Honeycreeper
↑ Two combined images of Tropical Mockingbird (Mimus gilvus)
↑ Two combined images of Black-cheeked Woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani)
↑ Black-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus) ↓
The sign below marks the parking area to access the King Vulture hide and feeding station. We arrived early so we could walk up the hill to the blind before the birds would arrive. Vultures are large birds, who usually wait awhile to get up and fly in the morning, relying on warming air currents, called thermals, to assist their flying. The guide who operates the hide/blind, Sergio Vargas, also had a spotting scope that your cell phone could be attached to, for good recordings.
King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa)
They are some of the most colorful vulture species in the world.
↓ Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) also joined the morning buffet.
They were less wary, and walked around right outside the blind windows.
After our morning with the vultures, we took our guide out for lunch. The typical lunch is called casado. It often stands in for the late meal as well. We would have many versions of this during our time here.
After lunch we took a break and returned to our resort. I would leave my cell phone to charge, as it had a busy morning recording birds. We would return to the same guide operation for a boat ride down the river, Rio San Carlos. This journey was not reflected on my Relive track as my cell phone needed a nap. These images are off the nice camera.
↑ Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona)
↑ Female Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
↑ Mangrove Swallow (Tachycineta albilinea) ~ I think!
Both pictures are of the same bird. One below has more details of its back. ↓
As far as I can tell from Web searching, these are called Emballonuridae or Sac Winged Bats . There are about 109 species of bats in Costa Rica, so I can't know for sure the exact identification of these. We saw several colonies that like to roost during the daytime on branches sticking up out of the river, safe from most predators.
↑ Green Iguana (Iguana iguana)
↑ Jesus Christ Lizard, or Common Basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus)
This is the famous lizard that runs on water if startled enough to try to escape.
Lastly, a "UFO" picture. These are macaws. They noisily flew over as we made our way down the river. I'm not sure which species of macaw. There are only two in Costa Rica: the Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) and the Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus).
Birds visually identified today but no pictures:
Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis)
Long-billed Hermit (Phaethornis longirostris)
After our boat tour, and as the day turned into night, we just explored down the road looking at the landscape, as we had arrived the previous evening in the dark. We stopped for a light dinner at a small restaurant, which are called sodas in Costa Rica. We were fascinated by the line of leaf cutter ants we had to step over to walk into the restaurant. On our return trip to the lodge we checked out a convenience store for snacks to take back to our rooms, and for our journey back South the next day.
The following morning, as we departed, was just another day in paradise!
We would wind our slow way back, on some very STEEP inclines and declines, with the goal of making it to one of Costa Rica's iconic waterfalls. We stopped in a small village named Pital for cold drinks, fresh fruit, and an ATM.
The preserve is on private land, and like many tourist locations has a fee to be able to enter. The above link allows for exploration in a more comprehensive way than I took pictures or videos to fully represent.
As you enter the facility, there is a covered porch area that also serves as dining location if you wish to buy any food from the vendor. All around and outside this covered area are wet, tropical plants and flowers. There are multiple nectar feeders hung on the edges and inside the porch/dining area. Various hummingbird species fly fearlessly into the enclosed space to delight viewers. A short time later I spent quite a bit of time here, attempting to get pictures, however it was shady enough, and dark, that most of them were not clear.
↑ Green Hermit (Phaethornis guy) ~ maybe! Not Certain At All!!!
↑ Most likely a Warbler of some kind or other. With a potential greater than 50 species of warblers in tropical Central America, only a much better skilled birder or ornithologist could precisely ID this one.
Once you pass through the porch/dining area, you go through an additional gate, and grab a walking stick if you are so inclined. I was! A short walk down heavily vegetated paths will bring you to viewing areas that you can see the entirety of the waterfall, the main attraction of this site. If you so desire you can follow the paths and take some slippery/mossy stairs down to the base of the falls, and fully experience the thunder of the impacting water. Swimming is not allowed, as the flow channel is deep with strong currents. I opted to NOT go to the base, as I distrusted the slippery stairs, and my ability to navigate them safely. Two in our party did go all the way to the bottom.
Another option was to take a side path that led up a short distance to something they called the garden. Here they have planted many flowering tropical plants, with sitting benches and a fountain, although it was lightly raining so sitting would have resulted in a wet butt.
I enjoyed the garden for awhile, taking pictures, before returning to the porch/dining area to wait for my companions to finish their own experiences of this beautiful location. I did a little journaling, as I had not yet given up trying to keep up with all the activities we had done thus far, and watched hummingbirds, hopelessly trying to ID them.
When everyone had returned, Fox checked her resources and found an eBird Hot Spot for birding. It was a coffee plantation with attached restaurant and coffee bar. By the time we arrived there, it was pouring, POURING rain. I did brave the wet long enough to get a picture of ripening coffee beans, then joined my friends for a casado dinner.
We would then finish navigating back to Alejuela. Roman and Fox dropped Balaa and myself off at the conference hotel, as we had a night booked there, pre-conference. They then returned the rental car, and caught a transport back to join us. The following morning we would embark on a conference-scheduled adventure to the South-East region of Costa Rica, to visit the Talamanca Hawk Watch.
2-Day Excursion (Conference Associated)
Drive to Southeast, Caribbean Coast
RELIVE VIDEO
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For a closer look at these maps, click the image. It will open up.
The next leg of our journey was to join a pre-conference expedition to a hawk watch site at the far South-east corner of the country. Birds, hawks and vultures and falcons, and plenty of other smaller birds, migrate along the shoreline as they make their way out of North America to winter in warm South America.
Our trip would transition from cool, wet, misty highlands in the North, to very tropical, wet, HOT Caribbean coastal rainforest. The next several days were very sweaty! Our little group was expanded with the addition of Nathalie. She is the head falconer and curator at Deutsche Greifenwarte Burg Guttenberg: Adler, Geier, Eulen u.a. Greifvogel, in Germany. Fox had befriended her previously as they are both members of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators I.A.A.T.E.
It is a little hard to tell, but we are all sweating our butts off!
Oh Look! Another version of casado! We would eat at the same restaurant for almost all of our meals, as our meals were included in the tour package we paid for. The protein for the meal could be changed up, so each meal could be just a little different.
Our next two days would be spent in and around Cahuita, which is the doorway to the Cahuita National Park. When we arrived, and before we had lunch, we were able to walk into the main gate and explore the park for about an hour.
There were iguanas.
There was a group working with hatching turtles.
Many birds could be seen, but with the shady canopy my pictures were not the best. This was also the first time I saw, was shown by someone else, a sleeping sloth.
↑ Broad-winged Hawk, Adult (Buteo platypterus)
After lunch our group was divided into two, and we were taken to our accommodations for the next two nights. One group stayed in Cahuita. I and my companions were in the group that loaded back up on the bus and drove about a half hour back North. I was very appreciative of being in the group that stayed at the Goddess Garden, because I think it was so much better a place that the town location.
Our rooms were on the second floor of one of the bungalows that made up the Goddess Garden, which is a Yoga Retreat. The link opens up the gallery of photos at their website. The surrounding grounds are lushly landscaped with flowering plants, a Caribbean beach is within walking distance, and howler monkeys can be heard at all hours.
Hibiscus flowers bloom everywhere, inviting a person to pluck and tuck behind the ear and take a selfie to remember the tropical adventure.
On the grounds, found walking the trails, is this very large tree, with extensive roots both above and below ground. The sign identifies it, its various names and age. It was probably an inspiration to name the resort.
Here is a terrible picture of a troop of howler monkeys, resting in the canopy. They really do call all night long.
The beach is not far away.
After settling into our rooms that first night and cleaning up, we rendezvoused back at the busses a few hours later to return to Cahuita and dinner.
Surprise! Casado again! This time pork for me.
It had been a long day, so we returned to get a good night's rest for the next day.
The following morning was the highlight of the trip. Our two groups converged and made the trip up the overlooking elevated ridges towards the Talamanca Hawk Watch.
There are many locations throughout the world where the natural topography of the landscape funnel birds that are on migration through corridors where avian scientists, naturalists, and enthusiasts gather year after year to conduct a survey of the population that is flying through. Over the years it has accumulated a trove of data that gives a window into the health of the ecology and bird populations, and is valuable research information. The conference we were in Costa Rica to attend (well, my friend Fox anyway) is a yearly gathering of just such raptor professionals, ornithologists, university professors and grad students who conduct research in all areas of avian biology, specifically raptors. The Talamanca Hawk Watch is still relatively primitive, but it joins just such sites from around the world.
Here are just a couple links for anyone that may be curious.
This covers the North, Central and South American areas of study, to include our own Duluth Hawk Ridge.
This covers the Western area of the United States, and partners with organizations throughout the world.
I'm sure there are many other esteemed organizations that conduct the same valuable work.
Here is a video produced by Hawk Watch that more eloquently communicates the work that is done in similar hawk count migration locations.
The busses drove us up to the base station, a fairly well established open building with bathrooms and a few nearby houses and farm fields. To reach the migration count location you would have to walk up a muddy, slippery, long slope. It may not be that challenging for the young and spry, but was a bit of a challenge for me, especially on the return down. I would only ascend myself once. Around the middle of the day people broke from the count to come have lunch at the base station, and then many returned up the hill. I opted to stay behind and wait out the day. There were still many birds in the valley to see, and I used the time to compile some of the observations I had made over the past few days.
This is a carving of an Ornate Hawk Eagle, an iconic Central and South American Raptor.
In the valley were trees where Montezuma oropendolas (Psaroclius montezuma) have woven their hanging nests. It must not have been the breeding season, as none were in attendance, although I did hear them.
Later I was able to take a picture of this species at a zoo I would attend. I also recorded their behavior when they make their distinctive call.
Like most hawk watch locations, the count platform commands a stunning view. The platform is recently constructed, and they are actively fundraising to build an observation tower. There is a dedicated team that take turns observing and recording birds flying by. We happened to attend on a day which, due to the weather, very few birds would be migrating. The next day, that our group did not attend to the watch, would see thousands of birds pass by. We even observed this ourselves far from the watch promontory, and all while we traveled along the coast returning to Alajuela.
Go full screen on the video below for full effect.
Just as with the night tour, I documented much of what we observed in the Relive video you can click above, so I will not duplicate the effort here. However, I do add the video below. There were several guides along with our group who would break off and take people into the forest and find and identify the wildlife. This would be the first time I observed one of the giant spider species found in the rain forest. The guides are all very nonchalant about them. I was fascinated, but definitely not enough to touch them. One of the guides took my cell phone and made a close up recording for me. In the video I refer to it as "he", but this is actually the female, which are very much bigger.
↑ Golden Orbweaver Spider
I don't think the picture above clearly reflects the harrowing nature of the walk up and down to the observation deck. It is about 300 meters, or about 330 yards, which is the equivalent of about 3 football fields of unpaved mud. In some places it can be deep and squishy, and others very slippery. I would only walk it once.
Waiting below after lunch I did take a few nice pictures as I relaxed for several afternoon hours.
Unknown hummingbird and butterfly species.
That blob below is a sleeping sloth.
Birds visually identified today but no pictures
Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus)
Variable Seedeater (Sporophila corvina)
Wood Pewee (Western or Eastern - uncertain!) (Contopus sordidulus or Contopus virens)
At the end of the day we would all load our muddy and exhausted selves back onto the bus to return back to our rooms to clean up, then return to Cahuita for dinner.
My dinner casado was "rice and beans", which
should not be confused with "beans and rice", which most of my other
casado meals were. If the rice goes first, it is a kind of fried rice. Mine had shrimp.
Afterward, those who wanted to participate, were guided on a
night walk behind the park. Our group did participate in the walk, and I took
many pictures. I made them a part of the Relive video above, so will not cover
that ground again. My pictures were not the best, but it was interesting to see
several frogs, a venomous snake, and various insects.
The next day our little group decided to not participate in returning to the Hawk Watch, and instead booked ourselves a tour to see how chocolate is made.
There are many non-native companies that have chocolate tours, but we opted for an authentic experience that would also infuse funds to actual local people. We had a private tour.
There are several sovereign native peoples in Costa Rica. The graphic below was captured when I later toured one of the museums in the capital. Each distinct color denotes a tribe and their geographic territory.
Our guide was a native Bribri woman. She demonstrated the natural way to process cacao.
After we arrived we followed her out into her yard garden where she explained the cacao plant, and harvested one of the pods.
The pods grow out of the trunk of the plant. Here you can see some of the tiny flowers, which when pollinated, grow into the pods. It really is an unusual plant.
She brought inside the ripe pod, which is yellow when ready to use, and cut it open. The seeds are fleshy and can be eaten (not the seed inside the flesh). It is lightly sweet, but does not taste like chocolate at all.
The normal process is to lay the fleshy seeds out under the sun for several days, where they will dry and ferment.
The fermentation process is what activates the molecules which will become the chocolate flavor when roasted.
↓ Dried cacao beans, ready to roast.
Our guide then started a low fire, where she would eventually roast the beans. However, in this video she is preparing banana leaves, softening the latex covering on them, to make them into a kind of wrapping paper that the final chocolate product is stored in. However, we would not be able to buy the finished chocolate in the banana leaf as there are strict quarantine protocols with moving all banana products around. Because bananas are such a major cash crop in so many areas of Central and South America, and in order to prevent spread of banana diseases, it is highly regulated. I would buy a chocolate bar wrapped in plastic.
The beans are to be roasted on a low fire and stirred constantly to prevent them from burning.
When the roasting is done, they are ground up into a shred. I imagine industrial chocolate making actually grinds it down into a smooth paste.
The bar I bought can be shaved off, but it does not actually melt. It is also somewhat bitter as there is no sugar added, which modern processing adds to varying degrees.
The end result is a bar of natural chocolate which I purchased. This bar was not the one we made.
She also sold containers of cacao butter, which is used as a skin cream. It is rather hard, and has to be melted to be spreadable.
It was a very interesting demonstration of how chocolate has been made by native peoples for generations.
After our tour demonstration we moved down the road and explored a water fall. We had to walk down to it, but the stairs were well maintained, and there were not that many of them.
I really don't care if I'm a flubby middle-aged woman. I was having a very good time, and sleeveless t-shirts are cool for the hot weather. The water was refreshing.
Toes should touch the water!
Fox and Balaa were busy looking for birds.
I found a tropical frog. Is it the poison dart kind??
Roman had his swim trunks so he took a dip, and swam out to where the waterfall hit the pond.
After our waterfall experience, there was a jolly fellow who was giving freshly sliced fruit away. He also sang us a fun song about "Coco Loco", encouraging us to buy one. Roman and I did and shared it. It is a tropical drink, like you would buy at a bar, made with rum and fresh coconut water, served in the coconut that was sliced open to obtain the water.
Just more FUN vacation adventures!!
All during our day's activities there was a river of raptors flowing above us. The people that returned to the Hawk Watch surely got an exciting show.
I was happy to see it while doing other things, and not climbing a muddy hill again.
We would return to Cahuita, and later join the whole group for the ride back on the bus to Alajuela.
The river of raptors flowed all day.
We would stop one last time for the final casado lunch before we left the Caribbean coast. My choice had a sweet-n-sour twist.
5-Day Conference, Day Trips for Me
We would return to Alejuela, to the Double Tree by Hilton, where the 2025 Raptor Research Foundation conference was held. I was just a tag-along for this portion of our time in Costa Rica. Fox was a vendor, but did have assistance from her husband and her friend, Balaa, who was also a vendor. The first day I just lounged in our room and did some laundry. The remaining days I arranged for activities for myself.
The Double Tree had very interesting architecture. It is an open concept hotel, in the style of a courtyard house. There is not even a front door, but instead a wide open entrance pavilion. There were always attendants at the door that probably could double as bouncers if anyone got out of line. A large portion of the lobby, and for that matter several hallways, are built with a covered walkway, but completely open, with areas where rain could pass through, and green growing plants below. It certainly felt airy and inviting.
There were also many little nooks where a person could tuck themselves away if they wished and check their cell phone, or read a book, or journal. Because my roommates often slept in each morning until they absolutely had to get up, and I am rather an early riser, I would frequently slip out of the room and go find someplace to hang out until folks woke up.
Just down the street was a very nice fresh market that sold great coffee, freshly baked bread (seriously delicious - I ate too much of it), and various breakfast concoctions. Many mornings I would make my way there upon leaving the room and get a coffee and something to eat. The hotel also had a very excellent morning breakfast buffet, so starting the day off right was always easy.
On one of these mornings as I left the fresh market I encountered a birding couple. How did I KNOW they were a birding couple?? Well, each of them had a nice pair of binoculars strapped to their body, and they were out and about at 6:30! I bid them a friendly 'hello', and we chatted a bit as I asked them what they had seen that morning, birding wise. It would turn out that the meeting was fortuitous.
It was my desire to take an Uber on several of these days while the conference was underway to go do and see some things for myself in the area. After all, I was not attending the conference! However, I didn't want to do that by myself. I pondered how I could find someone who would also like to do these things. The solution revealed itself to me without much effort on my part.
This couple, Erin and her husband Brent, were attending the conference, but it was Brent who is the scientist participating. Erin was the tag-along in the couple. We fell in together like old friends, and would go on to do several things together over the next few days.
On Thursday, October 16 we tested out how the Uber App works, as neither of us had used it before, to ride across town to the Butterfly Kingdom Mariposario. It was a warm, mostly dry day while we were there, which is great because butterflies fly more when it is warm and dry. It would go on to pour rain later as we were leaving. It was a wonderful experience.
Enjoy the pictures with minimal commentary.
My new friend Erin holding a nectar stick that the butterflies liked to climb onto and get a sweet drink.
The following day, Friday October 17, we would travel together to visit the Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center and Zoave. It looks like a zoo, and functions very much like one, however many of the animals are unreleasable rehabbed native wildlife. Their enclosures were extensively landscaped, allowing for the captive animal to comfortably hide if it so chose. The zoo also has a medical clinic where injured animals could come for care and rehabilitation.
Rescate made it possible to see some of the iconic Central and South American species that would otherwise take a very skilled guide to help you to see. It would be here I would get to see my favorite raptor (Ornate Hawk Eagle) and a desired lifer bird (Resplendent Quetzal). Spotting these birds in a zoo does not qualify as adding them to a Life List for birding, but was still nice to see a living, breathing specimen of the species.
We paid the extra price to have a Rescate employee to be our guide for a few hours. She provided us with extra background information on many of the animals.
There is an extensive collection of parrots. Costa Rica no longer allows for the taking from the wild, or the new possessing of wildlife, whether from the wild or bred in captivity. Animals owned prior to the new law are grandfathered in, but as people age and their birds outlive them, or also by choice surrendered, they have come to live at Rescate. Above a pair of Blue and Gold Macaws cuddle each other in a nest hole, as below a Scarlet Macaw fluffs out its feathers.
The colors on the bird below are a hybrid, making this bird unreleasable as it could pollute the gene pool of the natural population. Despite this, a very beautiful plummage.
There are also many wild birds that live around the zoo area, because it is so very densely landscaped. Also incredibly well represented at the zoo is the enormous population of those Golden Orb Weaver Spiders. They were EVERYWHERE! They are native, and have found the zoo to be a great place to live.
↑ Gray-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps)
↑ Green Heron (Butorides virescens)
↑ Female Great Curassow (Crax rubra)
All these raptors are non-releasable captives.
↑ White Hawk (Pseudastur albicollis)
↑ Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) ↓
Subspecies kemsiesi, or maybe hadropus
There are multiple subspecies of this ubiquitous hawk. This one is colored differently than what I am used to at home. It is gorgeous!
↑ Gray Hawk (Buteo plagiatus)
Ornate Hawk-eagle (Spizaetus ornatus)
I'm including several images of this most extraordinary jungle raptor. They are gorgeous and are one of my most favorite in all the hawk world.
This poor specimen looked rather bedraggled, but it is a rehab bird, so probably had extensive injuries that landed it in the zoo.
I just love that crest!
↑ Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway)
Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
I took many pictures of the multiple wildcat species in the zoo, but most of the pictures were not very good. Except for the outline of the fence in this one, the animal's profile is distinct, so I included it.
Erin and I NOT hugging a wild sloth.
↑ Rufous-naped Wren (Campylorhynchus rufinucha) ↓
This plucky bird flitted around the tables and surrounding trees as we took a lunch break, enough that I was able to get several pictures for ID.
Sweet fruit smoothy with a new friend!
I was able to get pictures of two wild butterflies. I'm not going to attempt to ID them. Just enjoy how pretty they look.
And now - the most exquisite of the tropical birds, that would take a lot of effort to see in the wild, but I was able to observe in a capture situation.
Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno)
It was a very nice day at the zoave!
On Saturday, October 18 I joined a pre-planned tour of the capital city San Jose, organized by the Conference. One does not come to Costa Rica to look at the city! Like many Central and South American cities, it is crowded, with old and new architecture stacked on top of each other. I did not take a picture, but can describe how many of the neighborhoods appear to be much older than the innovation of electricity, as the main line runs down the road, and hundreds of connections feed off it in a very half hazard way. Their electricians must be very skilled! Most residential buildings are built with large fences or gates on doors and windows. It is not that the place is terribly dangerous - but petty theft is probably common.
We walked a central plaza/garden which had statues. I didn't bother to observe exactly what it was commemorating. I was more interested in the flowering trees and garden beds.
We did step into, sadly briefly, the Central Market. This is an iconic location when you visit San Jose. Check out the Internet, you will find many videos on it.
Unfortunately, our guide was in a bit of a hurry and rushed us through, not allowing us time to actually look around and shop.
We then spent a good amount of time at the National Theater, where we eventually stopped in a cafe for some lunch.
Prior to the lunch stop we toured a nearby museum dedicated to the history of currency of the country, and the repository of many of their golden treasures.
The National Theater has extensive statuary. This is just a tiny example.
Next to the National Theater was the museum. A very substantial vault protects the priceless items inside. Along with a history of their currency, which would be too vast to include here, I was able to see some of the gold items crafted by the indigenous peoples, which survived being snatched up by the Colonial period.
Their modern currency is colorful, and includes prominent people in their history and images of their wildlife.
I would have some of these bills while in the country, the lesser denominations, but just about everywhere you can pay with a credit card, so that is mostly what I did.
I include only a few examples of their golden treasures. Much of it is fashioned after the animals found in the country. Birds are particularly depicted.
A Crocodile Pendant
A toothy-mouthed Jaguar
Frog jewelry is common (read explanation in the picture)
Shells and Crustacean were exchanges as real items, and golden.
There was so very much more information shared about the human history of the capital on the tour, but it is the wildlife that is the true treasure of Costa Rica. Get out of the city to go see it!
At the conclusion of the conference our group would then go spend three days at the Hotel Robledal, which is run by a family, especially two brothers, who assisted with the planning of the conference. Their family hotel is an eco-friendly operation, and they provide guided tours, of which we participated in two of. These final days would crown our time in Costa Rica.
3-Day Post Conference, Hotel Robledal
Our morning breakfast each day would be had on a patio that overlooks a picturesque bird feeder. My nice camera caught extremely good pictures of some of the birds that came in for bananas.
↑ Spot-breasted Oriole (Icterus pectoralis)
↑ Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
↑ Female Hoffmann's Woodpecker (Melanerpes hoffmannii)
↑ Clay-colored Thrush (Turdus grayi)
In the back marshy part of the Hotel Robledal complex was a wasp nest hanging from a tree, which I saw many of throughout our time in Costa Rica. This one could be observed closer, with a camera lense, as I would not want to get into range that they felt they needed to protect their colony.
On the first day of our arrival at Hotel Robledal we had nothing planned for the afternoon, so my group decided to go check out a different butterfly garden. It was a very rainy afternoon, so the butterflies in the enclosure were not flying much. Inside the staff showed us the different stages of butterfly development, and at the end of their lives they save the wings to make jewelry. I thought the plastic bin with all the wings was very pretty.
More of this journey was covered in the Relive video below!
RELIVE VIDEO
(Sound On, Go Full Screen)
On Monday October 20 we set off on our only professionally led full-day birding trip. We did another one the next day, but it was only for a portion of the day, and we didn't get out and walk a lot on that one. Our guides did find and show us a large variety of species. There are far too many more seen than what I captured pictures of.
Our guides: Emmanuel (Emma) Guzman (one of the Hotel Robledal brothers) on the right, and his friend, Santiago.
The first volunteers we saw as we exited our bus was a large family of Groove-billed Anis (Crotophaga sulcirostris).
As so many birds do, there is an elaborate courtship dance to win over a female. However, this species usually pair up with several males, with one senior male leading the dance and winning the girl, if she is willing. The junior males are just practicing their moves.
Another, possibly poison-dart frog was spotted, but moved quickly to the other side of the tree.
Our guides successfully found us a pair of Pacific Screeh Owls (Megascops cooperi). They were roosting, inclined to not move, that there was plenty of time for the spotting scopes to be set up and video taken of this pair.
Insert too many birds from your imagination between these two images. So many were in shadows, or far off, that my camera just could not get clear pictures.
We then approached a mangrove area where we would board a boat and tour the estuary.
↑ Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
There were many American Crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) sunning themselves on the shore. Swimming not advised in these waters!
↑ Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
↑ Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)
↑ Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
↑ Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus)
↑ Male Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)
This is a gathering of Frigatebirds. Most likely we arrived at the end of the breeding season for them as many of these white-bodied birds are juveniles.
The adult male has the red waddle. Females have a dark head, minus the waddle.
↑ Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
This bird is on winter holiday. They migrate into North America during Summer to breed.
↑ Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus)
MAYBE ~ or it could be
Great Black Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga)
The difference between these two hawks is very subtle. I am not certain of ID.
So, whether COMMON or GREAT, it is definitely a Black Hawk!
↑ Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
↑ Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius)
↑ Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
↑ Turquoise-browed Motmot (Eumomota superciliosa) ↓
These image captured through a spotting scope. It appears lighter, based on the nature of the scope to enhance lighting. Bird was sitting in pretty dense cover.
Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata)
The juvenile is above, adult below.
Yes, same area. This is a family!
Birds visually identified today but no pictures:
(It is a Much Longer List)
Stripe-headed Sparrow (Peucaea ruficauda)
Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) - He is called "TICO"
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum)
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
Double-striped Thick-knee (Hesperoburhinus bistriatus)
Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa)
Crane Hawk (Geranospiza caerulescens)
Gray Hawk (Buteo plagiatus)
Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus)
Yellow-headed Caracara - both Adult and Juvenile (Daptrius chimachima)
Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus)
White-collared Swift (Streptoprocne zonaris)
Mangrove Swallow (Tachycineta albilinea)
Inca Dove (Columbina inca)
Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao)
After a busy morning of birding we stopped for . . . what else . . . Casado!
After our lunch our guides knew of one other area they wanted to try for yet another owl species.
They were successful in locating this Black and White Owl (Ciccaba nigrolineata)
Video, again, is through a spotting scope. I didn't capture a still image.
On our return trip to the hotel I was able to get them to stop by a fruit stand, where I purchased granadilla. We call them passion fruit.
They are not something you see often in our stores in North America as they don't transport well. Later I would see them in a Costa Rican grocery store, which makes sense as it is considered local produce.
RELIVE VIDEO
(Sound On, Go Full Screen)
Our second day birding was not as intense. It started out late, and we did a lot of driving, and minimal walking down muddy tracks. Our group was also much smaller. Emmanuel (Emma) was our guide again. I did not get the name of the gentleman on the far left. Sorry!
We traveled winding, misty highlands. We stopped at a roadside waterfall (above and below), we stopped to buy sweet strawberry snacks, and finally we stopped at a birding cafe, for sweet tea and a heck of a lot of very colorful birds.
↑ Crimson-collared Tanager (Ramphocelus sanguinolentus) ↓
↑ Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula)
↑ Red-Legged Honey Creeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus)
You can only see the back side of the male. The lovely green bird in the front is the less flashy female.
With the sweet tea we had a masa and cheese tortilla served with sour cream.
There was also another waterfall you could see off the bird balcony.
↑ Violet Sabrewing (Campylopterus hemileucurus)
↑ Female Oriole, Species Uncertain
Misty, Mossy, Viney Rainforest
↑ Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis)
On the winding trip back, we stopped at the Casa de la Cafe for lunch, and coffee. It overlooks a coffee plantation, with generous tropical plants all around.
This day was less about birds, and more about food. Good Times!
RELIVE VIDEO
(Sound On, Go Full Screen)
On our final day we were on our own. We set off to walk a trail, and hopefully see some new birds. Mostly what we found was mud, a lot of rain, and a single raptor. The Relive video details the day.
↑ Broad-winged Hawk, Juvenile (Buteo platypterus)
Flight Home
I will close out this extremely lengthy blog post with a video of our ascent away from the airport. It flies right over Poás, the volcano that San Jose lay in the shadow of.
It was a lifetime dream vacation, and I would welcome the chance to go again!
Oh My Goodness!! YES!! This is the END!!
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