Costa Rica

We had a great time in the Cloud Forest but were excited to head for Quepos. Our driver picked us up at 11:00 am and told us it would take 3 1/2 hours to reach Hotel Si Como No in Quepos. He was very nice and shared much local knowledge along the way. By 1:00 we were ready for lunch and stopped at Restaurante Los Cocodrilos where we enjoyed both great food and good birds. We had Rufous-naped Wren and Golden-naped Woodpecker while we waited for the excellent tapas. The restaurant is near the famous Tarcoles Crocodile Bridge where we saw these amazing creatures wallowing in the mud. There is an episode on Animal Planet if you want to learn more about them.

The rest of the ride was along the stunning coast and our driver pointed out the many teak and palm oil farms. This was interesting since Mike is in the teak business. Palm oils farms are very controversial but most of the ones in Costa Rica are on old Chiquita banana plantations, planted after a blight of Panama banana disease in the 1940s and 50s. Best bird on the ride was a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron.

We arrived at Hotel Si Como No Resort and Wildlife Refuge, a birders paradise where we got ten life birds. Our room had a beautiful water view and a dead snag that had both Yellow-throated Toucan and Red-crowned Woodpecker every morning. Not everyone appreciates a dead snag as much as we do.

 

While on the grounds we found ten life birds including the cute Cherrie’s Tanager, Bare-crowned Antbird, Fiery-billed Aracari, and Gray-cowled Wood-Rail. Every morning we had Agouti, an adorable giant rodent, hanging around our room.

 

Our first night we walked to El Avion, an old cargo plane converted to a restaurant. The fresh seafood was delicious, and the sunset was spectacular. We were entertained by a couple capuchin monkeys while we enjoyed our surroundings.

The next morning, we had a scheduled tour of Manuel Antonio National Park.  We were fortunate to have Roy Morales as our guide as he knew everything about the park and its animals. During our three hour walk we saw 26 bird species including eight life birds. Best birds of the day were Lesson’s Motmot (not in the The Birds of Costa Rica Field Guide), Chestnut-backed Antbird and my favorite, Boat-billed Heron.

 

In addition to the great birding we saw monkeys, sloths and beautiful butterflies. We saw both the brown-throated three-toed and Hoffmann’s two-toed sloths. Afterward we walked across the street to the beach for a swim and found Great Kiskadee and lifer Orange-chinned Parakeet.

That evening we headed to Marina Pez Vela where Mike noticed the moored Lazzara Yacht, Magic Days. It was another beautiful sunset with Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring.  We ate dinner at Gabriella’s where our best dish was the Jumbo Sizzling Sea-Scallops.

The next day we spent some time across from the hotel at the Greentique Wildlife Refuge Butterfly Atrium where we saw the spectacular Blue Morpho and several other tropical butterfly species.

We were not ready to leave but it was time for our next driver to pick us up and begin the last leg of our Costa Rican adventure, the Osa Peninsula.

 

Trip Birds: 55  Life Birds: 24

Next up: Costa Rica – Osa Peninsula