Costa Rica Naturally!

John Muir famously counseled the traveler to saunter rather than rush.  On our second visit to Costa Rica, Pam and  I booked with Natural Habitat. We were drawn to the small group size and a pace better suited to actually seeing more of the flora and fauna in natural settings. Arriving in San Jose at midday a full day before the program began, our driver, Marko, delivered us to the beautiful Bougainvillea Hotel. Entering the grounds, one is greeted by lush beds of flowers and bird feeders at the restaurant windows. This is not a hotel squeezed onto a small tract of land. There are several acres of gardens with trails.



Arriving a day early reduced the stress of possible flight delays coming from the wintry USA. Our free day was easily passed exploring the hotel grounds and finding abundant birds, plus many vibrant flowers.  Everywhere one goes in the Bougainvillea, one finds creative architecture and decorations.  The attentive and friendly staff perfectly complements the hotel's beauty.

Here are a few of the discoveries we made walking the grounds. Orchids are found growing on the trees along a path.

A wide variety of palms and other trees offered a hint of the variety we would see later when we arrived at Tiskita Lodge in the extreme south coast near the border with Panama.

The grounds were not just manicured lawns. The tennis courts were hidden within a dense cover bisected by a path.



Many birds were there, including a Lesson's Motmot.  It was feeding on the ripe fruit of a tree.  Note the twin "paddles" at the end of its tail.  Beautiful bird.

Our time at the hotel passed comfortably, aided by abundant discoveries like butterflies,















...graceful flowers,










.....  and other pleasant surprises.


After a pleasant day in the gardens, we met our guide Roy and the other six members of our group on Saturday, and prepared our baggage for a Sunday morning charter flight to Golfito from the domestic airport. Our driver, Jimmy, would take us to the flight and then make the 5-1/2 hour drive to Tiskita Lodge with the majority of our bags.




We were each allowed 30 pounds for the flight. It went into a pod on the belly of the Cessna. My camera bag used up most of my allowance. Wisely, I kept Pam's small Fuji XT-1 travel camera with me. The weather was beautiful, and Roy convinced our pilots to fly along the Pacific coast for a view of  a feather called the Whale's Tail.  Our luck was that we were at low tide, so it was clearly visible.

Our second location on the itinerary would be only a few kilometers from the Whale's Tail and Uvita Beach.

As we flew over the Pacific coastal areas we saw a mix of mountain and coastal planes with large plantations of  palm oil trees. Soon the pilots  began our approach to Golfito. The dense cover of trees became closer as the aircraft began to follow a narrowing valley.  Soon, we were on a glide path defined by the tree tops.  Our guide, Roy, exclaimed "Welcome to the rain forest!" and seconds later we were on the runway. It was an exciting start to our adventure.

A local driver was awaiting with his bus to take us to Tiskita.  The roads very quickly switched from paved to otherwise as we rode through a mix of farms and forest.  Just short of Tiskita, one of our party shouted out "Scarlet Macaws!"  The driver quickly stopped and pulled off as everyone scrambled to pull out cameras or binoculars.  A brilliantly colored pair were high in trees right next to the road.  These are just two images of many that were captured.

What a start to the trip!  During the next two days, we began with a 6:00 am bird walk, and after breakfast explored some of Tiskita's trails as a group.  Here are a few of our discoveries.

Three-toed Sloth

 

Squirrel Monkey

 

 I noticed that some of the palms with a broad fan of leaves were crimped over as seen to the right. Rather than reaching toward the sky, they folded downward.  Odd, I thought, but my unfamiliarity just accepted it as the usual. On a morning hike  Roy became interest in a group of such palms, and went off trail (after carefully probing the forest floor with his extended tripod legs to confirm no snakes were underfoot.)  His interest was directed at some palms where the fronds were more upright like an A-frame roof.  

Soon, he had his spotting scope aimed upward into the "tent" and one-by-one he invited us in to look up into the sleeping chamber for a pair of fruit bats.  It seems the bats chew the palm fronds along what I called a crimp line.  The outer parts collapse over to make the A-frame shelter. Looking closely, you can see their ears to the right framing a light U-pattern of lighter tan.  (Image quality is due to using a smart phone aligned with the spotting scope lens.  It works but has limitations looking into the bright sun.)

Our two days went quickly. On the last day in Tiskita, we visited a turtle hatchery and watched the sun disappear from Punto Banco.

The next morning we departed for our second stop near Uvita. On arrival at the splendid Cristal Ballena, I spied in the tall palm trees some large hanging nests similar to what Baltimore Orioles build in the United States.  Similar, but much larger with a louder bird, the Montezuma's Oropendula.  I tried repeatedly to capture an image of the magnificent bird entering the nest, but failed.  So, I had to be satisfied with capturing it in flight.

Montezuma's Oropendula

Still at Cristal Ballena, our 6:00 am walk offered many smaller birds such as flycatchers, and some larger ones at a distance.  The best for close viewing were some Yellow-throated Toucans.

Yellow-throated Toucan

Once breakfast was done, the group departed for a boat tour on the Sierpe River near Pueblo Nuevo.  It was our good fortune, or Roy's great planning, that it was close to low tide and wildlife was feeding actively in the mud flats. What follows are only highlights that omit many animals easily seen but not necessarily in good light or a dramatic pose.

First is the rarest sighting of the entire trip, a River Otter! 

 It is hard to equal such a rare sighting, but some other appearances were notable.

Southern Lapwing

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

Squirrel Monkey

Capuchin Monkey

Green Kingfisher

This was an exceptionally fruitful outing with another intriguing sighting seen at left. These are seven little Long-nosed Bats. They were about 1-1/2 inches long.

By the time we returned to our hotel, it was time for some quiet time out of the sun.  Several of us did take an excursion to a public beach nearby.  Just inside of the beach were groves of trees including a variety of wild tropical almonds. It seems that when the nuts are ripe, they are favored by Scarlet Macaws. They were feeding not more than 15 feet above us. The birds were not the least bit intimidated by people. 

It would be a shame to not include a few images from the beach.

We had intended to stay for sunset, but it had been a long day, and the Cristal Ballena is on a high hill looking toward the west, so we returned to the hotel for sunset.

Our travels would continue to a higher location near the Los Quetzales National Park.  I am saving that for a final blog.  It was rich in hummingbirds.  I hope you will return for that shorter posting.

It was memorable enjoying the Ticos say,  Pura Vida.

Paul Schmitt