Costa Rica: The Pacific Northwest

We had decided early on that we would plan our entire schedule on our own and only use guides when needed.  Chris had been to Costa Rica in the past and he had a good idea of places to visit. We had discussed the idea of renting a car, but decided against it as the public transportation is fairly cheap and very reliable.  The public transportation is a very economical way to get around.  However, one thing to keep in mind, is the fact that the public transportation is NOT geared for tall people with long legs.  Many times, I was uncomfortable as there was not enough leg room on buses and in some taxis.  Even on a short train ride that we took later in the trip, did not provide adequate leg room for a tall person.  That is just one thing to keep in mind if you are a tall person and if you are planning a trip on your own.  I even airlines now require me to pay more to get a seat with adequate leg room!

My trip began in the Pacific Northwest of Costa Rica.  We had found airfares into the Liberia Airport were considerably less than San Jose, so we opted to fly into Liberia.  This is a city of just over 50,000 people so we knew that getting around would be a bit easier with less traffic.  It is an area of Costa Rica that gets overlooked for birding an we felt we could add some much needed data to our eBird reports for this area.  We arrived in the rainy season for this area and it was hot, humid, and rainy.  We had decided early on that we would plan our entire schedule on our own and only use guides when needed.  Chris had been to Costa Rica in the past and he had a good idea of places to visit so we planned a trip based on a few spots where we spend about 3 nights and make day trips as needed.  We spent the first 3 nights in a casita just outside of Liberia, which met our needs, but I could have used a little bit bigger and more comfortable bed.  The point is that I survived.  We spent a lot of time exploring the rural area where we saw many great birds and even made a side trip to the beach town of Tamarindo for a day.  I picked up about 19 new life birds during this portion of the trip.  New mammals, reptiles, and butterflies were nice to see as well.  My blog posts will most likely include a lot more than just birds. Some of my bird photos were already posted in the previous post that referred to joining the 700/800 clubs.

The photos below are a sampling of the birds and other critters that we observed in Guanacaste Province which includes towns of Liberia and Tamarindo.

Groove-billed Ani - Very common in many places.

Elf butterfly

Black spiny-tailed Iguana

White Peacock butterfly

 Millipede

 Melodious Blackbird

White-collared Seedeater

 White butterfly

White-angled Sulphur

 Fiddler Crab

 Gulf Frittilary

 Ecuadorian hermit Crab

 Mantled Howler Monkey

 Malachite

 Letis scops Moth

 Tailless Whip Scorpion - totally harmless to humans

 Blue-black Grassquit

 Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

 Turquoise-browed Motmot - my 700th and one of my favorite birds.

Torpical Buckeye

More posts to come in different locations and totally different flora and fauna.  

Joining the 700/(800) Club

Way back last year, (mid 2016), I decided that I would love to go to Costa Rica for birding.  Chris Rohrer was also interested and we decided to go for it.  I had only been birding outside of the United States at a couple of places in Mexico; Sonora and Chiapas.  The trip to Chiapas took place in 2015 and during that trip, I found my 500th and 600th life birds in a matter of 9 days.  It gets harder and harder to add new life bird to your list once you reach a certain plateau.  You have to get out of the United States to rack up the numbers.  I certainly have a lot of birds in the US to add to my list, and will try working on some of them during my upcoming year.

As our trip to Costa Rica approached, my life list was slowly creeping to the next magical number of 700.  When I left for Costa Rica, my life list stood at 689 species.  I knew that 700 would finally come my way on this trip, but had no idea what I was going to end up with at the end of the trip.

Since I arrived the evening before Chris and Michael, I had the opportunity to do some birding before they arrived the next day.  How many new species could I find on my own before they arrived?  My first new bird, and #690, was Hoffman's Woodpecker.  They are fairly similar to our native Gila Woodpecker in Arizona, and fairly common.

 Hoffman's Woodpecker - Male

Hoffman's Woodpecker - Female

Number 691, was the Orange-chinned Parakeet and at the time, I had no idea how common this species was in Costa Rica.  We found them just about everywhere we visited and they were quite numerous and usually traveled in noisy flocks.

 Orange-chinned Parakeet

This was followed by Streaked Flycatcher, #692, and then the very good looking Rufous-naped Wren at #693.  I had looked forward to seeing the wren because it looked pretty handsome when I was studying my field guide prior to this trip.

 Rufous-naped Wren

Shortly after, I spied one of the less exciting lifers, the Tropical Mockingbird, #694, which looks a lot like a washed-out Northern Mockingbird that we have in Arizona.  Most definitely not one of the most colorful birds around, but at least it is a new 'tick' to the list.  (And relieved that it was not number 700!)

Tropical Mockingbird

The next bird was one that was a bit off my radar, and it was not until I checked my photos to see that I had found a King Vulture soaring the thermals high above me.  At 695, this was my best bird of the morning while being on my own. 

 King Vulture

I was able to add the Cinnamon Hummingbird, #696, prior to the arrival of Chris and Michael.  Once they arrived, we found our way to the casita that we had lined up for our next 3 nights just outside of the city of Liberia.  Once we got settled, we headed out the door to go birding and #697, was the Muscovy Duck.  

Muscovy Duck

Walking the tree lined road, we happened to stumble on a Black-headed Trogon, #698, which would have been an awesome bird for 700, but a birder can't always predict what will show itself at any given time.  

 Black-headed Trogon

Next up, at #699, was a unique and beautiful wading bird, the Southern Lapwing.  

 Southern Lapwing

And now for number 700, (drum roll please), and one that I am happy to call #700, the Turquoise-browed Motmot. It is a good looking bird and has an unusual name.  (Who doesn't like saying the word motmot?  It just rolls off the tongue.) 

Turquoise-browed Motmot

Hitting the magical number of 700 was fairly easy and was expected.  But how many more new bird species could I discover during the rest of the trip?  Would 800 species be stretching my expectations?  Only time would tell.

Our last few nights were spent in San Jose and at that time, I was so close to the 800 mark and I needed to go to a location that had a much different habitat than many places that I had already been to, so I actually had a guide take me to Carara National Park on the central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.  This place was hot, humid, and infested with mosquitoes, but the habitat was the home to a much different list of birds.  As we started walking the trail we heard Scarlet Macaws, but could not see them, so I did not write that one down on my list, because I needed to see one to add it to my list.  As we walked the trails, I started scoring new life birds in this dark, humid, tropical forest.  Birds such as Gray-cowled Wood-rail, Royal Flycatcher, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Bare-crowned Antbird, and Lesson's Motmot, were all added to my life list.  All this time Scarlet Macaws were calling and flying overhead and I at one time caught a very brief view of 2 of them flying overhead through the branches and leaves.  Finally, at one clearing in the trees we heard them and as their squawking became louder, we knew they were flying our way and 2 of them flew overhead and I got great views of these majestic birds with their bright red colors and long magnificent tails.  While I was unable to get photos, I was extremely happy to add this bird to my life list at number 800!

To be able to reach the 700 and the 800 marks both on the same trip is an incredible feeling.  I ended the trip with a total of 126 species of new birds.  Many were glimpses of some birds that were secretive and hard to find.  Photography was tough and many birds did not get photos and some got photos that are of very poor quality and some turned out OK and a few are some I can be proud of.  I will try to cover many of these birds in upcoming blog posts.  There will be some horrible photos in my blog post on some birds and there will be some good photos as well.  The horrible photos will never be seen on Facebook!  They will only be posted on this blog.  Stay tuned for further adventures! You will see photos of not only birds, but some mammals and reptiles as well.