Bird watching in Costa Rica - December 2024

OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

December 2024

Day 8

Bird watching at Arte de Plumas Birding Lodge

Saturday 28 ^th of December 2024 and my alarm goes off at 4 o'clock. Getting day light around 5 thirty or so and I have my morning tea and avocados on the balcony while looking at the birds.

It is a wee bit chilly outside, but that is not scaring away the mosquitos, and that is even if I drench myself in mosquito repellent.

Early morning on my balcony

We leave at 7 o'clock and we make the first stop at 07:49 to have a look at one bird that I had spotted. We walk back to find that the bird is gone. My Guide spot 3 Blue-and-white Swallow sitting on a wire and I try to sneak up on them.

Just as I am going to take my pictures a Tropical Mockingbird lands on the wire and flush the swallows. DARN! I want to have pictures of the Blue-and-white Swallow. But I got a picture of the Tropical Mockingbird.

I spotted one White-winged Dove sitting on a wire along the road going back to the car. The White-winged Dove was sitting between me and the sun, but I tried to take some pictures.

Tropical Mockingbird

White-winged Dove

White-winged Dove

Great Kiskadee

We continue and the area along the Hacienda Oriente is famous for the Red-breasted Meadowlark according to my Guide. We drive along slowly, but no Red-breasted Meadowlark to be seen, only three Great Kiskadees could be reported to eBird.

Leaving Hacienda Oriente behind and we turn left and cross a bridge and we are soon driving along Pejibaye River. We stop at the Pejibaye River Beach to look for the Sunbittern, no sign of the bird, but we see one Spotted Sandpiper.

My Guide discover one Coati on the other side of the river, never heard about Coati. First, I thought he said Coyote, but that did not look like a Coyote

Great Kiskadee

Great Kiskadee

Coati

Coati

Coatis

Coatis (from Tupí), are members of the family Procyonidae in the genera Nasua and Nasuella (comprising the subtribe Nasuina). They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Southwestern United States.

The name "coatimundi" comes from the Tupian languages of Brazil, where it means "lone coati". Locally in Belize, the coati is known as "quash".

Continuing along the Pejibaye River and we reach a hanging walk bridge over the Pejibaye River. Getting out of the car and there was one Chestnut-sided Warbler in the tree above the car. Jumping around and it was impossible to get a picture.

Getting out on the small bridge and I was almost getting sea sick walking on the flimsy bridge.

Bridge over Pejibaye River

Bridge over Pejibaye River

Pejibaye River

Pejibaye River

Looking for the Sunbittern

Sunbittern

The bird is very far away and the picture is kept for ID purpose only

We turn around to get back to the car when I see one bird landing upstream, very far away. My Guide use his binoculars and I use my camera. I manage to see the bird on the pictures and we can confirm the ID.

Impossible to see the bird among the rocks, but I was lucky to see it on the picture. A new LIFER for me and the day have just started.

Back in the car and we take off with smokin' and screamin' tires. We are going up the mountain to look for the Snowcap and tanagers and we are soon finding ourself in the wilderness.

We are driving along a dirt road and we make a mistake going to right instead of straight and we end up on the top of the mountains. Surrounded by sugar cane fields and tractors. Tractor seems to be the way to get along the dirt/ mud roads.

We are soon running out of road, at least road that we want to drive on and we realize that we are lost. We turn around and we start to go down the mountain again.

Going up the mountains

Going up the mountains

Going up the mountains

Going up the mountains

Going up the mountains

We are running out od road

We are going down the mountain again

We reach the road where we got lost and we turned right and we got up on the mountain again. We drive through the farm land and I enjoy the view from the back seat while my Guide and Driver navigate us up the mountain.

We flush a bird and I see the bird landing in a tree behind the bushes along the road. I ask the driver to stop and to go back. I see the bird through the bushes and it is a Brown Jay.

One of the birds I want to have on picture and I go out of the car. Walking back to the gate, there are cows walking around among the trees and the gate keep them from running away.

Brown Jay

Brown Jay

I get pictures of the Brown Jay and I get down to get a better picture, suddenly, the air is full of beautiful birds and I discover that someone have dumped bananas at the gate. Most likely the farmer. And there were a terrible stank from the bananas.

I called the Guide and we decided to get the car and use the car as a hide to see if the birds came back. And it did not take many minutes before the birds came back to perch in the trees and bushes around the bananas.

Still cautious but we could get pictures. And now they cows came to check out the commotion and they started to moo, a constant mooing. But we got pictures, especially of the gorgeous Scarlet-rumped Tanager and the Crimson-collared Tanager.

And there was one, at least one Olive-backed Euphonia and that was a new LIFER for me today. That means the third LIFER for me today, and the day have just started.

Crimson-collared Tanager

Scarlet-rumped Tanager

Crimson-collared Tanager

Olive-backed Euphonia

Olive-backed Euphonia

Buff-throated Saltator

Clay-coloured Thrush

Baltimore Oriole

Olive-backed Euphonia

We leave the birds and bananas behind continuing up the mountain. My Guide spot a bird sitting in a tree about 10 minutes after leaving the bananas behind.

Crested Caracara, sitting very bad in the tree, but we will give it a try so my Guide and I get out of the car. And we are lucky, the bird do not care about us taking pictures on the gravel road.

The bird is between us and the bright sky so it is not all that easy to get good pictures even though the bird is very cooperative.

Crested Caracara

Crested Caracara

Crested Caracara

Back in the car and we continue up the mountain to a place called El Copal. Should be a very good birding area and I was excited. But my Guide was even more excited, he had never been here before. Maybe the reason for us to get lost on the way coming here.

We are approaching El Copal and we stop to have a look at one White-collared Manakin that my Guide had spotted from the car. Way too far away for any pictures.

A new LIFER for me and I want to have a picture for my eBird report, or they might think I make up all the birds I report. So, I kept the picture,hoping to get better pictures of the bird.

We spend quite some time with the bird but we never got any pictures. We get to see one Social Flycatcher as well before getting in to the car to get up to Reserva El Copal.

White-collared Manakin

Very poor picture, kept for ID purpose only for the eBird report or they think I make up all the birds I report

Social Flycatcher

Social Flycatcher

Looking for the White-collared Manakin

Looking for the White-collared Manakin

Buff-throated Saltator

Spotting one bird in the rain forest and I ask the driver to stop and go back. We are looking and the bird jump behind one of the trees. When it came out, I got a picture and we could see that itwas an Buff-throated Saltator.

It takes a couple of minutes to reach the end of the road at Reserva El Copal

The El Copal Biological Reserve is a famous bird watching hotspot in Costa Rica, and my Guide think it might be the top spot for bird watching.

The El Copal Biological Reserve

What started as an unproductive sugar cane and cattle farm has been transformed into a leading ecolodge and biological reserve.
The El Copal Biological Reserve is the result of a decade’s hard work and determination by Beto and Patricia Chavez; owners, operators, and advocates for sustainable sources of income in rural Costa Rica.

Read more at Biodiversity in focus web page.

We park the car and we walk up the stairs to the lodge/ restaurant. We run in to some hummingbirds and I chase them with the camera. I get a picture and when I check the picture it turns out to be a butterfly.

My Guide calling me, there are two beautiful Emerald Tanager eating fruits in the tree.

Butterfly

Emerald Tanager

Emerald Tanager

Emerald Tanager

Emerald Tanager

Tawny-crested Tanager

Speckled Tanager

Speckled Tanager

Olive-backed Euphonia

Palm Tanager

Scarlet-rumped Tanager

Tawny-capped Euphonia

Tawny-capped Euphonia

Chestnut-capped Warbler

Chestnut-capped Warbler

Olive-backed Euphonia

Olive-backed Euphonia

Cinnamon Becard

Poor picture, kept for ID purpose only for the eBird report or they think I make up all the birds I report

Tawny-capped Euphonia - Speckled Tanager in the back

There is a lot of birds and I stay behind when my Guide go to look for his target bird, the Snowcap, a small hummingbird. I want to have some pictures of the Tawny-capped Euphonia and the Tawny-crested Tanager.

Tawny-crested Tanager, a beautiful black bird with an orange crest. I had seen three of them, but they refused to come out from the bushes so I only had one poor picture.

But no sign of them coming closer and I went to look for my Guide and we could hear one Squirrel Cuckoo. Not possible to see the bird, but after a few minutes it came flying landed out of sight.

Suddenly it took of showing us an rufous back and the tail had a black and white band at the end of the tail.

I get pictures of the Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer and I got pictures of the Snowcap. But the Snowcap pictures turned out to be nothing but garbage, but I kept on for ID purpose only.

Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer

Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer

Snowcap

Black-and-yellow Tanager

Black-and-yellow Tanager

Black-and-yellow Tanager
We are leaving and my Guide spot one gorgeous Black-and-yellow Tanager in the bushed when walking back to the car, yet another LIFER for me. We are hungry and we will go to have lunch at the same place as we went yesterday, excellent food.

And today they have promised us passion mousse with plenty whipping cream.

We will drive past the Hacienda Oriente going to the restaurant to have another look for the Red-breasted Meadowlark.

Turning off my eBird app and we had had 21 species at El Copal, very good.

eBird Report

Reserva El Copal (Tausito), Cartago, CR
Dec 28, 2024 09:26 - 10:59
Protocol: Traveling
1.32 kilometer(s)
21 species

Squirrel Cuckoo 1
Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer 1
Snowcap 1
Keel-billed Toucan 1
White-collared Manakin 1 Very poor picture, kept for ID purpose only for the eBird report or they think I make up all the birds I report
Cinnamon Becard 1
Social Flycatcher 1
Clay-coloured Thrush 4
Olive-backed Euphonia 2
Tawny-capped Euphonia 4
Chestnut-capped Warbler 2
Red-throated Ant-Tanager 1 Female
Tawny-crested Tanager 3
Scarlet-rumped Tanager 4 Three maled + one female
Palm Tanager 2
Speckled Tanager 4
Golden-hooded Tanager 3
Emerald Tanager 5
Silver-throated Tanager 2
Black-and-yellow Tanager 1
Buff-throated Saltator 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S206926169

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

Today's track at El Copal

We drive down the mountain and we are driving along the Pejibaye River keeping our eyes out for the Sunbittern. We reach the bridge without having seen the Sunbittern.

We cross the bridge and we turn right and a sharp curve to left and we are at the Hacienda Oriente. I start my eBird app and we keep out eyes out. We see a black dot in the meadows, we stop and we get out of th ecar.

Yes! The black dot is one male Red-breasted Meadowlark. Too far away for anything and my Guide start to play the bird song. The Red-breasted Meadowlark seems to ignore our recording completely.

But after 5 minutes we discover that the bird had moved a little closer. And he came closer, but never close enough for any good pictures.

Red-breasted Meadowlark

Red-breasted Meadowlark

Listen to the Red-breasted Meadowlark

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my mobile phone using my JBL microphone with the Merlin app. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity.

We see the bird at the other end of the meadows. We use a recording and it is slowly coming closer and I can get a poor recording

The birds register as Red-breasted Blackbird in xeno-canto, but in eBird it is an Red-breasted Meadowlark (Leistes militaris). It was formerly named red-breasted blackbird but is not closely related to the red-winged blackbird group.

Well, happy to have seen the Red-breasted Meadowlark and I also got the recording. But the pictures could have been much better. But I was happy when we continued and I turned off my eBird app.

We continue along the road driving towards Betico Grill Garden.

We cross another bridge and we see one raptor sitting on the road. It was a Roadside Hawk and we spotted the bird sitting next to the road when we had crossed the bridge

We stop to take pictures and we could see that the bird was eating on something. Of course, a car came up behind us and we had to continue towards Betico Grill Garden.

Roadside Hawk

Roadside Hawk

Hungry and it is full speed to Betico Grill Garden and we arrive on two wheels with screamin' and smokin' tires, splashing gravel when we come to full stop on the parking lot.

We take our seats and I ask for the same thing as yesterday. The girl gives us a bull shit storyabout the Cock and that they did not have the passion fruit mousse. Instant disappointment even though the food was good.

They had more or less promised us passion fruit mousse when we left yesterday. I made a mental not to never come back again.

We decided to go look for a coffee shop in town and my new friends knew exactly the right place. The old train station had been redecorated and was now a coffee shop with cakes.

Santo Pan, a very nice place and there were many different cakes to choose from. The coffee shop was very nicely decorated, like something in Europe 100 years ago. The have a web page: https://estacionsantopan.com/

In Spanish only, but you get the pictures. They have a set of train cars on a track next to the old platform that are used as a restaurant.

But we were sitting on the terrace and the cake was very good. Well, I had asked for extra whipping cream.
- Please add for 2 $ whipping cream

Bringing the cake and I asked if whipping cream was very expensive here in Costa Rica
- Looks like 25¢ worth of whipping cream, I said.

Santo Pan, Turrialba, Cartago

75¢ worth of whipping cream

Santo Pan, Turrialba, Cartago

They took my cake and when they came back it looked like 75¢ worth of whipping cream on my cake. The cake was very good and it was a very nice place.

Well, we should never had come here, after the meat and avocado. Full but feeling very good. A lot of sugar and I just wanted to go to bed.

We stop at the bridge to look for the Sunbittern going back to Arte de Plumas Birding Lodge. We keep our eyes in the river going up the mountain and we continue when we reach Arte de Plumas Birding Lodge.

Crossing the bridge and we drive through a small village to go look for the Sunbittern in the mountains. My Guide says that there are a few ponds and the Sunbittern can be seen foraging in the area. So, we will try our luck.

Cows blocking the road

We drive along a small dirt road and we turn around when the road ends at a stream. There are 7 Cattle Egrets on the mountain side, but no sign of any Sunbitterns.

We turn around to drive down the mountains going back to Arte de Plumas Birding Lodge. We approaching the bridge across the river at Arte de Plumas Birding Lodge and I ask the Driver to stop.
- What is that? I ask the guide
- Blue-and-white Swallow
- No!
- Yes, three Blue-and-white Swallows sitting on the wire.
- Not on the wire, in top of the tree over there.

He take his binocular and it is one White-crowned Parrot. I try to get a picture even though the bird is very far away.

White-crowned Parrot

Blue-and-white Swallow

Blue-and-white Swallow

Blue-and-white Swallow

Blue-and-white Swallow

Blue-and-white Swallow

We are back at Arte de Plumas Birding Lodge just after 4 o'clock in the afternoon and I go to my room to spend my last night here. My Driver will come to pick me up at 12 o'clock tomorrow and we will drive to San Jose.

Coming to my room and I can hear the noise from Montezuma Oropendola and I get my recorder started and I go out on the balcony to record the bird.

Listen to the Montezuma Oropendola

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my mobile phone using my JBL microphone with the Merlin app. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity.

Made a recording of the Montezuma Oropendola sitting above my balcony and I made an eBird checklist to be able to upload the recording

Yet another good bird watching day have come to an end her ein Costa Rica, and today I had 14 new LIFERS.

• White-crowned Parrot
• Red-breasted Meadowlark
• Black-and-yellow Tanager
• Emerald Tanager
• Speckled Tanager
• Tawny-crested Tanager
• Tawny-capped Euphonia
• Cinnamon Becard
• White-collared Manakin
• Snowcap
• Squirrel Cuckoo
• Olive-backed Euphonia
• Brown Jay
• Sunbittern

Last night at Arte de Plumas Birding Lodge and I will sleep at Hotel Robledal in Alajuela. This is a few minutes from the airport which will be convenient when I fly to Singapore via New York on the 1st of January.

You just need to click HERE to find out if I make it to Hotel Robledal, Alajuela tomorrow.

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