We had a fabulous bird walk at 6 a.m. with 25-year-old Olman. He was our best guide yet. All the guides have been very knowledgeable, gracious and proud of their country and birds, but Olman was also joyous and had no sense of ego about it at all, happy when others spotted things first, making sure everyone got a good look through the scope. The other two couples were also great - a pair of doctors from Berlin and a pair of retired people from Switzerland. (He had been a diplomat in Washington DC for almost 5 years.)
After the walk, the doctors and Mark and I had breakfast and chatted for well over an hour.
Then, Mark and I had a lazy day of reading, reading the bird book, sitting by the pool and savoring our last full day of holiday. We had a lovely meal at the restaurant here. (Mark - rice, beans, chicken as a typical dish for tonight and mahimahi for me. Yummy.
There was one sad note. The baby potoo that we have been watching since we arrived was killed by a predator. He did not yet know how to fly and was vulnerable sitting motionless on his stump. Olman found feathers. The reserve is sad because they have never had a potoo nest and had been watching the bird develop every day.
This is what we saw, again coordinated with the bird book so that we can look these up and enjoy them later.
A short-billed pigeon (calling, too) 86
Cherries Tanagers (frequent sightings - we LOVE this beautiful bird. And, it is endemic to
this area.
Great-tailed Grackles 317
Cattle Egrets - flying in a lovely flock. 22
Charming hummingbirds 125 (Just gorgeous!)
Variable seed eater....294
Red-Crowned Woodpecker.....157. Note: There are no red-bellied woodpeckers in Costa Rica
Chestnut-sided Warbler....258
Inca Doves (What we thought at Manuel Antonio were Inca Dolls!)....88
Great Kiskadees....all calling "Kis - da- dee!" .....210
Boat-billed Flycatchers.....210
Summer Tanagers....284
Orange-chinned Parakeets - saw some chattering and flying over, but later, finally got to see
one perched.......94
Bananaquits.....276
Clay-colored robins.....250. This rather drab bird is, remarkably, the national bird of Costa Rica. But,
evidently, it is the birds many lovely songs that have endeared it to the country.
Rufous-tailed hummingbirds......128
Palm Tanagers....290
Ruddy ground dove....I couldn't find this in the book, so may have misheard the name. It is
not easy writing them all down!
Black mandible Toucans (formerly called Chestnut Mandible) We got great looks at these birds
today and even saw one in its nest, poking its great bill out. Unbelievably, it nests by the
restaurant, so we could have seen them every day. These birds' bills are so heavy that they
do not fly long distances, but fly from tree to tree. They also keep their bills open to cool
themselves off, a behavior we got to observe closely. 154
Yellow Warblers, now called Mangrove Warblers here......258
Red-legged Honey Creepers....p 292. This was a real highlight for us and Mark got a good photo, too.
A gorgeous bird.
Roadside Hawks...42.
Spot-crowned Euphonia - endemic to the area. The Euphonias were real highlights for us, too.
p 326
Fiery-billed Aracari 155
Riverside Wrens.....240
Broad-winged hawks....42
Piratic flycatcher.....192
Yellow-crowned Euphonia...endemic and endearing.....326
Yellow-throated Euponia....326
Golden-hooded Tanager.....288. Another amazingly gorgeous bird
Streaked flycatcher....212
Tropical Kingbird....212
Brown Jays...230
Grey-capped Flycatcher....94
Other things:
variegated squirrels. There are 15 squirrel species in Costa Rica
White-nosed Coati (Wow)
Spiney Cedar Trees - prickly.
No native trees can legally be cut down in Costa Rica. They planted teak from Asia to cut.
Leaf cutter ants - very specialized. They have soldiers to guard them, cutters, cleaners, nurses etc etc. They use the leaves as compost and plant a fungus which they eat. Very impressive to watch.
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