Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Costa Rica 2021 The Reunion Tour, "Escape from the Pandemic" PART ONE

      Once again we are travelling in Costa Rica with out group leaders Tom & Carol Sykes.  The difference this time is we have three friends from Colorado Springs birding with us.  Our group of five Coloradans include Jo Anne Peterson and Patty and Jon Lovekin.  This will be a great adventure back to some old favorite places and some new exciting places that may well hold new treasures for us.

     This year Rise" and I left Colorado early to avoid the giant winter storm bearing down on Colorado Springs.  With the potential for 8 to 12 inches of snow predicted for the day we were to leave, we decided to run away a day early and that plan worked out as we got away before things turned really ugly.

     We would spend our first few days in San Jose on our own at the Hotel Bougainvillea relaxing and birding.  As we had several days before anyone else arrived we contacted our tour guide Richard Garrigues to see if he could recommend any areas to go to where we could see new birds that would most likely not be seen on our upcoming trip.  As it turned out, Richard set us up with his son Leonardo Garrigues, several times top birder in Costa Rica and great guide, to take us out for a day of hunting rarities.  What a day we had seeing over 80 species of birds and three new life birds with two of them said to be in the top 10% hardest birds to see in Costa Rica.

Our trip would follow the route on this map with many other stops along the way for additional birds.

Our first few days before the trip were spent at the Hotel Bougainvillea in Santo Domingo, Heredia, Costa Rica. This is a lovely hotel with spacious rooms and a huge botanical garden that covers 10 acers behind the hotel.  The garden is full of all kinds of flowers, plants, trees, and birds.  It is a great place to relax and acclimate to the climate and birds of Costa Rica.

The Hotel Bougainvillea

The hotel gardens

The men's bathroom garden

The rear of the hotel at night

White-tipped Dove

White-eared Ground-Sparrow





Great Kisjadee

Lesson's Motmot

Lesson's Motmot

Rufous-naped Wren

Clay-colored Thrush (The national bird)

Lesson's Motmot

Brown Jay

Brown Jay

Termite nest

Garden Flowers


Crimson-fronted Parakeets

Short-tailed Hawk
Garden plants

Decorative cart

Sunset over San Jose
On the 15th of March we met Leonardo Garrigues for a day of birding and decided to go hunting for hard to see "Quality of Quantity birds".  We did find some of the rarer birds we were looking for and still saw 85 species before we were done.  We birded the Copey de Dota and Los Santos Forest Reserve, Dota CR-San Jose and took a lunch break at a little lodge at the very end of the Providencia Road.

Black-cheeked Warbler

Collared Redstart

Collared Redstart

Yellow-thighed Brushfinch

Streak-breasted Treerunner

Sooty-capped Chlorospingus

Black-thighed Grosbeak

Resplendent Quetzal (male)

John, Leonardo Garrigues, & Rise"

Flame-throated Warbler

Mistletoe Tyrannulet

Volcano Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Red-faced Spinetail

Back at the hotel on the 16th of March we got up early to bird with some of the new arrivals from last night.  Patty and John Lovekin, Jo Anne Peterson and Tom and Carol Sykes were all ready at 6 AM to see the garden and what birds were to be found.  As usual, the gardens had a wide variety of plants and birds to amaze everyone.

Rufous-naped Wren

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Varrigated Squirrel

Hoffman's Woodpecker

Gayish Saltator

Hiding Lesson's Motmot

Blue & White Swallow

Tropical Kingbird

Yellow-headed Caracara 

The 17th of March was another day of birding the grounds and taking a hike into town and out to a Super Mercado (a large food store).  By now everyone had arrived and we were getting ready to meet Richard Garrigues, our guide, later in the day, and get more birding in around the hotel.

On the 18th it was up and at em to bird a little, eat breakfast and head to Carara National Park on the Pacific coast.  We dove some dry forest roads after lunch and saw a great many new birds.  The Guacimo Road proved to hold a treasure trove of bird species and amazed many with the numbers and variety of birds.

Slate-throated Redstart

Golden-browed Chlorophonias

Rufous-capped Warbler

Crimson-fronted Parakeet

Rufous-collared Sparrow

Forreri Leopard Frogs

Great-tailed Grackle

Baltimore Oriole eating ripe fruit

Blue-gray Tanager

Green Iguana (juvenile)

--- Trogon

Crimson-fronted Parakeet

Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow

Cabanis's Wren

PAtty, Connie, Jon, Lynn, Jo Anne, and Vicky

Rufous-breasted Wren

Yellow-throated Toucan

Riverside Wren

Chestnut-backed Antbird

Pale-billed Woodpecker at Carara NP

Pale-billed Woodpecker at CNP

The trail at Carara NP.  Rise", John, Richard and more

A basking Basilisk lizard at Villa Lapas Hotel

The following birds were seen on our stop along Guacimo Road and during our walk back up the road.

Stripe-headed Sparrow

Yellow-throated Vireo

Turquoise-browed Motmot

Turquoise-browed Motmot

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Orange-collared Manakin (female)

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher


Yellow-naped Parrot

Natural Cashews, dry forest road

White-throated Magpie-Jay

Most of these birds were seen in Carara National Park.


Scarlet Macaw


Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher

White-throated Capuchin Monkey

Rufous Mourner

Dusky Antbird

Rufous-and-white Wren

White-whiskered Puffbird

These are some of the birds seen on the Tarcoles River boat trip.

Roseate Spoonbill

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

Amazon Kingfisher

Tri-colored Heron

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

Green Kingfisher

Yellow-naped Parrot

Double-striped Thick-knee and cow

Double-striped Thick-knee and cattle along the Tarcoles River

New location.

Gray-breasted Dove

Dot-winged Antbird

Masked Tityra (female)

Broad-winged Hawk

Streaked Flycatcher

Common Potoo with chick

Common Potoo and chick with rain starting

Common Potoo protecting its chick from the rain

White-throated Capuchin Monkey

Great Kiskadee

Long-billed Hermit

Long-billed Hermit

Long-billed Hermit

Pale-billed Woodpecker

Pale-billed woodpecker

Crested Guan

Three-toed Sloth

Three-toed Sloth

Black-throated Trogon






Smooth-billed Ani

Smooth-billed Ani

Migrating Hawks

Yellow-headed Caracara


Scaled Pigeon

Buff-throated Saltator

Red-legged Honeycreeper (female)


Orange-billed Sparrow

Turquoise Cotinga

Turquoise Cotinga


Scarlet-rumped Tanager

Red-headed Barbet (male)

Silver-throated Tanager

Short-billed Pigeon


Speckled Tanager

Speckled Tanager

Large-footed Finch


Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Sooty Thrush (immature)

Volcano Junco

Black-capped Flyctcher







White-throated Mountain-gem (female)

Slaty Flowerpiercer

Slaty Flowerpiercer

Slaty Flowerpiercer hanging on.









The following sequence was taken just a short distance away from the Sevegre Mountain Spa and Hotel on their property just up the road.  This was the same location we saw both Quetzals at the day before but the show we saw this day was truly amazing.

Resplendent Quetzal female copulation solicitation

Resplendent Quetzal male accepting her offer






These photos were an attempt to capture the male Resplendent Quetzal chasing a squirrel away from the area near the nest tree where the copulation had just taken place.  It was an amazing display of acrobatic flight with a little tail flashing here and there as we watched in amazement something none of us had ever seen before.





Barn Owl















Bat Falcon eating a...bat




Southern Lapwing


Snail Kite hunting

Snail Kite hunting

Anhinga in breeding plumage

Cattle Egret in breeding plumage

Cattle Egret Rookery

Boat-billed Heron

Boat-billed Heron showing off his namesake

Boat-billed Herons on nest




Green Heron

Orchid



Lattice-tailed Trogon

LAttice-tailed Trogon


Tiny Hawk


Bare-necked Umbrellabird





Red-winged Blackbird

White-necked Jacobin


Scarlet-rumped Tanager displaying


Pale-vented Pigeon

Black-bellied Hummingbird



Great Potoo







Copey and the group




Keel-billed Toucan

Yellow-throated Toucan

Toucan and lizard lunch

Whit-necked Jacobin

Red-legged Honeycreeper (male)










King Vulture




Baird's Tapir

Baird's Tapir





Green Emerald

Violet Saberwing

Crimson-collared Tanager












I hope this posting with all of its pictures has given you a small taste of what it is like to take a birding trip in Costa Rica with our wonderful guide Richard Garrigues.  Until next time, Good bye.