Costa Rica 2018: Birdin' in the Rain

[xelas]

Around 9 am it stopped raining, and we were ready to follow our guide Donald for some "untamed birding", as was his description of what he planned for us. Beside the property where the lodge (and his house and farm) sits, his pride and joy is the valley inside Tenorio NP which he named Tapir Valley. This was our birding playground for the day.

 

His plan is to keep the valley untamed for future generations to admire the true rain forest, and for animals to have a safe and undisturbed heaven. And, as we have been priviledged to learn in 4 hours of being there, a place any birder will be happy to visit, and to return for years to come.

 

 

 

Donald started to explain the history of the valley, and the work he has done, together with his friends, when on the other side of the relatively narrow valley, a Tiger-Heron gave us a show any rock star would be proud of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Star Is Born

 

 

@michael-ibk: Rufescent or Fasciated Tiger-Heron?

Edited November 24, 2018 by xelas

[xelas]

Moving forward we have reached the area where many smaller birds were chirping around. Not easy to get a clean shot through the branches, though. Clouds also thinned out so light was better.

 

 

Tropical Parula

 

Thick-billed Seed-Finch female

 

White-vented Euphonia female

 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird female ( @michael-ibk please comment)

Edited November 24, 2018 by xelas

[xelas]

The upper part of the valley is very wet and boggy. I was upmost impressed by Zvezda being such a good sport; it was not easy to walk through waist-high thick grass while your feet were ankle-deep in the mud. And not thinking about what kind of snakes or other creatures can crawl beneath the visual surface. If only Donald would told us about all the snakes he has replaced from the farmyards into this valley. And would not show us those photos of a huge Fer-de-lance on his phone ... . Anyway, as we are both came home, no harm was done to humans during the filming for this trip report .

 

 

 

 

Closer in the thicker wood there were more excellent birds.

 

Broad-billed Motmot

 

White-ruffed Manakin (the only Manakin of the trip)

 

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

 

 

 

[xelas]

Donald has planted many flowering bushes to attract butterflies, and while still young, they have started to give results. Have I mentioned that while Zvezda enjoys taking photos of butterflies, I have no clue to ID them ?! Please help!

 

 

 

 

 

One butterfly that our family knows very well: Blue Morpho.

 

 

 

[xelas]

Across the muddy terrain, on the other side of the valley, Zvezda has found a target worth of her skill: Rufous-tailed Jacamar. And there were several of them. What a joy to watch them while posing like supermodels.

 

Zvezda in action

 

 

Supermodels at work

 

 

 

 

[xelas]

Seeing how happy Zvezda was with her jacamars, he decided to find a worthy target also for me. To make the photography a bit more tough for me, his target bird, once he herd it, was up a steep slippery clay bank; and it has not giving us any favours by moving quickly from branch to branch. Finally it stopped, and I was able to get a few quick shots. A lot of post processing went into these photos to be for publising on this TR. Which bird it was?!

 

Ruddy Motmot

 

 

 

 

 

Wet, Sweat & Mud could be the title of that episode. But we were thrilled by that birding day. It lasted for good 4 hours, and beside the birds posted we have seen them more. Among the best were Ornate Hawk-eagle and King Vultures, but those two were gliding high up in the sky.

 

 

 

Back in the town we have had a delicious lunch at Las Tinajitas, a local soda with delicious food.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by xelas

[Alexander33]

Good job in getting that morpho butterfly with its wings spread open.  They close up and reveal their brown undersides (still beautiful, but nowhere near like the iridescent blue on the upper wings) so quickly.  Love the "rock star" heron.

[michael-ibk]

12 hours ago, xelas said:

Rufescent or Fasciated Tiger-Heron?

 

Not really sure, all my books say the juveniles are "virtually indistinguishable". Going by habitat and sea level I´d be more inclined towards Fasciated. I´m not even excluding Bare-Throated especially since this is the only one of the three candidates the lodge has on its bird list. Would not consider it because of the amount on white in most pictures but the last one does seem to show some yellow skin on throat.

 

12 hours ago, xelas said:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird female ( @michael-ibk please comment)

 

Extremely unlikely. This species is only a winter resident (October to April). Tricky one, maybe a Violet-Headed? Not completely happy with shape and length of bill but does seem to be the best best IMO.

[xelas]

10 hours ago, Alexander33 said:

Good job in getting that morpho butterfly with its wings spread open. 

 

Zvezda was very lucky that the morpho was sitting still; she and me we have wasted way too many photos trying to catch it when flying

[xelas]

Thanks for checking, @michael-ibk. Now I know why they are not on my Big Year list ...

Edited November 25, 2018 by xelas

[xelas]

13 hours ago, xelas said:

Ruddy Motmot

 

Don't bother looking for a Ruddy Motmot in any birdguide, as this is of course a Tody Motmot.  Sorry to confuse you all .

[PeterHG]

Thanks for the tip on theTarcoles River Briidge @xelas. But then we've been there before and seen the crocs, so we may give them a miss this time. Bijagua certainly sounds like a good area and you both got some beautiful photos there. Although we' be staying at a different place, we'll be visiting the area for a few days and will definitely the soda a try !

[Terry]

Wonderful, wonderful pictures and stories of your trip to Costa Rica. Every picture is great, but those hummingbird pictures are truly  outstanding.

 

The butterflies on post 182 are:

#1 Banded Peacock   Anartia amathea 

#2 Hewitson's Heliconian   Heliconius hewitsoni

 

[xelas]

13 minutes ago, Terry said:

The butterflies on post 182 are:

#1 Banded Peacock   Anartia amathea 

#2 Hewitson's Heliconian   Heliconius hewitsoni

 

Thank you very much for your kind words, and for the IDs of the butterflies!

[Terry]

More on the butterflies:

Post 231 #1 is a male Great Southern White.  Aacia monuste.   The turquoise antennal clubs are unique.  

 

                 # 2 is another picture of the Banded Peacock.

 

On post 254:

#1 is a female Yellow-spotted Swallowtail.  Battus laodamas 

#2 is a male Orange-barred Sulphur  Phoebis philea

#3 is a beautiful butterfly, but my luck on naming butterflies has run out.   My Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America has failed me.

#4  Ah, the beautiful Blue Morpho,  may I also some day find one at rest.  Usually I just watch a blue flash zooming on past.  

 

What an outstanding trip you had - even a kinkajou!  He looks like a mixture of a small bear and a monkey.  

Edited November 25, 2018 by Terry

[xelas]

Thanks again., @Terry! From now on we will took more butterfly photos  as we have someone to ask for the ID .

 

The kinkajou was a quick but memorable sight. 

[xelas]

Our second day at Casitas Tenorio started similar to the first day; with a rain and a long lazy breakfast. The first animal at the buffet table was a lovely squirrel. And there were also larger birds, but not very happy looking. Of course, as they did not have the same anti-rain gear as the squirrel had .

 

Variegated Squirrel

 

White-throated Magpie-Jay

 

Brown Jay

 

Montezuma Oropendula

 

A squirrel with an umbrella

 

 

 

[xelas]

Again around 9 am the weather cleared a bit so we have decided to drive around Tenorio National Park. The roads in that area are gravel and bumpy yet slow driving was anyway what we have planned to do. In 2008 we have spent 2 glorious days at La Carolina Lodge so why not visiting them again, to see how they are doing. Finding the place was easy, and to our pleasant surprise, the farm manager (La Carolina is an active farm) from 2008 is still there. After we exchanged some news I have shown him the photos from 2008, to our both amusement.

 

Main building

 

 

Alejandro looking at our photos

 

 

We have exited on the other side of the park, passing by the entrance to the famous Rio Celeste waterfall hike, thus almost completely circled the park area. On our way back to Bijagua I have noted where the road to Cano Negro is, which will be our next destination.

 

After returning to Bijagua it was time for lunch, and Las Tinajitas. Have I told you how tasty the food there is?! 

 

 

 

It was already 3 pm when we came back to our casita, and set on the deck to get more photos, maybe a new bird even. Soon after this couple was photographed, Donald appeared and asked us if we are willing to get out in search of an animal. Of course, why not. Mind you, he did not disclosed which animal he had in mind.

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by xelas

[xelas]

So we all went back to our car, and Donald navigated me to nearby farm/orchard. The owner has spotted something and has published the news on their FB page (yes, social media is everywhere), and Donald acted quickly. After quick greetings and handshaking the local guy took us toward a small patch of dense wood. Briefly we have stopped to photograph a trogon then me and our local guide went ahead, while Donald and Zvezda followed us at a distance. We were fighting our way through undergrowth trying to find the elusive subject of our desire. Soon enough my guide stopped and pointed ahead. Not sure what I was looking at until looking through the viewfinder of my camera. Oh boy!!!

 

Slaty-tailed Trogon

 

It is there!

 

In the middle of the photo

 

Baird's Tapir

 

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by xelas

[xelas]

After taking a few quick photos we have moved out of the wood as our guide knew why the tapir was there; his was the orchard and this tapir came to eat what can be found under the fruiting trees. Next 90 minutes we have walked with the tapir, taking photos and enjoyed this rare moments in his (it was a male) company. Sometimes we were quite close to the animal but there were no signs he might be annoyed in any way. Anyway we have stayed at a comfortable distance from this big guy. Following are some of the photos from our Walk With The Tapir:

 

Waiting for the tapir to emerge

 

 

Walking down the slope

 

 

 

Enjoying the fruits of the day

 

 

 

 

Portrait of the happy guy

 

 

 

It was already dark when we left the orchard, and the tapir. What an encounter with an animal that so far I was under impression can be found only if taking the expensive guided trip to Corcovado NP!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

That was a rare and beautiful encounter @xelas ! Precious moments and wonderful photos!

[Treepol]

@xelas oh my, what a special sighting and the tapir was so relaxed while you were around. Slaty-tailed trogan wasn't bad either!

[Atdahl]

Wow, what a great sighting!  Congratulations!  Your TR has been filled with awesome encounters but this one is really special.  These guys are really hard to see (outside of Corcovado) and you got some fantastic pictures too.

[Atravelynn]

Charismatic tapir!

[xelas]

10 hours ago, Atdahl said:

These guys are really hard to see (outside of Corcovado) and you got some fantastic pictures too.

 

As I have no intention to visit La Sirena specially after recent new rules (and associated costs), I have more or less striked the chance of seeing a tapir in the wild off our list. Therefore you can imagine how excited we were with this encounter. And, according to what Donald told us, is not that rare to find one in nearby orchards.