Retired American nature-lover, living in Costa Rica, photographing birds and other jewels of nature. This site simply reports on my joys of being RETIRED IN COSTA RICA!
It was raining every night at El Silencio Lodge, so waiting would not have helped! 🙂 But I enjoy night hikes that are provided in most Costa Rica wilderness lodges and you do see thing not normally seen in the day time. We saw less on this one because of the rain and that also made photography with only a cell phone not super good, but here’s 6 shots that are samples of even more we would have seen if not raining. Daniel was my guide on this hike and he included two miradors (vistas) which were interesting at night and sorry I did not try to photograph the views, though again the rain made it more difficult with less moonlight and no stars. CLICK image to enlarge . . .
Cloud Forest Anole
Tiny Frog Unidentified
Cloud Forest Anole
Strange Insect Unidentified
Red-Knee Tarantula
“Letter Tree”
“Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world.” ~John Muir
¡Pura Vida!
You might also like my Amphibians Gallery, most of which were photographed on Night Hikes all over Costa Rica! 🙂
The first wife of a 3-time president of Costa Rica, José Figueres Ferrer, Henrietta Boggs, died this week of the dreaded Coronavirus in Alabama at the age of 102. She had a bigger Costa Rica Adventure than me, becoming the First Lady of Costa Rica and a primary leader to get voting privileges for both women and blacks in Costa Rica. Read about this remarkable woman in this New York Times Article. And thanks to Larry for sharing it with me!
I got photos of only 5 species of butterflies during my week at El Silencio Lodge and Reserve, all new to me and difficult to identify – with 2 still unidentified! I also saw a lot of Blue Morphos and Yellows but simply too fast-moving – never stopping for a photo! CLICK an image to see it larger.
White-chain Oxeo
Unidentified – similar to Splendid Mapwing
Harmony Satyr
Harmony Satyr
Orange Mapwing
Orange Mapwing
Unidentified Ticlear or Heliconian
Butterflies at El Silencio Lodge & Reserve – September 2020
After breakfast this morning walking back to my villa, I got one more species, not new to me, but upping my photo count to 16 here this trip. It is the Common Chlorospingus (link to eBird article) and he used to be called a “Common Bush Tanager.” There was a flock of them along the main road flitting from tree to tree.
I’m now packing and will leave around 10:30, back to Atenas!
Here’s 12 birds I photographed at El Silencio Lodge and Reserve in addition to the 3 hummingbirds shared yesterday. Of the 15 I photographed, 4 are lifers or first-time I’ve seen that species. Then there were others not photographed like the red-tailed hawk flying overhead and a Black and White Warbler. And my main reason for coming here was the waterfalls! 🙂 So it has been a very good week and I go home tomorrow morning (Saturday) to continue my lesser adventures in Atenas, but will continue sharing photos from this excellent trip.
Chestnut-capped Brushfinch
Western Wood-Peewee
Blackburnian Warbler
Prong-billed Barbet
Slate-throated Redstart
Blue-gray Tanager
Brown Jay
Collared Trogan female
House Wren
Black Phoebe
Rufous-collared Sparrow
White-throated Thrush
And the lifers? They are the Chestnut-capped Brushfinch, Blackburnian Warbler, Scintillant Hummingbird, and the Black-bellied Hummingbird. I showed the two hummingbirds in a post yesterday. And the reason the Brushfinch is in a girl’s hand, he had just flown into one of the lodge office’s plate-glass windows and was still in shock. He eventually flew off.
I highly recommend El Silencio Lodge & Reserve and though it is expensive, it is well-worth what they charge! And I am not finished sharing photos from this trip, so expect more for the next few days! 🙂
The El Silencio Hummingbird Garden is like mine, no feeders, just flowers. And also like mine, there is a dominant hummingbird species that chases many of the others away from the garden and they just go to other flowers on the grounds. I only found three species in the official Hummingbird Garden, though I saw, but did not photograph, others around the grounds. Their dominant bird here is the Purple-throated Mountain Gem, but the tiny Scintillant and the Black-bellied Hummingbirds seem to hang in there with the Mountain Gems! And I photographed bees here! 🙂
CLICK an image to see larger:
Welcome Sign
Purple-throated Mountain Gem
Scintillant Hummingbird
Black-bellied Hummingbird
View from Inside the Hummingbird Garden
I visited the Hummingbird Garden only twice.
I still have 10 other bird species I photographed and hope to post soon. See also my CR Birds photo gallery for all I have photographed here in 5.5 years. The Black-bellied Hummingbird and Scintillant are “lifers” for me and I got 2 other lifers in the next batch of 10 birds I will post soon. 4 lifers in one trip is very good now with my CR count up to 349! 🙂
On my hike up the mountain to the waterfalls here at El Silencio Lodge I ran into a Land Crab or Gecarcinidae on the trail. A first for me in Costa Rica or maybe anywhere in the mountains! For those interested, see the Wikipedia Article or I found a more specific online book article The Land Crabs of Costa Rica which seems to have more about the ones closer to the ocean. This place is nowhere near an ocean!
I finally got to seeing the waterfalls here on the hotel property and they fabulous! There is a “Waterfall Trail” which including the walk from my villa is 6 km round trip and thus I kept putting it off until my last full day here. For those considering a stay here, it is an uphill walk on the gravel road to the trail head but they will take you that far in one of the golf carts.
The waterfall trail is fairly easy with some hills except for Catarata La Promesa (The Promise Waterfall) which is an uphill climb from the main trail on its own side trail that includes steps, maybe 30 or 40, I didn’t count. BUT it is worth it! It is maybe the tallest and some would say the most beautiful and it is out in the open more than the other two, meaning easier to see and photograph without climbing over rocks. And there are two picnic tables there to make it your rest stop or picnic lunch before returning back to the hotel. And possibly a swim there!
The main trail goes over a bridge in front of Catarata La Melodía (The Melody Waterfall) which is the first one you come to. You can see and photograph it from the bridge or to get closer you climb over some rocks and get right to the bottom of the falls. Then just a short way past that first falls is a Y in the trail with two dead ends, one to Catarata El Silencio (The Silence Waterfall) straight ahead and up the steps and hill to La Promesa. They are all three beautiful and full of water during the rainy season. Not sure I have a favorite.
Melody Waterfall
El Silencio Waterfall
The Promise Waterfall
3 Great Falls on Property! CLICK image to enlarge.
I will say that many of the lodges I’ve visited all over Costa Rica have one or more waterfall on their property, but few as beautiful as these. Well . . . the one falls at Arenal Observatory is as big or bigger and as beautiful, but there are 3 such beauties here at El Silencio Lodge! And then Hacienda Guachipelín at Rincón de la Vieja National Park has 3 falls as beautiful on their property, so I’m backing down a little on their brag! 🙂 And another favorite hotel, Xandari Alajuela has 3 waterfalls but they aren’t as big or as beautiful as these.
Actually there are technically 7 falls at El Silencio with 4 “lesser water” waterfalls used only for those who rappel down the falls and that is the only way to see them, but one of the guides said I’m not missing much. 🙂 That is one of the many optional activities here and you rappel down all four of those! But not me! 🙂
With the Hummingbird Garden here dominated by two species of hummingbirds (at home, just one now), it was nice to see these bees in that garden. I’ll share hummers later.
