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Rio Tempisque

My last full day at Rancho Humo was the only thing I have done once before here, a boat trip down the Tempisque River looking for birds. It is the 2nd largest river in Costa Rica and has a great bridge over it near the mouth where it enters the huge Gulf of Nicoya, called “Puente La Amistad de Taiwán,”  (Taiwan Friendship Bridge). It was a gift from the Taiwanese government and saves hours when driving from Guanacaste to the San Jose area. We of course drove over it on our trips to and from Rancho Humo. A beautiful bridge!

Back in 2016 when my friend John from Franklin, TN came looking for investment property, we went to Flamingo Beach and the general Tamarindo area looking and he pampered me with the treat of a day trip from Flamingo Beach to Rio Tempisque for a similar float trip. See the 2016 post on that boat trip, some of the same birds then with 3 then I did not get this time, but I got more total this time with 10 not seen in 2016, including a Zone-tailed Hawk, a “Lifer” for me.   🙂     Here’s slideshows on this year’s visit, both birds & other animals:

BIRDS on Tempisque River 14 November 2018

Randomly presently

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Other Animals on Tempisque River 14 November 2018

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Water Hyacinths along the banks of Tempisque River

¡Pura Vida!

 

And note that my transportation for this trip was provided by Walter’s Taxis and Tours. Click his logo in the right column for more information. Great service!

 

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Palo Verde National Park Visit

There is plenty to see and photograph on the 5,000+ acres of Rancho Humo, birds, other wildlife, and scenery! But across the river from the ranch is another wonderful and large Costa Rica park: Palo Verde National Park.

Costa Rica is blessed with many national parks and wildlife reserves, more than 25% of country’s total land!  This park is a combination of Tropical Dry Forest, the Tempisque River and its surrounding wetlands which bloom with wildlife.

 

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I float down the river for a different experience in the park. But here are 3 slideshows for what was seen on Tuesday on a 6 km hike and posting here on Wednesday. Will post boat trip later today or tomorrow.

Birds in Palo Verde National Park

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Other Wildlife in Palo Verde National Park

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Views Surrounding Us in Palo Verde National Park

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A Hat Full of Sky

“There’s always a story. It’s all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything’s got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.” 
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

And today’s story begins as I wake up with that big sky sunrise at the foot of my bed in beautiful Rancho Humo, eat a Tico breakfast of scrambled eggs with beans and rice (Gallo Pinto) and begin a 6 km hike in Palo Verde Park after a 30 minute boat ride to the park entrance.  Tired, invigorated, hot and smiling. Today’s story will continue once I’ve sorted the photos   🙂    –another episode of “Retired in Costa Rica.”  ¡Pura Vida!

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New Friends on My Afternoon Walk

My 4 pm afternoon walk ended up being partly with a young couple from Germany who checked in the hotel today along with a separate American couple, so I no longer get all the attention of the staff!   🙂    This German couple are going with me on the hike into the national park tomorrow morning.

My other new friends were a group of Yellow-naped Parrots that live only in the Northwest of Costa Rica and thus my first time to see. They are also popular for pets and thus now endangered, so a really good photo find and a “Lifer” for me. Click the name link above for Cornell University’s Neotropical Birds article with map of the few places they still live in the wild and a recording of their sounds which I heard live today. This kind of wildness is going to disappear one of these days if humans don’t change their ways.

Yellow-naped Parrot, Rancho Humo Estancia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Yellow-naped Parrot, Rancho Humo Estancia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

 

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Rancho Humo Birds

All of these birds were photographed on the Rancho Humo hotel property (100’s of acres of farmland) with some fields flooded by a tidal irrigation system from the Tempisque River. Many of the fields are shared with some of the 800 cows they have here along with wild deer, howler monkeys, and all the smaller wildlife like coatis and iguanas, etc. Tomorrow I go into the Palo Verde National Park which will probably give me some new birds along with some of these.       CLICK AN IMAGE TO SEE LARGER or to begin a slideshow with larger images than the automated slideshow.

 

Rancho Humo Estancia on Rio Tempisque

See how I “rough it” in luxury in Costa Rica:

¡Pura Vida!

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A Beautiful Day!

And So Many Birds the Photos Aren’t Ready!

I photographed so many birds today that I can’t get them all processed to show tonight, so they’ll come tomorrow.

Above was sunrise from my room and below where I road in a safari jeep on the hotel property photographing birds and at bottom the sunset today.  Lots of bird photos coming tomorrow!

The Wetlands around Rancho Humo Estancia, Costa Rica
Another fabulous end to another fabulous day – Rancho Humo!

 

 

¡Pura Vida!

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“Home on the Range”

Northwest Costa Rica, the Guanacaste Province, is mostly flat, dry and generally with more sun than rain with lots of cattle ranching. Today Walter drove me to and through this area of Costa Rica for my 5-night stay at Rancho Humo where it is near the end of Rainy Season, so nice and green now! Above photo is from my room deck when I arrived. Here’s a few shots enroute and on the first of 6 days at “Home on the Range.”

BIRDS First Afternoon, 30 minutes in Wetlands

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On the Road to Rancho Humo

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My “Jr. Suite” at Rancho Humo

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Rancho Humo Outside Views

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And their 2 Minute Video on Rancho Humo:

 

¡Pura Vida!

 

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Morning Birds

First a Turkey Vulture soared overhead like a messenger from God, then 3 simple birds landed in 3 different trees and I felt close to God during breakfast today – even without colorful, rare or gorgeous birds – just plain birds smiling at me as I smiled back!

Birds in My Garden at Breakfast Today

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My heart is like a singing bird.

~Christina Rossetti

And tomorrow morning, Saturday, I leave for Palo Verde National Park. See yesterday’s post for more information.

¡Pura Vida!

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Next Adventure Starts Saturday

Saturday morning I leave early for a 3 hour drive to the dry tropical forests of Northwest Costa Rica or the Provincia de Guanacaste. But since water is necessary for life (including birds) I’m going to a park with a grand river running through it, Rio Tempisque (Wikipedia) in Palo Verde National Park  (Facebook) while staying just outside the park in Rancho Humo Estancia. In addition to the boat and jeep tours this hotel offers, I hope to also visit the Palo Verde Biological Station in the heart of the park for birds, though not staying there. And being in November, the last month of rainy season, it won’t be dry there at this time.

And my main birding goal? It is to get a photo of a Jabiru Stork, the largest stork in the world. And an island in this river is considered their main nesting spot, so maybe I will see one or more even though I just learned that they don’t nest until April, which means I may have to return in April-May?   🙂

This trip will be quite a bit different from my rainforest visit last month!

On this linked google map the Palo Verde is left center and Atenas (my home) lower right side:      https://goo.gl/maps/zjweRutu3Pv

Or here is location (Red X) on a Costa Rica Relief Map:

Red X is the location of Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Park Remodeling Progresses Slowly

Earlier I posted on “Construction Begins on New Park” with photos of the construction screening and architect’s drawings – now it seems that they are going very slowly (Pura Vida!), but there is progress! In this photo they have cleared the central circle of the park of everything (trees, shrubs, benches, sidewalks) for construction of the Kiosk, Band Shelter or Gazebo which locals are calling “quiosco” o “kiosco.” It is the biggest item, so hopefully remodeling will go faster after that is completed but most expect it to be way into next year before finished. Everything is slow here.

¡Pura Vida!