Hummingbirds at Sarapiquí

White-necked Jacobin
Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Green-breasted Mango Hummingbird female
Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Scaly-breasted Hummingbird
Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Maybe a Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer
Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Maybe a Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer
Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Some of these were shot at the Selva Verde Lodge, some at Dave & Dave’s Nature Park, and possibly one at La Selva. I did not indicate exact location when uploading. Sorry.

Also note that when I say “Sarapiquí” I am referring to a region that has become a popular birding Sarapiquí River and Highway 4 (Ruta 4) down through and south of the bigger, main town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí where the boat docks are. Near there is the La Selva Biological Research Station and the large Braulio Carrillo National Park. This is the first of the Caribbean lowlands after the mountain range. There are many competing lodges, but I had read very good things about Selva Verde and now glad I chose it. Hard to imagine better birding anywhere. Though I understand that some other hotels have more luxurious rooms and even air conditioning. Selva Verde has a few rooms with a/c in the main building near the highway if you absolutely require it. The ceiling fan was fine for me.
location and somewhat for adventure sports and tourism in general. It is not a town but an area running from the little town of La Virgen in the west (closer to the mountains I drove through) along the

An additional note for people not familiar with Costa Rica, there are two towns named Puerto Viejo and those who want to avoid confusion use the “full names” or Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí for this area’s main town, and on the Caribbean Coast south of the port city of Limon is the more popular beach town of Puerto Viejo de Limon (in Limon Province) or sometimes call Puerto Viejo Talamanca as it is at the foot of the Talamanca Mountains near where the Bribri indigenous people live. I like both areas and birding is good and different in each. It will take years to explore all the nature spots in this beautiful country! And I will try!  🙂    

See also my Photo Gallery of Costa Rica Birds

Thrushes, Warblers & Swallows at Sarapiquí

Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica
The national bird of Costa Rica

Wood Thrush (possibly Swainson’s or Gray-cheeked)
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Buff-rumped Warbler
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Chestnut-sided Warbler
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Puerto Viejo & Sarapiquí Rivers, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Mangrove Swallows
Puerto Viejo & Sarapiquí Rivers, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

See also my Photo Gallery of Costa Rica Birds

Herons, Egrets & Ibis at Sarapiquí

Bare-throated Tiger Heron
Puerto Viejo & Sarapiquí Rivers, Costa Rica

Little Blue Heron
Puerto Viejo & Sarapiquí Rivers, Costa Rica

Great Blue Heron
Puerto Viejo & Sarapiquí Rivers, Costa Rica

Green Heron
Puerto Viejo & Sarapiquí Rivers, Costa Rica

Green Ibis
Puerto Viejo & Sarapiquí Rivers, Costa Rica

Cattle Egret
Flying over Sarapiquí River, Selva Verde Lodge, Chilamate, Costa Rica
Evening flight to roosting tree.

I did two boat trips from the town of Puerto Viejo on the two rivers that merge near there, the Sarapiqui River and the Puerto Viejo River. The afternoon trip was not bad but the morning trip had more birds and they were somewhat different birds the two times. 

See also my Photo Gallery of Costa Rica Birds

Tanagers at Sarapiquí

Summer Tanager
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Yellow-winged Tanager
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Blue-gray Tanager
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Palm Tanager
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Passerini’s Tanager
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Gray-headed Tanager
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

See also my Photo Gallery of Costa Rica Birds

Trogon, Kingfisher & Puffbird

Slaty-tailed Trogon male
Rio Puerto Viejo, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Green Kingfisher male
Rio Puerto Viejo, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Green Kingfisher female
Rio Puerto Viejo, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Pied Puffbird
La Selva Biological Station
Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

See also my Photo Gallery of Costa Rica Birds

Honeycreepers & Dacnis

These are the little seedeaters that are related to Tanagers and mostly smaller than other tanagers.

Red-legged Honeycreeper male
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Green Honeycreeper female
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica
Green Honeycreeper male
Dave & Dave’s Nature Pavilion Sarapiquí, La Virgen, Costa Rica

Golden Hooded Tanager
Dave & Dave’s Nature Pavilion Sarapiquí, La Virgen, Costa Rica

Bananaquit
Dave & Dave’s Nature Pavilion Sarapiquí, La Virgen, Costa Rica

Blue Dacnis, male & female  (inset is a male, female is mostly green)
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica
Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

I am grouping  birds together the way they are together in the CR Bird Guide.

See also my Photo Gallery of Costa Rica Birds

3 Species of Toucans Every Day!

Yellow-throated Toucan
Dave & Dave’s Nature Pavilion, La Virgen, Costa Rica
Former known as Chestnut-Mandibled and then Black-Mandibled Toucan
A very common bird in Sarapiquí area including at Selva Verde Lodge.

Keel-billed Toucan
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Collared Aracari
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Keel-billed Toucan Flying
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Pale-billed Woodpecker & Crested Guan

Pale-billed Woodpecker
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Crested Guan
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Crested Guan
Above the Sarapiquí River, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Though I have photographed both of these birds before, these are my best photos of them so far and one goal of all birding trips to keep making better photos of each bird found. Fun!

These are also special because they were both found on the little “self-guided trail” behind my cabin or within 40 meters of my room. Nice! Helping to put Selva Verde Lodge on my “preferred” list! Now do note that the flying guan was shot from the boat down-river from the lodge, but they took me to the boat and provided a guide to help find the guan. Great service at Selva Verde!

I’m still sorting and organizing photos and will be for several days, but will try to use some logic in presenting the photos from the lodge and other venues nearby. A lot of photos of a lot of birds!

“I don’t feed the birds because they need me; 
I feed the birds because I need them.” 

The Last Cell Phone Post & Home Again

I’m glad to be home but good photos not processed yet, so here’s more cell phone shots:

White-water rafters seen from the terrace of my cabin in cell phone.
Selva Verde Lodge, Chilamate, Sarapiquí, Costa Rica
on the Sarapiquí River 

Rafters zoomed-in and cropped from cell phone pix.
Selva Verde Lodge, Chilamate, Sarapiquí, Costa Rica
on the Sarapiquí River 

Yellow-throated Toucan cell phone shot cropped to 1/4 size to enlarge.
Behind dining room, Selva Verde Lodge, Chilamate, Sarapiquí, Costa Rica.
Good photos of this bird coming in next few days. Saw him everywhere! 

Lower Falls at La Paz Gardens
Seen from highway enroute to and from
Selva Verde Lodge Costa Rica this trip.
You don’t see this on your paid visit
inside the park!  🙂

I drove a rent car through the mountains above Alajuela to avoid going through the nerve-wracking traffic of San Jose, but not sure how much better with all the hairpin curves! It is a tiring drive of less than 60 miles that takes 3 hours. (Yep! I averaged 20 mph!) And rent cars with full insurance are expensive! So next trip will be on public transportation even though I am still not fluent in Spanish. With friendly Ticos I can struggle through the language with less stress than comes with driving through city traffic or mountain curves AND it will be a whole lot less expensive! And slower is part of the adventure. ¡Pura Vida! I was told at Selva Verde that the bus from San Jose was the equivalent of $4, but of course mine will be discounted with my senior adult card.  🙂

I’ll try to start posting Sarapiqui bird photos tomorrow and over the next few days or probably a week since I made over 3,000 photos. And I promise that most will be much better than these cell phone shots I’ve been forced to share since I forgot my USB cord on this trip. 
I drove straight to the airport with one stop for snack and baño. The bus to Atenas and cab home. A suitcase is no problem on bus since there is storage underneath the bus. Then a taxi home. The Selva Verde buffet restaurant was all Tico food and the sit-down restaurant with waiters was pasta and pizza, so I took Anthony to Donde Bocha for a hamburguesa tonight. Nice change!

On the River Again

First thing this morning I meet guide Evon at the Reception Desk and we drive to the boat dock for what I know has to be a better boat trip with always more birds in the mornings. Well it turned out to be maybe more but not a lot more, just a lot of different birds which is very good and worth the trip! I was especially pleased with photographing Crested Guans, Rough-winged Swallow, Green Ibis, Lattice-tailed Trogon and a Hook-billed Kite, among others.

We were then late for breakfast at Selva Verde and I treated Lavon with breakfast at a local Soda. Then when I returned to Selva Verde I decided to try the self-guided trail again, expecting it to be better in the morning (a la 10). Sure enough! I got more photos of Crested Guans here plus some wonderful close-up shots of a Pale-billed Woodpecker, probably my best yet of him! Also some fun lizard shots I haven’t identified yet. So a good morning!

Yesterday was too long and busy, so relaxing the rest of today and looking forward to my visit to La Selva Biological Station tomorrow morning for maybe the best birding yet (say some people). Then I head home.

Last night’s “Night Hike” was mainly about hiking in the mud in lodge-provided high boots. We saw some sleeping birds, lots of different frogs, an opossum, lots of insects, and probably something else I’ve forgotten. We went across the swinging bridge in the dark to the lodge’s primary rainforest across the river. Very interesting including a nice little waterfall with frogs around it. And of course the interesting people from all parts of Europe and North America. But for birding I still prefer my solo trips!


Levon helping another night hiker get wading boots.

Sorry, forgot to make any cellphone photos on the boat trip. Here’s one of the boardwalk to my room and one of a silk cotton tree on the trail near my room.

The red wood I thought was cedar is
actually almond tree wood.
I’m typing this at lunch while watching a Yellow-throated Toucan just below me eating bananas at the feeder. I’ve gotten so many toucan photos that it is no big deal anymore. That has been the most seen big bird here this week. I’m posting this now so I don’t have to bring the computer to dinner tonight. There is no Wifi in the rooms, only lobby and both restaurants.  Pura Vida!