Category: Birds

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Hiking at “Backdoor” of Cahuita NP

Whether coming as a tourist or a local who visits national parks here, you might want to know that there are two entrances to Cahuita National Park. There is a “main entrance” in the little town of Cahuita where most people enter, including a lot of locals for the easily accessed beaches, coral reef for snorkeling, plus very good hiking trails both along the beach and through the interior rainforest. You can see my previous photos from 2 hikes at that main entrance in these galleries:

Now here’s just 4 shots of the “back door” hiking trail also called officially Sector Puerto Vargas, as basically a 2 km long boardwalk (or bridge) over land that is sometimes under water. It leads you through a beautiful second growth rainforest with lots of wildlife possibilities to a connection with the two trails from the main entrance, one along the beach and one through the forest for a one-way total of about 8 km (using 1 of the main entrance trails + boardwalk) if you go all the way! Me and my guide, Henis, settled for the 4 km round trip on the boardwalk 🙂 where I got my “lifer” bird photo of a Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, photos of 14 Butterfly Species and some Other Wildlife! Plus these four general shots . . .

My guide Henis on the Boardwalk Trail in Sector Puerto Vargas, Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica.
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My “Lifer” Bird on this Trip

And for new readers, the explanation of “Lifer:” It is a bird that someone sees for the first time in his life. You can see on my “life list” that I have observed 552 species from many countries in the Americas and Africa, with 373 of those in Costa Rica. And that does not count this bird because I haven’t reported it on eBird yet! He was the only bird I got a decent shot of at the Cahuita National Park, though I got photos of 14 species of butterflies there! 🙂

It is just an inconspicuous little flycatcher, found only in lowland rainforests of Central America and the northern half of South America. I am pleased with these two shots of both front and side views! It is a Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Terenotriccus erythrurus (linked to the eBird description).

Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica.
Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica.

You will note that I saw and photographed many more birds in Gandoca-Manzanillo (which is always the case) and those birds were linked to in an earlier blog post on Gandoca-Manzanillo which can be seen in the first sub-gallery created for this trip gallery: Refugio Gandoca-Manzanillo. It is a wildlife refuge with fewer people visiting than the national park and has always been a better place for birds than Cahuita for me. I photographed 9 species there, 7 species at the hotel and just this one at Cahuita, BUT IT IS A LIFER! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Gandoca-Manzanillo

The wildlife refuge was Wednesday and the best report on that is my Gandoca-Manzanillo GALLERY. And as a sample, here’s one bird, one butterfly and one “other” wildlife pix! 🙂 PLUS one shot of the cloud covered sunrise this morning. At 8 am today I’m going to Cahuita National Park with a report on that later and tomorrow (Saturday) will be my last day for nature around the hotel which will be reported on even later. A good week! Here’s 4 sample shots from Gandoca and one of sunrise today.

Purple Giant Grasshopper, Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica.
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Arrived on the Beach!

And you can take that literally since the Limón Landing Strip in on the Caribbean Beach just south of the provincial capital of Limón with a 25 to 30 minute drive to my Hotel Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo where the owner comes down and welcomes me again! 🙂 Here’s 6 arrival afternoon general shots. Though I’ve started photographing birds & butterflies, I’m saving those for later posts.

Landing our plane on the beach near Limón!
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Flying to the Caribe Today!

Today begins what has become almost an annual tradition of spending a week in the Southern Caribbean of Costa Rica, during September when this rainy rainforest has the least amount of rain. After trying a few other hotels, I’ve settled on Banana Azul as my favorite and it is right on the beach (one of the few!) in a favorite room with balcony overlooking the beach and hotel gardens. It is one of my most relaxing weeks of the year! This Puerto Viejo area is south, near the Panama Border and quite different from my other Caribe fave which is north of the port of Limón and in a great wetlands wildlife national park called Tortuguero.

I have just two morning bird hikes scheduled, one in the Cahuita National Park and the other in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. Otherwise I just “hangout” at the hotel and beach, walking both the beach and a forested beach road where last year I found a bonanza of butterflies! 🙂

Sunrise at Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón.

Read on for some of my past creative endeavors from the South Caribbean of Costa Rica . . .

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A “Lifer” Bird for Me!

The other morning I had about four species of birds feeding on the flowers of my Cecropia or Guarumo Tree and one of them was a new species for me! A White-winged Becard, Pachyramphus polychopterus (linked to eBird). He is smaller than the Rose-throated Becard I’ve seen several of here and like that one is less colorful as a male. In this species the female is a golden orange or tan and more colorful than this male photographed here. Here’s three shots including one of him eating a caterpillar:

White-winged Becard, Atenas, Costa Rica
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And the Other Birds

From El Silencio, I shared the Trogon & Chlorospingus first and then the Hummingbirds and now here’s the “leftovers!” 🙂 Actually they aren’t all bad photos, but not as interesting as the other earlier-shared 4 birds. Six here, making a total of only 10 birds this trip compared to 23 the previous visit to El Silencio. The number of birds are way down everywhere this year! And no one has a good explanation.

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2 Dazzling Hummingbirds!

In my brief time at El Silencio Lodge this trip (last month) I managed to photograph two of their several mountain hummingbirds either in the rain or in-between rains: The Lesser Violetear, Colibri Cyanotus (linked to eBird) and the Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, Lampornis [castaneoventris] calolaemus (also linked to eBird). And you can see some of my other shots of both of these species in my galleries:

Now find below three shots of each species. Note that the male & female of the Violetear are identical thus not identified while the male & female of the Purple-throated are different and I did get shots of both in the latter! Plus I have here one shot of each species flying/hovering/eating! 🙂

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Common Chlorospingus or . . .

Middle America Bush-Tanager, Chlorospingus flavopectus, which is sporting a new name found only in my new 2023 Princeton Field Guide, Birds of Costa Rica (and online). And that is why I try to always have the latest bird guide because there are always changes in the names. eBird is currently using both names and even “Middle America Chlorospingus” as another option. This particular one is found only in Central America with a slightly different one in South America which I suspect is why the name change. I photographed this one from my porch chair at my cabin in El Silencio Lodge & Reserve last month. I’ve already featured the Collared Trogon and now this one from El Silencio and may do just one more bird post on all the others I photographed to keep from stringing the El Silencio posts out too far. 🙂 Or maybe one on Hummingbirds and one on all the others! 🙂 Here’s 3 of my porch shots of this nice little bird by whatever name! 🙂

Middle America Bush-Tanager, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica
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Handsome Collared Trogons

FIRST OF 7 REPORTS FROM MY RECENT TRIP TO EL SILENCIO LODGE, BAJOS DEL TORO, ALAJUELA, COSTA RICA.

I use the word “handsome” because to me it better describes all Trogons, male and female, than “beautiful,” (though they are beautiful too, especially the Quetzal!) and here I have a photo of a male and a female Collared Trogon (link is to eBird info) which was earlier combined with one called “Orange-bellied Trogon,” another name change keeping us old men birders on our toes! 🙂

I’ve seen this one in six places in Costa Rica, all shown in my CR Collared Trogon GALLERY. And there are more photos of these 2 at El Silencio in my “trip gallery:” 2023 El Silencio Lodge. A tropical bird found only in Central America and northern South America. And this one is always in the mountains or cloud forests while different species of Trogons are seen in the lowland rainforests.

My latest book, Princeton Field Guide to Birds of Costa Rica, lists 9 species of Trogons in Costa Rica including the Resplendent Quetzal. I have photos of 7 of these in my Costa Rica Birds GALLERIES (just 2 more to go!). 🙂 Scroll down past the hummingbirds, water birds, hawks and owls to the Trogons. 🙂

I’m showing the female of the Collared Trogon here first because she is one of the very few distinctively brown birds and I like brown! 🙂

Female Collared Trogon, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica
Male Collared Trogon, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Sorry for the delayed reports on El Silencio, but I got two weeks ahead on my blog posts during the last trip (Esquinas Rainforest Lodge) and didn’t want to start sending two posts a day! I hope you enjoy the variety of photos I will be sharing from El Silencio and see why it is another one of my “favorite places” here in Costa Rica! 🙂

And after 7 days of El Silencio photos I will be back to pix from my garden and neighborhood here in Atenas! 🙂 Next trip is September 18 to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica which is totally different from the mountains! 🙂 And I’m going to save those dates for “live” reports daily from the Caribe! 🙂

And if you want to learn more about El Silencio, see their website: El Silencio Lodge. It is an upscale lodge that costs more than most I visit, but the owner likes my photo books and gave me a free night this time! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!