My second time to ride the canopy tram here and first time in the sunshine! It was better with a few more birds this morning after breakfast, but still difficult to photograph moving birds from a moving gondola! Sorry for not better photos, especially of the tiny Tawny-capped Euphonia!
I also walked around the campus again and down to the river and got two more Sunbittern – the featured photo – a rare and elusive bird that all birders desire! It was not from the tram! 🙂
I leave tomorrow morning from my different and good rainforest experience. Though difficult to rate, I will try to do so in another post and on TripAdvisor. And . . . oh yeah, of course it is raining again as I type this! 🙂
These shots were Tuesday the 24th as a part of my “Birding Tour” with guide Cristian who is the guy in the gondola with me. I said “first” because I am doing it again tomorrow morning the 26th and hope for more than one bird! Though the Aracari shot Tuesday wasn’t bad! 🙂 And for it to not be raining! It has rained constantly for the last 4 days. And hoping for a shot of an Umbrella Bird before I leave Saturday morning.
The photos title has their bragging number of 2.6 km, length of your ride round trip! One-way from beginning to the other end up on a mountain top is 1.3 km, but either way it is long! 🙂 If you are the only one riding, it takes an hour and 15 minutes. But every time they board or exit someone more minutes are added. When the cruise ship passengers were here this morning it was taking them about two hours with people in most of the gondolas.
It will be quieter tomorrow morning right after breakfast with few if any other people and hopefully more birds in the tree tops! 🙂 There is the option to get off at the top with a guide and hike a trail up there, but my birding guide said it was not very good for birding, so we didn’t. I think the manager is sending one of his birding guides with me tomorrow to help me find birds in the tree tops. Fun! This is what you do when you are “Retired in Costa Rica.” 🙂
On Christmas Eve, yesterday, my 5 year anniversary of living in Costa Rica I had a birding guide and got one “Lifer” (first time seen) bird, the rare White-tipped Sicklebill, plus a lifer mammal if you please! A Wild Tapir came right up to the restaurant building eating from the flower beds! 🙂 Though not new for me, I also got some more photos of a very rare Sunbittern! And all of the below photos from yesterday were made in the rain. It has not stopped raining for two days and nights now in this RAINforest. 🙂
Birds
Semiiplumbeous Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Yellow-throated Toucan
Sunbittern
Purple-crowned Fairy
Collared Aracari
White-tipped Sicklebill
Sunbittern
Tapir on entrance walkway for Gift Shop & Restaurant
Forest Walk
Rainforest Walk
“Marshmallow Tree” colloquially
My guide, Cristian, on the river where we found the Sunbittern
Rainforest Walk
Rainforest Walk
Rainforest Walk
The mother Tapir eating various kinds of leaves. She seldom brings her baby.
I also got some interesting photos on the canopy tram ride which I will share in another post the next two days or whenever I return to the entrance for Wifi.
¡Pura Vida!
A White-nosed Coati – Quite common raccoon-sized animal all over Costa Rica.
That is also the name of the company that operates this little lodge of only 10 rooms — RAINFOREST ADVENTURE. And that is what I am having! I’m almost at the bottom of the mountains of Braulio Carrillo National Park, though we are on the side of a hill or mountain, on the “Caribbean Slope” just barely across the province line into Limon Province, about a 25 minute drive to Guapiles for those who know the area. And in a real rainforest. It rained part of yesterday afternoon and has rained all day today so far. I skipped the morning nature walk that comes with the room because of rain (my camera doesn’t like) but made the night hike last night for lots of frogs and snakes! 🙂
There is no wifi in the lodge-restaurant area and so I took the shuttle bus up to the front gate on the highway (4 km) which is the only place with wifi. Thus I will not be doing a post every day. Today is my personal explore day, tomorrow an all day birding tour on my 5 year anniversary of living in Costa Rica, and Christmas Day I do the “Canopy Tour” or zip-lining. The birding tour includes a round trip ride on the tram through the tree tops. The 26th I tour the National Park and 27th rest before returning to Atenas the 28th.
That is it and I may or may not have another post from here – a little bit of trouble. The place is geared more to young adult adventures, but is a great rainforest to stay in. The room is small but okay though I must drink only bottled water here. Food is okay, not great. One of the guides here is Moises who was one of my guides at Turtle Beach Lodge in Tortuguero (the younger ones move around some). So, in spite of a lot of rain here I’m having a great time! Here’s the first afternoon/evening photos in three categories:
“And we are better throughout the year for having in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time.” ~Laura Ingalls Wilder
And that is what I am doing again for this Christmas! Tonight (Friday) I watch the Christmas Lights Parade in Atenas which is always beautiful and colorful. (Feature Photo is 2017 Atenas Parade) I missed the parade last year while on a trip. That means that tomorrow, Saturday, I hope to report on the parade with photos, though it could be mid-day before I can get that many photos processed! 🙂
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Then Sunday morning I leave for the mountains where I will be spending the week at Braulio Carrillo, our second largest national park in Costa Rica at the Tapirus Lodgewhich I’m hoping was a good choice since my first choice (Arenal Observatory) had no vacancies a year ahead of this Christmas Week! (I now have them scheduled for Christmas 2020! Tapirus is operated by Rainforest Adventures which seems to emphasize the young with zip-lining and white-water rafting much more than bird-watching (but I am becoming a child again!) – so we will see! But at least I will be in the forest – me gusta mucho! 🙂
Yesterday morning I had an intruder in my house during breakfast. The sliding glass doors to my terrace stay open all day when I’m here but I close the sliding screen doors except for during breakfast when I’m in and out a lot for coffee, etc. Yesterday for the first time a juvenile Chachalaca just like these two photos made earlier flew right by my breakfast table and into the house. (A youngster exploring!)
I went inside and hollered at him which just scared him further back into my bedroom. I then opened the other door, a regular door into my garden (for multiple exit options), then walked calmly into my bedroom to the opposite side as he went under the bed and back out the other side away from me, then immediately flying back outside through the big door.
Kind of amusing. He of course was afraid of me and the house, just a kid exploring! The only other bird to fly in has been a little Rufous-naped Wren inside my house which I made photos of then. This time I just wanted the chicken-sized bird OUT! 🙂
He looked just like this flying through my house.
Another juvenile in my garden earlier like the one who visited yesterday. We have many families of these birds in Roca Verde. Fortunately none nest near me.
Wishing you the best through the holidays and a Pura Vida New Year!
~Charlie
I will be slowing down the next two weeks, but still posting some on the blog, as I prepare for Christmas Week at the Tapirus Lodge, in Braulio Carrillo National Park, one of our largest and wildest parks in Costa Rica. New adventures, new photos all the time! 🙂 Retired in Costa Rica!THANK YOU for following my blog! ~Charlie
¡Pura Vida!
Red-legged Honeycreeper, Maquenque Eco-lodge, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, January 2019.
And check out my Photo Gallery if you haven’t recently – Its “My Costa Rica!” 🙂
Wow! Another great trip to one of my top 5 or 6 favorite places in Costa Rica, Arenal Observatory Lodge, with photos of 49 bird species , including the two new lifers for me! Plus 7 other animal species, a new birding trail (Bogarín), the waterfall, wonderful hiking trails and gardens to walk through, and the tallest birding tower in Costa Rica where this year I got lots of Honeycreepers in place of all the monkeys photographed last year, plus a repeat of my favorite room 29 and really good food! I have been so busy after the trip that it has been difficult to process all the photos, but finally done! Check them out at (or click image):
Today I had a morning hike to the Danta Waterfall and afternoon hike to the Observatory Tower they call “The Nest.” Both were good, see photos below. And though still rainy today (I had to leave tower before most toucans arrived), there was almost a sunset tonight or the nearest we’ve had this rainy week and of course what little I got was mostly behind the clouds. 🙂
It did rain this afternoon, just a light shower, but enough to keep me from climbing the tower in the rain – so I processed the Bogarin Birds! If you are ever in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, I recommend the place as a good for many, many birds! Saw 40 species! 21 here in photos.
It is a protected reserve right in town – a town I don’t care for but love their Bogarin Trail! La Fortuna is too touristy for me like Manual Antonio and Jaco, packed with competing hotels, restaurants and T-shirt shops! 🙂 Check out the trail website at: Bogarin Trail (or their Facebook Page).
My “lifer” or first time bird today is in the featured photo above, White-throated Crake. The name link is to the article on Cornell Neotropical Birds.
