Maquenque The Book is Published

Maquenque Book
Click image to Preview free online.

Or go to the book in my Bookstore at:

http://www.blurb.com/b/9282399-maquenque-ecolodge

A New Favorite Lodge

I hesitate to rank or say there is only one favorite birding lodge, but this is in the top 3 or 4 best easily based on both the number of birds I photographed (53+) and the new birds I photographed for the first time or “lifers” of which there were these 7:

This is also one of the best or easiest places in Costa Rica (the whole world?) to get close photos of the King Vulture. My previous photos were made through a spotting scope, so I was thrilled to have Sergio pick me up at the lodge and take me to his blind on a nearby bluff where the King Vultures hangout and from his blind that he calls a “hide” I was about 20 to 30 feet from King Vultures.

Plus the lodge guides are excellent birding guides and found birds I would never have found on my own plus on the night hike I got a photo of the rare Red-webbed Tree Frog which is on the cover of my book. The DIY trails are excellent also for birding where I got several birds on my own.

The food is very good with excellent wait staff and by planning ahead nearly a year I got one of the 4 Tree Houses as my Treehouse Room for the week – an unbelievably unique experience which yielded all the Howler Monkey photos in my gallery (by climbing up 55 steps to my room). Or see my entire “Trip Gallery” 2019 Maquenque Ecolodge.

And check out the lodge website: Maquenque Ecolodge   a true experience in nature! I highly recommend it for all nature lovers and especially for birders! Just be aware that it is not near anything familiar, a 4-hour drive from my house in Atenas to a river on the Nicaragua border.

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Smaller Water Birds

Water birds are impressive and numerous all over Costa Rica with most of these found in all lowland waters on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides. I never tire of river trips or wetland visits because the surroundings are always changing and even though I see some of the same birds every time, they are never the same! At Maquenque I had both a river trip and lived for 5 days on lagoons that attract the same birds in these wetlands (el humedal en español) of the Caribbean Slopes of northern Costa Rica. A birding paradise!

Click Image to Enlarge

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Costa Rica Birds Gallery 

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery

See the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

Maquenque Parrots & More

Everyone loves parrots and the general family includes not only Parrots, but Macaws, Parakeets and these other more distantly related birds, the Ani, a Woodpecker and Trogons plus I’m including two types of Oropendolas which are in a category of their own, all at Maquenque. Enjoy!

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Costa Rica Birds Gallery 

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery    

See the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

More Wildlife

Last night I had not gone through my boat trip photos, so my “Other Wildlife” shots (non-bird) missed the American Crocodile and the Green Iguana which are both important animals in the wetlands of Maquenque Lodge and Reserve. And I’m saving the best for last, the BIRDS will be coming soon! Then my online photo gallery of what is now one of my favorite lodges! And maybe I will write about all the wonderful Europeans and Ticos I have met here at Maquenque – not a single other American – all others here are from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Costa Rica. A delightful mixture!   🙂

Click image to enlarge.

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Other Wildlife Gallery

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery   

See also the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

Maquenque Wildlife

Here are some shots of non-bird wildlife I haven’t already shown on the blog other than the monkeys and frogs that got their own blog posts earlier. A real rainforest like this is full of wildlife of all kinds and the photo ops are numerous and I’ve seen more than shown here.

 

The photos of my main target, birds, is almost overwhelming as I now have gotten photos here at Maquenque of over 50 different species and with new lifers my total Costa Rica collection is close to 300 species now, though not tabulated yet. I am still sorting and labeling photos and may be for days,  🙂    but will soon have a blog post and an online gallery of Birds at Maquenque. That will include 2 manikins, 2 trogons, plus a Little Tinamou and a Water Thrush as lifers plus more new ones for me!

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Other Wildlife Gallery

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery 

See the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

Howler Monkeys Visit My Treehouse

Yesterday afternoon before I got ready to leave for dinner and write last night’s blog post I had a family of Mantled Howler Monkeys visit my treehouse – browsing for nuts and possibly other food in the trees on two sides of the tree house which is built around an almond tree. Here are a few photos I managed to get before leaving. Photographing up in the treetops is not as easy as you might think because of many limbs, leaves and shadows all around through which one must photograph, seldom getting a clear view of a monkey or bird! But here’s my effort! Click an image to enlarge it.

 

Life in a Costa Rica Treehouse!

 

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Other Wildlife Gallery

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery 

See also the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

Night Hike Frogs

Last night I went on the lodge’s “Night Hike” with about 8 other guests. It was similar to most other lodge night hikes and I have learned that my big camera is too much trouble on a night hike, so depend on my cell phone for photos. In addition to these frogs I got some insects and tried to photograph a coral snake we saw but failed at that. One of these is a new species of frog for me, the Red Webbed Tree Frog which has red-colored webs between his fingers and toes. Look close and you can see them. Click image to enlarge.

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Other Wildlife Gallery

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery 

See also the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

Why I Travel CR

Tomorrow I will begin exploring the virgin rainforests & wetlands of Maquenque Lodge & Reserve in Boca Tapada, Northeast Costa Rica though still in Alajuela Province, yet on the Caribbean Slope, not far from the Nicaragua border. The link on name above is to their website, telling their story. The first video clip below is about their

NATURE, THE REASON I TRAVEL COSTA RICA!

AND MY KIND OF LODGE WITHIN THE NATURE!

I have one of the treehouse rooms . . .

living like Tarzan!   🙂

Their WELCOME to Maquenque Lodge:

NOTE: They have WiFi only in public areas, not in the rooms meaning I will be more limited on doing a daily blog post, but I will try! Maybe at dinner?

¡Pura Vida!

Retired in Costa Rica

See also MY TRIP GALLERY:  2019 Maquenque Lodge Visit   (Added to this post after the trip of course!)

 

A Blog-reader Stops By for ZooAve

My Visitor at Zoo Ave

Yes, I actually have some regular readers of my blog and several I have never met, some of whom are contemplating retiring in Costa Rica. One from Texas, a bigger birder than me, has visited several times and is possibly going to move somewhere in Central Valley here next year in retirement, with Atenas one option. One “Retired in Costa Rica” Wannabe from California has been planning a nature photography trip here for months, writing me for advice and with questions. She arrived today with a local flight to the Osa Peninsula in the morning but needed something to do today. I took her to Animal Rescate Zoo Ave in La Garita today with her hotel reasonably close to the airport for her flight out in the morning.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In 2020 this facility has been “rebranded” to eliminate the zoo concept and is now called Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center.

We did not finish our walk through the zoo because her camera battery went dead with her other one left in the hotel, but I got a few photos shown below. Note that 4 of the animals in today’s animal gallery or slideshow below were “wild” or not part of the zoo collection!   🙂

Animal Photos

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More of My Photos at Zoo Ave

One of many flowers at zoo

Part of a magnificent bamboo grove at Zoo Ave