The Spanish word “Mirador” is translated to English as a lookout point, vantage point or viewpoint to see a “vista” which in several languages is a view or sight. With a 2.5 km hike up the hill or a 4×4 jeep ride from the Hotel Savegre you can see the hills on the other side of the Savegre River that runs through the hotel property. After our hike through the cloud forest, we saw the views and then like sissies, rode back down the mountain in the jeep! :-) I did walk it the last time I was there! :-) Here’s five photos below or see them in the gallery: Savegre Mirador.
I am immensely grateful for each and every one of you who read my blog regularly, occasionally or just look at the photos! My site host reports more that 2,000+ “hits” online at my website/blog every month! 🙂 And that doesn’t count many of the 500+ subscribers who only look at the email version nor most of the 650 Facebook Friends who look at the one feature photo without clicking the the link to the post!
I also appreciate the hundreds of comments left on the posts monthly and many “contacts” or messages through my contact page or by email. Just yesterday I responded to a man in England with questions about photographing wildlife at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge and a friend in the States commented with a meaningful Bible verse about my post yesterday on hugging the 800 year old tree. Nature is fun! :-) And you who read or just look at the pictures are the ones who make it fun for me! :-) THANKS! Keep reading or looking at the pix! And click the gallery links for more pix!
As usual, I’m ending the year with 12 photos from this year, equaling one per month but not literally from each month, since some months have weaker or fewer photos. Nor are these necessarily my top 12 favorite photos from this year, but are representative 2023 photos from “Retired in Costa Rica” this year, with birds and butterflies obviously being two favorite subjects again! :-) One shot here for the email version and eleven more online with a quick click below of “Read More”!
After the jeep ride up the mountain (yesterday’s post) going past the mirador (Spanish for a vista overlook platform), we stopped at the trailhead for multiple trails. Me and the 3-generation Tico family chose the shorter trail through the forest down to the Savegre Mirador. Just one experience here, so be sure to see the others in theHiking the Pioneers Trail Photo GALLERY.
An 800 Year Old Tree says “Hug Me!”A Mother & Child Hug the 800 year old Tree.
And for more pix on the trails at Savegre, click the linked blog post below titled “Trails and Trees” where Marino Chacón (a different son of the founder than this year) took me on a longer trails hike for the early morning bird hike back in January 2021, just the 2 of us.
Of course many choose to hike all the way up to several different trails and the Mirador (vista platform) which I did last time here, but I chose the jeep ride up and down this time with just a short nature trail which I will tell about tomorrow. Here’s one shot of the jeep we road up in with its dog co-pilot! :-) I road with a 3-generation Tico family on vacation there, a 3 or 4 year old boy, his parents and grandparents. The two weeks either side of Christmas are vacation time for most government employees and many big companies not involved in retail sales of course! :-) Thus half or more of the people at the hotel were Ticos. The rest were tourists from the States, Canada, Australia, and all over Europe. Another charming thing about traveling about Costa Rica! :-)
The jeep we road up and down the mountain in with it’s dog co-pilot. 🙂
See some other photos in my gallery: 4×4 Jeep Ride up the Mountain. And tomorrow some photos from our hike on the Pioneers Trail!
I’ve seen this cool butterfly in only two places, here and at Guayabo Lodge near Turrialba. It is found from Texas to Brazil. Since I’m limiting myself to one photo per post from this location, see the other shots in my Mexican Silverspot GALLERY plus my earlier shots.
Mexican Silverspot, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.
See shots from other places on butterfliesandmoths.org. And oh yeah, I did not get a good Quetzal shot yesterday morning, so I’m trying again this morning. Wildlife does not usually pose for photographers! :-)
Yeh! He’s a regular “Snow Bird” who migrates down here from my former state and others every winter. I hiked down the road to Batsu Gardens yesterday for Christmas Eve and my 9th Anniversary in Costa Rica. This Tennessee Warbler was just one of many birds I photographed, meaning I have lots of photos to process. But today’s focus is on the “Christmas Quetzal” as I was scheduled for the 5:15 am “Quetzal Tour” on Christmas Morning with one of the hotel guides. Maybe a report on that tomorrow morning! :-)
Tennessee Warbler, Batsu Gardens, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica
in Costa Rica and 2nd smallest in the world! (Smallest is Bee Hummingbird not found here.) Plus this one it is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. At higher elevations it is replaced by its slightly larger “cousin” the Volcano Hummingbird. Here’s one shot made here at Hotel Savegre in San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica. Read about the Scintillant Hummingbird, Selasphorus scintilla, on eBird and see more photos from San Gerardo de Dota, both at Savegre and Batsu Gardens, AND from El Silencio Lodge, my only places to see this species, in my Scintillant Hummingbird GALLERY. Because of slow internet here, only one photo.
Scintillant Hummingbird, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.
This one is either a female or immature male, both of which have spotted throats. Mature males have a solid orange throat.
Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and I plan on one more post today, my 9th year anniversary of living in Costa Rica. :-)
Right after breakfast in a garden behind the restaurant I got several shots of this male and a few weaker shots of the female Yellow-bellied Siskin – Spinus xanthogastrus (eBird link). Because the wifi or internet is weaker or slower here I will be trying to use only one photo per post but to include both male & female, two photos today! :-)
Yellow-bellied Siskin, Male, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica. Yellow-bellied Siskin, Female, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.
See my gallery of Yellow-bellied Siskin with more shots from this morning. This morning I went to a new garden on the hotel campus and have a lot of photos of a lot of birds that I will slowly share, one bird at a time and then tomorrow morning I plan to go to Batsu Gardens across the road for even more birds. I did get a couple of butterflies this morning and a caterpillar, but this trip will be mostly birds it appears! :-)
As always, my faithful driver, Walter, got me through all the Christmas traffic going around San Jose and up to my mountain hideaway in Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota. This time his wife Gabby and their year old daughter got to ride with us through the traffic of one wreck, lots of Christmas shoppers and half of Costa Rica beginning their summer vacation this weekend! I treated them to a late lunch at Savegre and the waiter made this photo. And believe it or not a Resplendent Quetzal visited us in a tree by our outside dining area. And my camera was not with me! 🙁
Walter Ramirez Family with me at Savegre.
Mountain flowers are different from those in the lowlands, so one of my first shots was of flowers and there will be many more! :-)
Mountain Flowers, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota.
Often when photographing in the forests of Costa Rica I’m compelled to photograph an interesting leaf or something that I don’t know what it is, thus I usually have a folder for photos of “Leaves & Nature Things!” And today’s photo is one of those! :-) They might be seeds or flower buds or nuts or who knows what? But I find this “whatever “Nature Thing” seen at Macaw Lodge to be worth sharing in my nature blog. And if you know what it is, leave a comment below. 🙂
