Good morning birders, twitchers, twitchy birders, bitchy twirlers, and anyone looking for a respite from our bird-brained politics. Last month I published Part 1 of the highlights of a January trip to Costa Rica. This is Part 2, covering the Orosi Valley and the mid-elevation Caribbean slope.
On a nine-night trip that included many non-birding activities, I had to be efficient with the itinerary planning. My goal was to move eastward from the southern Pacific coast to the Caribbean slope, visiting as many different elevations and habitats as possible – thus, more bird variety – while minimizing the hours spent driving on the often-challenging roads. To avoid redundancy with our 2018 trip to northern Costa Rica, we mostly stayed south of San Jose.
NIGHTS 6-7: Orosi
After four nights on the Pacific coast and one in the Talamanca Mountains, we headed toward the town of Orosi, about an hour southeast of San Jose. The Jardín Botánico Lankester — a stunning botanical garden run by the University of Costa Rica — made for a perfect stop along the way. While my wife was swooning over the massive orchid garden, I was wandering the grounds listening for chirping. The highlight was a mixed flock of orioles and tanagers — which included this scarlet-rumped tanager — as well as a lesser greenlet, my second and final vireo lifer of the trip.
We spent two nights at the Orosi Lodge, named after the lovely small town of which it sits at the edge, close to markets and restaurants but also mere yards from hiking trails that go deep into the surrounding hills.
During our full day there, a guide picked us up at the lodge and we birded in two nearby spots: a section of cloud forest that borders the temporarily closed Tapanti National Park, and the Rio Macho Forest Reserve in the hills above Orosi.
Rain-forest bird photography can be extremely challenging. And indeed, many of my lifers were documented for posterity in — to be polite about it — suboptimal fashion. For example, the red-faced spinetail and black-faced solitaire:
Those were National Geographic quality shots, though, compared to the gray-breasted wood-wren and ochraceous wren:
And then there was one of my top targets, the red-headed barbet:
One the other hand, this yellowish flycatcher posed nicely for us on a low branch:
And I got a nice look at another top target, the long-tailed silky-flycatcher:
We also saw a purple-throated mountain-gem (right), coupled in this collage with a green-breasted mango (female) we saw in front of the lodge.
Between the two main stops, our guide took us to a farm to spot some non-forest species. We quickly saw several, including a southern lapwing and yellow-faced grassquit:
Ruddy ground dove, tropical mockingbird:
Social flycatcher:
And bronzed cowbird:
On one of our hikes above Orosi, I left the camera in our lodge so that I could traverse the steep and slippery slopes without being weighed down. Would that prove to be a fallacy? I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Well, the worst that could happen was that we turned a corner to find a bat falcon perched right in front of us, and all I had was my phone:
You may remember — since I’m the protagonist of your story as well, and you recall every detail from my year-old diaries — that I chased the bat falcon that came to Texas last year, but got only a terrible picture. So one of my big goals was to get a better picture of one here. Sigh.
NIGHTS 8-9: Mid-Elevation Caribbean Slope
Our final stop was in a rural area about 15 miles east of Orosi. At 3500 feet above sea level, this crossroads between lowland jungle and montane forest draws an incredible number of bird species. In fact, the lodge and preserve known as Rancho Naturalista is one of the best birding spots in the country. The bad news is, it’s about $400 per night to stay there in January. The good news is, they allow day visitors, and there’s a brand-new lodge less than 20 minutes away that is ¼ the cost.
We spent two nights at Arte de Plumas, built about a year ago by a bird photographer who bought a 65-acre tract of land that includes diverse habitats and a large stream.
The trails and landscaping are a work in progress, and some of the features need refinement (the rooms take “open concept” to a new level — great light and airflow, but not everyone wants to watch their roommates go wee-wee). Still, it’s a wonderful place — get it while it’s cheap! In addition to the owner (Randy), the primary manager (Andrey) is also a birder, and he spent hours each day just hanging out with guests, helping us ID our pictures, setting up scopes on the patio, taking us out after dinner to see common pauraques hunting, and so on.
We saw lots of birds on the lodge’s grounds, including the chestnut-headed oropendola:
There were tons of the more common Montezuma oropendolas there — they were even nesting nearby — but I somehow neglected to photograph them. I also saw a black-cheeked woodpecker and a green ibis:
Tropical parula (the second of three lifer warblers on this trip) and bananaquit:
The ever-present rufous-collared sparrow:
And hummingbirds. Lots of hummingbirds! The lodge has feeders hanging on all sides of its breakfast/dinner room, which is open to the outside on two sides. The hummingbirds actually fly through the room regularly. The most common were white-necked jacobins:
Green-breasted mangos:
And green thorntails:
Andrey also gave us clear directions to find the much-sought-after sunbittern in their stream. We didn’t get to see its famous wing pattern — but it was still a good find:
I also found two great lifers while bushwhacking through a riverside “trail” without a camera: a bay wren and a green-fronted lancebill. The latter is a hummingbird with a massive honker of a bill. While I’m usually tentative about IDing birds without a camera, these both had distinctive markings. Andrey was quite envious when I told him about the lancebill. Apparently, he has never been able to find one on the property.
So the lodge is great. . .but let’s get to the main attraction! We bought a day pass to Rancho Naturalista and headed out early to meet a guide we had hired. And holy crap, that place was as good as advertised. I got more lifers there, and more total species, than at any other stop by far.
We saw the green honeycreeper at the top of this story, which was a big target. We saw five types of euphonias, including olive-backed:
Tawny-capped and white-vented:
We saw a red-billed pigeon and an ochre-bellied flycatcher:
Rufous motmot, masked tityra:
Cinnamon becard:
White-shouldered tanager, white-lined tanager:
Scarlet-thighed dacnis:
Crested guan:
Common tody-flycatcher:
And two fabulous woodpeckers. First, the golden-olive:
And then our 2018 nemesis, the lineated woodpecker. We heard one at Carara National Park during our first trip, but neither we nor our guide could spot it. This handsome dude near the hummingbird habitat enabled us to remove it from our dreaded “heard only” list:
We also got some garbage pics of desirable lifers. Here are a white-collared manakin and a bay-headed tanager (trust me, they’re gorgeous):
And our last warbler lifer of the trip, a golden-crowned:
One of my top goals was to get a great picture of a keel-billed toucan. Did I succeed?
Our last stop of the morning was a section of the grounds that was landscaped specifically to attract hummingbirds. And that it did! In addition to seeing some species I’ve mentioned above, we saw a black-crested coquette:
Stripe-throated hermit:
And a snowcap, one of the most sought-after Costa Rican hummers:
Overall, I saw 91 lifers on this trip — more than I expected for a second time in the country. I’m grateful for the wonderful lodge owners/workers and birding guides for their hospitality and expertise. Costa Rica is a beautiful and welcoming place, whose flourishing ecotourism industry provides abundant affordable options, and opportunities to stay clear of destination weddings, Kardashians, and Instagrammers. I’m already fantasizing about our next trip, and hoping that five more years won’t pass before we’re able to plan it.
That’s it! Now let’s hear about your week in bird sightings, sitings, and citings.