6th
March:
It
was a grey morning at AOL and rain was threatening but the Oropendolas were
already tucking into their breakfast and I could hear the deep, almost
Bittern-like boom of one of the male Great Curassows off into the forest.
Two early morning videos: You can just hear the booming of the Curassow in one and the Oropendolas give it a good go!
Despite the gloom we still headed out early
before breakfast back to the river walk to see if it was any more productive. We
were greeted by a troop of Central American Spider Monkeys in the canopy not
far down the path but although we saw them well they eluded the camera. The wood was eerily quiet but the tantalising
Thicket Antpittas and Nightingale Wrens were still singing from cover.
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| Central American Spider Monkey - honestly! |
White-breasted
Wood Wrens popped out briefly and the Ochre Bellied Flycatchers were still
present but with Olive-striped Flycatcher being seen in the same spot this time
too.
A
brown bird flicked along the path in front and fortunately liked the bank along
the edge and stayed put for us to get a good look at a Tawny-throated Leaftosser
– another of those wonderful names I had read in the book over the last year. Quite thrush-like some of the time but at others
almost with actions more like Wryneck.
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| Tawny-throated Leaftosser
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Spotted
Antbirds came and said hello but it really was disappointingly silent and so
with the onset of some rain we retraced our route stumbling on a pair of Great
Curassows ambling up the path with the male stopping occasionally to drop his
wings, slightly inflate and boom.
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| Great
Curassow - mid boom |
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| As soon as it started to rain the Leaf Cutter Ants just dropped everything and ran away leaving a trail of leaf fragments in their wake! |
Back
at the top on the road a fruiting tree was being ransacked by a whole bevy of
birds with Carmiol’s, Golden Hooded and our first vivid Bay Headed Tanager
making the most noise. A Rufous Motmot
and three Crested Guans were also somehow hiding in the foliage.
Heading
back through the gardens gave us a final chance of Brown Violetear Hummingbird
but with no joy but the now usual suspects were as memorable as ever and had
been joined by a flashing White-necked Jacobin.
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| Rufous-tailed HB - Steve Cullum |
Back
for breakfast and then a final session on the veranda as I had already packed.
It actually proved most productive with lots of Honeycreeper and Tanager action
and some good visitations from the Brown Jays and Black-cheeked Woodpeckers.
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker & Red-legged Honeycreeper |
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| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
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| Red-legged Honeycreeper - just stunning - Steve Cullum |
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| Red-legged Honeycreeper - Steve Cullum |
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| Green Honeycreeper - Steve Cullum |
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| Passerini's Tanager - Steve Cullum |
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| Blue Grey Tanager - Steve Cullum |
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| Golden Hooded Tanager |
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker |
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker |
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| Five species to id... |
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| Brown Jay |
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| Bananaquit - Steve Cullum |
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker - Steve Cullum |
A
Streaked Flycatcher dropped in briefly and the female Hepatic Tanager also
reappeared along with the first visit from the Melodious Blackbirds.
Chestnut-sided, Tennessee Warbler and Tropical Parula flitted through the
canopy.
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| Streaked Flycatcher |
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| Melodious Blackbird |
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| Coati pile up |
With
just a couple of minutes before I had to go and get the bags up I re-found the
pair of Scarlet-thighed Dacnis (a bit like the Red-legged Honeycreeper) that
briefly visited ten minutes earlier. They
did not linger long while a glance up produced our first (and only) Giant
Cowbird flying over in the direction of where we had seen the nest of the
Oropendolas (which this species parasitizes) and then a very large bird of prey
with a huge bulge in the hindwing briefly circled before disappearing behind
the trees. My gut said Ornate Hawk-eagle but it did not reappear.
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| Scarlet-thighed Dacnis |
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| Scarlet-thighed Dacnis |
A
female Gartered Trogon gave us a final good hard stare before I headed off on my
bag collection duties...
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| Gartered Trogon |
We
said goodbye to the mighty Arenal and its wonderful lodge and started back down
the long entrance road passing the Black Phoebes on the first river again and
what we thought wrongly was our first Amazon Kingfisher on a long piece of
bamboo over the next.
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| Black Phoebe |
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| Amazon Kingfisher |
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| Amazon Kingfisher |
The track soon deviated and we cut through a track
towards the lake beyond and stopped for a walk in the hot sunshine. A pocket of birds was found instantly with
great views of two Plain Xenops along with dinky Smoky Brown Woodpeckers and beady
eyed Black-headed Saltators.
A
Golden Winged Warbler popped in and out and two Russet Antshrikes showed a little
better than our first on the evening walk yesterday. There was also a mysterious dark olive green
flycatcher-like bird with a stout bill that, despite showing well, completely flummoxed
Steve and Gina. Perhaps this may jog
their memories?
There
were lots of Dragonflies in this hot alley, most of which fell into the
Darter-ish type category and a good selection of non landing Butterflies that
included Monarch for certain but at least I did get a shot of something this
time!
Black
and Turkey Vultures angled over and a Short-tailed Hawk did likewise.
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| Black Pondhawk (Erythemis attala) |
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| Black Pondhawk (Erythemis attala) |
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| Brown Setwing (Dythemis sterilis) |
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| Red-mantled Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax fervida) |
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| A large bug |
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| Middle American Ameiva (Holcosus festivus occidentalis) |
It
was almost time to move on but not before Ramon had found another fine
Keel-billed Motmot, that sat and watched us without a care in the world.
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| Keel-billed Motmot |
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| Keel-billed Motmot |
The
track took us down to the dam at the lake but it was birdless so we quickly
moved on as we had a way to go and a large part of the day was now spent heading
through Costa Rican countryside. Grey
and Roadside Hawks and the odd Swallow-tailed Kite were seen and there were a
couple of good shouts once we started to climb again for Yellow-headed Vulture
but we would hopefully see them better on another day. A brief stop at a supermarket for our picnic
lunch supply gave us all the chance to stock up on coffee to take home as it
was a quarter of the price to the lodges and gift shops we saw. Rufous Collared Sparrows sang from the tin roofs
opposite.
Ramon
is renowned for finding Laughing Falcon but I beat him to the first one but he
got the second more showy one a little further up the road. It has a disproportionately
big head and huge eyes and just stared intently at the ground the whole time.
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| Laughing Falcon #1 |
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| Laughing Falcon #2 - of course Ramon's was better |
We
stopped at a huge car park area with a multitude of flag wielding staff to
guide you to a spot. It seemed to be a marshalling
area for tourists before they headed off into the Tenorio park beyond. Once again we looked (but did not feel)
overdressed compared to the ‘please bite me’ wiggly toed flip flops and
lobstered sunburnt shoulders and backs of knees...
Our
picnic spot was set up in the empty ‘rent your wellies here!’ shelter and we
fine dined on avocados, re-fried beans, jalapenos, cheese squares and salami
and despite Steve’s reservations it was great and we all loved it. A White
Winged Dove came to say hello and a giant female Katydid had an unfortunate
accident.
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| White-winged Dove |
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| Katydid |
Spanish
Ladies orchids danced out of the foliage and a Yellow-throated Vireo was
jumping around the canopy but whichever tree the birds chose was always in the
worst of the light. Steve ordered us all
a coffee and we drank it whilst keeping an eye on the enormous Golden Orb
spiders hanging around under the roof!
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| Spanish
Ladies orchids |
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| Golden Orb
spiders |
It
was not far from here to our hotel – the Celeste Hideaway. Now, all of our accommodation had been superb
and I have refrained from putting pictures of the rooms in the blog but this
place was astonishing. I had certainly
never stayed anywhere quite like it. It
had an unassuming entrance but opened up into a flower strewn lobby with a
central, open to the air Koi pool surrounded by orchids and bromeliads. We each had our own Lodge with a main room bigger
than the floor plan of my house and two beds almost that size! I had to phone
Dad to get him to put the lights on.
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| 'I can't see you Dad! Where are you!' 'Behind the Magic wall, son!' |
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The
bathroom was also very grand with a shower big enough for a dozen really close
friends and a pair of sliding doors led you to a small high walled courtyard (for
snake free comfort) complete with an outdoors shower for some wondrously
bizarre reason.
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| However, you could be peered upon by a Capuchin! |
However,
I still did my usual and dumped the bags and headed outside where we all met up
to talk about the rooms although quite how Angie got chocolates on the fluffed
pillows of her voile draped four poster bed is unknown...
Just
by the side of our Lodge were two paths – one up (Tapir) and one down
(Armadillo). We chose the up path on the understanding that it was a simple
circuit. Technically this was the case but it was slightly longer than we
anticipated and it was a little rustic and slippy in places.
A
male Great Curassow greeted us as we started but as usual afternoons are not
the best time for jungle work and the trails were largely quiet but we did find
a Broad-billed Motmot and got views of Stripe Breasted Wren in the undergrowth.
Mealy Parrots, Yellow-throated Toucans and Gartered Trogons called high up. A Wedge-billed Woodcreeper showed nicely but
it was hard work to be honest.
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| Broad-billed Motmot |
However,
and there is always one of these, a casual glance back by Ramon from the middle
of the line had us all quickly and silently reconvening to stare in awe at the
beautiful Ornate Hawk Eagle that had just flown in. It was perched in the sunshine against a blue
sky on a high dead snag. It was back on
to start with before a quick jump and shuffle had it facing us and showing off
the oversized monkey-grabbing feet and wickedly curved talons. We watch it and
it watched us for the next twenty minutes or so before the ticking clock said
that we should really press on. What an
encounter.
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| Ornate Hawk Eagle |
Noisy,
chattering Carmiol’s Tanagers moved through but with them was a new Tanager
species – the Tawny Crested. Mostly they
looked black but every now and then you would get a male perched up and the mustard
yellow crown stripe would be flared taking it from quite dull to striking. While watching these I got lucky and saw a
tiny Pygmy Squirrel slide down a branch and out of sight. It was so dinky and
sorry I forgot to mention that Angie saw one at AOL the previous evening.
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| Being patient - Peter Vaughan |
Our
‘up path’ became a ‘down path’ which meant at some stage we would a) meet the
river and b) have to climb back up again but it was worth all the effort and
slight trepidation about getting back in the dark if we were not careful as the
Rio Celeste was just magical. It flowed
effortlessly through its boulder strewn bed in a milky torrent that glowed with
the aquamarine blue that I had only seen in pictures of glacial ice melt.
Some Googling
occurred later... Until recently the most accepted version was the river’s
proximity to Tenorio Volcano, which meant that the turquoise colour of the
water was due to a high concentration of minerals, particularly copper sulphate,
calcium carbonate and sulphur.
However, the
colouring is not caused by a chemical substance tinting the water, but rather
it is a perception created by the scattering of sunlight and reflected by the
riverbed. Most of the
rocks on the river’s bottom are covered by a substance composed of
aluminosilicates – a combination of aluminium, silicon and oxygen – that are
capable of absorbing all colours, except blue, present in sunlight. The
rejected blue rays of sunlight create a visual sensation in the human eye of
“blue water.”
Fascinating
stuff...
The last bit
of the climb back up was a bit of a slog in poor light but with the blue waters
and the Hawk-eagle to sustain us it was just a pleasure to be out in the
jungle. I was back marking and almost walked past a green Eyelash Viper curled
on a leaf at about waist level right alongside the path. Just how the entire party had got past it
without knocking the leaf I just do not know!
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| Eyelash Viper |
There was time
to freshen up before a swanky dinner complete with waiter service and an
attempt at haute cuisine. The food was
great and I ordered a big fat steak which was done to perfection and served
with half a grilled plantain, four taro chips and a couple of bits of fried spaghetti
which was a little odd.
Time for the
log and a half hearted attempt to look for frogs around the pond which revealed
several pointy nosed ones that I now think are Rocket Frogs sitting on lily
pads and a splodge of Treefrog eggs glued to the underside of an overhanging leaf. You could even see the micro tadpoles wiggling
around.
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| Rocket Frogs |
Cicadas were
going full tilt as usual and Dink Frogs incessantly called but sleep was, once
again, not a problem.
