Costa Rica Part IV: Sarapiqui River Cruise

Back to Costa Rica. I am going to attempt to execute this post with concision and precision.

One afternoon I scheduled us for a boat trip on the Sarapiqui River. I didn't expect to see a ton, but afternoon birding is hard anyways, so why not just hang out on a boat for a while? It's pretty much like geri birding, you just sit there and look at the things that are presented in front of you. Plus, there was a realistic-albeit-not-high chance we could see Sunbittern. We could have booked a boat through Hotel Gavilan, but I ended up going with Oasis Nature Tours and booked our boat through their Facebook page. A very low and mostly unobscured two-toed sloth passed out next to the parking lot was a good sign when we arrived at the main boat dock at Puerto Viejo.

Our guide (Carmela) and driver were on time and our party of four had the whole boat. Carmela wasn't a great birder (I wasn't expecting one) but she was a good guide and really came through for us later in the trip. She also introduced us to something we had not previously noticed, the Tico/Tica habit of attaching an affirming short question ("yes?") or affirmative sound to the end of sentences spoken in English that aren't meant to be questions. For example, instead of saying "Here in Costa Rica, it is the dry season", one would say "Here in Costa Rica, it is the dry season, mmhmm!", where the second syllable of "mmhmm" is much higher than the first and both syllables are spoken rapidly, so it sounds really enthusiastic. It's rather similar in emphasis to the "su-wheet!" call of a Pacific-slope Flycatcher. We all thought it was a brilliant mannerism.

So much for being concise...

There were tons of Mangrove Swallows, many of which would feed right next to the boat or remain perched while we passed very close by (see above). Another common but more familiar bird worth mentioning (not pictured) was Spotted Sandpiper...I don't know if I've seen so many in one place in my life.

A mixed flock along the shore contained this Bay-breasted Warbler. It was cool to see them outside of spring and fall migration for the first time, even though they all looked like fall migrants.

I rarely see Anhingas up close so was happy to crush on this bird a bit. In the first two pics you can see it getting at the oil gland at the base of its tail. Mmmm, sweet precious Anhinga oil...

Cattle Egrets are common in the area, and a couple flocks were taking their afternoon egret tea down in the river.

We saw quite a bit of non-avian wildlife. I think these are Rhinoclemmys funerea, black river turtles aka black wood turtles. Life turtle! We also saw a guy on the riverbank mocking us for birdwatching. In response, I also mocked us for birdwatching, which guide and driver appreciated. Their English was good enough to know what "NERDS!" means.

This green iguana was a particularly fine specimen.

Of the three monkey species we saw on the trip (howler, spider, white-faced capuchin) I think I like howlers the most. They make the coolest sounds by far and have the best scrotums, as you can see here.

The nerds enjoyed themselves. Boat times are good times.

We also saw our first spectacled caiman of the trip. This one has a massive insect next to its eye, presumably trying to get tasty caiman tears.

Yeah, it happened. About halfway through the trip, Carmela let us know that we had an excellent chance at seeing a Sunbittern. She was right and the bird obliged. This was a life bird for all of us and I was beside myself. The bird gods were with us.

We got great, prolonged looks. This is one of those birds that you see for the first time and think to yourself, "I can't believe I'm actually looking at this". Sunbittern is an iconic species and there are not enough superlatives out there to do it justice.

And yes, we got excellent looks at everything it had to offer. I could not have been happier.

It was a winning afternoon on the river topped off by an unforgettable bird. Stoked!

Bound For Tranquilo

Seven years. It's been seven years since I have had my face melted off by Resplendent Quetzal, seven years since being crippled by an appropriately large and diverse rainbow of tanagers. Seven years since my bones have felt the BONK of a Three-wattled Bellbird. Seven years since I experienced pura vida.

Going so long without pura vida is excruciating. I have been withering, on the inside and out. Luckily, MAX REBO BIRDING TOURS has seen fit to send me back to Costa Rica in a few days, with a focus on Caribbean slope birds. The itinerary is mainly composed of sites we did not get to previously, though some sites are too good and too conveniently located to pass up again.

Target birds will be many and varied for our group. Speaking for myself, I have plucked most of the low-hanging fruit already, but the number of potential realistic lifers that await is well above 100. Bare-necked Umbrellabird and Yellow-eared Toucanet are certainly too rare to expect (but expected enough to look for), so other than those Sunbittern, Agami Heron, Snowy Cotinga and Ocellated Antbird definitely come to mind as top targets that could induce facemelt/cripple/seizures/spontaneous combustion/final birdgasm if seen. But who am I kidding, there is a good chance less-hyped species like Uniformed Crake, nunbird and Song Wren could leave me in a state of catatonic wonder.

And then there is the Collared Plover, my Neotropical nemesis. If you ask me, we have a better chance of finding 27 Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoos than a single Collared Plover, which are documented to be 50,000,000,000 times more common and easier to see for any other birder. It's embarrassing and shameful to admit, but at the same time the only birder without a nemesis is a dead one.

Sorry, I can't help but get a touch dark when Collared Plover comes up. A number of other living legends like This Machine, Coolidge (who is a person, not just a Descendents song), and BB&B's own Cassidy have recently just stumbled out of the steamy jungles of Costa Rica or are still there, sweating and lurching and having chunks of superheated face slough off their heads from constant exposure to great birds. It's the place to be this winter.

The owl highlight of the previous Costa Rica Trip was this Black-and-white Owl, which remains the only one I've ever seen. It was shown to us by Moncho, a security guard at Cerro Lodge. This time we have an owling trip lined up at Cano Negro with the near-mythical Chambita, so fingers are extra crossed for Striped Owl and other night lurkers.

Love geri birding? So does Max Rebo Birding Tours! I think on this trip I'm going to try to take photos of birds that are obviously on feeders instead of attempting shots of birds that don't have feeders or fruit in the frame. La Cinchona has excellent geri birding that features Emerald Toucanets, and we will be checking in on them soon.

Geri birding can often reward one with excellent looks at Green Honeycreepers, a bird that needs to be seen up close, and let me tell you I am ready to sit on my ass and watch a Green Honeycreeper eat a goddamned banana. This one was attending a geri station at Talari Mountain Lodge.

I actually don't expect to see Flame-colored Tanagers on this trip, but I do expect to see other fantastic birds doing unexpected stuff like hopping around in parking lot rubble with the wariness of a Safeway Brewer's Blackbird.

BB&B will be back in March. Until then, take care, and be wary of stringers.

Costa Rica Blitz Blogging: Of Swallows, Seedeaters, and Getting Birds at Gamba

Time is running out...the blog window is closing. January is not a month to be blogging about birding in Costa Rica, as I will be very busy. With a great...many...things.

We left off in the tranquilo town of Golfito, where I picked up some absolutely debilitating food poisoning. It was easily the worst I've ever had. This was, predictably, immediately after I proudly declared that I would not get poisoned on this trip....and thus the puke train commenced later that night. A couple days later I thought it was Dengue Fever, had all the right symptoms, but it faded a bit too quickly for Dengue. If I got it where I think I did, the food was actually pretty good. Oh well, at least I picked it up near the end of the trip. Anyways, as popular as it is for birders to publicize their health problems, we should be talking about birding.

Dipper Dan and I weren't really planning on birding along Golfito Bay but we got quite a few trip birds on the mudflats...this sort of habitat isn't exactly widespread in the country, so it was refreshing to get some terns and shorebirds to work with. Of course, it was hell of scenic as well.

A little flock of Gray-breasted Martins were roosting under the roof of a dock. They put the CONFIDING in CONFIDING. It's always bizarre, almost surreal, to see a recent lifer so close-up, although it left my face quite intact.

This martin was crushed with a point-and-shoot. Remember those? Cute little bugger.

After Golfito we did some roadside birding south of Gamba. It was hot as fuck, but the birding was quality. As a great birder once said, "Middle of day is best for make good birding". This is true.

Great Kiskadees are common and widespread in Costa Rica, but thankfully they are not as painfully abundant as Social Flycatchers. It's hard to like Social Flycatchers after a while, because 99% of the time you look at them you are only doing so because you are hoping they are something else.

After the mediocre morning of birding, shit really started to pick up. Lifers began to appear again...Plain Wren, Blue Ground-Dove, and this insidious, little junco-looking bastard, a Yellow-bellied Seedeater.

They really do have yellow bellies, and we got to see quite a few of them. You know, one of the toughest things about blogging this Costa Rica trip is that I don't know jack shit about many of these birds, so it's hard to give them a lot of background. What do I know about Yellow-bellied Seedeaters? They look like juncos and Tricolored Munias, they like fields, and I think I like them. That's about it. We only saw them at this one spot, so there's not much more I can fill in. It's a sad state of affairs. Sorry....I have brought much dishonor to me and my family.

I'm a little more familiar with White-collared Seedeaters; this is one of those.

Oddly similar to a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak from this angle, with a less flashy breast patch of course. There are hella different subspecies of White-collared Seedeater, and the birds in Costa Rica look very different from what I've seen in eastern Mexico.

Now this...this is a bird. This a bird we know...yet it is almost a total stranger. Even those who haven't yet birded out of the country can recognize such a bland creature, for it is a rough-winged swallow. However, it might look a bit different to you...perhaps you are thinking, "Did Sibley just miss on this one?"

No, Sibley didn't miss on this one. This isn't just any rough-winged swallow...it's a Southern Rough-winged Swallow. Yes, there really is a counterpart to our familiar yet unloved Northern Rough-winged Swallow, which is nobody's favorite swallow, let alone favorite bird. Note the bright, contrasty rump and the rusty throat that make this an easy ID.

This is a fucking woodpecker! We saw an acceptable number of these tiny Olivaceous Piculets while in the country, but they were a serious pain to photograph. This was the best I could manage. Awesome birds, one of the many that struck a nerve with me.

Woodcreepers. You know I like woodcreepers, but when blogging about them all I want to talk about is how bloody hard they are to identify, which you likely know all about already because I keep telling you that over and over again. I had to break out the field guide just for posting this photo; I reckon this is a Cocoa Woodcreeper with its big, straight bill, spotted crown, standard underparts, etc.

There hasn't been a great deal of color in this post, so here is a poignant Yellow-crowned Euphonia for your trouble. Speaking of troubling birds, learning how to sort female euphonias was a major chore, so be ready for that group when you head south.

Fuck...you guys, I think I only have one Costa Rica post left. Thanks for staying with me on this trip...for all these years. It might be a while until the next (final!) CR post though, for there will be other birds to blog.

Costa Rica: Hammering Lifers at Las Alturas, Grit Blazing In Golfito

With winter here and another big trip coming up imminently, this is a good opportunity to do what I think is best...bust out another Costa Rica post. The finish line is finally in sight. More than a few of you will probably heading to places like Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico in the next couple of months, so lets get those salivary glands flowing with some tropical goodness.

I'll pick up right where I left off, at Las Alturas, on the South Pacific Slope east of San Vito. It was a very birdy day, too bad we didn't have more time to spend here. We'll start with a Purple-crowned Fairy, a canopy-loving hummingbird that typically scoffs at feeders.

I prefer to crush birds, but when that is not possible, I make them Art. You are currently beholding Art. That's why it's almost impossible to understand what is going on with this Fairy. It is Fairy Art. There is no singular truth to this hummingbird. It is a subjective hummingbird.

Shortly after the Purple-crowned Fairy departed, Dipper Dan and I gazed upon a Long-billed Starthroat, which was a LIFE BIRD. This is a damn good hummingbird, one that I'd been hoping to see. They are large and wonderful, two traits I am drawn to in hummingbirds. This would be the only one I would see on the trip, but it was heck of confiding.

Here is a more familiar bird. In fact, I've seen hundreds of thousands of them, but I will always keep looking at them. Broad-winged Hawks are common and widespread winter residents in Costa Rica, one of the most abundant raptors you will encounter in winter months.

Quite unlike Broad-winged Hawks, Torrent Tyrannulet is a habitat specialist. This wee flycatcher is strictly found along fast-flowing creeks and rivers, mellowing them with its two slaty colors and preference for perching on boulders. We dipped on two other birds that specialize in this habitat, Sunbittern and Fasciated Tiger-Heron...I'll just have to go back and try again, too bad for me.

If you haven't birded south of Texas or Florida yet, you may not know that tropical birding is an exercise in getting gripped off. You are always going to miss birds other people in your group see. It is inevitable. White-whiskered Puffbird was a major gripoff for me early in the trip, back at Quebrada Gonzales, but redemption was had with this cooperative bird sitting out in the open above a road.

How about another life bird? This is a Sulphur-winged Parakeet, an easy ID up close with the red cheeks. Sulphur-winged Parakeet is one of the less abundant parakeets in the country, so a solid bonus bird for us.

This was kind of a random sighting...Dipper Dan spotted it very close outside the car, quietly lurking under the canopy. How very unparrot. It would be our final lifer at Las Alturas.

Lets keep the lifers coming! This is a Bran-colored Flycatcher. This doesn't seem to be a bird that gets photographed a lot or even thought about, so here is a mediocre image for your edification. We talked about this bird a lot before we finally saw one, due to its phenomenally bland-sounding name. I believe this was at Lagunas San Joaquin, near the airport at San Vito. We didn't get a Masked Duck here (which is always my luck), but there are no eBird records of any here since 2008. You are better off checking Finca Cantaros, south of town.

Here is Lagunas San Joaquin, where you too can see a Bran-colored Flycatcher. You can also see an albino river otter here. Masked Ducks...not so much.

After leaving San Vito, Dipper Dan and I lurked back to the west coast for our final few days of slaying tropical birds. Our first stop was Golfito...this was a mistake. What we should have done was bird Las Cruces OTS/Wilson Botanical Garden again. It is a famed birding spot after all, so I feel like a bit of a wanker for only birding it one day. Why was this a mistake? The Golfito site I had picked out to bird was dead that morning. Hella boring. No flocks. Not rad. However, there was some redemption with this lifer mammal! We briefly hung out with a troupe of squirrel monkeys above Golfito, which was most mellow.

We were in some good habitat, but we ended up hanging out on the side of the road blazing grits with somebody's dog. Birding was slow. Obvi.

A lifer Mealy Parrot was nice. Why is it called a Mealy Parrot? Anyways, I can assure you that it was green. This Broad-winged Hawk was very, very confiding though...I have not met such a friendly member of its species before or since.

Here is the view of Golfito Bay from up on the hill. Heck of scenic.

Happy Festivus to all of you. I wish you much luck with the Feats of Strength, if you are selected. Of course, this follows the annual Airing of Grievances, and since you are a birder you probably have much to whinge about. Let the hate flow through you.