Costa Rica 2025 (2)

bird

Golden-naped Woodpecker

bird

White-shouldered Tanager

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Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

bird

Stripe-throated Hermit

bird

Yellow-throated Toucan

Our second activity of the day was a safari in an open top jeep to Matapalo. Jonathon sat inside the cab while the other four of us got very wet, then dried out, then got wet again. Good to know the rain forest lives up to its name sometimes!

We also visited a lovely beach. the Pacific was quite strong and the surfers were enjoying that but I stayed on the sand. By that time, the rain had stopped (again).

We saw quite a few birds along the way.

Jonathon was supposed to go on yet another garden bird walk in the afternoon but when he got to reception there was no walk so he joined the trip to Matapalo instead.

I enjoyed the relative cool of our back garden / courtyard before heading out on the Passiflora Loop - an easier walk than usual, the walk itself rather than the long uphill to get to the start that is!

The trail was quite hard to follow in one part and I ended up coming out of the same entrance I'd gone in so I walked up to the other entrance and traced it back to see where I'd gone wrong. Without that "detour", I'd have missed the coati!

We chose a "lowlands" bird walk for Friday morning. Such a lovely place to go and great to see fields and farms after all our forest experiences.

As usual, it was a very early start to catch the sunrise, birds and relative freshness.

bird

Yellow Headed Caracara

bird

Bare-throated Tiger Heron

bird

Yellow-bellied Seedeater

I had a chat with one of the managers about the Carablanca Trail but when he mentioned it could be steep and slippery coming back up I thought better of it. Instead, I did part of the Waterfalls and Creek Trail, the Red Roots Trail and the top part of the Carablanca Trail. It was a lovely walk, full of waterfalls and interesting fungi.

Jonathon joined the afternoon Garden Bird Walk while I started to sort out the packing in anticipation of a 9 a.m. pick up the next day.

bird

Green Honeycreeper, enjoying a shower in one of the garden sprinklers

toucan

Yellow-throated Toucan

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Shining Honeycreeper (?)

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Black-striped Woodcreeper

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Golden-hooded Tanager

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Golden-hooded Tanager

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Red-legged Honeycreeper (female) ?

anteater

One of the highlights of the trip (for Jonathon - I wasn't with him at the time) was this lovely Northern Tamandua, aka a Lesser Anteater.

You can only do so much packing in advance so I decided to go for a walk when the temperature had eased a bit. Even the guides thought it was hot that day!

I walked round the forest loop that I've done before so not too many photos - just the lovely suspension bridges and a cheeky lizard.

It was time to say Goodbye to El Remanso. It was a fabulous place to stay and I hope we'll be back some day. Who knows. In the meantime, we took a few more photos before our bags were collected and we were on the road.

moth

Hummingbird Hawk-moth

Jonathon was really pleased he'd taken his camera to breakfast because he spotted a lovely Hummingbird Hawk-moth and a Riverside Wren - both new species for him.

bird

Northern Black-throated Trogon

lunch stop

We stopped for lunch en route - really good food with a beautiful view.

We arrived at Trogon Lodge in the San Gerardo De Dota Valley, We'd been warned that the cabins were basic (they were) but the garden was beautiful so I had a good wander round before it got dark.

Having left 30C sticky heat behind, the 14C here felt very chilly. There was an electric fire in the room that was better than nothing and the hot water bottles that the hotel provided were very welcome!

Sunday and our last full day in Costa Rica - time had flown.

We went on a bird walk after breakfast. First stop was a bird garden - basically an area with multiple bird feeders. There were loads of birds there

bird

Flame-colored Tanager

bird

Flame-colored Tanager

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Green-crowned Brilliant

bird

White-throated Mountain-gem

bird

Green-crowned Brilliant

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Silver-throated Tanager

bird

Silver-throated Tanager

bird

White-throated Mountain-gem

birds

Yellow-thighed Brushfinch

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Northern Emerald-Toucanet

I much preferred the second part of the walk alongside the river.

We were really lucky to see the local "speciality" - a Quetzal. A beautiful bird whose plumage changes colour depending on the weather, the time of day etc because its feathers have no colour per se - they simply adapt to the different light wavelengths. Very clever.

Back at the lodge and we noticed these stone ants that we'd not spotted on our walkabout yesterday evening. There was quite an army of them!

Had a wander round the garden before lunch and came across a lovely lizard.

There are loads of cacti in the garden - very structural.

I decided to tackle one (or more) of the trails this afternoon. I set off thinking perhaps I should try the easy one first but then the waterfall beckoned so off I went and found myself doing the full loop. It was nowhere near as hard as the hike at Rancho Pacifico but was still pretty challenging. I was really pleased when I saw the sign for the lodge, especially as it also showed a cup of tea.

sparrow

Rufous-collared Sparrow

bird

White-throated Mountain Gem

lizard

Well camouflaged Lizard

It was time to go home but we had our hut until 11 a.m. and were being collected at 12 noon so plenty of time for a final wander round the garden and the short trail.

bird

I paused a bit too close to this lovely Collared Redstart's nest so he saw me off. Thankfully, he rested between his dive bombing so I could take a quick photo.

Jonathon, of course, took more photos.

Our driver arrived early so we got to the airport far too early to check in so I had a wander around to admire the ceiling and general arty stuff around the airport (having had a snack).

Once checked in, we were still too early to go into the lounge so I prowled while Jonathon had a chat with Chris Packham about anteaters and photography.

That brought us to the end of an amazing holiday - time to start saving up for the next one!

Costa Rica March 2025 (Page 2)
Jonathon and I went on different early morning walks on the Thursday. I went on a hike with Roland as my guide while Jonathon went on another garden bird walk.
	Not a great photo of a Collared Peccary but I was pleased to see a family of them trotting through the forest. With no Jonathon to take bird photos for me, I asked Roland to take this Great Curassow through his scope. The guides must be asked to do that a lot because they all seemed to be expert at it.
There were loads of different kind of fungus in this area. I guess the heat and humidity make for ideal conditions
Red Scarlet Macaws	Red Scarlet Macaws	Slaty-tailed Trogon
Masked Tityra	Golden-naped Woodpecker	White-shouldered Tanager
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird	Streaked Flycatcher	Velvety Manakin
Lineated Woodpecker	Stripe-throated Hermit	Yellow-throated Toucan
Our second activity of the day was a safari in an open top jeep to Matapalo. Jonathon sat inside the cab while the other four of us got very wet, then dried out, then got wet again. Good to know the rain forest lives up to its name sometimes!

		We saw all four kinds of monkeys that live in this area while we were on our safari: Howler Monkey Spider Monkey White-faced Capuchin Squirrel Monkey


We also visited a lovely beach. the Pacific was quite strong and the surfers were enjoying that but I stayed on the sand. By that time, the rain had stopped (again). We saw quite a few birds along the way.		Common Black Hawk
Red Scarlet Macaws		Belted Kingfisher

Jonathon was supposed to go on yet another garden bird walk in the afternoon but when he got to reception there was no walk so he joined the trip to Matapalo instead.

He saw quite a few monkeys and a few different birds before visiting a different beach.	Red Scarlet Macaw	Red Scarlet Macaw
Great Curassow	Great Curassow	Great Black Hawk

I enjoyed the relative cool of our back garden / courtyard before heading out on the Passiflora Loop - an easier walk than usual, the walk itself rather than the long uphill to get to the start that is! The trail was quite hard to follow in one part and I ended up coming out of the same entrance I'd gone in so I walked up to the other entrance and traced it back to see where I'd gone wrong. Without that "detour", I'd have missed the coati!		Our courtyard

We chose a "lowlands" bird walk for Friday morning. Such a lovely place to go and great to see fields and farms after all our forest experiences. As usual, it was a very early start to catch the sunrise, birds and relative freshness.


Roadside Hawk	Tropical Kingbird	Yellow Warbler
Great Egret	Yellow Headed Caracara	Isthmian Wren
Tropical Kingbird	Tropical Kingbird	Crested Caracara
Bare-throated Tiger Heron	Tropical Kingbird	Black Vulture
Purple Gallinule	Masked Tityra	Masked Tityra
Little Blue Heron	Great Egret	Yellow-bellied Seedeater
I had a chat with one of the managers about the Carablanca Trail but when he mentioned it could be steep and slippery coming back up I thought better of it. Instead, I did part of the Waterfalls and Creek Trail, the Red Roots Trail and the top part of the Carablanca Trail. It was a lovely walk, full of waterfalls and interesting fungi.


Jonathon joined the afternoon Garden Bird Walk while I started to sort out the packing in anticipation of a 9 a.m. pick up the next day.
Green Honeycreeper	Green Honeycreeper, enjoying a shower in one of the garden sprinklers	Green Honeycreeper
Bicolored Antbird	Gartered Trogon	Yellow-throated Toucan
Gartered Trogon	White-lined Tanager	White-lined Tanager
Cocoa Thrush	Shining Honeycreeper (?)	Black-striped Woodcreeper
Golden-hooded Tanager	Golden-hooded Tanager	Red-legged Honeycreeper (female) ?
	One of the highlights of the trip (for Jonathon - I wasn't with him at the time) was this lovely Northern Tamandua, aka a Lesser Anteater.
	You can only do so much packing in advance so I decided to go for a walk when the temperature had eased a bit. Even the guides thought it was hot that day! I walked round the forest loop that I've done before so not too many photos - just the lovely suspension bridges and a cheeky lizard.
It was time to say Goodbye to El Remanso. It was a fabulous place to stay and I hope we'll be back some day. Who knows. In the meantime, we took a few more photos before our bags were collected and we were on the road.
Hummingbird Hawk-moth	Jonathon was really pleased he'd taken his camera to breakfast because he spotted a lovely Hummingbird Hawk-moth and a Riverside Wren - both new species for him.	Riverside Wren
It wasn't only birds that he spotted that morning - a few creepy crawlies as well, including a beautiful Golden Orb Spider in our back garden.
Tropical Kingbird	The journey to Puerto Jiminez airport (where we met Bernardo, our driver for today's long journey) was a nature safari in itself with lots of birdlife for Jonathon to photograph. Thankfully, El Remanso had anticipated this and allowed plenty of time so there was no rush.	Northern Black-throated Trogon
Great Black Hawk	Turkey Vulture	Black Vulture
Red Scarlet Macaw	Cattle Egret	Lesser Violetear
We stopped for lunch en route - really good food with a beautiful view.	We arrived at Trogon Lodge in the San Gerardo De Dota Valley, We'd been warned that the cabins were basic (they were) but the garden was beautiful so I had a good wander round before it got dark. Having left 30C sticky heat behind, the 14C here felt very chilly. There was an electric fire in the room that was better than nothing and the hot water bottles that the hotel provided were very welcome!


Sunday and our last full day in Costa Rica - time had flown. We went on a bird walk after breakfast. First stop was a bird garden - basically an area with multiple bird feeders. There were loads of birds there	Flame-colored Tanager	Flame-colored Tanager
Green-crowned Brilliant	White-throated Mountain-gem	Green-crowned Brilliant
Silver-throated Tanager	Silver-throated Tanager	Tennessee Warbler
Blue-gray Tanager	White-throated Mountain-gem	Acorn Woodpecker
Ruddy Treerunner	Yellow-thighed Brushfinch	Northern Emerald-Toucanet
I much preferred the second part of the walk alongside the river. We were really lucky to see the local "speciality" - a Quetzal. A beautiful bird whose plumage changes colour depending on the weather, the time of day etc because its feathers have no colour per se - they simply adapt to the different light wavelengths. Very clever.



	Hard to believe that this area of Costa Rica was only "discovered" in 1954 - less than 6 years before I was born. The two men were brothers, the two women were sisters.
Back at the lodge and we noticed these stone ants that we'd not spotted on our walkabout yesterday evening. There was quite an army of them! Had a wander round the garden before lunch and came across a lovely lizard. There are loads of cacti in the garden - very structural.

	I decided to tackle one (or more) of the trails this afternoon. I set off thinking perhaps I should try the easy one first but then the waterfall beckoned so off I went and found myself doing the full loop. It was nowhere near as hard as the hike at Rancho Pacifico but was still pretty challenging. I was really pleased when I saw the sign for the lodge, especially as it also showed a cup of tea.

		While I was busy hiking, Jonathon was taking photos of the local birds. Some even posed very prettily for him.
Rufous-collared Sparrow	Rufous-collared Sparrow	White-throated Mountain Gem
Volcano Hummingbird	Volcano Hummingbird	Well camouflaged Lizard
It was time to go home but we had our hut until 11 a.m. and were being collected at 12 noon so plenty of time for a final wander round the garden and the short trail.

		I paused a bit too close to this lovely Collared Redstart's nest so he saw me off. Thankfully, he rested between his dive bombing so I could take a quick photo.
		Jonathon, of course, took more photos.
		Barn Swallow
Volcano Hummingbird	Volcano Hummingbird	Barn Swallow
Our driver arrived early so we got to the airport far too early to check in so I had a wander around to admire the ceiling and general arty stuff around the airport (having had a snack). Once checked in, we were still too early to go into the lounge so I prowled while Jonathon had a chat with Chris Packham about anteaters and photography.
We both had a really good sleep on the flight from San Jose to Amsterdam and arrived at Amsterdam slightly ahead of schedule so we had plenty of time to enjoy the lounge before we boarded our flight back to London. Jonathon seems to have gained 8 KLM mini houses for his collection (supposed to get one each per long haul flight but some more seem to have found their way into his keeping). I was pleased to see that the ones he got on the way out survived the journey home in the hold luggage.
	That brought us to the end of an amazing holiday - time to start saving up for the next one!
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