Forewords
We had been in Costa Rica in February and we had enjoyed the trip as it had been easy and safe and we had also seen so many beautiful birds. Peter Wiestra from Aratinga Tours had planned an excellent trip for us so we had asked him to organize another trip for us on Christmas-holiday. On our first trip we had been concentrating more to photographing birds but this time our goal was to see lots of new and also some difficult species.
Finnair tried to sabotage out trip and first cancelled one of our flights and then moved another one 3 days later. Luckily after all we managed to arrange our flights somehow but we still had to stress because of Finnair was having strikes and anything could happen still on the last day.
On Friday the 20th of December after work we packed our luggage and then I dropped Hanna to the railway-station with our bags and then drove back home where I left our car and walked back to the railway-station. After about 3 hours we changed train in Tikkurila and soon we were in Helsinki-Vantaa airport. There we carried our bags to Comfort Hotel Xpress and still went to eat before went to sleep early.
On the 21st of December we woke up before 5 a.m. and soon we were carrying our luggage to the right gate where we were once again too early.
It wasn’t a surprise that our Finnair flight was once again late but luckily not too much and finally we landed to London Heathrow. While Carrion Crows were flying outside we walked to the next gate and finally at 12:10 p.m. our next flight left to U.S. Texas and Dallas Fort Worth.
It was a long flight but luckily it was finally over. At Fort Worth we tried to contact our hotel with the phones that were on the walls but none of them were working. So we walked out and tried to find the right place where to pick up a ride to our hotel. After all we had to call to the hotel with our own phone and ask help. Then we had to carry our luggage all the way to the other side of the ramp where we finally were on the right place and soon our ride arrived.
It was only a short drive to our hotel Hyatt Place and soon we had carried our bags into our room. Then we went out to walk a little as we hoped to see any birds. The hotel was situated close to a lake but there were big roads on the both sides so there really wasn’t too much nature. Anyway we saw plenty of Mourning Doves and when it was getting dark we saw lots of Mallards with some smaller ducks – probably Gadwalls – and one flock of Ring-necked Ducks in flight. We also saw a couple of voles and a rabbit.
Birding in Dallas Fort Worth
On the 22nd of December we woke up early and on the previous evening I had loaded an Uber App and ordered a ride to River Legacy Park. Our ride came right on time and soon we were at the park gate.
It was still dark but with thermal camera and flashlight we found our first birds that were a Brown Thrasher and a Northern Mockingbird. When the sun started to rise we found White-throated Sparrows, Harris’s Sparrows, a Hermit Thrush, Carolina Wrens and Northern Cardinals.
When we had walked inside the forest we found also Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Northern Flicker, Blue Jays and Eastern Phoebes. Early in the morning there were only a couple of other people jogging or walking their dogs so we could do birding in peace.
After some walking we got to an opening where was good visibility to every direction. Soon we saw some flocks of Double-crested Cormorants and American Pelicans and also a flock of American White Ibises in flight. On the big trees there were lots of Myrtle Warblers, American Goldfinches and House Finches. And further on the back of the opening there were trees full of Red-winged Blackbirds and some Common Starlings. A Red-shouldered Hawk was calling and also seen briefly and Song Sparrows were singing.
Other birds we saw were a White-winged Dove, Black and Turkey Vultures, American Crows, American Pipits and Common and Large-tailed Grackles.
We had a tight schedule so we tried to find a shortcut to Arlington Drying Beds that was nearby. And luckily we found a path that went between old sewage water pools towards the right direction.
There were lots of waterfowl on the pools: Mallards, Gadwalls, Northern Pintails and Shovelers, but also American Wigeons, Green-winged Teals, Ring-necked Ducks and some Buffleheads and we also found a couple of Wood Ducks and the first American Coot.
Some of the pools were dry and overgrown and behind the pools there was a big meadow where weren’t many birds but almost all of them were lifers for us. A Savannah, a LeConte’s, a Vesper, some Swamp and Lincoln’s Sparrows were seen and a couple of Chipping Sparrows were heard. We also found a Winter Wren and a mixed flock of Eastern and Western Meadowlarks. Lots of Ring-billed Gulls were flying over us and finally we saw one Bonaparte’s Gull too. Also 4 Forster’s Terns and Least Sandpipers, 8 Canada Geese and a male Hooded Merganser were seen in flight and from the pools we found a Killdeer, some Wilson’s Snipes and Common Yellowthroats. Also a few Red-shouldered Hawks and a couple of Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels were seen.
We had to keep on walking around the pools in a hurry but still managed to find a flock of Cedar Waxwings, a couple of Brewer’s Blackbirds and plenty of Eastern Bluebirds.
Along the bigger road we still saw a Great Blue Heron and a Pied-billed Grebe. And once we had walked back to the park-gate, our Uber arrived soon. And once we were back at our hotel we had our bags waiting on the reception and soon a bus took us to the airport.
To Costa Rica
At 4:55 p.m. our flight left to Costa Rica and San Jose where we landed to Juan Santamaria airport at 9 p.m. After we had found our luggage we soon found our Transuca driver and soon we were sitting in a big car that drove us to familiar Hotel Bougainvillea.
Bougainvillea
On the 23rd of December we woke up early and soon we were ready to walk around Bougainvillea garden. Most of the birds we found were the same – not just the species but also individuals – that we had seen on our previous visit in February. It was raining and very windy but anyway we managed to find about 40 species which some better ones were a Mottle Owl that was hiding inside the same bamboos again, a Squirrel Cuckoo, Inca Doves, a Lesson’s Motmot, White-eared Ground Sparrows, a Chestnut-capped Warbler, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Golden-hooded Tanager.
After the breakfast the same driver, Carlos, arrived with his big car and we started a long drive over the mountains to Alajuela and Heliconias Lodge. There were lots of big trucks driving very slowly on the up hills so the drive took longer than we had expected. It was still raining almost all the time and time to time heavely. Anyway we managed to see some birds on the way like a Muscovy Duck, a Bare-throated Tiger Heron, a few Laughing Falcons, a Ringed and a Belted Kingfisher and so on.
Heliconias Lodge and hanging bridges
Finally after 5 hours we parked in front of Heliconias Rainforest Lodge and soon we got a nice cottage where we carried our stuff.
It was still rainy but of course we had to go birding soon. We headed to walk around the forest-path that had some very high hanging bridges. There weren’t many birds in such bad weather but after all we found a single Tody Motmot and a Long-tailed Manakin and heard a Blue-black Grosbeak and a Northern Schiffornis. We also saw some Black-and-white and Golden-winged Warblers and while we were walking back to the lodge in darkness, we heard a Slaty-breasted Tinamou.
On the lobby we just accidently met Jessy Lopez Herra who was our guide on the next couple of days. So we managed to change our plans so that we would start a little bit earlier on the previous morning.
Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, the 24th of December we met Jessy at 6 a.m. and soon we were walking along the familiar path. Luckily the weather forecasts had been wrong and it wasn’t raining. It was still a little bit windy but not too much.
After we had seen a distant Rufous Motmot Jessy picked up the first tick from the calls and soon we were watching a small flock of Streak-crowned Antvireos. After some hundreds of meters walking Jessy showed us a Crested Owl that was roosting inside a dense tree. Again there weren’t many birds in the forest but soon Jessy found a small flock of Carmiol’s Tanagers and almost immediately also a female Tooth-billed Tanager.
We continued along a smaller path until an opening where we soon found a funny-looking White-ruffed Manakin. And soon I saw a bigger bird flying straight towards us and landing to a next tree from us – it was one of our main-targets a Yellow-eared Toucanet! Soon we found out that there were 2 more female-plumaged toucanets on the same tree already so there was probably a mom with 2 young birds. One of the birds was showing a little bit better so we of course took lots of pictures of it.
When we continued lower along the grassy opening, we saw a couple of Grey-chested Doves. In the middle of the lower part there was a bigger tree and soon we saw a female Snowcap visiting the tree-top. It left very soon but almost immediately we saw a Blue-throated Sapphire feeding on the same tree. It also flew away too soon for the pictures but then Jessy heard a song nearby and with playback he managed to lure a White-throated Thrush to the same tree and it stayed there for long enough for better pictures. And once we were climbing back up towards the path, we heard a Stub-tailed Spadebill.
We continued along the path over the next hanging bridges but inside the dark forest there weren’t many birds and especially there was nothing to photograph. Finally we heard a Northern Nightingale-Wren singing and surprisingly it came right next to us to sing and I managed to get really good pictures of this bird which is not usually easy to see.
Jessy kept on playing calls of Keel-billed Motmot which was one of our main-targets. Usually we didn’t get any response but a few times we heard exactly similar calls. But when we managed to lure these calling motmots closer they were always Broad-billed Motmots which have exactly similar call. Actually these two species have been breeding together too but they haven’t produced hybrid youngsters.
We had walked almost around the whole trail when we heard distant dog-barks. Jessy thought that dogs, that were illegally in the park, were chasing some animal and it didn’t take long when we heard cracking sounds behind us, turned around and saw a huge Tapir running across the trail! Luckily the dogs had lost its trail and were hopefully following our footprints as we didn’t hear them anymore. So hopefully the Tapir could stay safe and relax.
Before we were back at the lodge we had still found several lifers or Costa Rican ticks like Rufous-winged Tanagers, Golden-crowned Warblers, a Kentucky Warbler, a Stripe-breasted Wren, Tawny-crowned Greenlets, Spotted Antbirds, Russet Antshrikes and then we had of course seen and heard many other birds that we had observed on our previous visit to Costa Rica. One of the better birds to mention was a Rufous Mourner. We had also heard Mantled Howlers and seen White-faced Capuchin Monkeys and a couple of Central American Pygmy Squirrels.
After the lunch we went to walk along the same trail again with Hanna. We visited the same opening again but there weren’t any birds. It was very quiet everywhere in the forest but this time we managed to find a Stub-tailed Spadebill visible and get some pictures too. We also got some pictures of a Northern Black-throated Trogon, a Carmiol’s Tanager and Broad-billed Motmots which we again found a few. The weather was nice so we got better landscape-pictures from the bridges too.
It was already getting dark when an older birder-lady with her guide passed us as we were checking every tree with our thermal camera. We managed to find some sleeping birds which the funniest was a Streak-crowned Antvireo.
Soon we saw these two birders in front of us again and they had just seen a Keel-billed Motmot digging a nest on the side of the path. They had just accidently found the bird with their flashlight and the lady had managed to get some good pictures of it. The bird had flushed straight up and disappeared to the darkness. So of course we still tried to find this bird that we had been searching for a lot already but we couldn’t find it. So after all we were a little bit disappointed when we walked back to the lodge.
In the evening we had Christmas-menü on dinner which was really good.
Christmas Day birding nearby
On the Christmas Day, the 25th of December we met Jessy again at 6 a.m. and of course we went straight to check if the Keel-billed Motmot was back. It seemed that it might have been digging the whole a little bit more during the night but again we couldn’t find it.
Once we were back at the lodge we saw a couple of bigger birds flying almost against the windows. These were 2 White-throated Magpie-Jays that seemed to be aggressive towards their reflections. We were happy to see this species that we hadn’t expected to see during this trip as they are mostly seen on Pacific coast. Soon the birds flew to trees nearby so we managed to get some pictures too.
After the breakfast we drove to Birdsongs Garden and saw a White Hawk flying over us on the way. Birdsongs Garden had been booked for us for the whole morning in our schedule but we had already on the previous day discussed with Jessy that we could stay there as long as it was worthy and then continue somewhere else as there were plenty of other birding places nearby.
Birdsongs Garden was just a small garden with lots of verbena bushes with violet flowers. These small flowers are many hummingbirds favorite! But first we saw only common Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds – and quite a few of them, which is never a good thing as they are very aggressive towards other small hummingbirds. So Hanna had time to organize a small fruit-feeder for tanagers and other birds too.
The first better bird we found was a Rufous-winged Woodpecker and soon we heard also calls of a Smoky-brown Woodpecker. We had found out that our target-species had been extremely rare lately and there had been only a couple of records in Birdsongs Garden. But we were lucky as after some waiting I saw a tiny hummingbird landing to the top of a stick that had been put there just for it – and immediately we started to take pictures of this beautiful Black-crested Coquette!
We managed to get pretty good pictures of this stunning hummingbird before one of the Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds chased it away. Then we still spent some time in the garden and managed to see a Yellow Tyrannulet and photograph a Northern Plain Xenops very well before we decided to leave to Tapir Valley.
We paid for our entry to Tapir Valley and soon parked to a big private garden area with big forests and a small lake. Immediately we found a Slaty Spinetail but right then it started to rain very heavily so we didn’t get any pictures.
When the rain stopped we walked to the garden and soon found a Slaty-headed and a Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher and heard a couple of calls of a Northern Bentbill. We still saw a Purple-crowned Fairy and after desperate trying to photograph skulking Kentucky and Mourning Warbler, we continued to walk along the forest-trails.
There weren’t many birds in the forest but soon we were on a meadow where we found a couple of Grey-crowned Yellowthroats and then we surprisingly found an Orchard Oriole which was the first observation of this species in this part of the country for Jessy. Soon we stopped to a fruit-feeder where we found several Great Curassows, Montezuma Oropendolas, Yellow-throated Toucans, Collared Aracaris, Yellow-throated Euphonias and many different kind of tanagers and other birds. And again we saw a Yellow-winged Tanager which is very rare species in Costa Rica. There was also a funny White-nosed Coati stealing fallen bananas from the ground under the feeder.
We continued walking along a flooded trail but it started to rain again. So we didn’t find many birds. There was a possibility to see a few very good birds and at least a couple of them had been seen on the very same day but all we found were a couple of Bright-rumped Attilas, a Slate-colored Grosbeak and again some Broad-billed Motmots. We also heard a couple of Rufous-tailed Jacamaris and so on.
Once we were back at the lodge we had lunch. There was a feeder right in front of the restaurant and while eating we managed to see also a Black-crested Coquette visiting flowering bushes briefly.
After the lunch we went to walk along the same forest-trail again and tried to find the Keel-billed Motmot but the best observation was a Brown-throated Sloth which was very funny to watch climbing higher and then carefully move from a smaller tree to a bigger one.
When it was getting dark we headed back towards the lodge and still managed to find a Tody Motmot and a Ruddy Quail-Dove with a thermal camera. We also heard a Pauraque and a Short-tailed Nighthawk. At the dinner we had the same Christmas-menü again.
Late in the evening I still went to see a Great Potoo that was perched on a light a couple of hundreds of meters along the road.
Finally Keel-billed Motmot
On the 26th of December we started walking along the same trail once again. We headed to the first bridge and then started walking back. We didn’t find anything new even though I was checking almost every tree with thermal camera. I was about to pack the camera away but looked through it once more to see if it was on or off, and once it still was on I looked one more time around me and saw a bright spot in front of us. And there it finally was – a Keel-billed Motmot! It was perched only a few meters from us and it was so tame that we could have easily passed it without noticing it. It was still quite dark but we managed to get good pictures of this bird that really had been difficult to find.
After the breakfast we packed our luggage and at 9 a.m. we were on the lobby waiting for our ride. Then the reception got a phone-call and it was for us. It was Pieter from Aratinga and he was telling that our driver was accidentally on another place called Heliconias – which was on the other side of the country!
So we had to wait for our ride for 3 more hours. We had been walking along the trails so much that we decided not to go there anymore. So we were watching the feeder and did a short walk along the road but found only some common species – luckily some of them we managed to photograph. We were also enjoying the views on the parking place and managed to see a King Vulture flying on the sky. But then we just took it easy and relaxed.
Finally our ride came one more hour late and we could start a long drive to Limon and Centro Manü. The roads were again very slow but not only because of other traffic but also because our driver wasn’t very fast. It was again raining too so we didn’t see many birds – a few Great Green Macaws were only birds to mention.
As we were late from our lunch in Centro Manü we were about to eat in Puerto Viejo near La Selva. But after all we drove quite a long way more until we finally stopped to a restaurant which our driver seemed to know well. I was really hungry so I ate a huge portion and after that we had only a short drive to Centro Manü where we soon had the dinner…
Centro Manü
In Centro Manü we got a pretty simple cottage but it had everything we needed. And the garden was excellent! Unfortunately it was already getting dark so we didn’t see many birds.
In the evening we still had a frog, snake and other bugs trip with Kenneth who was keeping the place. We saw plenty of interesting frogs which the most stunning ones were a Coronated Treefrog and a small Ghost Glass Frog. We also found spawn of another glassfrog-species, a weird-looking salamander and a couple of snakes and so on. I also found a couple of sleeping Wood Thrushes and a White-ruffed Manakin.
Early morning of the 27th of December we met our guide Gabriel outside our cottage and soon started birding in the garden. We soon saw a couple of roosting Great Potoos which other ones awful call Hanna had heard at night. Nice finds were also Bay-headed Tanagers that were on a top of one big tree, Russet-naped Wood-Rails that were walking on the grass, Keel-billed and Yellow-throated Toucans and Collared Aracaris that were visiting a fruit-feeder with some tanagers and so on. We also saw a male Snowcap briefly feeding on a top of one flowering tree.
After the breakfast we headed to walk around the trail to the forest. Our main goal was to find one species for which Centro Manü had been one of the best places in the World in recent years. But for some reason lately there had been only one record a few weeks earlier. While we were walking we were asking Gabriel what kind of habitat the bird liked and how high in trees it usually was and so on. While we were walking along a muddy trail and crossing some small bridges, I kept on scanning the trees with thermal camera. I tried to concentrate to a little bit more open areas and about mid-level of trees as Gabriel had told and then suddenly I found a bigger bright spot in such a place. I raised my binoculars and there it was – a Bare-necked Umbrellabird! We had found one of our main target-species of the whole trip! We of course started to take pictures and didn’t mind really that the bird was a duller-looking female and not a very strange-looking male.
When the legendary umbrellabird flew into the forest and disappeared, we continued walking along the trail. The atmosphere was maybe a little bit too happy as we didn’t find many other birds. Anyway we found a nice male White-crowned Manakin which was moving quickly in the bushes and after lot more walking we finally found one Pale-vented Thrush. Of course some other birds were seen and heard too but in dark forest we couldn’t take many pictures.
Once we were back in the garden the morning trip was over. After the lunch we were walking around the garden, visiting hummingbird-bushes and checking the feeder and so on. We also spent time on our terrace which seemed to be very good place for some birds. The most surprising bird in our own garden was a Black-faced Solitaire.
At 4 p.m. we were picked up by a Daniel who was a bird-guide in Arrieras Bird Observatory. We had an hour drive to the observatory but as we weren’t in a hurry, we stopped a couple of times on the way. Especially along one bigger river we saw some trip-ticks which best ones were a Fasciated Tiger Heron, a Red-breasted Meadowlark and a female Morelet’s Seedeater.
We were at Arrieras Bird Observatory when it started to get dark and there we met our other guide Dariel. But next we had a dinner which was served on the balcony. While we were eating, we heard a Central American Pygmy Owl.
After the dinner David drove us up to a hill where Dariel was already and he had put up a bright UV-led light and a couple of white sheets. It was time to see some moths and other bugs and insects! Unfortunately the light was luring lots of very small insects and also Bullet Ants – also with wings. So we had to be careful next to the sheets.
The weather was very good but for some reason there weren’t as many moths and other bugs as we had expected. Maybe recent rains had been too hard for most insects? But after some more waiting some big moths and hawk-moths started to gather to the sheets. We also heard a Uniform Crake and a Middle American Screech Owl.
Later it was very quiet and no new moths were coming so we first walked around the hilltop and checked the trees with flashlights and found some more insects and also a nice Eyelash Viper. Then we went to walk around a muddy trail that was nearby and found some more insects and frogs. The best observation was a recently described Sylvia’s Leaf Frog. We also found some sleeping birds, a funny-looking Kinkajou and 3 small porcupines that were climbing in a fallen tree.
When we climbed back up to the hill there weren’t new moths on the sheets. So at 11 p.m. we decided to pack everything and started driving back to Centro Manü. At midnight it was time to say thanks and goodbye to David and Darier. It had been an interesting experience! And for sure Arrieras would’ve been a great place to do birding during the day too but this time it wasn’t in our schedule.
On the 28th of December we had full day free in Centro Manü. Because of the flights had been changed several times, we had got an extra day and we had chosen to spent it in Centro Manü where we could do birding easily just by ourselves. In most lodges it is not possible to go to rainforests without a guide.
Early in the morning a Collared Forest Falcon woke us up as it was very noisy. Then we walked around the garden and the best bird we saw was a Pale-vented Thrush. And after the breakfast we headed to walk to the same trail inside the rain-forest. Our goal was to find a male umbrellabird but we weren’t lucky. But we found some other nice birds like a Blue-throated Toucanet, a White-whiskered Puffbird and a Northern Bentbill. Two latter ones we managed to photograph quite well.
During the day we took a little bit easier. We walked around the garden and photographed birds that were visiting the feeder. We even slept a little. The best observations were a Grey-headed Kite that landed to a tree next to the feeders and a Tawny-capped Euphonia that disturbed our lunch by coming to the closest tree next to our terrace. We also had long discussions with a Mealy Amazon that was living in a big fruiting tree in our garden.
In the afternoon we were again checking the hummingbird-bushes, feeder and treetops but didn’t find anything new – but of course we saw quite a few nice birds anyway.
When it was dark, we still headed out to try to find some frogs and so on. We managed to find one Strawberry Poison-dart Frog and several more ordinary-looking frogs. There was a group of more professional herpetologists examining the area and we managed to see some of the animals they had found too.
On the 29th of December we were still walking in Centro Manü garden in the morning but without any new observations. Of course we did some photographing on the feeder again. Finally we had to pack our stuff and our ride arrived a little bit early so before 9 a.m. we left towards Cartago and Quelitales.
Quelitales
After a few hours driving we finally climbed up to Hotel Quelitales and soon we got a nice cottage where to carry our luggage. Then we headed straight to have lunch as we were in a hurry to go to birding. There was a fruit-feeder in front of the restaurant but for some reason birds weren’t coming to feed. But a nice Ringed Kingfisher and a Red-crowned Woodpecker were perched on the tree nearby and a Laughing Falcon was perched on a tree top on the other side of the valley. We also saw a Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher flying across the valley. A Yellow-bellied Elaenia came to perch to a top of the nearest bush. This elaenia had been identified as at least 2 more species in eBird so it is always worthy to pay attention what to believe on eBird. There are thousands of people visiting Costa Rica and birding with different kind of guides and also without guides.
The owner of Hotel Quelitales was a cook that was also a bird-photograper. He was told to be very helpful for visiting birders but he didn’t really pay much attention towards us. While we were eating, he came to ask which species we wanted to see and of course I thought that wasn’t the only time he is talking to us and I asked only about a couple of birds which he told that they could be found near the waterfall. But that was all he talked to us.
So after we had eaten we went out to search for this waterfall which was very easy to find. Next to the waterfall there were verbena-bushes and several hummingbird-feeders and soon we found also an open area which looked familiar – we had seen some of our target-species being photographed on this place.
We were first photographing the hummingbirds (Green Thorntails, a female Black-bellied Hummingbird, Green Hermits and Violet Sabrewings) and then decided to walk a little bit on the lower parts of the garden as we thought that one of our targets might be found there. After all we had only this afternoon for finding several target-species. Luckily Hanna soon found the first and one of the most important targets – a Sunbittern! It was moving slowly in the shadows but it was coming closer and closer and after we waited patiently it came very close and we managed to get really nice pictures.
At midday it was hot so we relaxed a little but then headed back up to the waterfall for the rest of the day. In first 2 hours we saw only the same hummingbirds. We expected to meet our host there as he had mentioned that he is feeding birds there at 3 p.m. but he never came. About at 4 p.m. an older birder-lady came there and she told that she had seen a couple of our target species very late, after the sunset in the previous evening. So all we could do was to keep on waiting.
When it started to get dark we finally saw the first bird hopping on the ground on the opening. It was a Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush. Soon a White-eared Ground Sparrow came to feed some rice that it managed to find on a stump. So at least there was something to eat there. And then we heard some noisy birds coming and 2 Sooty-faced Finches arrived to feed.
It was already quite dark and we were still missing a couple of species. So Hanna kept on watching the rice-feeder and I scanned the area close to the waterfall. And finally I found a bright spot with my thermal camera – a Green-fronted Lancebill was perched on a branch high up next to the waterfall. Soon it flew down and landed to the stick that was in the middle of the pool – it was there just for this species. And soon also another lancebill arrived and they started catching insects.
But the main-star, a Scaled Antpitta never arrived. This lady told us that it hadn’t been seen at least in two days at all. We still waited until 6 p.m. when we decided to give up. Later we heard that this antpitta had probably got disturbed by some raptor (Laughing Falcon?) and had been very difficult for quite some time.
The dinner was one of the best I have ever had so the owner really knew how to cook. But for some reason he still kept on avoiding us.
El Copal day
On the 30th of December we had one of the most awaited days of the trip – a guided whole day trip to El Copal. We met our guide Oscar Zúṅiga at 5:30 a.m. and were soon driving towards El Copal.
After almost an hour driving there were a couple of very steep up hills and our big car was really struggling. After all we had to go to stand to the back of the car with Oscar so the tires were holding better and finally we managed to climb up to El Copal observatory.
There was already a big group of older birders watching the fruit-feeder. Soon fresh fruits were served and immediately many very colorful tanagers started to arrive.
Speckled Tanager was a lifer for both of us but also Emerald, Silver-throated, Red-throated Ant, Golden-hooded and Crimson-collared Tanagers were nice to see well.
There were also Tawny-capped Euphonias and we heard a Thicket Antpitta and a Brown-billed Scythebill calling nearby. But even though we tried, we couldn’t see the scythebill.
There were also many verbena-bushes in the garden and finally we saw a couple of male Snowcaps well. They were just too fast to get good pictures and always there were Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds chasing them.
It was a little bit too crowdy and noisy so we really wanted to go to walk to the trails as soon as possible. Luckily we got the breakfast first and soon we followed Oscar to muddy rain-forest paths.
It was very quiet in the forest and Oscar didn’t like to use playback which for sure didn’t help us finding birds. So we had to walk quite a lot before we finally found our first bird, a White-throated Spadebill. But it was also moving so quickly in the shadows that it was impossible to get any pictures.
Then we walked again a long time without any bird-sightings until behind one turn we saw a Chiriqui Quail-Dove walking to the vegetation next to the trail and disappear. At some point Oscar and Hanna heard Ashy-throated Chlorospinguses calling somewhere high on the top of the mountain but they were too far for me. We still climbed over a place where a landslide had destroyed the trail but then it started to rain and we started hurrying back down towards the observatory.
On the way back we didn’t find any birds and once we were back at the buildings we soon had the lunch and then spent some time looking at the feeders again. I was also scanning the sky and managed to find a Barred Hawk that was soaring on the sky with a Broad-winged Hawk. I also found a Tropical Parula on one tree. Hanna was chasing the hummingbirds again with her gigantic camera (she was called a lady with a gigantic camera by some older birders that had been on the terrace for whole morning).
Soon we were again ready to go to the trails and this time we chose to climb up to the top of the mountain. It was a very steep, slippery and hard climb and for some reason there were almost no birds at all. Finally we found a couple of Plain Antvireos, a small flock of Ashy-throated Chlorospinguses and a Northern Schiffornis but they were all seen very briefly. Then it started to rain again and we started hurrying back.
We were quite tired when we were back on the observatory. Then Oscar suggested that we could leave so we would have time to try to see the Scaled Antpitta in Quelitales. But I thought that there were more possible lifer-species in El Copal and we decided to stay near the observatory until the sunset and try to find at least some new species there. And it seemed to be the right choice as soon we saw a Bicolored Hawk landing to a treetop nearby. And after some more waiting we saw a bigger flock of birds coming to eat fruits to one tree and there were several Tawny-crested Tanagers and also a Rufous-browed Tyrannulet. This was one of the flocks that we had been trying to find inside the forest. We had also been trying to find army-ants which are usually followed by many antbirds and other species. But maybe because of the cool and rainy weather we hadn’t seen any army-ants, all our guides had been wondering where they were.
Finally we left towards Quelitales and after all we were maybe a little bit disappointed as we hadn’t seen very many birds during the day. We had also been walking along all the best trails for hours and neither of us had taken a single bird-photo inside the forest. But anyway I had got 10 lifers and Hanna even a few more so after all we had got a pretty good day again.
On the last day of the year the 31st of December we woke up early and at 5:30 I had climbed up to the waterfall. On the way I saw a Sunbittern running with open wings and this was clearly a different, much more colorful bird than the one we had seen earlier. Soon also Hanna and our morning-trip guide Pieter Wiestra, the same Belgian man who has lived 20 years in Costa Rica and who has organized both our Costa Rican trips, arrived. It was good to finally meet Pieter.
The same Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush and a couple of Sooty-faced Finches came to the feeder again but no antpitta. So soon we left towards Ujarras.
Around Ujarras
After a short drive we found a flock of Bronzed Cowbirds perched on an electric wire. For sure we had seen this species before but only from a moving car so now it was the first time we could really identify it. We also saw one Giant Cowbird.
Soon we parked along the road in the middle of coffee-plantations and started walking along the road. After a couple of hundreds of meters walking Pieter saw something moving inside the bushes, he started paying playback and soon we saw 2 Cabanis’s Ground Sparrows climbing visible. We had already found the main-target of the morning.
We continued walking along the road and soon saw a Garden Emerald landing to a wire and soon we found also a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a Volcano Hummingbird which was the first ever for Pieter in this area. We also saw several Southern Lapwings and some Green Ibises and so on so the morning had been already better than we had hoped.
Next we continued to Paraiso where we parked next to the central park and soon we found a couple of Tropical Screech Owls roosting on one of the trees. As we were really having a good time, we still decided to go to check one small pool so we could get some trip-ticks. But this pool was very overgrown and there were only a couple of Northern Jacanas.
So even though Pieter for sure had other things to do, we still continued to one big park which had a bigger pond. There we found plenty of Muscovy and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, some Northern Jacanas, a couple of Common Gallinules and a Green Heron. From the bushes we found an Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush and on the trees there was a flock of Philadelphia and Yellow-throated Vireos.
Then we drove back to Quelitales and it was time to say thanks to Pieter. He told us that we would probably meet again in a couple of days as he was going to lead a group of birders in the same place where we were going.
After the breakfast we packed our luggage and at 10:30 a.m. a big Adobe’s car came to pick us up and we left towards Gema del Bosque.
Gema del Bosque
It took almost 2 hours to drive to Gema del Bosque which wasn’t far from the places where we had been on out February trip, very close to Los Quetzales NP. We got a small cottage with perfect mountain-view and soon we were having a dinner in the restaurant. There were hummingbird-feeders on the terrace and several Talamanca Hummingbirds, Lesser Violetears and Grey-tailed Mountaingems were feeding on them. There were also lots of verbena-bushes in the garden where a couple of Volcano and a single Scintillant Hummingbird were feeding.
After the dinner we went to the lower part of the garden where were more feeders. The owner and our guide Erick Granados came to help us to set up feeders and branches so it was good to take nice pictures.
In the afternoon we were just photographing the birds that came to the feeders. Funny flock of Spotted Wood Quails, Large-footed Finches, Yellow-thighed Brushfinches, Flame-colored Tanagers, an Acorn Woodpecker and also a nice Fiery-throated Hummingbird were photographed.
In the evening we had good New Year’s dinner but when the year was changing, we had already been sleeping for several hours…
The first of January 2025. We started the year with a Dusky Nightjar that was calling. We met Erick at 5:30 a.m. and soon left driving. Finally we parked to a private garden and soon saw that there were several artificial nests and sitting branches for Resplendent Quetzal. It didn’t take long when we found a quetzal pair and we managed to get a couple of pictures of the female but soon it flew inside a dense forest. We tried to walk to another place where we might see them better but soon we saw them flying to another forest.
We followed the quetzals and soon found the male again but it was in the middle of a dense tree. So we decided to just wait if it would move to a better place.
Erick was playbacking different kind of birds and soon we got a couple of nice Flame-throated Warblers to photograph and then Erick heard a White-fronted Tyrannulet which also came to see the playback but only very briefly. Then Erick noticed a rare bird on the top of one tree – a male Peg-billed Finch! With Hanna we also saw female but again they disappeared too soon for the pictures.
Finally we heard a female quetzal calling and soon the calls started to sound more demanding. Then the male started to move and finally flew to one branch where I could see it well. I took lots of pictures of this stunning bird which soon picked up an avocado and ate it. Luckily I was standing on the only spot where the bird was well visible and soon it flew into the forest.
We decided to continue birding and drove to one small road where we soon parked and again Erick started playbacking. First he played Maroon-chested Ground Dove but there was no response, but then to Buffy-crowned Wood Partridge we heard a distant answer. We walked towards the call and soon Hanna saw one partridge running into some blackberry-bushes. Soon we heard several birds calling very close to us but we just couldn’t see them.
Next we continued to Los Quetzales NP road and ostly just heard plenty of trip-ticks which some were pretty good: Spot-crowned Woodcreepers, a Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, a Wrenthrush, Chestnut-capped Brushfinches, an Ochraceous Pewee, a Golden-browed Chlorophonia and so on. Finally we found a small flock of Lineated Foliage-gleaners which was a new species for us.
Once we were back at Gema del Bosque we had lunch and the rest of the day especially Hanna was photographing hummingbirds. There was another feeder in the forest where our cook carried some leftovers and Spotted Wood Quails were extremely tame there. I also saw a Buff-fronted Quail-Dove there. Finally I had to go to sleep for an hour but Hanna kept on photographing hummingbirds.
After the dinner we had a long-awaited owl-trip with Erick. Unfortunately it had been raining very hard whole evening and it was still raining. Our target was to find an Unspotted Saw-whet Owl, which Erick knew better than maybe anyone. So soon we were making stops inside the forest and playing playback and hoping to hear any answers. But the forest was very wet and drops were quite noisy in the darkness. So it wasn’t a surprise that we didn’t hear a thing.
Fortunately the rain stopped but then wind started to blow. We made lots of stops in very good looking forests but couldn’t hear any owls until finally we heard a wheezing voice – a Bare-shanked Screech Owl. Well, at least there was one owl active…
On the next stop we heard another Bare-shanked Screech Owl and this time we managed to see the bird pretty well. But the wind was getting stronger and stronger so we had to try to find places that were in cover from the wind. Erick hadn’t been sleeping much because of there had been some New Year celebrations in his neighborhood so after all we started to be quite tired. We still made several stops but after all we couldn’t find any Unspotted Saw-whet Owls. Our last observation were 2 Coyotes that crossed the road.
On the 2nd of January we took the morning pretty easy. Of course we were photographing hummingbirds and other visitors of the feeders. We even saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk flying over the garden.
At 10 a.m. Andres Chinchilla arrived to pick us up and it was time to saw thanks to Erick and other very nice staff of Gema del Bosque.
Birding along the way
With Andres we soon turned to a road that took us as high as it was possible to get by a car to Las Antennas. We had hoped to get some nice trip-ticks easily but for some reason there were absolutely no birds at all! We walked around for 30 minutes but found only a few Slaty Flowerpiercers. Luckily we had seen all the special birds of this place on our previous visit in February.
So soon we continued driving towards south and next we stopped in Mirador Valle del General restaurant where we also had been in February. We ordered lunch and got the best table with the view not only to the mountains but also to the hummingbird and other feeders. It didn’t take long when we saw a Snowy-bellied Hummingbird and when we had got our food, I remembered to mention Andres about our second target-bird of this place – a Streaked Saltator. Then Andres started whistling saltator’s song so amazingly well that in a few seconds there was not only one but two Streaked Saltator watching at us from the nearest bush!
We still photographed hummingbirds and other birds for some time before we continued to San Isidro where because of traffic jams we turned to smaller roads and continued along them to Valle de La Luna where we had our accommodation.
Valle de La Luna
The owner of Valle de La Luna, Janet didn’t speak almost any English but with help of Andres, we managed to get all important information and soon we had carried our stuff down to the lower part of the garden to our quite big house.
We agreed to meet Andres early on the next morning and then soon climbed back up to the main house’s terrace. We had brought our telescope with us only because of this afternoon and Hanna started scanning the further treetops with the scope and I kept on scanning the closer trees.
Pretty soon we found a couple of Golden-naped Woodpeckers that landed to a tree nearby. And then Hanna found what we were looking for! She was looking through a small hole between a couple of trees and found a small blue dot that was on the top of extremely distant tree. But with the scope it was possible to see some details and it was indeed a male Turquoise Cotinga! We also heard a Riverside and a Rufous-breasted Wren so the afternoon had been quite good!
In the evening we had delicious dinner and then we were speaking “spanglish” with Janet and paging her bird-book until we were too tired and we had to go to sleep.
Around Cusingos and Nubes
On the 3rd of January we met Andres at 6 a.m. and started birding in Valle de La Luna garden. Right away we found the same wrens and soon Andres found a Charming Hummingbird that landed to a top of one high tree. We still saw a Streaked Saltator too.
We had breakfast at 7 a.m. and while eating Andres heard a distant song – he started playing playback and soon we had an Isthmian Wren jumping on the closest bushes. And on the top of one distant tree we saw a Brown-throated Sloth.
After the breakfast we left birding and pretty soon made a couple of stops to scan distant treetops. And on the second stop we found a male and a female Turquoise Cotingas. Soon we stopped on the road next to Cusingos forest but it was very quiet there. Only a couple of Bicolored Antbirds came close to us. So we continued climbing higher along a road that went through some farmlands towards Nubes NP.
We made a couple of stops along the road and checked verbena-bushes without luck of finding a White-crested Coquette, but we found a couple of Pale-breasted and Slaty Spinetails and a couple of Olivaceous Piculets.
Finally we parked next to Nubes and walked to the forest-trail. Pretty soon we heard a bird-flock and found several Red-crowned Ant Tanagers, a few Slaty Antwrens and also a Spotted Barbtail. After some more walking Andres found a White-tailed Emerald that was feeding on the tops of a flowering tree and moving very fast before disappearing to the forest.
We also found a Brown-billed Scythebill that was so aggressive towards the playback that it almost hit me. Then we still heard a Southern Nightingale-Wren singing before we walked back to Andres’s car and started to drive back down. Next we curved to Andres’s home-road and parked in the middle of some dense bushes and walked in the middle of them. Soon we heard faint calls of a few Costa Rican Brushfinches, but they were really difficult to see. After some trying we managed to see them pretty well but they were impossible to get any pictures. Anyway we had ticked a really good bird again!
We were happy when we parked to Aracari Birding Deck which was a big feeder area next to Andres’s home. He had started to build it a couple of years earlier and it was really a good looking place! We met also Pieter as he was guiding a family there. And soon we had lunch that Andres’s wife had cooked for us under the roofs of the feeding place.
Then we of course photographed many birds that were visiting the feeder. Grey-cowled Wood Rails, Grey-headed Chachalacas, a couple of Lesson’s Motmots, a Red-crowned Woodpecker, Orange-billed and Black-striped Sparrows, Yellow-crowned Euphonias, Speckled, Bay-headed and many other tanagers and so on.
There was also funny Central American Agouti feeding rice and chasing wood rails. We were already packing our camera-bags when an angry-looking Red-headed Barbet came to feed.
When we had been driving a hundred of meters or so Andres noticed a Long-billed Starthroat perched on the top of one tree. Of course I had to take some pictures of it. Then we continued again to Cusingos but it started to rain very heavily. Luckily we managed to hear a distant Baird’s Trogon that started to call but it didn’t come any closer. And when the rain was just getting stronger, we decided to drive back to Aracari Birding Deck to photograph birds in rain.
There were still birds visiting the feeder but unfortunately there wasn’t any Spot-crowned Euphonias. And we weren’t really expecting to see any of the birds that had given the name for the place as there hadn’t been any very recent sightings, but when we were about leave, a small group of Fiery-billed Aracaris came to feed bananas. So we had now seen all the toucan-species of Costa Rica on this trip!
The rain was getting weaker but it didn’t stop until we were back in Valle de La Luna. There it was time to say goodbye to Andres who had been an excellent guide!
After the dinner we had to do some packing but Hanna still went out to the garden with a torch to search some frogs and other animals. And she managed to find at least one Red-eyed Tree Frog.
On the 4th of January we slept a little bit longer but when the sun was rising we were again walking in the garden. There were a couple of Fiery-billed Aracaris on the top of the closest tree and on the back of the garden we found a beautiful male Velvety Manakin. We also got some pictures of other birds.
Finally we had to pack our luggage and soon we carried them up to the main-building. Then we just sat on the terrace and enjoyed the view and scanned the surroundings. We still saw a male Turquoise Cotinga in flight, the first Grey-breasted Martin of the trip and I saw a male Red-capped Manakin flying across the garden. A flock of Grey-headed Chachalacas came to say goodbye to us.
Towards home
Soon after the dinner our Adobe car came to pick us up and it was time to say goodbye to Janet. Then we started a long drive to San Jose.
On the way it started to rain again so at least I decided to get some sleep. In Cartago the traffic was completely jammed but finally we got to San Jose ring-road and after some more driving we finally parked to Hotel Buena Vista.
We got a nice room and in the evening we still had excellent dinner before we still had to do some more packing before we were ready to go to sleep very early.
On the 5th of January we had to wake up crazy early and already at 3:30 a.m. we got a ride to the airport. We managed to get through the queues easily and finally our flight to Dallas left in time.
In Fort Worth we had again a long wait and of course our Finnair flight was more than 2 hours late! But luckily we managed to sleep well on the plane and after a long flight we landed to Helsinki-Vantaa airport on the 6th of January at midday.
For some reason we had to wait for a long time to get out from the plane and once we had walked a crazy long way to the baggage claim, we realized that we were in a big hurry! We had only 40 minutes until our train was leaving from Tikkurila. We still waited for at least 15 minutes until the first set of bags had come but our bags weren’t there, so we decided to leave them and hurry towards the railway-station. Luckily there was immediately a train that took us to Tikkurila where we still had to climb up and down to the right platform. And amazingly we still had to wait for our train for 15 minutes.
So maybe we could’ve waited for some more to get our bags with us but we didn’t want to miss our Joensuu-train as it was Epiphany, the last day of winter-holidays and we thought that all trains might be absolutely full.
The train-trip went surprisingly fast even thought VR was of course late too. Finally we were in Parikkala 15 minutes late but luckily it wasn’t very late evening yet. We both had to go to work on the next day so we still had some time to relax before we had to go to sleep. And our luggage came after a few days.
J.A.