Costa Rica (15th-31st March) Dave and Dave's and Selva Verde Lodge.

18th March.
Due to the lack of activity at the feeders at Selve Verde it was decided to pay a visit to Dave and Dave's Nature Park which is famous for it's feeders and allowing you to get close to the action though it costs a whopping $40 per person..
We arrived at 8.00am and was told we had to go on the guided tour. There was little action around the feeders so off we went. Dave senior was our guide and he told us how the reserve was re-wilded from a plantation. Whilst the talk was interesting the walk wasn't very birdy with buff rumped warbler, orange billed sparrow, long billed hermit and white collared manikin being the only birds we saw - though I must admit we had great views of the manikin though it was very dark.

Buff-rumped warbler

Orange-billed sparrow

White collared manikin using flash

White collared manikin using natural light

After the tour (which took nearly 2 hrs) we were told we could stay longer for an additional $20 per hour (each). This we declined because whilst standing around waiting for a cup of coffee it was clear that next to nothing was visiting the feeders though I did manage a few decent shots of the pair of jacobins visiting the hummer feeders.

White-necked Jacobin (female)

White-necked Jacobin (female)

Whilst waiting Dave Jnr told us that at this time of year (mid March) the feeders go quiet and a lot of the birds get down to breeding and look for more protein rich food............I wish they'd told us that before we stomped up $40 each.
After the tour I had another couple of turns around the grounds of Selva Verde getting some improved shots of red-throated ant tanager, grey capped flycatcher and great kiskadee and record shots of stripe throated hummingbird.

Stripe-throated hermit

Grey Capped flycatcher

Collared Aracari

Black Phoebe

In the evening we went on the night tour of the rain forest where we saw a number of frogs and bugs including bullet ants - which are absolute beasts and not to be trifled with.

Red-eyed tree frog

Night walk bugs

Our last morning I tried my luck in the grounds across the road from the main site where I saw several new species but most were in the tree tops and I only managed record shots at best.

Black cheeked woodpecker

Cinnamon Becard

Black-crowned tityra

Despite being woken by them at 5.20 every morning I only  managed distant shots of howler monkeys.

Overall I was a little disappointed in Selva Verde, especially the feeding stations and very disappointed with Dave and Dave's though it seems we may just have got the timing wrong.

Costa Rica (15th -31st March 2018) part 3 - Selva Verde Lodge

17th March.
We arrived late afternoon at Selva Verde so only had a cursory look round before it got dark. Very nice it looked too - the rooms connect to the main building (bar/restaurant) by covered walkways and are set amongst the jungle with a set of fruit feeders observable from the balcony around the restaurant. No hummingbird feeders however.
The first morning we signed up to the dawn birding tour around the grounds. This produced around 25 species but nearly all were very distant scope views so no decent photographs were obtained. The very first bird we saw on the tour was the rufous motmot but it was still pretty dark. Despite trying when the light was reasonable I never did see one of these again which was a disappointment. Below are a few of the better record shots I managed during that tour.

Amazon Kingfisher

White-crowned parrot

Yellowish flycatcher

Variable seedeater

Grey capped flycatcher

Collared aracari

Breakfast was taken overlooking the fruit feeding station and proved very disappointing. About every 30-40 minutes a small group of Passerini's tanagers would visit but most of the time the feeders were deserted. We had 3 nights (so 2 whole days and the last morning) at Selva Verde and throughout that time the only other visitors to the feeding station (we saw) were red-throated ant tanager, a few blue-grey tanagers, one or two summer tanagers and a lone buff throated saltator.

Passarini's tanager

Passerini's Tanager (female)

Blue-grey tanager

Due to the slowness of the birding I took the opportunity to play with flash photography on the few species coming to the feeders - it was time well spent as it was a technique I relied on quite a lot during the holiday.
Another walk around the ground post breakfast provided me with a few more photo opportunities the best of which was a rufous tailed humming bird. I'd found a bird perched quietly on a twig low down and was just snapping away when it sat there with open beak. After a few shots of it in this pose I realised why it had it's beak open - an adult had appeared and fed it. All of this taking place whilst my eye was glued to the camera eye piece!.

Rufous-tailed hummingbird

I also picked up a pair of masked tityra

male and female Masked tityra

Tropical Kingbird

In the afternoon we went to Best Chocolate Sarapaqui - a chocolate tour which was a short walk from the lodge. It was excellent and the guide/main presenter showed us some green poison dart frogs as we walked to the presentation area. We were shown all stages of chocolate production and had a go at each one the most enjoyable being the last - eating what had been produced!. A great 2 hrs.

Green and black poison dart frog (seen as we walked to the presentation site

Grinding chocolate - the old way!

making a hot chocolate drink

Another session at the feeders late afternoon provided a few shots of summer tanager, a long-billed hermit and a northern barred woodcreeper (in the trees behind the feeders) - a bird we saw on most days.

Long-billed hermit

Northern barred woodcreeper

Summer Tanager

Costa Rica (15-31st March 2018) part 2. La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

As stated in the first post the plan was to get to the Waterfall Gardens early, have a late lunch at the Galeria de Colibries y Restaurante Chinona then move onto Selva Verde Lodge before it got dark. The late start and the great time we had at the Waterfall gardens meant there was no time for the Galeria.
The Waterfall Gardens are a refuge for wide variety of animals recovered from illegal collections (cats, monkeys, sloths, snakes, frogs) but also has a good number of bird feeders (fruit and hummingbirds), excellent birding habitat, waterfalls (obviously!) and a hotel (expensive). The hummingbird feeders in particular are noted for the number and variety of species that visit.
Due to our delays we arrived near midday under a blazing sun and spent the first 15 minutes just inside the entrance where a number of tanager species were visiting a fruit feeding station though the harsh light made photography very difficult.

Black vulture in the car park - waiting for tourists to expire from the heat!

Silver throated tanager

Speckled tanager

Blue-grey tanager

Indigo Bunting

Keel-billed toucan

We then visited the aviay, the cats, monkeys, sloths, frogs, butterflies and snakes - it all took quite a bit of time!

Grey hawk

Emerald toucanet

Red-eyed tree frog

When we finally reached the hummingbird feeders there was little bird activity so we had a drink in the café where we were visited by common chlorospihngus and rufous collared sparrow.

Common Chlorspingus

Rufous collared sparrow

After a stroll through the gardens down to the waterfalls we went back to the hummingbird feeders where numbers had improved though photographic conditions were difficult - heavy shade or bright sunshine and a lot of people watching or trying to take pictures. I only managed shots of 5 species (I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to be able to identify hummers with confidence  without a photograph and sometimes even the photograph leaves some room for doubt).

Purple-throated mountain gem

Copper-headed emerald

Violet Sabrewing

Green Thorntail

Eventually we returned to the car for the drive to Selva Verde. It was too late to consider the Galleria.

Despite the late start and the zoo like nature of the waterfall gardens it was very enjoyable though if I ever get the chance to visit again I will get there as early as possible.

Holidaying and Birding in Costa Rica (15th -31st March 2018)

This years holiday was to the fabled Costa Rica. The party consisted of our friends (Pete and Mary) my wife (Angie) and myself.
As with all our holidays this was a holiday split between beach/sight-seeing and birding - it was not a bird tour. I did all the organising and the driving was shared amongst us and in general we did not engage the use of a bird guide (unless specified).

Logistics
Flight - BA direct to San Jose from Gatwick.
1st night at Hotel Bougainvillea.
3 nights at Selva Verde Lodge
3 nights at Hotel Savegra
3 nights at La Posada, Manuel Antonio
6 nights at Punta Leona.
Car hire (a tractor of a 4x4) from Vamos who were good but the bureaucracy was slow

The original plan was to spend 2 night at Bougainvillea and have a look around San Jose and visit a coffee tour company near by (Britt Coffee Tour)  but my original research showed little else nearby so it dropped to a single night. After booking all the hotels I found out about Poas volcano and the La Paz waterfall gardens and Galeria de Colibries Restaurant.

The only guided tour arranged before we set off was of the Tarcoles River using Vic Tours. Other places we intended to visit was Best Chocolate which is within walking distance of Selva Verde Lodge and Rain Forest Spices (they grow vanilla) near Manuel Antonio. We did however intend to take advantage of the hotel guides/tours where on offer (more details on these in the appropriate sections).

The flight was uneventful although long and due to the time of landing (4.45pm local with sunset at 5.45) we took a taxi to the Hotel Bougainvillea. The transfer took around 40 minutes with us arriving well after dark justifying the decision to have the 4x4 delivered to the hotel the next morning. The hotel was much more impressive than it looks on it's web site suggested so we had dinner, a drink, and an early night.
The next morning I was up at dawn (5.45am) and in the garden which was large and was joined a little later by Pete and Mary. we only had till 7.30 when we went to breakfast but in that time we have notched up 20 species and took a few reasonable shots - the highlight being Montezuma Oropendola.

Great Kiskadee

Philadelphia virio

Red-billed pigeon

White tipped dove

Montezuma Oropendola

In general I didn't keep bird lists for each place as it was too time consuming but I did for the Bougainvillea:- rufous collared sparrow, rufous naped wren, red-billed pigeon, white tipped dove, white winged dove, tropical kingbird, great kiskadee, blue-grey tanager, rufous tailed hummingbird, clay coloured thrush, Baltimore oriole, white tailed kite (Elanus leucurus), turkey vulture, Philidelphia virio, yellow warbler, melodious blackbird, great tailed grackle, Hoffman's woodpecker, brown jay. and Montezuma Oropenola.
The Vamos rep arrived on time at 8,.00 to start the paper work but the car was about an hour late however all that time was taken by the formalities. As we went out to inspect the vehicle there was a large bang in the road outside - a car had cut across the front of a motorbike who had crashed into the rear wing. Eventually the bike rider moved to the side of the road and awaited the police and ambulance. In Costa Rica the vehicles must not be moved after a crash until inspected by the Police and insurance companies so after every crash the road is partially blocked for a long time. We saw another 3 motorbike/car crashes on our drive out of San Jose. It is not a place to ride a motorbike. It was also a reminder to drive very carefully!
Due to the delays getting the car and the crashes we were caught up in we didn't arrive at the Waterfall gardens until midday - I had hoped to be there by 9.30 - and it was very hot. If I had stuck to the original 2 nights at Bougainvillea we could have had longer in the hotel gardens, done the coffee tour and taken possession of the car at leisure. We could then have gotten away early the next day to the Waterfall Gardens. C'est la vie.
Next Up La Paz Waterfall gardens.