Costa Rican Cloud Forest

This winter my wife and I took a trip to Costa Rica to get away from the cold weather and celebrate our anniversary. Our flights to San Jose went well with no delays. It is nice to go south and get to such a different environment without an exceedingly long flight. It was actually shorter to get to San Jose, Costa Rica than San Jose, California for us.

We arrived late in the evening and had decided to stay in San Jose. After getting our luggage, some money, a local SIM card for my phone, and checking in with the tour company, we exited customs to a large crowd welcoming visitors. We found our driver for the night. He was a the back of the crowd and we kept making eye contact as we progressed through the throngs and found some space.

One of the very nice things we found in Costa Rica was the infrastructure for tourists. We were able to easily arrange transfers so we were able to skip renting a car. It made moving from one location to another easy and relaxing and there was really only one time we might have missed having a car. But we got a bus that time with minimal waiting so it wasn't bad at all. Our first driver was Rudy; he was very friendly and informative for the 30 minute drive to the hotel. The Central Valley, made up of three cities, is home to nearly half of the country's 5 million inhabitants. Outside here the biggest population centers you will find are towns. Even at night traffic was heavy. Apparently it is horrible during the day; especially since they are currently replacing a major bridge between San Jose and the airport.

Our hotel the first night was Grano de Oro. They greeted us with a cold fruit drink in a champagne glass (something we would find at two of the other three places we stayed). The room was comfortable and we immediately tucked in for the night.

In the morning we could hear a bird calling outside our window and water running. When we left the room to get breakfast we discovered the source of the water noise: an indoor fountain. The hallways were full of tropical plants and there were several open-air courtyards, including the seating area of the restaurant. I had the standard Costa Rican fare of casado: rice, beans, fried plantains, and fruit. There were many fruit juices to choose from including a couple of fruits we were familiar with. I think we both had mango.

Chestnut-Collared Sparrow (not from the restaurant but Villa Blanca)

While sitting there eating we had our first Costa Rican bird; a chestnut-collared sparrow. Luckily, we had studied up (more on that in a later post) and could easily identify it. Number 1 of 194 species I would see there. A walk around the block picked up three more species.

As we walked to the lobby to check out we met our driver for the next leg. This was the first of several cases of good timing of us showing up just as our driver appeared. We had heard a lot of "Tico time," but only once did we have to wait for someone to show up.

Our next stop was Villa Blanca in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest near San Ramon.  Again we were met with drinks. Our cabin wasn't quite ready so we had a short walk around and had lunch. At lunch we saw a green hermit hummingbird, flying around the outdoor seats. The view from up here was amazing. And the cabins had fireplaces for the cool, damp nights.

Clouds moving in at Villa Blanca

Enjoying some simple warmth

Being in the cloud forest, most evenings the clouds start moving in around 5-6 pm. And when it comes, it comes quickly. Below are two views of the chapel on the property seen just as the fog starts gathering and then about 10 minutes later.

Next up will be the wonderful birding that we did at Villa Blanca.
Pura Vida.

Mixed WinterFlock

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with Poison Ivy Berries

This past weekend, my wife and I decided to do a "longer" bird hike in preparation for an upcoming trip. We tend to be slow birders; we walk along scanning for activity and pausing to see and count everything we come across. This makes for a fun birding experience with a high amount of birds but we do tend to cover limited ground. Walking a mile in two hours is not uncommon. We can easily spend 45-60 minutes walking the 300 yards to the back of our property and returning. But on our upcoming trip we expect to be doing some extended walking and wanted to get that feel back. I also received a new backpack for Christmas and I wanted to try it out for more than an hour at a time.

We headed over to a local park with a five-mile multi-use trail around a small lake. This trail is very popular with runners and dog-walkers so it can be a bit frustrating at times to bird the area. But the spot is known to get good collections of birds. When we go, we usually only over a short stretch of the trail and then return along a parallel road instead of doing the whole circumnavigation of the lake. This time we told ourselves we would focus on getting all the way around and only stop when we saw more than just passing activity. Success was relative. It still took us over four hours to do the whole loop.

At one point we stopped where we often see a range of sparrows in scrubby undergrowth. The sparrows weren't coming out but we did see some bluebirds in distant trees. And then it happened. A mixed winter flock settled down upon us. In a tree about 30 ft away a yellow-bellied sapsucker settled on a poison ivy vine for some tasty berries (they seem very popular but so far I have resisted the temptation try them). And then an eastern bluebird flew in just below. I was busy getting my camera out of the bag, but my wife saw the two birds give each other a look and then settle back into their feeding. Luck for me, they were close enough to be in the same frame.

These two were soon joined by a yellow-rumped warbler and brown creeper.

The creeper tended to stay hidden on the far side of the tree but then flew to a neighboring one that gave a much better view.

Brown Creeper Creeping up a Tree

In winter, many small birds travel around together in mixed flocks to feed. They gain the benefit of security in numbers. Chickadees seem to act as security guards always on the look out for threats and more than happy to raise the alarm. Also, since they aren't competing for stable food sources and territories to raise young, the group is more likely to find good food sources. There is always a mix of insectavores, seed-eaters, and omnivores. Each filling their own niche.

In this flock were both kinglets that we get in this area. Below is the golden-crown kinglet showing off its beautiful crown as well as the yellow streaking on the wings.

And the ruby-crowned kinglet (eye Ring = Ruby-crowned) showing a bit of its crown (orangish dot on the top of its head) that is usually kept hidden.

I had never noticed until looking at these photographs that both kinglets have bright yellow pads on their feet. Looking back at the above ones you can see the yellow on the feet.

Golden-crowned kinglet taking flight showing the yellow pads on its feet

While there, another birder came up and joined us. She was from Texas, but visiting her sister nearby and was still learning the Virginia winter birds. So we helped her work through the flock that also included chickadees, titmice, white-throated sparrows, goldfinches, and some other woodpeckers.
As a final treat, here is a bluebird landing to grab an insect from the leaf litter.

Faux Bloom Day

Images from around the garden on Sept 1 2016.