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The last of the three day trips that I participated in with my Canadian Friends was to the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve better known here for its Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel where we had breakfast after a couple of hours of birding. And the clouds never lifted or burned off the entire time we were there. Click the first page of that gallery below to access it or if you prefer an address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/Birding-at-Villa-Blanca-Cloud-Forest-Reserve
¡Pura Vida!
Because we went after the Rio Tarcoles trip, it was too late in day for many birds, I got only 2 species, but I did get 10 species of other wildlife including some interesting species like the Helmeted Iguana, stick moth caterpillar, etc. and one of my dark monkey shots is visible. Click the first page of gallery below to enter or if you prefer an address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/Hiking-Carara-NP
I earlier did a post on the Helmeted Iguana and one on the Stink Bug, two of the 10 “Other Wildlife” seen at Carara this time. See gallery.
And tomorrow I will hopefully have completed the gallery for our morning visit to Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve and Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel.
¡Pura Vida!
I can’t wind down my reports on Rio Tarcoles without mentioning the American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus (my gallery link) which is what brings some tourists to the Tarcoles River, with the “Crocodile Bridge” on Ruta 34 over the Tarcoles being a popular stop for tourists to walk out over the river on the pedestrian lane of the bridge to look down on many crocodiles, often sunning on a sand bar. Warning if coming this year, they are working on the bridge, to widen it, and thus many traffic stops! 🙂 Plus you see the crocs up closer on one of the several boat tours from the village of Tarcoles. I always choose “Crocodile Jungle Safari” because they are the best boat to see the most birds, which have priority over crocs for me. Here’s 2 shots from our February 17 trip (with more in the above linked gallery) . . .
Well, the ones in the tree appeared to be playing “Hide-N-Seek” with us with one trying to become part of the limb! 🙂 Both the village of Tarcoles and the Tarcoles River are one of the best places to see and photograph the Scarlet Macaw, Ara macao (my gallery link), along with nearby Carara NP. And of course these colorful birds are very popular with the tourists, along with all the other parrots and the toucans! 🙂 Just 3 shots here with more from this trip in the above linked gallery.
Always one of my favorite on the water as you can see in my Great Egret GALLERY.
Just on shot here. Go to the gallery for some of the several others made.
¡Pura Vida!
This is the most seen hawk of all for me, almost everywhere I go. See more of my photos in the gallery Common Black Hawk. Not super good photos this trip, but this one of him flying right above me (close) is kind of interesting! 🙂
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen a Brown Jay (my gallery link), so I was glad to find these two near the dock for our boat tour.
There are more than water birds on Rio Tarcoles with both shores lined with forests. And this is one of the more common Central & South American birds that even comes to my garden. See more in my gallery: Blue-gray Tanager.
¡Pura Vida!
This unmistakable to identify, black & white shore bird, with unreal hot pink & very long legs, is found throughout the Americas and on both slopes of Costa Rica in both fresh & salt waters. See my photo collection of this unique bird in the linked gallery: Black-necked Stilt.
I’ve seen many black vultures over the years here but never before a juvenile. A family of at least 3 or maybe 4 children were on the ground in the grasses adjacent the river with no adult seen near them. I hesitate to call them babies, but still pretty young with some semi-downy feathers and unable to fly. I guess the nest is on the ground in those grasses, though it seems dangerous to me, even for the larger birds. So I asked Google and its AI said . . .
“Yes, black vultures commonly nest on the ground, usually in secluded areas like thickets, hollow logs, caves, or abandoned buildings. They do not build traditional nests, instead laying their eggs directly on the ground, soil, or debris.”
For a lot of photos of adult Black Vultures, see my gallery: Black Vulture
¡Pura Vida!