Tag: birding

Posted on

Tambor Tropical Friday to Wednesday

Tambor Bay, Nicoya Peninsula, Pacific Coast
Where I will be for 5 nights this Christmas, 22-27 Dec.
Tambor Tropical Resort
A small boutique luxury hotel on beach of the calmer water bay of the Pacific Ocean
on southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula (Guanacaste) west of Puntarenas.
Catering to birders, nature lovers, adventurers and yoga people.
Tambor Bay, Costa rica
Not only is the hotel on the beach, but adjacent to a river with multiple birding/hiking trails.
This is my kind of place! I can hardly wait to get there! Birding guides to 2 reserves plus
maybe a boat trip to Tortuga Island along with the ever-present river tails above! And beach!
Plus most reviews rank the food and other services very high. A great vacation!
Tambor Bay, Costa Rica
Birding tours and bird photography tours they advertise on their site have package trips here for 3  to 4 k. (Paying for 2 or 3 leader’s ways usually) I will have pretty much the same experience with my own private guide for a small fraction of that cost. And more time to relax and enjoy the beach and resort. 5 nights will make it a perfect trip!
And so you may think it is weird to go birding Christmas (like I did last Christmas) well, here is a cell phone snapshot of my living room Christmas Tree, a leafless tree limb loaded with artisan birds from all over Latin America and a backdrop of bird photos. It’s a perfect Christmas for me! And another cool way to spend my son’s inheritance!  🙂   Enjoying Retirement in Costa Rica!

 

Bird Christmas Tree  (Click for close-ups of some of the birds.)
The leafless tree in the corner is sprayed with gold paint and has hanging on it 33 hand-made art birds from
every country in Central America made of wood, cloth, pottery, beads, gourds, etc.
I like it so much I have kept it up since last Christmas and probably will again all this year.
Charlie’s Living Room
Atenas, Costa Rica

I expect to give daily reports of my adventures at Tambor Tropical on this blog, so keep reading for my idea of a Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad! Birding in Costa Rica!   🙂

My trip gallery for this trip: 2017 Christmas Week Tambor Bay 

And the hotel website:  Tambor Tropical Resort

-o-
 



Expats in Costa Rica most often feel safer than in the U.S.  Article in Live in Costa Rica Blog

Posted on

Balance of 2017 Planned!

And most of you know that means I have trips planned for the rest of the year with other serendipities like holidays and local experiences being “extra” joys! 

But for those who particularly like my trips or the birds I photograph on them, here’s my coast to coast plans for the next 4 months, leaving specific dates off for security reasons: 

SEPTEMBER is my trek back to the Caribe with 4 nights in a very popular hotel I could not get in on another trip, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. It is one of the very few actually on the beach, like walk out of your cabin right onto the beach. (Most are across the highway.) I do not care for swimming in the ocean for many reasons, nor sunbathing, but absolutely love walking on the beach which I will do a lot of this trip. It is also “Adult Only,” simply meaning no children. I love kids, but they tend to dominate a resort at every point and can be quite disruptive from sleeping & meals to activities & pool. So my first time to try one of these!  I’ll let you know what I think. 

Plus I plan on two new reserves for birding and otherwise hiking in nature with local guides; one is a national park and one a private reserve which they claim is the best. And of course the beautiful forested grounds of the hotel and even the beach will have birds!

And I will experience a little caribbean culture & food in Puerto Viejo. See 
this info page and welcome video About Puerto Viejo.  There’s also links there to why visit the Caribe, difference in caribbean and pacific coasts, etc. I may come home singing reggae!  🙂  But mainly hope to relax and get more bird photos! Here’s more on Caribbean Local Activities beyond the music and food or my favorite, Caribbean Jungle, Nature & Wildlife.  And the Hotel Banana Azul Photo Gallery. 

It will be both similar and different from my safari tent hotel in Manzanillo last year. See that Manzanillo Trip Photo Gallery for comparison. I still don’t have a strong preference for caribbean or pacific coast yet, though I tend to favor the “underdog” or least popular which would be the Caribe. It is quieter, cheaper, more natural, smaller & locally owned hotels, and less crowded. If you like big Marriotts or Hiltons, go to the Pacific side and spend more money! I’m doing that in December but not in a big chain hotel. 



NOVEMBER is in the cloud forests not far from Atenas, just outside San Ramon where I stay in my second Greentique Hotel, associated with the Aquila de Osa Hotel I was in at Drake Bay. (One of my favorite!) But this one is only an hour or so away by bus through Palmares to San Ramon where the hotel picks me up at the bus station. It is called Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel & Nature Reserve.   

Typical birding hike.

Of course I already have birding treks scheduled with local guides and may get to see their cloud forest research center. Plus they have trails on their own property I can visit on my own and all three hotels have jacuzzis which I hope to use and who knows? Maybe even a relaxing back massage! I view retirement as an almost continuous vacation! 🙂  It’s great! And this one’s close to home!



Another tropical paradise where you have both
a pool and the beach, plus forest for birds!
And hopefully great food!  🙂

CHRISTMAS WEEK is when I decided to try the southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula and Guanacaste on the Pacific Coast. And my Google search showed Tambor Bay the best area of the southern peninsula for birding, according to a local birding club on the peninsula. So we will see! I have reservations at the Tambor Tropical Hotel right on the beach AND on a river with hiking trails following it inland for lots of do-it-yourself birding. Plus there are two reserves nearby that I hope to see with a guide. And this is another “Adults Only” hotel. Wow! New for me.

Puntarenas is almost due west of Atenas, slightly southwest. To drive or go on bus includes a long ferry ride, making a long trip. Thus I have elected to fly a small plane to the little airport at Tambor Bay. Hotel picks me up at airport.
 


Not having family, I have found that Christmas is more enjoyable while on a trip and I always end up with new friends as well as new experiences! So I’m looking forward to this Christmas when I celebrate living in Costa Rica for three years! ¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Sunrise at Drake Bay

Sunrise from my cabin at Aguila Inn
Drake Bay, Costa Rica
You generally awake early here with 5 am sunrise, birds singing and today howler monkeys! Three of us guests had a 5:30 am two-hour birding walk down the bay to town of Drake Bay, up in the hills, and back to lodge for 8 am breakfast. A good morning, seeing a lot of birds, though my only camera is the cellphone, which means not as many photos. My camera has been in a bag of rice for two days, and still doesn’t work, so it may not be humidity. Just don’t know. 
Relaxing around the lodge the rest of today with maybe a walk through forest. I’m posting this in the morning today, Friday, my last full day here. Tomorrow a relaxed morning here and a 2 pm flight back to San Jose and home by 4!
I highly recommend Aguila de Osa Inn! Relaxing place, fantastic food, great tours and other possible activities.

My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip

About Corcovado National Park (Wikipedia)  and  About Drake Bay (Wikipedia)
Posted on

Harris’s Hawk

Harris’s Hawk
Roadside between Bijagua and Canon Negro, Costa Rica

Click the photo to see it larger.

I made around 600 images at Canon Negro today and have a lot of birds & other photos to share, but I have not had time to process them all, plus we have been without internet connection most of the day and what we have now is very slow. So this is all the report for tonight. But this shot of a Harris’s Hawk will probably be my favorite shot of the day and is my first ever for this kind of hawk. I also got two other kinds of hawks and a Laughing Falcon today, but not this good of an image.

Tomorrow I finally get to the nearby Tenorio Volcano National Park which is where I want to photograph a beautiful waterfall with bright blue water, BUT, all the heavy winds blew a tree down over the waterfall trail Saturday or Sunday and as of today they still have not opened the trail, soooo, I may not get the waterfall I came for. I will learn when I get there. There are other trails to hike and birds to find and I’m hoping for the rare Umbrella Bird that is known to be in the park, but tough to see. Will try! Having a great trip! Traveled to Canon Negro with a lovely couple from France today. Using the same guide tomorrow, Alex, to explore the park, just him and I.

Posted on

Another Trip Planned Ahead Today – For September

Hotel Banana Azul,  Puerto Viejo de Talamanca,
South Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica

Popular or “good” hotels and lodges stay booked sometimes up to a year ahead, so even though I live in Costa Rica, I too have to plan ahead even in the “off season” which most say includes September. Though I have also read that the best time to visit the Caribbean Coast and its year-a-round rainy season is August and September when they have the lowest amount of rain all year. Thus my last two trips to the Caribe have been in either August or September and I’m staying with that plan for this year too. Both of the other times I studied hotels and wanted the Banana Azul Adults Only Hotel and they had no vacancy. Well, this year I planned far enough ahead and got in! And don’t let the adults thing confuse you. Not XX adult, just peace & quiet adult. Most hotels in CR emphasize families and lots of families come! And often dozens of kids dominate the space and the sound waves. So this will be interesting! And maybe quiet, though they do allow age 16 and older.  🙂

They have already, within 2 hours, put me in contact with a local guide service that will take me to some new and different birding locations not seen last year. So I’m hoping for more new species! The Caribbean side of CR is not as popular as the Pacific beaches, with fewer tourists, smaller hotels, and a much quieter, calmer beach and jungle to explore. My kind of place! And snorkeling is better but not surfing.

And I have my public bus schedule printed out already. I will be traveling to three of my next four locations by public bus, really cheap as a senior adult. And even my small plane trip to Drake Bay is cheaper than a rent car. Even though I now have a CR Driver License, I will rarely rent a car. And I’m so glad I did not buy a car! You can literally go anywhere in the country on a bus! And for my local friends or others who may want to see Costa Rica by bus, you need to know about this website for bus schedules in English:   http://thebusschedule.com/EN/cr/   or “Travel Planner” as they call it. Cool! Easy! You pay before boarding bus. Of course it helps to know a little Spanish, since most drivers speak little or no English, but they are exceptionally helpful and will do everything possible to get you to your destination. Lots of brave foreign travelers tour the country by bus, especially young singles and us old singles!  🙂

My birding trips scheduled for balance of 2017 now:

MARCH: Tenorio Volcano National Park with Celeste Falls and visit to Caño Negro, Rio Frio.
MAY: Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park Rainforest + island visit for snorkeling
JULY: Return visit to Rancho Naturalista near Turrialba Volcano, east of Cartago.
SEPTEMBER: Puerto Viejo on the South Caribbean Coast and rainforests.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER: Not planned yet. I’m debating with myself about either returning to Tortuguero (North Caribbean) or exploring some new places on the Nicoya Peninsula or another National Park southwest of Cartago, called Tapanti. So much to see and do!

A lot of trips? Yeah! Isn’t that what retirement is suppose to be? A continuous vacation!   🙂

KIND OF FUNNY: Most of you know that I have geckos living in all of my rooms now as my free pest control service – eating virtually all of my insects! I rarely play a CD but tonight I played the one I have of a Costa Rica Rainforest sounds with birds, insects, waterfalls, etc. It really excited the geckos!  🙂

See all my Costa Rica Photo Galleries at:
Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA

Posted on

3 Great Birding Trips Planned + Little Theater

I continue to love my garden!

No new birds or other nature photos to share in last couple of days, just slowing down and relaxing a little since I was getting low on energy and not feeling my best. But tomorrow I go with a group of expats to San Jose for the Little Theater again for a play titled “Little Wars” by Steven Carl McCasland, that takes place in 1940 based on a real dinner party with 6 well-know women at the time: Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein, Agatha Christie, Alice B. Toklas, and Muriel Gardiner. (I get to see what women talk about when they have too much to drink!) Then we go out to eat at a nice restaurant.

I’ve also been busy planning future birding trips:

In March: Rio Celeste Waterfall & Cañon Negro on Rio Frio, staying at Celeste Mountain Lodge. where there are many birding trails on their property (4 nights). Getting there and back on public bus.

In May: Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park. Staying at the Aguila de Osa Rainforest Lodge (5 nights). Getting there and back on small public plane.

In July: A return visit to a pure birding lodge, Rancho Naturalista near Turrialba, Costa Rica, in the shadow of the active Turrialba Volcano (4 nights). Getting there and back on public bus.

When you live in Costa Rica,

EVERY DAY’S A HOLIDAY!

EVERY WEEK’S A VACATION!

And Retirement is called “la jubilación”

PURA VIDA!

🙂
Posted on

Panama Flycatcher & “Blue Boat”

Panama Flycatcher
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

For the birder readers, this is my first sighting of one of these here and in Costa Rica they are found only along the Pacific Coast. They are also seen in most of Panama. They look most like the Nutting’s Flycatcher which has more of a rufous tail and in Costa Rica is found only in the Northwest corner or Guanacaste Province and also in most of Nicaragua. 

Blue Boat
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Anytime I’m near water I look for what might be considered a “picturesque boat.” This one only barely qualifies, but really stood out against the brown water and bank with green trees. 

Anytime I have a guest who wants an easy half day adventure or birding experience, I take them to Tarcoles River, just a little more than an hour drive west of Atenas – if one of us has a rent car. My next post(s) will show more birds seen on this particular trip which I really enjoyed even if most of the birds are not new sightings. I can never get too many photos of a particular bird, only hopefully a better photo!  🙂
My BIRDS Photo Gallery, including the biggest sub-gallery of just Costa Rica Birds!

Posted on

Last Bird Photo Today – A First-Timer for Me!

Orange-collared Manakin
Carara National Park, Costa Rica

I spent Sunday afternoon and night at Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica and because there was not a group boat ride available to bird on the river, I birded around my cabin and down the road yesterday. This morning I again birded around the lodge property with several birds then had an appointment with a birding guide named Antonio who was good and help me get lots of bird photos in my two hours there. Because this is a “first-time” bird for me, it is sort of my favorite, but I haven’t had time to go through the others yet and still haven’t posted the photos from Campesinos, so busy the rest of this week with this and lots of other projects. Stay tuned!  🙂

Posted on

Birding around Waterfalls and Beautiful Views

Waterfall & Swinging Bridge behind my cabin at
Campesinos Lodge on Pacific Coast near Quepos.
Yep! I walked over and back twice, a long bridge!
Several young men were repelling down the waterfall. Not me! I do birds!
I was at Campesinos with the birding club, now adding my solo adventure.
Halfway home I stopped for a personal night near Carara National Park,
staying at Cerro Lodge overlooking a Pacific Coast bay above.
Tomorrow morning I do 2 hours of birding in Carara before going home.
This afternoon I am enjoying a rest and birding the grounds of this lodge.

In the next couple of days I will post bird photos made in both places. This Cerro Lodge has pretty good internet connection while Campesinos had none nor cell phone service! Even with a connection there is seldom time to make these posts while on a trip. I may rest from travel a bit though it may not be for very long!  🙂  I love doing this!

And just as I sign off a flock of Scarlet Macaws is flying overhead.  🙂

Pura Vida!

Posted on

Slowing Down in Atenas + March Birding Trips

I’m beginning to take palms for granite!
These are by the church at central park.
Like steeples they point to God!
Uplifting!

I’m slowing down after a busy schedule during Reagan’s visit here though still having to learn how to truly rest!  🙂  I’m back to just one Spanish Class again since Zaray got a high school teaching position and can no longer teach our Tuesday night class at the church. And my conversational tutor Jason has moved to Liberia to live with his sister for awhile. So I’m on my own with Spanish and have a little more time to catch up on some work here at home.

But two great trips planned for March!  🙂

——————————–

Click to see the YouTube Video  from Cornell Lab of Ornithology showing the joys of birding.

Birding is an incredible hobby! Here Cornell says “Thank You” to all who helped with the 2015 Christmas Bird Count around the world. Watch the birds where you live! They will give you an incredible sense of joy and peace. And it is even more fun for me to capture many of them in photographs! My growing gallery of Costa Rica Birds now has photos of 161 species and growing monthly plus I’m getting some better images to replace or supplement older ones. Plus I’m about to add a pretty good collection from Nicaragua and already have one from Panama. Fun!

Lynn Thomson

“I think the most important quality in a birdwatcher is a willingness to stand quietly and see what comes. Our everyday lives obscure a truth about existence – that at the heart of everything there lies a stillness and a light.”
― Lynn Thomson, Birding with Yeats: A Memoir