Pura Vida IV: Tenorio continued #339-341

Ok! It's been a while, so here's a little refresher. We left off in Tenorio, Costa Rica, near Bijagua. This area is best known for Tenorio National Park, where the shockingly blue Rio Celeste meanders along to a stunning waterfall.

We stayed at the nearby at the Casitas Tenorio, a small bed and breakfast where visitors stay in cabins and where the owners are very much in tune with the land and the wildlife. They have a feeding area set up for birds where breakfast is served. They just toss some bananas grown on the property into the nook of a tree nearby and the birds flock to it.

The bird landscape evolved over the course of the morning. Some that we'd seen earlier in the morning never came back and others only showed up later. 

We were supposed to head up to Arenal that day, which is a perfectly conical volcano and one of Costa Rica's top attractions, but it was just so far away and we were enjoying ourselves so much that we decided to cut it completely from the itinerary. We ended up hanging out at Casitas Tenorio until 11 am, watching the birds from the breakfast area and wandering the trail on the property. 

#339: Black-cheeked woodpecker; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015

#340: Buff-Throated Saltator; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015

#341: Collared Aracari; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015

I fell in love with the aricaris (and pretty much most of the birds I saw at Casitas Tenorio). While they look much like toucans, they are much smaller. The toucans are huge!

It wasn't until things quieted down and people had finished up breakfast and left that the timid toucans came in. Still, they did so very slowly and carefully, but patience always prevails in birding!

Donald (right) is one of the owners and he took us on a stroll around the property. He managed to find us two sloths (I think they were two-toed but I'm not sure). They are so hard to spot - like most wildlife in Costa Rica, it's incredibly hard to spot anything without a trained eye. These are fairly large animals and still so difficult to see. They blend in so well (in fact, their fur goes a little green from algae growing on them, because they are so slow and always wet).

Common Tody-Flycatcher; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
(I didn't count this one because I can't remember if Matt saw it or if I did too. But it's a great shot!)

 Black-mandibled Toucan

We got much better views of the toucans than we did the previous day. I suppose I was influenced by the outgoing personality of Toucan Sam, so I was surprised when I realized how shy, quiet and careful toucans are in reality.

Keel-billed Toucan

Finally, we started to make our way over to Monteverde after check out, where the cloud rainforest is major destination for birders from around the world. Stay tuned for that!

Pura Vida II: On the Road (to Tenorio) #328-332

It's still Christmas Day and we've already done a short hike at Rincon de la Vieja. We then headed to toward our next destination, Tenorio Volcano National Park, and it really struck me how relatively few tourists there were around these parts. On the road, it sometimes felt like we were the only ones around, with the exception of the off pick-up truck loaded with fruit.

I spotted some big white birds through some trees in a large opening beside the road and I made Matt stop--he kept insisting they were egrets (they were a long way off, and there were some egrets close by) and I kept insisting they weren't. The images aren't amazing since they were so far out, but they were huge (about 1 metre tall), and looks like the one in the  middle found something good to eat! It's a good thing we stopped--we never saw these again! 

#328: Wood Stork; On the 6 just north of Interamericano 1, Costa Rica; December 2015

Wood stork in flight. Somehow I figured out with the new camera how to focus on birds on flight! Or rather, I figured out the setting to do it, which I "knew" of but I guess I didn't use, or it hadn't worked for me before. Maybe it's the extra focus points--don't know, but it's awesome!

On the way to Tenorio - beautiful rolling countryside

#329: Crested Caracara; On the 6 north of Interamericano 1, Costa Rica; December 2015.
Matt spotted this beauty (in fact, there were a few of them, and we'd see many of them later on in the trip). Such a striking bird, it's almost difficult to express how awesome I think they are!

I included this one because you can see its EYELASHES! Seriously, click on it and see for yourself.

 

We checked in quickly at our B&B in Bijagua and mentioned we were headed to the Park. Donald (one of the owners) said, "well you can't get in past 4, and it's 3:15 now, and the road is....only 10km but [pause] quite bumpy..." 10 km, no problem right? It turns out it really can take you 45-60 minutes to drive 10km in Costa Rica, and, wow. The roads. I was warned; I scoffed. I get it. I get it now.

But we did make it. The park is truly lovely and has some super interesting stuff. This is where we spotted our first white-faced monkeys! Matt spotted a guan-type of bird in the forest but it took off before I could get the camera out. I had tucked it away because it was SO WET. Yeah, turns out it actually rains a lot in the rain forest. I need to come up with a better cover for my camera for situations like these!

The forest was so peaceful!

Colorful stilt roots on a euterpe palm

Our first monkeys (white-faced)! And they were so sweet looking! Not scared of us, but not particularly interested either.

It was so wet, in fact, that we rented rubber boots to walk the trail. So aside from the monkeys and the guan, we didn't see much until in terms of wildlife and birds (since they sort of lay low in the rain). But as we were about to leave I noticed some action in the tree birds right at the trail head,  including some wonderfully colourful birds.

#330: Yellow-throated Euphonia; Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa Rica; December 2015.
At first I almost cropped into the mail until I noticed the female hiding out below him. Kind of neat to see them side by side!

Black vulture on the roadside

On the drive home, Matt spotted a few toucans, which just seemed so unreal. There was so much fog, turning the branches into this eerie stark backdrop. They sat for the longest time. I guess I'm influenced by Fruit Loops commercials, but Toucans are different than I was expecting--they are very shy and so striking and careful in their movement - they stay still for very long periods, or move just the slightest (turn their heads).

#331: Keel-billed Toucan; near Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa Rica; December 2015.

#332: Black-mandibled Toucan; near Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa Rica; December 2015.

Not really sure which bird Toucan Sam is modeled after!

I'm pretty excited for the next post about our morning in Tenorio, so check back soon :)