We saw some decent birds at Monteverde, but after a day of being surrounded by blowing wind, driving rain and constant fog my favorite part of it was the part where we got in the car and drove away to the next part of our trip. With Monteverde being a bit of a disappointment, I had high hopes for the next part of the trip- a couple days of birding around Arenal Volcano. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed–birding in Arenal exceeded even our highest hopes.
Arenal Volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in Costa Rica and certainly one of the best looking- a symmetrical cone rising out of the plains east of the Lake Arenal reservoir. It's no Mount Mayon but it certainly makes a stunning backdrop to all of the birding sites in its surroundings. As the quetzal flies Arenal is quite close to Monteverde- less than 30 kilometers away. Separating them however is an extremely rugged mountain range of steep slopes and thick forest, meaning that getting from one to the other requires 3 hours of driving along the perimeter of Lake Arenal.
We left Monteverde in the mid-afternoon, meaning that we wouldn't be getting into our hotel in the town of La Fortuna until after dark. Obviously it wouldn't do for us not to go birding at all the rest of that day, so Tom found a little park along the way for us to stop in so we could stretch our legs and hopefully find some birds. Along the way we had some nice views looking over Lake Arenal, and I even saw a pair of Keel-billed Toucans flying by. The park was pretty unassuming–located on the edge of the lake and mostly consisting of a grassy hillside with a few trees and a small marsh. This is Costa Rica though, so there were still birds everywhere- a Streak-headed Woodcreeper creeping its way up a tree, a White-throated Crake calling from the marsh, and a showy Golden-hooded Tanager in a guava tree, plus the usual common birds like Clay-colored Thrush, Great Kiskadee, and Tropical Kingbird. A little mixed flock of warblers held Tennessee Warblers, American Yellow Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, and a beautiful Golden-winged Warbler. In some vegetation by the side of the lake we saw a couple of Thick-billed Seed Finches, and I even found a Mourning Warbler skulking about. There was a nice "pollinator garden" on the way out with lots of flowering porterweed, but it only had the usual Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds.
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| Streak-headed Woodcreeper |
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| Golden-hooded Tanager |
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| Tennessee Warbler |
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| Thick-billed Seed Finch |
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| Rufous-tailed Hummingbird |
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| The view on the way there |
We got to our hotel in La Fortuna around 7, and we were mostly just feeling like eating a quick dinner and going to bed. As soon as the receptionist saw us filing in with binoculars and camera gear, he immediately asked "you guys wanna see some cool frogs?" Obviously we did, so he brought us to a little clump of vegetation near a pond where he had staked out what were indeed some cool frogs- a Strawberry Poison Dart Frog, a Red-eyed Tree Frog, and a Harlequin Treefrog. That's Costa Rica for you- practically everyone is into wildlife at least casually, and happy to share it with people visiting the country.
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| Strawberry Poison Dart Frog- Costa Ricans call it the "blue jeans frog", for obvious reasons |
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| Red-eyed Tree Frog |
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| Harlequin Treefrog |
We checked in, had some halfway-decent casados at the hotel restaurant, and immediately hit the sack after a very long day. Our destination for the next day was the Peninsula Road, a dirt tracking going through some nice forest on a little peninsula in the reservoir. The actual forest area isn't huge, but nonetheless it's full of birds and one of the better-known birding spots in the area.
We took the long way to the back end of the road, which took us through a nice bit of woodlands and pastures. That proved to be a good idea, as bird activity was pretty high in the open areas just after sunrise. There were some White-throated Magpie-Jays flying around, a single Green Ibis flew across the road, and we had distant looks at perched Keel-billed Toucans, a Roadside Hawk, and a Laughing Falcon. We stopped the car near the start of the road, where the cow pastures abruptly turned into jungle. Josh spotted a pair of White-ruffed Mannakins, including a very sharp-looking male, and there were good numbers of other birds around like Scarlet-rumped Tanagers and Variable Seedeaters.
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| Annoyingly enough my only picture of Roadside Hawk |
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| White-ruffed Manakin |
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| Variable Seedeater |
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| Arenal from the start of Peninsula Road |
Further down we could hear the songs of a mixed flock from within the forest, including Bare-crowned Antbird and Fasciated Antshrike, but couldn't see any of them. An enormous shape moving through the undergrowth proved to be a beautiful female Great Curassow, which came out of the jungle and strutted along the road for a while giving us great views. Pale-vented Pigeons and Red-lored Amazons were flying around all over, and a gorgeous Keel-billed Toucan perched out in the open for a bit- certainly one of the most ridiculous and beautiful birds anywhere in the world.
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| Great Curassow |
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| Pale-vented Pigeon |
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| Keel-billed Toucan |
We got back into the car and went into the forest a bit more, stopping when we heard Thicket Antpittas calling by the side of the road. Contrary to our fun time with Streak-chested Antpitta in Tárcoles these ones proved to be absolute bastards, and even though we heard dozens of them calling all along the road we only ever got fleeting glimpses and no pictures. There were also lots of Bay Wrens singing, though they were almost as difficult to see.
Finally we parked the car near a seemingly defunct ranger station and started walking the rest of the way down the road. Birds were everywhere, although mostly high up and difficult to see. Bay Wrens were incredibly common and I got quick looks at a couple of them, and we heard Northern Nightingale-Wren, Song Wren, White-breasted Wood Wren, and Stripe-breasted Wren but they refused to show themselves. I found a beautiful Broad-billed Motmot perched next to the road, and further on there was a Laughing Falcon on a branch directly over our heads, giving us great looks.
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| Broad-billed Motmot |
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| Bay Wren |
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| Laughing Falcon |
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| Birding the Peninsula Road |
We had a nice burst of an activity as we got towards the other end of the road: a Cinnamon Becard perched high in a tree, a Collared Aracari that flew over the road and landed on a backlit branch, a distant Scarlet-collared Tanager in the top of a tree, and a fancy-looking Long-tailed Tyrant that came in briefly. A Buff-rumped Warbler made a brief appearance walking along the road wiggling its butt, and there was a group of Southern Rough-winged Swallows perching on phone wires. Walking further we got some other very good new birds- a vocal Black-headed Saltator, a group of very shy Yellow-billed Caciques, a backlit Yellow-winged Flatbill, and perhaps the most surprising bird of the morning- a Uniform Crake that darted across the road right in front of us and started calling!
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| Southern Rough-winged Swallow: only slightly less boring than Northern Rough-winged Swallow |
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| Crimson-collared Tanager |
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| Long-tailed Tyrant |
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| Buff-rumped Warbler: not exactly the flashiest warbler but lots of fun to watch |
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| Black-headed Saltator |
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| Yellow-billed Caciques are quite a bit shyer than their cousins the Montezuma Oropendola |
At the end of the road Josh spotted a Fawn-throated Foliage-Gleaner that stuck around just long enough for a few record shots, and after a great deal of searching Hilary managed to find us a pair of Rufous-tailed Jacamars that had been calling loudly- my first jacamar! Walking back we found a pair of usually-scarce Smoky-brown Woodpeckers foraging near the road along with a beautiful Black-cheeked Woodpecker, and further down there was a little group of Black-striped Sparrows. Hilary found yet another amazing bird in the form of a King Vulture soaring high overhead (the only one of the trip), and we had a brief but good look at an enormous Great Antshrike. A personal highlight was watching a Purple-crowned Fairy flitting around a coral tree piercing the bottom of the flowers to steal nectar- unlike most hummingbirds Purple-crowned Fairies are nectar robbers, drilling into flowers to get nectar without doing any pollination.
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| Fawn-throated Foliage-Gleaner |
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| Rufous-tailed Jacamars |
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker |
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| Smoky-brown Woodpecker |
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| Black-striped Sparrows |
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| King Vulture |
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| Purple-crowned Fairy |
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| It took a great deal of self-restraint to not try and pet this White-nosed Coati |
We were all ready to go when we got back to the car, but good birds kept popping up just as we tried to leave- not that we minded a great deal. A
Yellow Tyrannulet, a
Russet Antshtrike, and an
Olivaceous Piculet were foraging in the bushes next to the road, and a gorgeous pair of
Rufous-winged Woodpeckers gave us amazing fews as they flew into a tree right in front of us. The final surprise was a beautiful male
Fasciated Antshrike that appeared in some thick foliage, another ant-bird that can be quite difficult at times. By the time we finally called it and got back in the car we'd managed to see a whopping
102 species in a single morning of birding- by far my biggest checklist ever (although it was soon to be surpassed).
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| Yellow Tyrannulet |
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| Russet Antshrike |
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| Rufous-winged Woodpecker |
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| Fasciated Antshrike |
We headed back down into the town of La Fortuna for a quick lunch, then stopped by the Sendero Bogarín, a little nature trail located directly in the middle of town. The trail goes through a tiny patch of woods that's completely surrounded by an urban area, but it's still host to an absurd array of birds- the neotropics special I suppose.
The first thing we saw when we got in was the feeder setup. Sans birds it wouldn't have looked like much- a few artificial perches where the staff of the park put out bananas, watermelons and other fruit for wildlife to munch on. However, it was positively dripping with birds- probably hundreds of birds of a dozen different species, all showing themselves ridiculously as they flew in front of our faces munching on fruit. The selection included Grey-headed Chachalacas, Orange-chinned Parakeets, Montezuma Oropendolas, Yellow-throated Euphonias, Blue-grey Tanagers, Red-legged Honeycreepers, Green Honeycreepers, Palm Tanagers, Olive-backed Euphonias, and a Yellow-throated Toucan. A Russet-naped Wood Rail made a brief appearance and a Collared Aracari was there when we arrived but flew off before I could get a picture. As we were getting ready to walk the trail a Hook-billed Kite buzzed overhead, flushing most of the small birds.
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| Orange-chinned Parakeet |
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| Montezuma Oropendola |
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| Yellow-throated Euphonia |
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| Blue-grey Tanager |
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| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
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| Green Honeycreeper |
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| Palm Tanager |
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| Olive-backed Euphonia |
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| Grey-headed Chachalaca |
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| Yellow-throated Toucan |
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| Ridiculous |
We spent a while walking the actual trail of Sendero Bogarín, which was a fun way to spend the afternoon. While the Sendero has pretty good birding, the main attraction for tourists is the sloths, as it has several pairs crowded into its tiny bit of forest (not like they can go anywhere else I guess). The trails were crowded with big tour groups waiting for the guide to point a sloth out to them, and while we weren't in a tour group we were more than happy to look at the Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths that the punters were gawking at. The sloths were great fun to watch- hanging out (literally) up in the trees and getting some good scratching in, which made it a bit more interesting than the usual sloth viewing experience.
Sloths aside, the birding was pretty good- we saw another Smoky-brown Woodpecker hopping around in a stand of bamboo, and there was a pair of gorgeous Rufous-tailed Jacamars perched right next to the trail, giving much better looks than earlier in the morning. A bit further on there was an immature Masked Tityra and a Grey-capped Flycatcher next to the path. We heard one of the guides of another tour group mention that he was taking people to see "the snake", so we surreptitiously followed a bit behind because obviously we wanted to see the snake too. As it turned out it was a tiny Rainforest Hognose Viper curled up directly on the trail! Apparently it had been there quite a while since they had put caution tape around the spot where it was hanging out. Just above where the snake was, we also saw a roosting Black-and-white Owl- one of the few owls of our Costa Rica trip.
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| Smoky-brown Woodpecker |
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| Rufous-tailed Jacamar |
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| Masked Tityra |
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| Masked Tityra |
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| Black-and-white Owl |
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| Rainforest Hognose Viper- an incredibly tiny snake, not that I'd like to be bitten by one |
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| Green Basilisk |
As we walked out we ran into a couple of Barred Antshrikes foraging next to the path. As we were looking at them we heard a rustling behind us and turned around to see a huge Great Antshrike disappear in the foliage! It continued to forage right in front of us, mostly deep in the foliage but occasionally popping out in the open to give us up-close views- certainly the snazziest of the antshrikes we saw on our trip. Shortly after Tom spotted a Keel-billed Motmot near the trail, a bird we'd been looking for for a while. The Rufous-tailed Jacamars were still around and showing nicely as we walked back the way we'd come.
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| Male Barred Antshrike |
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| Female Barred Antshrike |
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| Great Antshrike |
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| Keel-billed Motmot |
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| Rufous-tailed Jacamar |
We made another stop at the feeders on the way back, which were still absolutely hopping with activity- this time with the addition of Golden-hooded Tanagers, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Blue Dacnis, Hoffmann's Woodpecker, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, and Scarlet-rumped Tanagers. Similar to visiting blinds in Asia it felt a little bit like cheating getting ridiculously good views of these spectacular- and usually shy- birds, but I guess I shouldn't complain too much.
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| Golden-hooded Tanager |
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| Immature Scarlet-thighed Dacnis |
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker |
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| Male Red-legged Honeycreeper |
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| Immature Red-legged Honeycreeper |
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| Clay-colored Thrush |
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| Hoffmann's Woodpecker |
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| Scarlet-rumped Tanager |
It was late afternoon by then, so we headed up to our last stop of the day, the Arenal Observatory Lodge. As it sounds like it's a very fancy lodge with a good view of the volcano, but it has a feeder set-up than non-guests can visit as well as some nice forest trails. The road going uphill to the lodge went through a nice stretch of hill forest, and we stopped at a little river near the lodge entrance to see if we could see a Sunbittern or a Green-fronted Lancebill. There were no Sunbitterns, but there was a female Green-fronted Lancebill perched on a little twig above the stream! We got excellent views of this uncommon hummingbird, which is only found along mid-elevation streams and waterfalls.
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| Green-fronted Lancebill |
Once inside the lodge we headed to the feeders, which were also quite nice and with a different selection of birds than we'd been seeing down below. The most conspicuous was the group of Great Curassows strutting around on the ground and flapping up to the tree branches, just generally being silly and huge. There were also a few Grey-headed Chachalacas, and the usual huge numbers of Montezuma Oropendolas. The feeders held a number of smaller birds like Palm Tanagers, Silver-throated Tanagers, Bay-headed Tanagers, Emerald Tanagers, Scarlet-rumped Tanagers, Buff-throated Saltators, and Bananaquits. The best bird was a female Black-crested Coquette that flew in briefly before being chased off by a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird.
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| Grey-capped Flycatcher |
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| Scaly-breasted Hummingbird |
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| Black-faced Solitaire |
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| Baltimore Oriole |
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| Central American Agouti |
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| The view from the Observatory Lodge, with Arenal mostly obscured |
We enjoyed a nice sunset from the balcony of the lodge, then decided to do a little night walk to see what we could find. The forest was pretty quiet overall but with our thermals Josh and I were able to find a couple of Central American Tapeti and a Sumichrast's Vesper Rat, good mammal lifers for all of us, as well as some roosting birds like Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Wood Thrush, and a surprise Pauraque. Around a little pond another guide pointed out a beautiful Ornate Cat-eyed Snake, and we also found a couple of Brilliant Forest Frogs and another Red-eyed Tree Frog. Tom also spotted a beautiful Masked Tree Frog in the greenery next to the lodge restaurant.
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| Central American Tapeti |
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| Sumichrast's Vesper Rat |
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| Roosting Wood Thrush |
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| Ornate Cat-eyed Snake |
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| Red-eyed Tree Frog |
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| Brilliant Forest Frog |
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| Masked Tree Frog |
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| Xylophanes cyrene |
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| Green-backed Ruby-Eye |
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| Sunset from the AOL |
We had one morning left in Arenal before moving on to the next stop in the trip, and the plan was to spend it at Sky Adventures, a nature park located high in the hills near Arenal Volcano. Sky Adventures is a well-known birding spot as it offers access to some good mid-elevation forest with birds that are very difficult to find elsewhere. Annoyingly enough, it also only opens at 8AM, which meant we had a couple hours of daylight to kill before we could start birding there.
We decided to spend the time exploring the roads in the area in hopes of a Sunbittern or other interesting river birds. As the sun rose we had a nice look at a pair of Green Ibises perched up in a dead tree, the only time I managed to photograph them that trip. The river near the Arenal Observatory Lodge didn't hold any Sunbitterns, but we did see a Louisiana Waterthrush and Josh managed to spot us a Fasciated Tiger Heron hanging out next to the river. Short-billed Pigeons were calling all over and I finally managed to get a picture of one, and a couple of uncommon Chestnut-collared Swifts flew over. At another stop we had a Black-faced Solitaire sitting on the rocks next to a rushing river, and a White-necked Jacobin perched in the top of a tree.
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| Green Ibis |
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| Fasciated Tiger Heron |
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| Short-billed Pigeon |
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| White-necked Jacobin |
We got to Sky Adventures a little after 7, and spent some time birding from the balcony while we waited for it to open. Tom and I were the last to get up there, and found to our chagrin that there had been a Bat Falcon perched there that took off just before we left! I was annoyed but Tom was crushed, as this was a bird he'd already dipped on many times in his previous visits. The joys of birding! The missed falcon aside, we did have good looks at the Red-lored Amazons flying all around the balcony, and had some very distant soaring Swallow-tailed Kites and a Plumbeous Kite.
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| Red-lored Amazon |
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| Melodious Blackbird |
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| Lake Arenal and the flanks of the volcano from Sky Adventures |
Once the park was open we immediately headed into the forest. Sky Adventures hosts an impressive network of trails winding through the nearby ridges and valleys, including a set of hanging bridges that have great views and (more importantly) make it much easier to find canopy-dwelling birds that would otherwise be almost impossible to see. The trails were pretty quiet, but at the first hanging walkway we saw a beautiful Slate-colored Grosbeak, a scarce bird that I was really annoyed to miss photographing. Other birds I saw but wasn't able to get good pictures of included a Scaled Pygmy Tyrant and a Crowned Woodnymph. On the other side of the walkway we saw a perched Double-toothed Kite and a little troupe of White-faced Capuchins. The next of the hanging walkways had some better birds, including a stunning Black-and-yellow Tanager and a tiny, glittering Green Thorntail.
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| White-faced Capuchin |
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| Black-and-yellow Tanager |
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| Green Thorntail |
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| Iphicleola Sister |
This whole time we had been keeping our eyes and ears out for Yellow-eared Toucanet, the rarest toucan in Costa Rica. It was one of the very few lifers that Josh had a chance of getting on this trip, and it had been semi-regularly reported from Sky Adventures. Despite having intel about spots where it had recently been seen, there was no sign of it anywhere we looked. We did run into a flock of Carmiol's Tanagers and an extremely skulking Black-throated Wren, and got a quick look at an extremely vocal Cinnamon Woodpecker.
After a steep uphill portion we arrived at a platform overlooking the valley. As we started scanning the trees below, we noticed some movement in the canopy below and Tom shouted "Toucanet!" It was a Yellow-eared Toucanet, but annoyingly enough it immediately disappeared into the foliage, and only Tom got a diagnostic look at it, with the rest of us just seeing a green blur. We stuck around on the platform for almost half an hour (much to the confusion of the European tourists that kept passing by), but the toucanet made no signs of reappearing- even though we found a fruiting tree with several Yellow-throated Toucans and a lower-than-expected Northern Emerald Toucanet in it. We eventually decided to cut our losses and keep moving, but I decided to scan the fruiting tree once more just in case. To my shock the Yellow-eared Toucanet was sitting out in the open! We all got great (albeit distant) views, and there was much rejoicing–this had been one of the most-wanted birds of the trip. The icing on the cake was a Cinnamon Woodpecker that flew in and gave us point-blank looks as it scaled a tree next to the platform.
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| Yellow-eared Toucanet! |
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| Carmiol's Tanager |
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| Cinnamon Woodpecker |
Flush with success, we continued along the trail. It led from the ridge down into a steep valley, passing by a beautiful set of waterfalls and a rushing river. There weren't too many birds around, though we did see a calling Acadian Flycatcher and some cool butterflies and plants. After a long quiet period, we heard the twittering of a mixed flock, and looked up to see a huge mixed group of tanagers passing through the midstory above our heads: Bay-headed Tanagers, Emerald Tanagers, Silver-throated Tanagers, Black-and-yellow Tanagers, and more.
Suddenly, a chunky bird flew into a tree right in front of us. I got on it and quickly realized it was something good- so good that my brain started to short-circuit as I tried to remember all the possible target birds. That was when Tom shouted out "OH MY GOD IS THAT A SHARPBILL?" followed by several mostly-unprintable sentences of celebration. Sure enough it was a Sharpbill- a strange, flycatcher-like bird with no close relatives that's one of the more difficult birds to see anywhere in the neotropics. It was a major birding highlight, and quite possibly an even more difficult find than the toucanet.
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| Sharpbill!!! |
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| Rusted Clearwing-Satyr |
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| Deep-Blue Eyed Metalmark |
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| Ripipteryx limbata, a strange cricket |
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| Some kind of cool flowering vine (Columnea sp.) |
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| Drymonia turrialvae, a strange ground plant |
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| One of the waterfalls along the trail |
The rest of the hike up to the trailhead was fairly uneventful, though we see a cute
Northern Tufted Flycatcher and a
Broad-winged Hawk perched in the midstory. Near the end of the trail we had a couple of beautiful
Collared Aracaris, the 5th toucan species of the morning (I was annoyed to miss Keel-billed Toucan, as that would have given us all 6 Costa Rican toucans in one checklist). We finished the morning with
86 species, including some of the most sought-after birds in Central America. A
Long-tailed Tyrant perched next to the road on our way down was a great way to finish out our time at Arenal.
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| Northern Tufted Flycatcher |
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| Collared Aracari |
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| Long-tailed Tyrant |
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| Arenal Volcano on the way out of town |
I'd had high hopes for Arenal before we got there, but it exceeded even my wildest expectations: an absurd selection of gorgeous and rare birds, a huge array of well-maintained and accessible birding locations and beautiful scenery all combined to make it quite possibly my favorite leg of our Costa Rica trip- though of course there was lots of competition. When I inevitably return to Costa Rica I mostly plan to visit spots I missed the first time, but honestly Arenal deserves a second and third try.
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