The Rich Coast

 

After a morning of birding around San José to get one of Costa Rica's only endemics, my trip with Josh, Hilary and Tom got started in earnest. From San José we made the 2-hour drive down to the coast, where we would be spending the next couple of days birding in the area around the town of Tárcoles. 

The route covered in this blog post

One of the many things Costa Rica has going for it as a birding destination is the sheer diversity of habitats one can get to in a short amount of time. San José is in a dry valley at middle elevation, but if you drive two hours east you can park your car at the rim of the country's highest volcano, while a 2-hour drive west will bring you straight down to the coast at Tárcoles. Even that understates the diversity- the Tárcoles river marks the effective boundary between the dry forests of northwestern Costa Rica and the moist forests of the southeast, meaning that dry scrub, monsoon forest, moist forest, rainforest, and mangroves are all within 30 minutes or so of each other. There's a reason it's a can't-miss spot on any birding trip. 

The drive down from San José took us through a dramatic landscape of dry ridges and steep, forested valleys before opening up into the dry agricultural land of the coast. Our first birding stop was a dirt road leading through woodland and pastureland outside the town of Orotina. The main target there was Pearl Kite, an uncommon open country raptor that Tom still needed as a lifer. We stopped the car when I spotted a raptor in a distant tree, but it turned out to be an American Kestrel. There was a beautiful male Scrub Euphonia singing in the trees next to the road, along with a few Orange-fronted Parakeets. 

Scrub Euphonia

Orange-chinned Parakeet

The local countryside

Another kilometer or so down the road we stopped again to check out some power lines. Sure enough there was a pair of Pearl Kites perched on the wires, although they were so ridiculously far away they were barely IDable even looking through Josh's scope. I noticed a Grasshopper Sparrow in the field next to the road, which was actually a very good bird for Costa Rica, part of a very small and poorly-known resident population. Further down Hillary spotted a small troupe of Mantled Howler Monkeys hanging out in a bit of woods by the road, and we made an extended stop when Tom spotted a Turquoise-browed Motmot perched in a nearby tree- an absolutely gorgeous bird that was one of my favorites of the Costa Rica. There was also a Brown-crested Flycatcher around though that was admittedly a little less memorable.

You kinda have to trust me that this is a Pearl Kite

Grasshopper Sparrow

Now I'm no primatologist, but I have a hunch that this Mantled Howler Monkey is a male

Turquoise-browed Motmot

Brown-crested Flycatcher

We soon got back on the main road, and drove until we reached the bridge over the Río Tárcoles. The bridge has a nice view of the surrounding foothills and the jungle of Carará National Park, but the real reason hundreds of tourists stop there every day is for the pack of American Crocodiles that hangs out in the river below, presumably hoping for some tourist to lose their balance and fall in. The crocodiles were cool, but the real highlight for me was a pair of Scarlet Macaws hanging out in a tree next to the road chowing down on fruit. I'd known that the macaws were pretty common in this area, but that still didn't prepare me for just how common they were–almost constantly seen flying overhead or heard screaming in the distance–or just how much fun it would be to watch them. If seeing enormous technicolor parrots flying all over isn't enough to get someone into wildlife, then I suspect nothing is. 

American Crocodile

Scarlet Macaw

Black Vulture

Hilary and I looking at Scarlet Macaws

The view of the Río Tárcoles (complete with crocodiles!)

It was late afternoon by then so we headed over to the nearby Cerro Lodge, where we would be spending the next couple of nights. The Cerro Lodge is located in a nice bit of deciduous woodland on the west side of the Río Tárcoles, and the lodge and its entrance are pretty good birding spots in and of themselves. We checked into our rooms, and I was unpacking my things when Tom knocked on the door to notify me that he and Hilary had just seen trogons! Sure enough, there was a Slaty-tailed Trogon and an adorable Gartered Trogon in the trees right outside our rooms. A good choice of lodging indeed...

Slaty-tailed Trogon- the most common trogon in Costa Rica and uh, not the best-looking

Gartered Trogon

Great Kiskadee is one of the most common birds in Costa Rica and I think this was the only time I bothered to photograph it

After settling into our rooms we spent a bit of time walking around the grounds of the lodge. A little trail below our rooms had a few random good birds, including a very vocal Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, a critically endangered Yellow-naped Amazon, a singing Yellow-olive Flatbill, dozens of Orange-fronted Parakeets, a Northern Tropical Pewee, a couple of Red-legged Honeycreepers, and a surprise flyover from a Plumbeous Kite. Back up at the lodge we stopped for a cold drink, and as we did so a Crane Hawk flew over!

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Yellow-naped Amazons are critically endangered but still quite common in the forests and woodlands around Tárcoles, which I guess is a good sign

Sadly the only record shot I managed of a Crane Hawk

Red Cracker

Banded Peacock

In the last bit of daylight we drove back along the access road to do some last-minute birding and in hopes of some owls. We parked near some big fig trees that were full of Orange-fronted Parakeets chasing each other around and feeling from a termite's nest, and enjoyed the Scarlet Macaws flying over at sunset. As it began to get dark we heard the ululating calls of a Collared Forest Falcon in the forest nearby but never saw it, while Lesser Nighthawks were flying overhead. Some random farmer walked by and told us that he'd just seen an owl in a tree next to the road, so we went to look for it. There were no owls to be found but a calling Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, but we did hear a demented whooping that Tom immediately identified as a Common Potoo! We followed the call and eventually found a pair of them far back in the woods- my first potoo, and a great introduction to these weird frogmouth-like birds. 

Orange-fronted Parakeet

Lesser Nighthawk

Common Potoo!

The countryside outside Cerro Lodge

The next morning our destination was Carará National Park, which contains a huge area of protected rainforest on the foothills of Costa Rica's pacific slope. The dry forest on the west side of the Río Tárcoles dramatically transitions into wet forest on the east, with the river forming the range limit for a surprisingly large number of species. Carará is one of the best and most accessible spots to find many of the Pacific rainforest birds that we weren't going to see anywhere else on the trip. 

Annoyingly enough, despite Costa Rica being otherwise incredibly well set up for birding tourism, the national parks haven't caught on to the fact that birders want to start at sunrise, and it was strictly off limits until 7 in the morning. While we'd have liked to start a bit earlier, it did mean that we had a good excuse to have a complementary breakfast of rice and beans at the Cerro Lodge and do some birding from the balcony. The balcony birding was, as it happens, exceptionally good: there were Melodious Blackbirds, Cinnamon Hummingbirds, and Blue-vented Hummingbirds coming in to the feeder, and a couple of ridiculously good-looking White-throated Magpie-Jays hanging out next to the balcony waiting for dropped food scraps. Scarlet Macaws flew around constantly, and we had a nice Streaked Flycatcher come in briefly. 

White-throated Magpie-Jay

Blue-vented Hummingbird

Scarlet Macaw- this one is a rescued pet that enjoys clambering around the railing of the balcony and eating fruit the staff leave out for her

Streaked Flycatcher

Clay-colored Thrush

Variegated Squirrel

Ismenius Tiger

Finally 7AM rolled around and we headed to Carará to start the proper birding. We pulled into the parking lot just after 7, got our tickets, and started along the trail. It was still early morning and there was lots of birdsong, though down on the floor it was quite dark and most of the birds were heard only, including some I'd have liked to get a look at- Blue-black Grosbeak, Green Shrike-Vireo, Lesser Greenlet, Trilling Gnatwren, and many others. We got a quick look at a Black-hooded Antshrike (my first antbird!) and better looks at a snazzy Orange-billed Sparrow foraging next to the path. A bit later there was a very cute White-nosed Coati by the trail- one of the most common animals in Costa Rica as I was to find out. 

I had to crank my ISO up to 16,000 to get a clear shot of this Orange-billed Sparrow- not the sort of thing I'd do regularly but it's amazing that I can still get a usable shot thanks to modern camera sensors and AI denoising

White-nosed Coati

The path through Carará

A bit further along we heard the low, whistling call of a Streak-chested Antpitta! This was my first-ever antpitta, one of the legendary Neotropical birds, so of course I was hopeful we could properly see it. They have a reputation of being absurd skulkers, and indeed it took using my thermal scope and literally lying flat on the trail to peer through the undergrowth before we were able to get clear looks. It was still an amazing bird, and cool that I got my first antpitta without using a feeding station or playback.

Streak-chested Antpitta!

Further along the trail the bird activity quieted down quite a bit- unusually so according to Josh. It was a sunny and windy day, which tends to be less than ideal for lowland forest birding, so I suspect that might have been the reason. We had run into a birder couple as we were looking at the antpitta and as we worked our way along the trail the six of us got on some good birds- a  Tropical Royal Flycatcher building a nest over a river, a cute Sulphur-rumped Myiobius foraging above the trail, a Cocoa Woodcreeper making its way up a tree trunk, and a brilliant Green and Black Poison Dart Frog. My favorite was a single Great Tinamou scratching around on the forest floor- my first tinamou. While they look like extra-silly chickens, tinamous are actually ratites and are more closely related to ostriches and emus than they are to pheasants or quail. Evolution is weird!

Tropical Royal Flycatcher

Sulphur-rumped Myiobius

Cocoa Woodcreeper is possibly the most common woodcreeper in Costa Rica but annoyingly enough this was the only picture I ever got of one

Great Tinamou

Green-and-black Poison Dart Frog

Copper Anole

Common Basilisk- a lizard that can run on the top of the water!

Cream-spotted Tigerwing

Leptoscelis conspicuus

A river in the park- there's a Buff-rumped Warbler somewhere in there...

Further up we finally hit a little burst of activity that included some incredibly good birds- a pair of gorgeous Riverside Wrens, a foraging Chestnut-backed Antbird, an enormous Northern Barred Woodcreeper, a Chiriqui Foliage-Gleaner, and a beautiful Grey-headed Tanager. Many of those were ant-followers so we hoped for an army ant swarm, but there didn't seem to be any nearby. A bit later we found a single Northern Schiffornis, an uncommon bird that was a lifer for Tom (and Hilary and I of course). We heard the call of a Baird's Trogon, the most difficult trogon in the area, and rushed down the trail to find it but to our annoyance it turned out to be another bird guide playing a recording. 

Riverside Wren was surprisingly gorgeous, and probably my favorite wren of the whole trip (for which there is a LOT of competition)

Chestnut-backed Antbird

Grey-headed Tanagers look and act like the forest-dwelling bulbuls in Southeast Asia

Northern Schiffornis, a weird and uncommon becard-like bird

Dot-winged Rubyspot

The rest of the morning continued sort of like that- long dead periods with occasional encounters with small flocks of birds. It was honestly a bit equivalent to a slow-ish morning of birding somewhere in Southeast Asia, which was a bit comforting as I'd been nervous about being completely overwhelmed by Neotropics birding. 

We did see some good birds, although they were usually in terrible light and I came away with only mediocre photographs. The next little flock included a male Dot-winged Antwren, an Eyeringed Flatbill, and a lone male White-shouldered Tanager along with the uniquitous Chestnut-sided Warblers we were getting very used to. Another, larger flock held lots of good new birds, including Shining Honeycreeper, Bay-headed Tanager, Plain Xenops, and White-winged Becard, but the birds were far above us in terrible light and I didn't manage any good pictures- of the small birds or of the Yellow-throated Toucans that came in briefly.

Male Dot-winged Antwren

Eye-ringed Flatbill, showing off both of its notable features

Chestnut-sided Warbler, an ever-present accompaniment during our Costa Rica trip

White-winged Becard

Plain Xenops

Yellow-throated Toucan was the first toucan seen on the trip, though in general I found toucans frustratingly difficult to photograph- another reason to prefer hornbills...

A few more good birds came along as we made our way out. A Black-hooded Antshrike popped up briefly next to the trail, a Blue-throated Sapphire perched directly above us, and Hilary spotted an adorable Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher feeding over the trail. Another small flock held Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, many Lesser Greenlets, and a single Golden-winged Warbler, which was a lifer for both Hilary and I even though it migrates through DC in small numbers. Close to the entrance I spotted a single Red-crowned Woodpecker and we were able to get on a small group of gorgeous Golden-hooded Tanagers.

Black-hooded Antshrike

Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher- a dead ringer for an Old World flycatcher

Golden-winged Warbler

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

Red-crowned Woodpecker, this one at the very northern end of its range

Golden-hooded Tanager

Border Anole

Delicate Ameiva

Black-tailed Spiny Iguanas are everywhere around Tárcoles, just hanging out and being enormous

Hermes Satyr

Leafcutter ant carrying a flower bigger than its body

It was a slow morning by Costa Rica standards but we still managed to rack up a cool 72 species on our first full morning of birding, the bulk of which were lifers for Hilary and I. We got lunch at a local sode (the Costa Rican term for the little canteens that serve mainly lunch and snack food), then returned to the Cerro Lodge for a much-needed shower and midday nap. Later in the afternoon we got back into the car to head down to the Río Tárcoles for a boat tour through the mangrove forest. The mangroves around Tárcoles are the best spot to see some of the tougher Costa Rica specialty birds, including Panama Flycatcher, Mangrove Vireo, and the endemic Mangrove Hummingbird. We were also hoping to see some other good water birds like Double-striped Thick-knee, Collared Plover, and the neotropical kingfishers.

By 3PM we were at the dock by the river, where we met up with our guide Santiago. Tourists usually do the boat tour for a chance at up-close looks at crocodiles, but there are a number of guides specializing in birding, of whom Santiago is apparently the best. I can indeed confirm he was an excellent guide, knowing exactly where to find all of our target birds and how to ID them. To all of our surprise, we had the first good bird before we even got on the boat- a small flock of Tricolored Munias feeding in the grass near the river, a lifer for all of us including Josh (the first of precisely three lifers Josh got in 8 days of intense birding). It wasn't a native bird, but we were off to a good start. 

The view along the river

Santiago first took us upriver toward the bridge we'd stopped at the previous day. We passed some boats full of tourists ogling crocodiles but we were more interested in the ridiculous variety of birds along the river bank: Mangrove Swallows, Northern and Southern Rough-winged Swallows, Muscovy Ducks, Snowy Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, and more. A few Mourning Doves flew over, which were actually rare for the area and a new Costa Rica bird for Josh, though I was still more interested in the Scarlet Macaws. After a great deal of scanning Josh managed to pick out a single Collared Plover on the riverbank along with dozens of Least Sandpipers, and further down we came across a few Southern Lapwings and a single, spectacular Double-striped Thick-knee. 

Mangrove Swallow

Muscovy Duck- the progeny of the ugliest barnyard ducks you've ever seen

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how common Scarlet Macaws are around Tárcoles

Turkey Vultures in the tropics have much pinker heads than the ones in the US

Collared Plover is an uncommon river plover found from central Mexico down to southern South America

Double-striped Thick-knee, my first New World thick-knee

Fun fact: Collared Plover is more closely related to Southern Lapwing than it is to Semipalmated Plover

With the upriver targets seen, Santiago turned the boat around and we headed down to the river mouth to look for the much-trickier mangrove birds. Along the way we passed lots of other water birds feeding and roosting on the sandy banks of the river, including American White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Wood Storks, Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls, and a single Black Skimmer. There were several Common Black Hawks hanging out in the trees above the river, and dozens of Magnificent Frigatebirds and Brown Pelicans circling overhead.

American White Ibis

Roseate Spoonbill

Wood Stork

Tricolored Heron

Royal Terns

🎵One of these things is not like the others...🎵

Common Black Hawk

Magnificent Frigatebird

Santiago pulled us up to the edge of the mangrove forest in the river lagoon and after some searching we found a pair of Mangrove Vireos, one of the more difficult targets for the river. The vireos are fairly common in scrubby forest in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, but the mangrove-dwelling birds of the Pacific coast are rarer, and might be a separate species. 

Mangrove Vireo

With the vireo seen, we headed down a small, forested tributary to look for some other birds. We concentrated on finding Mangrove Hummingbird, a rare hummingbird that feeds only on the leaves of the Tea Mangrove. There are Tea Mangroves on the coast all the way down to Ecuador but apparently the Mangrove Hummingbird prefers the terroir of Costa Rican mud as it's found only there, one of the only country's endemics. 

While we saw a few flowering Tea Mangroves, the only hummingbirds we saw at first were Scaly-breasted Hummingbirds. On the other hand we did get great looks at an adorable little American Pygmy Kingfisher, by far the best kingfisher in the New World. Further inward Tom somehow managed to see a Collared Forest Falcon perched on a distant branch, although it was soon chased off by a Common Black Hawk. Finally a single Mangrove Hummingbird came in to its favorite flowers and we got brief looks as it foraged right above us. We added some other new birds to the trip in the mangrove forest, including a Rufous-browed Peppershrike, a few Northern Scrub Flycatchers, and the Mangrove flavor of American Yellow Warbler. As we were about to head out Hilary spotted a single Panama Flycatcher perched on the roots of a distant mangrove, the only one of the trip. 

American Pygmy Kingfisher

Collared Forest Falcon! Not a bird I expected to see on the trip

Mangrove Hummingbird

Rufous-browed Peppershrike

Panama Flycatcher is found mainly in Panama, with smaller populations in Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela

The resident, mangrove-dwelling subspecies of American Yellow Warbler look wildly different from the migratory types

If nothing else you can always depend on seeing Great-tailed Grackles

Racer Mangrove Crab

Some nice mangrove habitat

We boated back to the dock, enjoying a gorgeous sunset and some Lesser Nighthawks flying over as we did. The boat trip got us 85 species, up to that point the biggest list of the trip (though soon to be surpassed), and virtually all of our major target birds. Santiago is definitely highly recommended as a boat guide for serious birders visiting Tárcoles!

The mouth of the Río Tárcoles at sunset

The next morning we wanted to try another trail in Carará National Park, but once again had to hang tight until the park opened, watching a Cinnamon Hummingbird at the Cerro Lodge bird feeder. We left a bit early to bird along the entrance road, and were rewarding with great looks at Stripe-headed Sparrows, a Black-headed Trogon, and a Pacific Screech Owl in its day roost- the latter of which was a long-awaited lifer for Tom. 

Cinnamon Hummingbirds are found in dry habitats from Mexico to northwestern Costa Rica, with the Río Tárcoles being the southern limit of their range

This Stripe-headed Sparrow was being ridiculously photogenic- a "total tart" as the Brits say in their strange dialect

Black-headed Trogon

Pacific Screech Owl

Sunrise from the Cerro Lodge

We rolled up to the side entrance to Carará just after 7, parking along the busy highway as the parking lot was closed (apparently it had previously been a magnet for break-ins, not that the highway is much safer). The forest was once again quiet as we started walking, though we did surprise a couple of White-tailed Deer along the trail. There were many Mealy Amazons calling in the trees above us and we heard the double-knock of a Pale-billed Woodpecker, but did see it. Eventually we got a good look at a single Northern Bentbill foraging along the trail, which was exciting as it was one of the birds I'd wanted to see most. We heard the wing-snapping sound of Orange-billed Manakins off the trail and found an open area that seemed to be a lek- manakin leks being one of the great natural spectacles of the New World. While we did see a couple of males hopping around in the branches they didn't do their full display and we only had distant looks. 

What is Bambi doing in Costa Rica?

Northern Bentbill, one of the most gloriously demented flycatchers out there

Orange-collared Manakin

The birding got better after that- much, much better. We had a Purple-crowned Fairy perch in a little branch above us, and soon after got great looks at a small group of White-whiskered Puffbirds, another new family for me. In a little clearing along the trail we got much better looks at a male Orange-collared Manakin, and soon after a spectacular Red-capped Manakin flew in and perched right in front of us! It gave us amazing looks for a few minutes before disappearing back into the forest, a major highlight of my time in Costa Rica so far.

Purple-crowned Fairy

White-whiskered Puffbird

Orange-collared Manakin

Red-capped Manakin

We started walking back toward the road, hoping to hit a couple of other birding spots that morning. Another small mixed flock passed through, including Slaty-headed Tody-Flycatchers, Black-hooded Antshrikes, and a beautiful female Dot-winged Antwren. 

Female Dot-winged Antwrens are much better looking than males in my opinion

Suddenly, we ran into Johan Chaves, a Costa Rican bird guide, and his clients, who were hurriedly going the opposite direction on the trail. Johan told us that another guide had just found an army ant swarm further down the trail, on a fork we hadn't taken. Now, a cardinal rule of Neotropical birding is that if you hear about an army ant swarm, you immediately drop whatever you're doing and go to check it out, so we hightailed it back the way we came to do just that. 

Army ants are another one of the great natural phenomena of Central and South America. They live in colonies of up to half a million individuals, and go on daily foraging raids where they swarm across the forest floor, consuming everything in their path- spiders, wasps, small mammals, and anything else that's unfortunate enough to not move out of the way in time. The swarms make insects on the forest floor flush up to get away from them, making them vulnerable to predation from the many species of ant-following birds that come to join the swarm.

That was precisely what we saw: a stream of ants moving across the trail in front of us, and dozens of birds hopping around at eye level looking for bugs: Chestnut-backed Antbirds, Barred Antshrikes, Bicolored Antbirds, Northern Barred Woodcreepers, Tawny-winged Woodcreepers, Grey-headed Tanagers, and my personal favorite, Black-faced Antthrush. Ant-following birds are essentially fearless when they're on a swarm, so we were literally surrounded on all sides, with the birds practically within arm's reach. It was, without exaggerating, one of the coolest natural spectacles I've ever seen in my life. I hadn't been entirely sold on Neotropical birding before then, but I can now happily say that I Get It. 

Chestnut-backed Antbird

Female Barred Antshrike- another species where the female is much flashier than the male

Bicolored Antbirds are obligate ant followers, meaning that they're essentially only ever seen by an ant swarm- and damn good looking to boot

Northern Barred Woodcreepers are absolute monsters- so big and close to me I couldn't fit the whole thing in the picture

Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, another near-obligate ant follower

Grey-headed Tanager

Black-faced Antthrush was my personal favorite- strutting across the forest floor like a little chicken, flipping leaves to get at the insects hiding beneath

Burchell's Army Ant, the best-known army ant of the New World

We could have stayed with the ant swarm all day (and probably would have if we'd found it the previous day), but we had to move on to get to our next destination. We returned to the car and then to the Cerro Lodge, stopping for a surprise Plumbeous Kite perched in horrendous light.

Plumbeous Kite

We checked out of Cerro Lodge and began the drive to our next destination in the mountains. Along the way we stopped at a little stretch of dirt road northwest of Tárcoles that was a well-known spot for Long-tailed Manakin. Unfortunately the area they had been reliable in was completely closed off with a gate and barbed wire, and all we got was a brief, unsatisfying look at a female Long-tailed Manakin. On the other hand we did get great looks at some other open country target birds- Common Tody-Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Greenish Elaenia, Northern Tropical Pewee, and a very active White-browed Gnatcatcher.

Common Tody-Flycatcher

Streaked Flycatcher

Yellow-olive Flatbill

Northern Tropical Pewee

White-browed Gnatcatcher is easily told from the similar White-lored Gnatcatcher by the fact that it has white lores

Our next destination for the trip was the Monteverde Cloud Forest, up in the mountains of western Costa Rica. The road to Monteverde went along the coast for a while, then began to wind up into the foothills and then the Cordillera de Tilarán mountains. Before getting up into the mountains proper, we stopped for lunch at the Restaurante El Sol, a little soda tucked away in a corner of the road. This proved to be a very good decision. 

As we got out of the car, Josh heard the call of a toucan, and soon after a Fiery-billed Aracari flew into a tree right above where we'd parked! The aracari is restricted to the Pacific slope of Costa Rica and we'd thought we'd missed it, but managed to pull it out of the bag at the last minute. As we were eating lunch, I noticed a Turquoise-browed Motmot perched on a nearby branch, and it was soon joined by its mate. We enjoyed watching the motmots doing their thing as we ate, sallying out to catch insects and then returning to the branch, wagging their tails like the hands of a clock. There was a Blue-vented Hummingbird feeding on flowers in the garden, and as we were about to leave we saw a few Olive Sparrows foraging in the yard, another bird we wouldn't have another chance at in Costa Rica.

Fiery-billed Aracari- the second toucan of the trip

Turquoise-browed Motmots

Blue-vented Hummingbird

Olive Sparrow

Variegated Squirrel

Our first proper birding stop had been an incredibly way to start the trip, with some of the best wildlife experiences I've had anywhere in the world. We managed to see 238 species in the Tárcoles area in just a couple days of birding- a ridiculous total and a good reminder of why Costa Rica is such a popular destination. Our time in Monteverde was a bit less fun, but that will have to wait for the next post.