The tour group
Roseate Spoonbill
White-necked Puffbird
Scrub Euphonia
Southern Lapwing
Wood Stork
Double-striped Thick-knee
Green-breasted Mango
Brown Pelicans, Royal and Elegant Terns and Laughing Gulls.
Canivet’s Emerald
Category Archives: Costa Rica 2019
La Ensenada Wildlife Refuge – Northern Lowlands – Gulf of Nicoya
Our final destination was the La Ensenada Wildlife Refuge and my first impression was that it was the hottest place we had visited. Whilst here we had a boat trip out to the mangroves early in the morning where we saw Mangrove Hummingbird, Panama Flycatcher, Mangrove Warbler (Yellow Warbler), Boat-billed Heron and many other birds. We also had a tractor ride to the salt pans, a lake and hill with a great view over the area.
Magnificent Frigatebird
Pacific Screech-Owl
Crested Caracara
White-throated Magpie-Jay. These birds would often join us in the lodge at meal times hoping for scraps
Spot-breasted Oriole
Streak-backed Oriole
Streaked Flycatcher
Eastern Meadowlark
Black-headed Trogon
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Carara National Park
We stopped at Carara National Park for a few hours on our way to our final destination and saw quite a few new birds.
Scarlet Macaw
Gray-headed Tanager
Black-hooded Antshrike
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Gartered Trogon
White-whiskered Puffbird
Dot-winged Antwren (female)
Crested Guan
Macaw Lodge cont…
The sounds and sights from Macaw Lodge early morning.
White-throated Rail
Golden-Naped Woodpecker
Rufous Piha
Northern Jacana
Macaw Lodge – Costa Rica 2019
We left the Highlands and travelled to Macaw Lodge during day 9 of the trip. It was a long journey but broken up with a couple of stops as usual which allowed us to see some new birds enroute such as Red-headed Barbet and Roadside Hawk. We arrived at Macaw Lodge in the dark and the noise of the jungle at night was amazing.
Sounds in the Jungle
Red-headed Barbet & Silver-throated Tanager
Green-crowned Brilliant
Slate-throated Redstart
Roadside Hawk
Muscovy Duck
White-crested Coquette
King Vulture
Charming Hummingbird
Baird’s Trogon
The Highlands – Costa Rica 2019 cont…
Volcano Junco
Black-cheeked Warbler
Mountain Thrush
Sooty-capped Chlorospingus
Resplendent Quetzal
Black Guan
Large-footed Finch
Bronzed Cowbird
Sooty Thrush
White-throated Mountain-gem
Swallow-tailed Kites
The Highlands – Costa Rica 2019
Our next destination was the Savegre Valley in the Talamanca Mountain Range which is about 7000 feet above sea level and the home of the Resplendent Quetzal a bird that is the star turn for visitors. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a very good picture of the spectacular male, maybe a reason to come back again! We also visited The high Paramo which is the highest point of the Pan-American Highway at over 11000 feet above sea level, there were great views from here. We also had two visits to the excellent restaurant Paraiso Quetzal where the bird feeders attract a great variety of birds. We had also stopped on the journey to this destination at our guide Lalo’s boss’s house where we saw Buff-fronted Quail-Dove.
Resplendent Quetzal (female)
Resplendent Quetzal (male)
Quetzal mania!
Buff-fronted Quail-Dove
Flame-coloured Tanager
Fiery-throated Hummingbird
Volcano Hummingbird
Hairy Woodpecker
Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher
Collared Redstart
Slaty Flowerpiercer
Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush
Yellow-bellied Siskin
Yellow-faced Grassquit
