On the last days at Si Como No we had a white-water rafting trip, from the Rafiki Safari Lodge, obviously not the best kind of outing for bird photography. Nevertheless we did see several Bare-throated Tiger-Herons, which I was able to photograph later, both Green and Amazon Kingfishers and a Snowy Egret.
Back at the Rafiki lodge afterwards there was a feeding station.
Male and Female Thick-billed Euphonias.
The Golden-hooded Tanager is smaller than most of his family, but as you can see (and in the header image) amazingly pretty.
The next day we left Si Como No, and spent a night at Playa Blanca, with a visit to the beach
Rufous-backed Wren
Gray-headed Chachalaca
Streak-backed Oriole
On the way to our next location we made a brief unscheduled stop at another National Park, Carara
We had organised some accommodation which was very different to the way it was advertised, our first and only disappointment of the trip. We therefore had to change plans at the last moment, and moved into a large resort hotel, before moving though, we were close to the amazing Uvita national park and spent several hours exploring.
The Scarlet Macaw was critically endangered in the past, but with several initiatives, and legal protection, they have become locally quite common. Macaws are actually terrible pets, they are noisy and resist training and do not live long in captivity. In the wild they are a remarkable sight, often noisily flying in pairs to roost in the evening.
At the Uvita national park they often eat in the Beach Almond trees, discarding the coating of the nuts.
Scarlet Macaw.
The Red-lored Amazons also fly, noisily, in large numbers in the evening to their roosting spots.
This adult Black Hawk brought his youngster a crab to eat
Juvenile Black Hawk eating crab
Adult Crested Caracara
The White Ibis was fairly common here, this one has the Gular Sack that develops in breeding season.
We ended up moving to a resort called “Si como no”, which is a phrase which means, sort of, “Yes, why not?”. Apparently the Spanish invaders said this so frequently in the first years of the colonisation, that the locals called them SiComoNo. The resort and the location of this site is great, and we had many feathered visitors, including these Orange-chinned Parakeets.
Orange-chinned Parakeets
Yellow-headed Caracara
Mantled Howler Monkey. I think probably a male?
White-faced Capuchin eating a mango.
Three-toed Sloth
Common Basilisk, a lizard
A moment of tenderness. Two Crimson-fronted Parakeets. We loved this place, Si Como No, which was constructed to be close to the Manuel Antonio National Park. Unfortunately that park is so crowded with visitors that it has become really limited. Although it was the only place we saw an Anteater, that was because there are hundreds of guides, looking for wildlife, and many thousands of visitors. It is indeed beautiful, but many other national parks are better places to visit with a good guide, and much less crowded.
It was also the only place I saw Squirrel Monkeys, like this one, right outside the hotel.
We then left the highlands, and drove down to Rancho Pacifico for another couple of days before the rest of the family joined us. The bird life was completely different at low elevations, on the pacific coast, one of the reasons that Costa Rica is such an amazing birding destination, despite being a small country there are over 1000 species recorded, but with great variations based on location in the country.
At Rancho Pacifico there was a Fiery-billed Aracari nest close to the central area of the hotel, and I was able to spend time watching them entering and leaving the nest.
Green Honeycreeper
Green Honeycreeper, female
Grey-cowled Wood-Rail
Baird’s Trogon
Yellow-throated Toucan
Golden-naped Woodpecker
Black-hooded Antshrike
Crested Caracara. One of a group of S. American birds of prey, this one a juvenile.
The next 3 days we spent at the Trogon Lodge, in the cloud forest in central Costa Rica, in a region known as San Gerardo de Dota.
Two early morning outings were rewarded by sightings of the iconic Resplendant Quetzal, that you can see in the header image, and below.
The female is also impressive, but without the resplendant tail
Another new Hummingbird is one confined to the higher elevations of the Talamanca Cordillera, the range of mountains in central Costa Rica, the highest range in central America.
Talamanca Hummingbird.
Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher. This bird is also restricted to the higher elevations of the Talamanca Cordillera.
The Sulphur-winged Parakeet is also found only in this region.
This photo better illustrates the reason behind the name, the sulphur colour not being very evident when they are perched.
While here there were some great hikes, and an outing to a gardens, the “Batsu Gardens”, which have been created by a birding enthusiast and guide, specifically with the goal of attracting as many bird species as possible, and which also have feeding stations. Interestingly, he doesn’t promote the gardens on social media, as he wants to keep the gardens quiet, but if you don’t tell anyone else…
Here, I saw some birds in close up, that I had only glimpsed previously, and also saw a spectacularly beautiful bird that I had never heard of before.
The Volcano Hummingbird is a tiny hummer, with a restricted range in this region, around the Talamanca Cordillera, a Volcanic mountain range.
The Scintillant Hummingbird is restricted to the same range, the males are even more scintillating, but were not evident during my visit.
This Golden-browed Chlorophonia is related to the much more widespread Euphonias, of which there are about 8 species, but is restricted to these central highlands and is an amazingly beautiful bird.
This is a female Golden-browed Chlorophonia
Here are a pair, male in the foreground, on a feeder at the gardens.
In the same gardens I was able to take several photos of the Slaty Flowerpiercer, with some closeups showing how it uses its specialised beak to pierce flowers to extract their nectar.
This is the male
Here is a female
Here is how he pierces the flower with his beak
The Lesser Violetear is a much more widespread hummingbird.
We went to Tapanti national park, then on to a restaurant with gardens on the shore of a lake. There were many different Flycatcher species, including the Common Tody-Flycatcher in the header image.
Tufted Flycatcher
Dark Peewee
Social Flycatchers
Black Phoebe
Streaked Flycatcher
I was also delighted to see the Montezuma Oropendula, which, similar to other Oropendulas weaves hanging nests, from which they get their name. The Montezuma Oropendula has one of the most distinctive faces in the bird kingdom.
The males display by tipping themselves upside down, while emitting an unusual call.
Montezuma Oropendula, and below a video.
As we left this area, we stopped at the National Park “Los Quetzales” where we did not see Quetzals, but we did see another new Hummingbird.
Fiery-throated Hummingbird. The colour of the throat changes dramatically according to the light direction, sometimes being much more fiery than this! At another Soda we were surprised by the appearance of a pair of Flame-coloured Tanagers.
I was very fortunate that we decided to take our family vacation to Costa Rica this year. The first week was just Annie and me, and we were helped enormously in organising everything by Rey Vargas (afriendnincostarica.com). He was extremely knowledgeable, has many contacts around the country, did all the driving (which is often said to be a big problem in this country), and, as an extra, is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable birder. He is also great company. The first place we went to was La Paz Waterfall gardens, a little north of San José, we arrived there after dark the first night, and stayed in the Peace Lodge associated with the gardens, wildlife park and rescue centre.
The next morning the first thing I heard was a new bird for me, the Melodious Blackbird. A walk around the gardens discovered, among other things, several new hummingbirds, including the Violet Sabrewing in the header image.
Melodious Blackbird, being melodious.
Purple-throated Mountain-Gem
Black-bellied Hummingbird
Green-crowned Brilliant.
Rey joined us at the La Paz park, where we had a delightful hike down the gorge with its 4 or 5 waterfalls, he then took us to our next stop, on the way there was an amazing cafe (the roadside cafés are known as Sodas, this one was the Galeria de Colibri y Soda Cinchona) with a feeding station and several birders with cameras at the ready!
My first view of a Tanager that was to become a frequent sighting on the trip, the Scarlet-rumped Tanager, here accompanied by either a female or a juvenile. I think it was a juvenile as the male turned and gave some food to his companion just after this shot.
Another lifer for me, the Bay-headed Tanager
And another, a Crimson-collared Tanager, at the feeding station. We then headed on to what was to be our rental for the next 2 nights, at Orosi, in Cartago province, fairly high in the hills, with many birds, including even more lifers.
One of which was this White-crowned Parrot. A total of about 45 species in one day, with probably 11 life firsts.
On my last day in the country, I finished my teaching commitments in time to be able to go back to the Nyandungu Eco-park for a couple of hours. The male African Paradise Flycatcher in the header image grows those spectacular elongated tail feathers every breeding season, then sheds them to regrow them again later.
The eco-park has a sort of split personality, having a kids playground with bouncy castles, and electric buggies in the form of fantasy vehicles that you can hire, and many paths and regions devoted to maintaining the wetlands, and providing wildlife viewing opportunities.
This female African Paradise Flycatcher, with a much shorter tail, had just caught a dragonfly.
Village Weaver and his nest
Wire-tailed Swallow
Gray-headed Heron
Lesser-striped Swallow
The last lifer for me before leaving to go to the airport, an African Harrier-hawk
The last morning in Akagera park we stayed in the southern half of the park, not having enough time to explore the north. There were still several new species, like the Pearl-spotted Owlet in the header image, and the opportunity for some great shots of birds I had already seen, with a total of 64 species on the morning list.
This Black-bellied Bustard was partly hidden in the grass, and then lifted his head up to call out.
Meyer’s Parrot
Yellow-throated Longclaw, with, indeed, long claws.
When I first saw a European Bee-eater on this trip, I said, “I didn’t come all this way to see a EUROPEAN Bee-eater” but in fact they are so beautiful.
Village Indigobird
Broad-billed Roller
Black-headed Weaver.
On the way back to Kigali, a stop off at the Umusambi village. “Umusambi” is the local Kinyarwanda (the language spoken here) name for the Gray Crowned-Crane. Until recently it was basically extinct in the wild, specimens existing in private collections and zoos. A project to rescue them, and release into the wild has been very successful, with several hundred breeding pairs now known. Some are too badly damaged by wing clipping to be released, so they set up this “village” to accommodate them, in a wetlands not far from the capital. It has become a nature reserve, with a permanent flock of mostly healthy Cranes, as well as other species.
I took the boat trip on the lake again in the afternoon, from which I was able to get a good shot of the African Sacred Ibis in the header image. The remainder of the images were taken from the Toyota Land Cruiser, which seems to be the safari vehicle default, and which are engineered with a roof that rises up, so you can stand and photograph wildlife.
This Lilac-breasted Roller had just caught a cricket, and threw it in the air to catch it again, in order to turn it round, and eventually swallow it.
Caught!
The Bateleur is a bird of prey which is fairly common around here.
The White-browed Coucal is from the cuckoo family.
This Palm-nut Vulture is a fish eating raptor. Why is it called the Pam-nut Vulture? I’ve no idea.
The Green Woodhoopoe had caught come sort of larva.
Greater Blue-eared Starling
The young Olive Baboon gave us an uncertain stare.
I went on an evening game tour. As the sun went down, the guide shone a flashlight around searching for the reflection of eyes. We found a pair of lionesses eating the carcass of a Cape Buffalo.
And a Bushbaby, officially known as a Southern Lesser Galago.
After a busy, and, I hope, successful week, teaching neonatal respiratory care to the staff, fellows and nurses of the Rwanda NICUs, I decided that my weekend would be best occupied going on another guided trip to Akagera. It is the closest of the parks to Kigali, and I knew there was lots that I hadn’t yet seen. After another early start, we arrived in time to pick up a local park guide who specialized in bird life. There have been few name changes among the birds that I saw, which occasionally led to some confusion. The one in the header image was previously known as the Intermediate Egret, to distinguish it from the Great Egret and the Little Egret, but there is also a Medium Egret (across southern Asia), and in addition another of about the same size known as the Plumed Egret (which often doesn’t have plumes). This one is now known as the Yellow-billed Egret, even though it is not the only one with a yellow bill, but the park guides were all calling it the Intermediate.
Black-winged Kite
Violet-backed Starlings
Black Cuckooshrike, the patch of colour behind his beak is an area of naked skin.
The male Pin-tailed Whydah. The female is brownish, with a “normal” tail.
Spot-flanked Barbet
Another boat trip brought a better view of the Squacco Heron
One of the few woodpeckers I saw, this Bearded Woodpecker
The African Openbill. Named, obviously, for the permanent gap between the two halves of the beak.
African Fish-eagle, tucking into the entrails of a fish he had just caught.
As we were driving closer to the hotel, the guide asked if I’d like to make one last stop to see an Owl, how could I refuse? This (male) Southern White-faced Owl is well known to spend his time on a park which is on a large roundabout in Kigali. The park is surrounded by a 880m running track, which makes a surface area of the park about 60,000 m2. It is crossed by many walkways, has a small wooded area with mature trees, and is inhabited by a pair of Owls. The header image is the female, substantially smaller and quite different in appearance.
We Left Akagera early enough to spend a productive day at the Nyandungu Eco-Park in Kigali. Not far from the airport, they have preserved and reclaimed some wetlands that have a great variety of bird life, very close to the bustle of Kigali. The header image is of a Double-toothed Barbet.
This view looking upward shows the notches on his beak that give him the misnomer “Double-toothed” Barbet
This is a male Red-billed Firefinch, just a few centimetres long,
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