Costa Rica, Last 3 days

For the last days we moved to another resort hotel, the spectacular Rio Perdido. Built around some hot springs and backing onto an unusual, for Costa Rica, dry “dwarf” forest. This made for another set of unique bird sightings.

Black-headed Trogon

Banded Wren

Lesson’s Motmot

Turquoise-browed Motmot, same bird as the header image

There was a nest of the Double-toothed Kite close to the buildings, and this youngster was calling for food.

This chestnut capped Warbler caught his lunch on our windowsill.

On an outing to another National Park, Rincon de la Vieja, there was a flock of Orange-fronted Parakeets, and we saw 2 Trogons

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Gartered Violaceous Trogon

Back at the lodge, one of the absolute highlights for me, of the wildlife viewing part of this trip, and of my life’s birding experiences, was to see the Long-tailed Manakins (one example of a male above) doing their lekking dance.

With the low morning light, the many branches in the way, and a handheld camera with a telephoto lens, the video is of very limited quality, but I wanted to share it anyway, you can see the 3 males jumping over each other, flapping their wings as they descend while squawking at the choosy female. If this had not been the last day, I would probably have returned with a tripod and cut away a branch or two to be able to focus more easily…

For a better video showing the dance, I am sure this videographer had to prepare the site, and probably had a hide also.

We then had to go and get our last breakfast at the lodge, during which one of the servers ran over and alerted us to a bird in trees just beyond the balcony.

My final bird of the trip was this Hook-billed Kite.

Costa Rica has protected over 1/3 of its entire territory to aid biodiversity. Clearly some of the impetus for this is to encourage tourism, but the results are very encouraging, with such amazingly diverse wildlife easily accessible. Some parks are rather over-visited, but there are large numbers of smaller parks that are well worth the visit, and where we saw almost no-one else.

Thanks again to Rey Vargas (afriendincostarica.com) for his organisation, his assistance, his driving, and unfailing good humour. Thanks to my family for putting up with my wildlife and photography passion during this family vacation.

July 5, 2026 0

Costa Rica. Days 14 to 16

The next stop on the journey was a resort hotel, Hotel Arenal Manoa, in the shadow of the Arenal volcano, another place with extensive grounds, and many birds.

Long-billed Starthroat

Great Curassow, walking calmly across the parking lot

Female Great Curassow

Yellow-throated Toucan, right next to eating area!

Ringed Kingfisher, the largest in the Americas. This one is a female.

Green Kingfisher, not much more than half the size of the Ringed, also a female.

Green Iguana. These are huge, this one about 1.5 metres long.

One day we went on a boat, floating down the Rio Penas Blancas. These are Mangrove Swallows, as is the header image.

The only Crocodile in the Americas, the American Crocodile.This one was probably 3 metres long.

Tropical Royal Flycatcher. Not the very best photo, in shade just above the river, but you can see part of the crest that gives the bird its “Royal”, it is rare to see the crest, and very rare to see the crest fully extended. On ebird you can see the entire crown which is spectacular.

Picture copied from ebird https://ebird.org/species/royfly1

The next day we went on a hike in another park, the Misticopark, which has many hanging bridges. It was raining on and off, including when I took the next photo.

Mealy Amazon

Strawberry Poisons Dart Frog. The colouration of these frogs is apparently very variable, this one is often called the “blue-jean” frog.

Back at the hotel the next morning :

Boat-billed Heron

Morelet’s Seedeater

July 5, 2026 0

Costa Rica. days 12 and 13.

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

Gray-headed Tanagers, adult and juvenile.

Green and Black Poison Dart Frog

July 4, 2026 0

Costa Rica days 9, 10, 11.

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.

July 4, 2026 0

Costa Rica. Day 7 and 8

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.

July 4, 2026 0

Costa Rica. Days 4, 5 and 6

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.

July 4, 2026 0

Costa Rica. Day 2-3.

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.

Male Flame-coloured Tanager

And the female.

July 4, 2026 0

Costa Rica. Day 1

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.

July 4, 2026 0

Rwanda, final day.

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

February 9, 2026 0

Rwanda, Day 13. Akagera park, and Umusambi village.

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.

Spectacular!

February 6, 2026 0

Rwanda, Day 12. Afternoon and evening

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.

February 5, 2026 0

Rwanda, Day 12. Back to Akagera park, morning.

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.