New Years Bird Count

 A family tradition when I was growing up was for my god parents to visit every new years. Early new years day we would wake up and pile into a van. We'd drive around and walk around counting as many birds as we could find. Person who found the most got candy!

 I have grown up a lot since then and now bird for fun on my own time without the pushing and probings of parents or bribery of candy. So when given the opportunity to visit my god parents in their newly bought retirement cottage in Prince Edward County I couldn't resist.  We were going to do the New Years bird count but due to changes in schedules we ended up doing this on New Year Eve rather than Day. It was fine by me!

Chris and I were the first two awake quickly followed by my dad. The feeder had many common redpolls, house sparrows, house finches, chickadees and juncos already visiting it. A few blue jays, cardinals and mourning doves were around the garden as well.

Common Redpoll

 Our first drive around we saw a few Red-tailed hawks, American tree sparrows, American Crows, more Common Redpolls and Blue Jays, European Starlings and Rock Pigeons. Then a small flock of about 8 or more birds is feeding on someones driveway probably picking up salt or grit. This is a bird I don't recognize at all and after heated debate and many flips through bird books and iphones we all agree that it is a Lapland Longspur.

Lapland Longspur

After our quick drive around we went back to the house for breakfast and to pick up the others who got to sleep till a normal hour. The memories of this tradition were much more intense when I was a child... It was always cold and we ALL had to wake up very very early.  But apparently the birds weren't early risers either and even more things were out than before. Just one the property we saw Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. A Coopers hawk flew over probably scoping out the mourning doves.

Driving the same route as earlier we found Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, American Kestrel and Northern Harrier.

Horned Lark

 Returning to the site where the small flock of Lapland Longspurs were there was a single Longspur and a Sparrow feasting on some bare areas of ground.

Lapland Longspur and Song Sparrow

The dock in town was quite active since a lot of the surrounding area had frozen and it was one of the only areas of open water in the sheltered bay. Here were Mallards, Canada Goose, Common Merganser, Common Goldeneye, American Black Duck, Mute Swan, Tundra Swan, Bufflehead and Long-tailed Ducks. The only birds flying above the water were Ring-billed Gulls and Herring Gulls.

Long tailed Duck

Bufflehead males and female

Swans

 We drove around a lot that day looking for more birds. I have almost lost track of where we went (not that I really knew to begin with since I was a passenger in the back and my eyes were out for birds). There were more snow buntings, more harriers and red-tails, another Coopers Hawk, A northern shrike and then came what would be one of our best birds of the day.... long pause... (it's hard to believe this would ever be considered our best bird...)...  A lonely and cold hermit thrush. This is not really a great bird for Ontario or for Prince Edward County but it is a GOOD WINTER BIRD... If you are a lister (which I do not consider myself personally but I do keep a life list and report on ebird since I think it's a good way to report data so people can use it for science-I DIGRESS!) then you would probably have a backyard list, county list, ontario list, canada list, north american list, and a life list all pretty self explanatory right. The winter list is a seasonal list which I have never heard of before this year but people consider the winter season another excuse to keep another list. Since many common birds become rarities in the winter it makes this little cold hermit thrush a GOOD bird.

Hermit Thrush

A few days prior there was no snow and now this bird is living in a winter wonderland. Needless to say this bird probably wont be in the area long after we saw it since it appeared to have been forced to scavenge in leaf litter upturned by the snow plows.

San Jose- Day 33

We caught eh earliest bus to San Jose and after the winding roads we eventually were in a taxi towards Hostel Pangea.

The black gates looked daunting and uninviting. I felt like we were lost and nowhere near our hostel but then the security guard opened the door and we were welcomed into a brightly coloured paradise within the city. The hostel was the most secure place we had stayed at! I now liked that uninviting gate that kept the world out.

We walked around San Jose and within a few minutes were able to get to a bank and the middle of downtown. We window shopped at a few stores just out of pure curiosity to see how prices compared to Canada. We found that most places were actually much cheaper to buy clothing in and the styles were very bright and Latin American. We both went home empty handed but it was a nice experience.  My favorite store was Carrion. An odd name if in English, but the store had the brightest coloured clothing that all looked like it was right out of the 80's.

The nightlife at Hostel Pangea was great and many travelers from around the world who were finishing or starting their journeys got together and played cards and drank with one another. It was a very friendly atmosphere and I would highly recommend it to any travelers.

The next morning we say goodbye to Costa Rica and fly home through Miami. It will be hard to transition back to the cold weather.

Best Field Guides for Costa Rica - Day 32

Sadly today is our last day in Santa Elena and we left Camino Verde B&B for Camino Verde Backpackers which is only $7/p.p. It was a little disappointing to move since the backpackers is more crowded with young students but later this became a good quality since over dinner we played cards and exchanged stories and food with some other people.

Over the course of the day we went to many bookstores and souvenir shops. Each store has the same things for different prices so shopping around saved us a fair bit of money since we had the time for it.

Costa Rican field guides were actually fairly cheap in some of these stores. Between Chris and I we got a fair few...

Orchids of Costa Rica by J. Fransisco Morales > One of the only guides to orchids I have seen but not a very good once since it comes in five sets and isn't well organized at all. I could probably use this to write my own new and improved one. Maybe that will be a retirement project in many years to come.

Reptiles and Amphibians of Costa Rica by T. Leeders> The only small guide to reptiles and amphibians of Costa Rica. It was quite comprehensive and has photos for identification. It was cheaper in Costa Rican stores than online in Canada! It is not as comprehensive or detailed as "The Reptiles and Amphibians of Costa Rica by Savage" but his book is about three times the size of this one by Leeders. I do recommend this one for any travelers who would like a guide with them.

Birds of Costa Rica by Robert Dean>A great book for identification of species. Contains very easy to read distribution maps and had illustrated birds for identification. Previously we just had the Princeton Illustrated Checklist of Birds of Central America and Mexico which is an amazing book and I do love it still but the range maps are so much easier to read when it only covers one small country versus all of Central America.

Glass Frogs of Costa Rica by Brian Kubickle> An amazing book by a student of J. Savage. In both English and Spanish it describes glass frogs. A key and photographs are available to identify species. This book wasn't even available for sale on amazon.com!

Ecological Reserve- Day 31

Nearing the end of our trip we decide to take a break from the extensive hikes through the cloud forest. Today we settled for a nice breakfast and returned to the Ecological Reserve. This was a much drier habitat.

After talking to the locals who run the place for the owner (who lives in the US) we discovered that there was a lateral striped viper on the property. The boy working at the cash had gotten directions from his mother who had already see it. His excitement combined with ours led him to come along with us for our own personal tour of the property and showed us the exact spot where the viper was seen. As our guide was looking under this large fallen over log right beside the path where the snake was seen earlier that day, I pull Chris' flashlight from his packpack and before he has time to turn it on... I spot it. The gorgeous sleek curls of a arboreal viper wrapped around a few thin branches under the fallen over log. The boy quickly moved after discovering his face within strike distance. The snake didn't seam phased at all by us.

Lateral-striped Viper (Bothriechis lateralis)

Lateral-striped Viper (Bothriechis lateralis)

Lateral-striped Viper (Bothriechis lateralis)

It was hard for the three of us avid snake lovers to tear ourselves away from this creature but we knew it was time to leave it alone where it was. We offered to move it away from the path so that other tourist were not in harms way but the owners didn't mind it where it was. I'm sure it will be good for business and exciting for their night tours. This snake had been sitting in the same place for a few days now and didn't seam very keen on moving anytime soon.

 We knew that the lateral-striped viper would be our best possible find but we had renewed hope and a lot more energy. We could leave Santa Elena satisfied knowing we had seen a snake neither of us expected to see. It was the best reptile I have ever had the pleasure of finding and the memory will last a lifetime.

 Continuing along we were able to truly enjoy the warmth of Costa Rica. A bright sunny day in the mountains was the perfect way to end our trip.

Hoping to find another viper hanging around in the leaf litter we kept our eyes open and soon came across a different sort of reptile. This anole had quite dull colours but a bright orange dewlap. This bright coured skin is most often not visible on the anole unless they are giving mating or territorial displays.

Anole sp.

 Also in the ecological reserve we saw a large black bird the size of a chachalaca. The lookouts and waterfalls were gorgeous. The main trails were very well maintained and could support even large groups of people but some of the smaller less used trails were in need of some maintenance.

Turquoise browed Motmot

We didn't get too far on our walk home before spotting one of my favorite types of tropical birds.

Motmots  (Momotidae) not only sound cool but they have incredible colouration. The unique long tails which have a racket like tip are one of the things that make this group so unusual.  These birds have their highest diversity here in Central America.

Turquoise browed Motmot

  As I was standing there by the road as still as I could be waiting for the right pose by this lovely bird... a brown blur comes out of the bushes beside me chasing another brown blur. A quick look and I recognize the familiar shape of an aguti.

Aguti

Santa Elena Reserve- Day 30

Today was colder and wetter than the day before. After our disappointing day at Monte Verde Reserve we hoped for something better at Santa Elena Reserve. We walked the shorter middle loop. We saw two species of frogs.

Rain Frog

Rain Frog

Both species were very tiny juveniles. One was even smaller than the juvenile tink frog I saw at Cano Palma earlier this trip which had held the record for the smallest frog I had ever seen.

Juvenile frog (smallest frog I've ever seen)

There was one large anole which posed nicely for our photographs thinking it was well hidden from us.

Anole sp.

Anole sp.

 At the entrance to the park there was a quati monde, collared redstart and a very nice orchid garden. The birds and mammals wandered around me as I looked at the many flowers in the garden.They ranged from a few feet high to small leaves of a few inches long. Flowers were extremely variable.

Pleurothallis sp.

Stelis sp.

Stelis is still the genus containing the smallest orchids I have ever seen. A new species for my trip was found in the garden here. The plants don't look like much but the species was different than the lowland one by the light yellow colouration versus the dark purplish one.

Stelis sp.

Some plants even had more flowers on them than leaves! This small plant looked a lot larger with the flower stems extending longer than the leaves.

Pleurothallis sp.

Pleurothallis sp.

Pleurothallis cf floribunda

Others had single flowers but where they lack the numbers they made up in colour. This Pleurothallis was very tiny and hardly noticeable but if you looked at it from underneath the colours were bright yellow, orange and red.

Pleurothallis sp.

My favorite orchid was this Epidendrum which had many flowers and a quite large healthy plant.

Epidendrum endresii (Oerstedella endresii)

Epidendrum endresii (Oerstedella endresii)

Maxillaria sp.

Maxillaria sp.

 Back in Santa Elena....we walked around town a bit and went to souvenir shops. It quickly became obvious that each store sold the same things but at different prices. Further on the outskirts of town we walked to the frog zoo where the staff amazed us by their lack of expertise and enthusiasm for local wildlife. Further wandering led us past the butterfly gardens which my friends David and Brena are purchasing and moving into very soon. This was a little ways outside town by then but we continued walking to the ecological reserve where we wanted to have our last walk around. We had heard it was free since no price was listed on the local map given at our hotel. At the desk we figured out this was misinformation and the price was 10 dollars to walk the trails. Since it was nearing nightfall we decided to return the next day in hopes of finding the rumored lateral-striped viper seen there.

Epiphyte orchids in the trees were blooming throughout town

A night walk around town was disappointing yet again in terms of vertebrates but many insects were singing. It was a startling moment while walking down a small path to see this fairly large scorpion at eye level on a tree.

Scorpion

Monteverde Park- Day 29

Violet-eared hummingbird nest

This morning we enjoyed one of the best breakfasts we have had in Costa Rica, courtesy of Camino Verde. A full plate of pancakes, fruit, eggs, rice and beans awaited us in the morning. The 7am shuttle to Monte Verde Park picked us up. At the entrance there was hummingbird nest in a young tree.

We turned down all offers of tours and guides and walked the outer trail loop to the lookout and hanging bridges.

Waterfall at Monteverde

 The day was wet and disappointing in terms of reptiles and amphibians. The trails limit where you can walk and the cold wet rains kept most things in hiding. The forest was gorgeous in the green and the mist but.. it was more silent than I have ever seen.

Despite the 161 species of reptiles and amphibians recorded for the reserve, we only saw one species of reptile that day. Along the trail a small anole almost blended into the colours of moss and leaf litter. 

Anole sp.

Anole sp.

Monte Verde is known to be extremely diverse in terms of orchids and many were blooming while we visited the park today. The region is known to have at least 420 species. These are six of the orchids I found blooming in the reserve. I can't claim to be an expert on plants and even less so on tropical plants so here is some of my best attempts at identification.

Oncidium sp.

Masdevallia cf chontalensis

cf. Maxillaria sp.

Epidendrum cf parviexasperatum

Pleurothallis cf cardiothallis or oncoglossa

I did notice a spider crawling on these Pleurothallis flowers. To me it almost looked like the spider was nectaring the way it walked over the flowers and stopped at a few of them. I have never heard of this before but I guess in the topics anything is possible.

Pleurothallis cf rowleei

Pleurothallis cf rowleei

The view from the highest lookout point is truly cloud forest and looks very different from the rest of the jungle. Trees are shorter and wind blown. Clouds blow across Costa Ricas continental divide quickly and give the air a humid misty feeling. It is just the right temperature for a long hike her. Everything is very lush and green.

View from the continental divide in Monte Verde

Chris and I at the lookout

The Monte Verde hanging bridges

The rains did bring out a lot of blooming flowers and many were bright colours that attract hummingbirds and insects in the forests.

Unfortunately one of my favorite parts about visiting Monte Verde Reserve had decided to start charging admittance for what previously used to be free. The hummingbird gardens attached to the cafe outside the gates now charges two dollars to stand outside and watch hummingbirds.The cafe there is one of the only places to get empanadas at the reserve but they basically push you out of there unless you pay the extra cash to sit and have your meal. In angered protest I took as many shots of hummingbirds as I slowly walked away from their doors with my lunch.

Green Hermit female

The shuttle was going to be a while so we walked along the road a bit. We figured that maybe the park was over traveled and getting around the outskirts might prove luckier. A few blobs of yellow and blue quickly perked our interest and we saw a new species for the day.

Slate-throated Redstart

That night we walked around town again looking for things in creeks and ditches. We heard a few things calling but mostly on private property where we couldn't see. Dinner at the Tree House Restaurant and Cafe was a nice change to cooking ourselves and it was a very unique restaurant. There was a very nice old tree growing in the middle of the restaurant which must have been built around it.

Tree House Restaurant and Cafe, Monte Verde