Costa Rica part 2 - the canals of Tortuguero

After our short stop in San Jose, we set off early to Tortuguero. This is on the north east or Caribbean coast of the country. It is an area of wetlands and canals. We joined a minibus with about 12 others on the 3 hour trip across the country, going from suburbs to cultivated fields to uncultivated wetlands. We started to see how rich the country is in wildlife. Even at the breakfast stop, a hotel just off the main road with tourist buses in attendance, we started to see exotic animals.

A large iguana was lounging about in a tree in the car park, whilst a female chestnut-sided warbler and a rufous-tailed hummingbird flitted about in the bushes near where we had breakfast. Both of these turned out to be species we would see frequently on our trip.
The scenery gradually greened-up as we got closer to the coast

and we could see how unspoilt the countryside was.
Finally we got to the place where we picked up our boat to take us to our hotel in the canal system. It was very busy with all the hotels using the same "jetty", well more of a beach really!!!!

It took us about 40 minutes to get to our lodgings, right on the canal. The wildlife was all around us, with a large, tailless iguana at the front

and slaty-tailed trogon and black-mandibled toucan out the back!!

We were staying there for only 2 days so we had time for two trips out on the boat and one walk in the jungle. Both boat trips were about 2 hours in length and took us onto the main drags as well as down some small backwaters. As expected most of the wildlife was on there aquatic kind but we did have great views of one one of our top holiday wants - 3-toed sloths. There was one right by the side of our hotel and we saw it both from the boat and later on from the land, where we saw it had a baby in tow!!!

For a sloth it was pretty active, feeding and moving around in the tree. Having the baby in tow didn't seem to restrict it too much.

On the canals we had really good and close views of a lot fo the different waterbirds, including herons, kingfishers, terns, pelicans, waders and occasionally non-water birds.

The three commonest "herons" were snowy egret, closest to our little egret with dark bill, legs and yellow feet, little blue heron (confusingly all- white as an immature bird with grey beak), and great white egret.

In smaller numbers we also saw green ibis, green herons and yellow-crowned night herons. Being on the boat seemed to allow us to get closer than you would normally if you were on foot.
The main canal acted as a bit of a highway both for people and for animals.

It wa hard to realise but you were o only a few hundred yards from the sea here, across the small strip of land. This is how the area gets its name as in the summer large number of turtles (tortuga) come here to nest.

Now though the canals were home to brown pelicans, laughing gulls, royal terns and frigate birds.

Our only sighting of the great green macaw was as this pair flew past us when we were on the boat.

One ever present sight were the vultures, both turkey, with red-faces, and black. They mooched around on the beaches and in the air waiting for whatever they could find. Certainly there were very large fish in the river, as one lucky fisherwoman demonstrated with this good-sized catch.

When you got closer to the lush vegetation on the banks a whole new set of wildlife appeared. Kingfishers, like this large ringed kingfisher darted up and down the banks competing with the snake-birds or anhingas to see who could catch the most fish.

 Waders weren't much in evidence - wrong season really - but spotted sandpipers were in evidence close to the edge.

 Bare-faced tiger herons gave a very exotic-look to some of the hotel fronts. This particular individual in on the edge of the dock at our hotel and seemed very used to having people around. In general the wildlife seemed very tame, presumably as they are now not hunted, apart from by photographers!!

 Blue-and-white swallows were the common hirundine of the river, often using the boat roof as a mobile perch, something we saw later on with mangrove swallows in the south of the country.

 It was hard to "twitch" birds from a mobile platform, especially as most of the group were not really into looking for small, obscure birds, but this white-necked puffbird did show itself quite well. They are a bit like a cross between a flycatcher and a kingfisher, diving down from their perch to catch unwary insects or amphibians.

 The occasional jacana and this smart purple gallinule pottered about in the vegetation on the edges of the river.

Of course, it certainly wasn't all about birds, with reptiles putting on a good supporting display. This caiman was only about 5 foot long, but you wouldn't fancy going for a swim with it.

There are 4 species of monkey in Costa Rica and this spider monkey was spotted as part of a larger group swinging through the trees beside the main canal. It clearly displayed how it can use its tail as a fifth limb.

The two main large lizards were the very smart green or plumed basilisk, also known as the Jesus Christ lizard for its ability to run on water on its hind-legs.

 The brown iguana was much larger with the males having a splendid crest which they showed off whilst trying to hold territories and attract females.

All in all a very good start to our holiday - good weather, good accommodation, good wildlife and not bad tucker in the evenings.

Costa Rica part 1 - La Sabana Park

We are at the start of a three week trip around Costa Rica. Yesterday was a trip around the town seeing the sights so no real birding. Today was our first trip to do any proper wildlife spotting.
San Jose is a funny old town - very busy and bustling but a bit shabby. Most people use it as an overnight stop when heading out to the jungle, We added on an extra day as we had a bit more time so with jet-lag still getting us up early we headed off on a short walk to La Sabana park. This is the main municipal park of San Jose and is split between sports and picnic areas. By London standards it is pretty small. There is also a lake and a few wooded areas which apparently can hold some decent wildlife.
We got to the park about 8 with the sun starting to heat up the morning, out of a clear blue sky. There were lots of people already using the park for jogging and keep-fit. There were areas though which looked decent for birds.

The totally ubiquitous bird of here, and I suspect everywhere in CR, is the great-tailed grackle. This crow-like bird has a real attitude and there must have been many dozens if not a hundred or more strutting around in the park.

With many trees around it was hardly surprising that virtually the first birds we saw were woodpeckers. We actually saw two different sorts. The first was the smaller Hoffmann's, a classic "ladder-backed" bird.

Spring was in the air and there was much chasing around between birds of both sexes as territories and mating rights were established.
The second woodpecker we saw on a second afternoon visit. This is the much larger lineated woodpecker. It was vigorously excavating a hole in a dead tree, presumably as a nest chamber for later on. If so it should give some great views of the young being fed in a couple of months time.

Its breast should be white, so all this excavation was making it in sore need of a bath.
One of the other birds which were very much in evidence were the parakeets. We saw two different sorts, squeaking and flying around, mainly in the tops of the trees. The commonest was the crimson-fronted parakeet.

They are small to medium-sized parrots, with a bold crimson patch on their foreheads, a red epaulette-stripe on their shoulder and a long tail.
The second species was the orange-chinned parakeet.

They are much smaller, plainer, with an ivory-coloured beak, a large orbital ring and an orange spot under their lower mandible, which can be quite hard to spot.
Elsewhere in the wooded area, rufous-naped wrens were very much in evidence.

They are much larger than our wrens, probably chaffinch-sized birds, with a vey piratical-look to their heads. As I mentioned before, Spring is clearly in the air as one pair were demonstrating.

That crest in absolutely amazing.
There were a number of other birds we saw including red-billed pigeon,

white-winged dove,

Baltimore oriole, both male and female,

blue-grey tanager, which was a very common sight,

and the very common greater kiskadee.

There were a few smaller birds like this yellow warbler

and yellow-green vireo

but otherwise there weren't a lot of warblers and the like.
As well as a wooded area, there was a small lake, partially dried up and fringed with water hyacinth. It didn't look too inviting but there were about 50 black-bellied whistling ducks and a few pairs of Muscovy ducks paddling around on it.

On the edges of the lake a pair each of spotted sandpipers and killdeer were searching out invertebrates  in the mud. One of the killdeer had a very narrow escape after three grackles chased it round the lake, presumably, bearing in mind their persistence, with the idea of having it for tea!

There were three species of herons, one each of great-blue heron,

great white egret and green heron. The green heron showed really well and displayed its curious throat.

It folds its gullet down into its neck so it can wind its neck on. When it yawns though this peculiar protuberance appears out its mouth!
An osprey fly had a fly round the lake twice searching out any easy prey. It never dived whilst we were there though.

Near the shore this rufous-collared sparrow, a bird we had shared breakfast with in our hotel dining room, was searching the grass for food.

Finally, I can't fail to mention the only mammal we saw, the variegated squirrel

They are a bit larger than out grey squirrels but have lovely multi-coloured coat. This can be, hence their name, quite variable in colour. They were real opportunists, trying on  one occasion to solicit food from one of the vendors setting up shop to sell to the people in the park.

Add onto this list both black and turkey vulture, tropical kingbird, clay-coloured thrush and a few more and we got to 33 species by the end of the day. Not a bad haul for a small city-centre park. Tomorrow though we are off to Tortugeuro on the coast where we should see some really spectacular birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Early start but should be well worth it.