It was December 10th – half way though the tour and we were at Laguna Del Lagarto Lodge maybe our favorite lodge on the tour with Greg Homel and Natural Encounters Birding Tours. This was going to be an extraordinary day. A prime attraction at Laguna Del Lagarto is a blind where on a good day visitors can view the spectacular King Vultures up close as they are drawn in my cow or pig heads placed in front of a photo blind. They are almost guaranteed if the weather cooperated. There is a great viewing deck at the lodge and that is where we started our morning waiting for the vultures to arrive at the blind a short drive away. If there had been no King Vultures, our early morning at the deck would have made for a great day. Since we returned to the deck after several hours watching the King Vultures and I did not separate the lists, I am combining them here. Altogether we had 41 species with photos of 27. I am including many of them here.

Perhaps the best of the species seen early from the deck were the Great Curassows – both sexes being spectacular and with the “tiger” form of the female especially so. These are large charismatic birds with strong sexual dimorphism. I had just recently added Red Billed Curassow to my life list in Brazil. That was a cool bird but these Great Curassows were better yet.

If I had to choose a kind of bird that best says “tropics”, it would most likely be the toucan maybe adding in the toucanets and aracaris. If so then this was a great morning in the tropics as two species of toucan and an aracari showed off their stuff. None were lifers or life photos, but the trip would have been less without them.

If toucans aren’t the iconic species of the tropics, maybe parrots including Macaws and parakeets might be and they, too, were well represented at Laguna Del Lagarto that morning with a flyby Green Macaw, several Brown Hooded Parrots, and Red Lored and Mealy Amazons. And maybe not the icon but definitely a “wow” bird is the Montezuma Oropendola – which is a must see for the name if nothing else.

Oh yeah, and then there are the tanagers, another group of iconic tropical birds. Including the honeycreepers, there were 9 species that morning including a lifer Plain Colored Tanager.

I have seen Buff Throated Saltators more than 20 times, in 6 different countries, with many photos, but this is the first time I got a photo actually showing that buff breast. And a last photo before moving on to those King Vultures, the reason we were at this lodge, after all. That last photo is of a failure -not mine but of a pair of Russet Naped Wood Rails that tried to pair up and apparently did not have enough experience, because it just didn’t work.

I first saw a King Vulture in Belize in 2010. Distant – no photograph. I saw another in Peru in 2013 – distant – no photograph. I saw one in Ecuador in 2022 and again in 2024 – distant – no photograph. Earlier this year in Colombia I saw one and finally got a photo – distant but yes a photo. When Greg sent promotional material about this trip to Costa Rica, a fabulous photo of a King Vulture was one of the featured images – and there was essentially a guarantee that we would get close up views and great photo opportunities. December 10th was to be the day. We drove a short distance from the Lodge and walked 100 feet or so to a blind together with many other birders with expensive cameras and even more expensive lenses. In front of us were vultures – lots of vultures – mostly Black Vultures but as promised, as guaranteed, there were King Vultures as well. They were there because pig or cow heads had been strategically placed in small pits – drawing in the vultures from afar – endless photo ops for those of us fortunate enough to have paid the entrance fee to take in this natural/unnatural spectacle.

At about 2.5 feet tall and weighing up to 8 lbs. with a wingspan up to 6 feet, the King Vulture is a medium sized vulture, larger than the far more common Black and Turkey Vultures but significantly smaller than the American and Andean Condors and smaller than many of the African vultures. It is however the most colorful of the vultures and is very impressive in appearance. King Vultures dominate their smaller Western Hemisphere cousins but at this gathering place, they seemed to get along well. Photo ops of even the Black Vultures were great but without question, the King Vultures were the royalty at the show.

Given that it is very unlikely that I will ever have opportunities to see King Vultures this close and as well again, my comment that I would have been just as happy leaving a little earlier may be misunderstood, but the dozen or so King Vultures we saw were almost an overload and the photo ops were so numerous and constant that at the time, I thought more time looking for additional species would have been welcome.

That afternoon we birded on the grounds of the lodge and were stymied by a lot of heavy rain that made much more birding impossible. A few more species were added and these included reminders that many of the species that migrate to North America to breed in our spring and summer spend their winters in Central and South America. During our tour we would see several North American warblers. Most plentiful were Chestnut Sided, Tennessee, Prothonotary and Wilson’s Warblers and Northern Waterthrushes – heard often but seen only at Laguna Del Lagarto. Baltimore Orioles were also commonplace.

My last two photos to include from Laguna Del Lagarto are of “wood” species – a woodcreeper and a woodpecker. There are dozens of woodcreeper species in Central and South America, but we had only two species – Streak Headed and Cocoa. We did a little better with woodpeckers – with six species – all except Hoffman’s being photographed before.

Two more lodges remained on our itinerary – Tortuguero and Arenal. It was another long drive from Laguna Del Lagarto to Tortuguero National Park – normally 3.5 hours but longer for us due to a bridge closure, a wrong turn and again lots of traffic. Along the way, however, we had a lucky view of a pair of Great Green Macaws providing an opportunity for a life photo. The pair were distant and high in a tree and I was pleased and surprised to get the photos that I did. Once at the park, there was still a long way to go as we parked our car, transferred everything to a boat that would take us to our lodge 45 minutes away. With a late arrival, we birded a bit on the grounds of the lodge and walked out to the beach. Greg said we would return the next morning to find birds in the trees bordering the beach. There were none that afternoon and unfortunately none the next morning either.

On the morning of December 12th Cindy, Greg and I boarded a small motorized boat with local boatman, Jose for a long trip on the canals running through Tortuguero National Park. Unlike our boat rides on the Tarcoles River that started our trip, there were lots of other boats on the river/canals. They never interfered with our birding, but the feeling was quite different – an awareness that Costa Rica is a very popular eco-tourism area. The highlight of the trip on the water was probably our first sloth on the tour – a Two Toed Sloth. A highlight only because they are such unique animals, but definitely boring as we watched for many minutes as it basically hung upside down, mostly obscured by the leaves it was eating. We had 41 species with the only lifer being an Olive Crowned Yellowthroat that was a source of great frustration as it essentially remained hidden in tall grass with intermittent quick flights from one invisible spot to another. I got a picture, but it is so poor that I am too embarrassed to include it. A number of the species were heard only in the distance in the forest impossible to see from the water which was disappointing because several could have been life photos. The only worthwhile photos in addition to the Two Toed Sloth were of a Boat Billed Heron, a Northern Jacana that was so close to the boat that it was impossible to focus on it until it moved a bit away, and two distant Green Ibises in the canopy, the only ones I saw on the trip.

The boat trip was – pleasant – but from a wildlife and birding perspective quite disappointing. Back at the lodge, there was a lot of rain and no more birding. We would leave early the next morning on the same boat we had used the previous day – with all flaps up to protect us from the continuing rain. No birding or sightseeing along the way. We loaded back onto the car, a very nice and comfortable 4WD diesel that Greg had rented for the trip and then we were on our way to Arenal Observatory Lodge, our final lodge for the tour and one that I had been looking forward to both because I had visited it in 1997 and also because it had a very extensive bird list.

Maybe under better weather conditions it could have been otherwise, but to be honest, I felt that our visit to Tortuguero was a waste of time – precious time. It took far too many hours to get there on tough roads and the boat trip – taking a lot of time both ways – was merely a means of transportation – nothing more. And the birds were far too few, far too distant, far too “already seen” and far too “heard only”. The visit essentially consumed two days which I wish had been spent either at a different location or maybe allocated to more time at Arenal. The numbers tell the story. We essentially spent about 18% of our time there or getting to or from there. Our bird list for that time included only 16 new species, half of which were heard only and there was only the one lifer Olive Crowned Yellowthroat with the barely identifiable photo. The lodge accommodations were fine and my time there was at least somewhat productive as I was able to work on photos for several hours – where the rain did not matter. All trips have stops that are better or worse than others, but this one really ranked low on my “life list”.

We arrived at the Arenal Observatory Lodge midafternoon on December 13th and immediately had a problem. The Lodge is highly regarded, very popular, very birdy, with a good restaurant and beautiful grounds. It is not inexpensive. Our room was at the end of the hall on the second floor of the building that included the reception area. Our view was of the restaurant building with an ugly metal roof, some utility poles, a garbage area and a mess of “whatever”. It was the worst view of any at the lodge and frankly the worst view from any room I had been in any respectable lodge. And, another thing, one of the towels (there were only two) looked like it had been there since the lodge’s first days (well over 30 years ago) – frayed and worn. It took some doing and some added payment but Greg got us transferred to a lovely room in a well situated building located maybe a quarter mile from the main building. It had a beautiful view of the hummingbird garden and of the Arenal volcano (assuming the clouds parted to make it visible). After our relocation, we came back to the main building with the restaurant and a great viewing deck and birded for awhile adding some nice species and photos.

These included two lifers – Chestnut Headed Oropendola and Emerald Tanager and two life photos of species on the heard only list from the previous day, but now added as life photos – Gray Headed Chachalaca and White Collared Manakin. Not new by any means but one of the best photos and experiences of the whole tour was watching and photographing a Great Kiskadee catching and then consuming a gecko that I would have thought far too big for it to eat.

There was one other species of note that afternoon – a Brown Jay. I first saw a Brown Jay at Falcon Dam State Park in Texas in 1975. It was the only place in the United States where that was possible. No camera so no photo of course. I think the small population there remained for a few years and then there were no more until seen again in 2005, then 2010 and then again in a few places over the past few years. I would next see one with a life photo in Belize in 2010. This would be only my third observation and second photo. Certainly not new for the trip but a great photo op was of a Crested Guan very close.

Unfortunately the rain that had become a problem at Tortuguero haunted us at Arenal as well limiting our birding opportunities. On the morning of the 14th Cindy took a break and Greg and I searched for birds on the grounds at Arenal moving a little deeper into the forest drawn in by calls from a Thicket Antpitta, a lifer that we never could coax out of the “thicket”. We had better luck with a lifer Black Throated Wren that played hide and seek and never came completely into the open but at least gave us a peek and an OK photo. But other wrens were being little bastards as we also heard Band Backed Wren, Nightingale Wren and Stripe Breasted Wren, the latter two lifers and the first a potential life photo. We had better luck with a Black Cowled Oriole, one of those species that I had seen previously without a photo. At that point I was happy to get anything and even a so so photo of a lifer Dusky Antbird added to that feeling.

The final insult was a Black and Yellow Tanager another lifer that I got a quick glimpse of and thought I had gotten a photo – but I never found it. This happens in birding all the time but there is usually or at least often a consolation prize when good effort is put in. So there were some other photos repeats of ones taken earlier but at least one or two were better ones than those earlier ones – worth doing.

Rain continued to haunt us and Arenal delivered far fewer lifers and life photos than expected. With such disappointing weather maybe it would not have made any difference, but looking back the days “wasted” at Tortuguero may have produced more at Arenal. Maybe someday I will be back once more and find out. On the 15th we left Arenal and began our journey back to San Jose where we would depart on the 16th to return home. A couple more photos from Arenal – two of the hummingbirds we did see – but how I wish we could have found the Black Crested Coquette that was a possibility at Arenal

and was really hoped for.

I left Arenal Observatory Lodge with mixed feelings, at least partially a result of the poor weather which limited our birding opportunities. The bottom line was that despite having 60 species on the Ebird lists for the location, my expectations, perhaps too high had been for at least a different list – probably more species for sure – but especially for better observations since many of mine had been either heard only or barely seen. Fortunately Greg’s effort in improving our room situation was a major positive both because it was such a nice room itself and also because it got us out of the frankly awful initial room. I will be writing the Lodge expressing disappointment in that experience. The room should be turned into a storage room for the Lodge and NEVER used for any visitor – far below the standards that should be expected.

Our return to San Jose was pleasant with our first stop at the Sendero Bogarin – the Bogarin trail. We paid for entry and hung out at a small pond with some feeders near the entrance. I think the hope was that a crake would appear but that did not happen. There was also the possibility of the aforementioned Black Crested Coquette – again it did not happen. But there were a variety of birds. None were new but we had great looks at Red Legged and Green Honeycreepers, Bananaquits, Yellow Throated Euphonias and Orange Chinned Parakeets. We also had close views of several Russet Naped Wood Rails and a very interesting Bare Throated Tiger Heron which provided an exciting and suspenseful drama.

It soon became clear to us that the Bare Throated Tiger Heron was hunting. It positioned itself near the feeders that attracted as many as a dozen small birds (primarily Bananaquits, Honeycreepers and Euphonias). It would stand perfectly still with neck coiled ready to strike only to have the small birds fly off. It might then move around the pond but would return when the birds returned to the feeder. On perhaps the third time we watched it eyeing the small prey, it felt like this might be the time for action. Sure enough after a tiny visible repositioning movement it was like a lightning bolt extending its neck and grabbing a Euphonia. It then marched away with the Euphonia dangling in its bill, soon to be consumed. These photos capture some of the sequence as well as the Tiger Heron with its prize.

We continued our drive to San Jose with a very notable final stop at a very birdy “soda”. In Costa Rica these are convenient mom and pop roadside cafes serving simple homemade meals sometimes combined with souvenirs, convenience store items and most importantly bird feeders. A mirador is a lookout. Our stop was a combination of both – hence the Soda y Mirador Cinchona. It is a famous birding location in Costa Rica with well kept feeders and overlooking excellent natural forest and a view of a pretty cool waterfall.

We spent almost two hours at the Soda with a nice lunch and 20 birds coming in to show off. Included were a number of hummingbirds, most importantly for me a Black Bellied Hummingbird, my last lifer for the trip, a Coppery Headed Emerald which became a life photo, beautiful views of a Violet Sabrewing and a much improved photo of a Green Hermit. Finally there were three truly gorgeous birds – Red Headed Barbet, one of my true favorites – Prong Billed Barbet, a life photo – and Northern Emerald Toucanet – always gorgeous.

With the lifer species, the lifer photos and the gorgeous birds and the familiar down home comfort, the Soda and Mirador Cinchona was a perfect way to end our trip. We easily made it back to the Hampton Inn in San Jose and had a “Last Supper” at Denny’s. The next morning despite his staying in Costa Rica for yet more birding as he chased some special photo ops, Greg got up early to say goodbye as we caught the shuttle to the airport. This was Greg, through and through, ALWAYS accommodating, ALWAYS attentive and ALWAYS putting his clients first. I don’t know if our paths will cross again but hope there will be a chance to do so.

POSTSCRIPT: Time for a summary and reflection – some numbers, some reviews, some matters left out of these blog posts as they were written.

Numbers:

The numbers are the easiest – just pull them off of Ebird. We logged 238 species. I posted photos of 169 of them and expect I could have added maybe another 9 or so of species that either I took but ignored or did not bother taking. Those numbers are not important to me. There are three that are: New Lifers – 41; New Life Photos – 62; and 1211 – the number of species I had seen worldwide in 2025. It wasn’t important per se, but the species added on this trip brought my Costa Rica Life list to 300 – a pleasing round number.

As I expressed in the first blog post, I had hoped for both more new life photos and more lifers. My year end totals for each now stand at 4113 Lifers and 2833 Life Photos. I had already surpassed my “goal” of 4000 species on my life list after my Brazil trip in October. I knew I would not reach my goal of 3000 life photos in Costa Rica but had hoped to perhaps get to at least 2850 knowing that my planned trip to Thailand would probably produce 150 new photos. Unfortunately due to a lingering respiratory problem that came home with me from Costa Rica and still won’t admit full defeat, I have had to cancel that trip so the path to 3000 is uncertain.

It was through my quest to see more than 1000 species in a year in 2023, my first time to reach that goal, that I met Greg Homel as he led a short private tour for me in Mexico. I ended that year with 1095 species. In 2024 I beat that number seeing 1427 species and now I had passed the 1000 mark again with those 1211 species. Of course there is a lot of overlap with species seen in each of those years. I was curious how many species were seen combining the three years. That number is 2706 which is just under two-thirds of my total life list!!

Food, Lodging and Infrastructure

Cindy and I have been fortunate to have travelled to many countries in the past few years with very different approaches to food, tourism, lodging and travel in general. Without question from a culinary perspective, our “Wine and Birds Tour of Chile and Argentina” was the best and will most likely not be surpassed unless we do a similar tour to say South Africa or Portugal, both possibilities. The lodging on that trip was pretty great as well, but probably our favorite places to stay have been the lodges and camps in Africa, both Uganda and Tanzania. The room problem at Arenal aside which was vey well remedied, the lodging on this trip was just fine but a bit below the more lavish places we have stayed in Africa but also better than many of the places I have stayed on trips without Cindy elsewhere. Food ranged from pretty straightforward and good to better than that but we cannot say there was anything especially “Costa Rican” that was compelling. We had several good steaks and hamburgers and nice fish but again nothing memorable. I should stress however, that people were great everywhere, with excellent service, genuine smiles and an eagerness to interact with us foreigners. English is spoken almost everywhere within the tourism sector. We also always felt safe and as mentioned before although the roads and traffic were often abominable, we never had intersections with the Policia or road stops, which have been stressful in some other countries. The airport at San Jose was easy to use with very efficient processing at customs and immigration. We wish there had been a bigger presence of quality crafts/art either on the road or at the airport, but we saw no sense of that – lots of “pura vida” souvenirs and of course duty free shops, but we saw nothing of interest to bring home to remember the trip. I also need to say that there are many parts of the Costa Rica Eco-tourism world that were not of interest to us on this trip – no hiking, climbs, rafting, ziplining, ballooning, kayaking, swimming, beach or poolside activities. Costa Rica offers much that was just not what we were interested in but are very popular and heavily used by others.

Quality not Quantity:

With the exception of missing some very cool hummingbirds and as said earlier, maybe hoping for more species seen, the quality of birding and especially bird photography on the trip was sensational. This is Greg Homel’s forte and was part of the planning in setting the itinerary from the start. I continue to learn a lot from Greg on camera settings and details that go into higher quality bird photography. He was great with beginner Cindy as well. His choice of locations, boat trips, hiring local guides and accessing private blinds were all critical parts of the tour with wonderful results. Of course Costa Rica cooperated by showing us some truly spectacular birds: hummingbirds, tanagers, parrots and their relatives, quetzals and trogons, waders and numerous other tropical specialties. The photos from the trip have been the heart and soul of these blog posts, so readers can come to their own conclusions about quality. More related to subject matter and opportunities than to my skill in taking advantage of those opportunities, we were fortunate to get many of the photos we did.

Non-Birding Photos:

I may later go back and insert photos of people and places – mostly from Cindy’s phone – and probably should include some mammal and reptile photos taken but not used so far. But this was not a trip with many of those opportunities. We saw a couple of species of monkeys, some iguanas, crocodiles and caimans, some squirrels, a few agoutis and lots of coatimundis but no snakes, no frogs and very few butterflies or insects of note – somewhat surprisingly. There were mosquitos and some flies and I got a number of bites on my hands but no chiggers or ticks or anything serious. Tropical forests were beautiful but there was little that grabbed us from a scenery perspective – honestly not unlike much of the tropics. It was the birds that drew our attention and also delivered.

Bottom line a great trip with a great guide and great birds. It was nice to be back!

In April 1997 I visited Costa Rica with my family. The itinerary was put together by a company I had found online – in for me the early days of “online” – called Wilderness Adventures or something like that. I had been birding off and on for the past 25 years but my only bird focused international birding trip had been to Trinidad in 1978 with three Seattle area friends. I had also birded for a day in Hong Kong in 1979 and had also “seen some birds” on fishing trips to Argentina and Kiribati in 1989. This trip would not focus on birds, but Costa Rica is a very bird rich country and we would be visiting some great lodges including Monteverde, Tiskita Jungle Lodge and Arenal lodge. There would be birds.

I did not have a camera in 1997 and while I certainly paid attention to listing the species I saw, I was not really into the drive for an increased life list and there was no thought of photography and “life photos”. For at least part of the trip we had a naturalist that accompanied us and a driver that took us between places. We saw lots of scenery, mountains, a coffee plantation and frogs and butterflies in addition to birdlife and probably some mammals. I remember it as a fun trip with my wife, daughter who had just turned 13 and son who was turning 9. No real specific memories but there was a bird list that named 151 species including some pretty cool ones: 13 hummingbird species, trogons, Resplendent Quetzal, toucans, toucanets, parrots and their allies and many tanagers among others.

My next international trip would be a one day excursion in Hungary which I was visiting in 2002 with my daughter serving as a part time chaperone to the Seattle Youth Symphony. Still no camera but I was at least aware of a “life list” and after that day, that list would be nearing 1000. Next was a 3 week solo trip to Australia in 2003, not exclusively about the birds but with a definite focus and a hope to add species to my growing life list but still no photos and no camera. More than 250 species were seen on that very enjoyable trip and I was now looking forward to international birding trips as part of my birding life. When I joined a Victor Emanuel Nature Tours trip to Kenya in 2005, I was keen on listing and had bought a point and shoot zoom camera. My photo life list had begun.

I can now look back over the ensuing 20 years with more than 20 international trips with many wonderful birds and many bird photos, some wonderful and some not so wonderful. Building my life list of birds observed and also birds photographed has been a driving force in this passion/hobby providing many thousand hours of enjoyment and definitely some frustration as well. 2025 was a very busy and full year with bird focused trips to Japan, Colombia, and Brazil in addition to a day of birding in Amsterdam on a broader based visit. After Brazil, my life list had passed 4000, my goal, and I had photos of more than 2800 species – within striking distance of my self important goal of 3000 photos. If only I had taken photos on those earlier trips to Trinidad, Hungary, Australia and Costa Rica, 3000 would have easily been reached. I of course hoped to have more international trips to new places in the future, and in fact had scheduled a trip to Thailand in January 2026 (more on that later) but two photo rich opportunities from the past screamed for attention.

Return trips to Costa Rica and Australia would easily yield at least 300 new photos and both places were great places to visit. Cindy had been to Australia before meeting me and before birds were any part of her life. It requires a long stay, but we had talked about it and were interested. She had never been to Costa Rica but based on her enjoyment of a trip together to Ecuador, I was pretty sure she would enjoy it. In 2023 I had birded in Mexico with Greg Homel (Natural Encounters Birding Tours) with great birds, many photos and lots of fun. Greg had guided extensively in Costa Rica (and almost everywhere else) and was available in December, so we booked a trip. The remainder of this and subsequent blog posts covers that tour.

A cloud hung over our lives in early November. Our wonderful beautiful dog, Chica, was no longer with us. She had been going downhill for a while, losing her energy and struggling with what had been easy day to day activities. A listless and confused visit to our local dog park convinced us it was time. She was a brave girl but she was suffering. We said goodbye but were pained by the loss and both saddened and made happy by her memory. Maybe a trip would be a good distraction.

Greg Homel is an amazing naturalist, bird guide and photographer. Cindy was beginning to engage with photography and I asked Greg to design a trip that would cater to those needs. A longer trip would have included visits to more areas and brought us more birds, but we limited the trip to under two weeks and included several boat trips that would be bird and photo rich and very appealing. I of course still wanted to add species to my life list and especially to get photos of species seen but not photographed in 1997 but the emphasis would not be on numbers. We flew from Seattle to San Jose on December 3rd with a stopover in Dallas arriving very early on the morning of the 4th. We took the shuttle from the airport to the Hampton Inn San Jose and got some sleep. We would have the entirety of the 4th to acclimatize before Greg would join us that night and then we would formally start the tour on December 5th.

The Hampton Inn was actually quite pleasant, recently remodeled, definitely convenient and surrounded by some trees and landscaping. Given its location near the airport and some industrial surroundings, we were surprised by the number of birds there including lots of roosting Crimson Fronted Parrots. It did not at first sound like a positive, but there was a Denny’s just across the street. Not gourmet fare, but easy and acceptable quality, it was our lunch and dinner spot. Better than Denny’s we see in the U.S. On December 4th waiting for Greg to arrive and before our first meal at that Denny’s I wandered the grounds at the Hampton Inn and had some of those familiar birds that always seem to be there in the tropics as well as getting photos of two that I had seen many years ago on that earlier Costa Rica trip before photos were important. The familiar species were Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, White Winged Dove, Tropical Mockingbird, Rufous Collared Sparrow and Great Tailed Grackle. The new photos were of Rufous Backed Wren and Crimson Fronted Parakeet.

Before embarking on my bird trips, I make a “Targets List” which identifies potential new life birds as well as potential new life photos – which of course includes all those potential lifers as well. Since this trip to Costa Rica was chosen in large part because of photos I had missed in 1997 in my pre-camera visit, I paid particular attention to the list of species seen on that trip for which I did not have a photo. That list was of 57 species. This is a good time to point out that although I had seen 151 photo-less species on that earlier trip, as I left for this trip, I was only missing photos of 57 – the difference coming from having gotten photos of many of those species on my many later trips to the tropics from Mexico through all of South America. Since we would not be visiting the same areas I visited in 1997 I knew that many of the desired photos would be unlikely or impossible. Perhaps unrealistically, I hope to get at least 35 of those photos. A disappointment for the trip was that I only got photos of 19 of them. There were also 32 photos of new lifers, but since I doubt I will return again to Costa Rica, those misses will continue to hurt.

Greg arrived late on December 4th joining us for dinner at that nearby Denny’s. It was a reunion for me and a new friend for Cindy. We kicked around the hotel grounds at dusk fascinated by the hundreds of Crimson Fronted Parakeets coming in to roost. It would be a typical early start the next morning after a decent buffet breakfast at the hotel. We birded several spots in the morning including at a bridge over the Tarcoles River where we saw our first Crocodiles, some waders, and I got a life photo of a Hoffman’s Woodpecker, one of those seen without a photo species from 1997.

The highlight of the morning though was visiting a stakeout for some roosting Spectacled Owls. Owls are always highlights and the Spectacled Owl, a lifer, was one of the top species on my want list for the trip. It was not completely in the open, so we had to work for photos, but Cindy and I were both pleased with our results. Other great photos were our first of the spectacular Scarlet Macaw and a pair of Streak Backed Orioles.

On my birding trip in Jalisco, Mexico in 2023, highlights included two boat trips. These trips always provided great photo ops with the ability to get close to species along the route. Cindy and I had great boat trips in Uganda last year and I knew she would enjoy them in Costa Rica. Greg planned two trips on the Tarcoles River with our first on the afternoon of the 5th. It was a great trip. Barely a few minutes into our voyage, our boat pulled up next to a sand bar and we spent the next 20 minutes their reveling in a show with changing characters as our boatman brought in many species responding to fish bits that he tossed onto the land and into the water providing great changes to photograph them in flight, still and interacting. Among the species seen at this one spot were Crested and Yellow Headed Caracaras, Great Egret, Common Black Hawk, Great Blue Heron and Roseate Spoonbill. Later on the river we would add other waders: Yellow and Black Crowned Night Herons, Little Blue, Tricolored, and Boat Billed Herons, Bare Throated Tiger Heron, Wood Stork, Snowy and Western Cattle Egrets, and White Ibis.

Boat trips also provide great opportunities for seeing kingfishers – we had Amazon, American Pygmy and Ringed – and many other species including a lifer Mangrove Hummingbird, expertly located by our boatman. Not a rarity but a cool photo was of Hudsonian Whimbrels perched on a snag midstream – very different from the habitats where I generally see them.

Back at the lodge after our float we had another lifer owl expertly located just a short walk from the driveway – Pacific Screech Owl. Earlier we had heard but failed to locate a Black and White Owl, a real beauty that I had seen with Greg Homel on the first night of our trip there in 2023. As we walked towards the Pacific Screech Owl, we flushed a Pauraque, a common nightjar found in the U.S. near the Mexico border and then throughout Central America. My picture is NOT worth sharing.

The next morning we would be returning to the Tarcoles River for another boat ride. The previous day we had traveled to the mouth of the river and this time we would be venturing downstream. In the few minutes of dusk at the lodge, we added a lifer Turquoise Browed Motmot to our bird list. Given the low light and the short time it remained perched, I should be happy with any photo, but it is a real beauty and I wish the photo was better. It was the sixth lifer so far.

There wouldn’t be as many species or as many photo ops on the river this morning but without question, it was reptiles that were the show stoppers as we had vey close encounters with several large crocodiles. One was estimated to be 18 feet long with an enormous head and very sharp teeth. As we maneuvered the boat immediately alongside one that seemed in deep torpor, I was tempted to reach over and touch it. Cindy quickly talked me out of that temptation.

We again encountered many waders on the journey but unlike the previous day, we also had many shorebirds including a pair of Wilson’s Plovers, a species I first saw in Texas then amazingly in my home state of Washington and seldom otherwise. All told eight shorebird species. Towards the end of the trip we came upon a tree filled with Magnificent Frigatebirds, reminiscent of the close encounters we had in the Galapagos in 2024. The puffed out red air sacs of the males showed they were “in the mood”.

Back at the lodge in the afternoon after a brief rest following lunch, we got to see and photograph a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, had more killer looks at Scarlet Macaws and had a very cooperative Lineated Woodpecker perch on a stump just below us. I also got photos of Cinnamon Hummingbird and Stripe Headed Sparrow, a species I had only seen and photographed previously with Greg in Puerto Vallarta. Unfortunately I somehow missed a photo of a lifer Blue Vented Hummingbird.

Later that evening the local guide at the lodge who specialized in owls, located the Black and White Owl providing excellent views in the open and fairly low in its tree. It is a real beauty – seen by me only once before.

We would be moving on the next day but first had time to watch the many hummingbirds coming in to the feeders as well as a great mix of other species in and around the lodge. Hummingbirds included Lesser Violetear, Talamanca Hummingbird, Fiery Throated Hummingbird, White Throated Mountain Gem, Volcano Hummingbird, Scintillant Hummingbird, Ruby Throated Hummingbird and Green Breasted Mango. All except the Violetear and the Ruby Throated Hummingbird were lifers and/or life photos!!

Other new species were Laughing Falcon, Gartered Violaceous and Black Headed Trogons, Rose Throated and White Winged Becards, Yellow Naped Amazon, Black Crowned Tityra, Yellow Throated Euphonia and Red Crowned Woodpecker among others.

We had a long drive to get to our next lodge, Paraiso Quetzal Lodge at an elevation of over 9000 feet. Some words about driving in Costa Rica. Bottom line, it was awful. Although some roads have improved, they have not kept up with the dramatic increase in automobiles and travel times are ridiculous. It would almost always take at least an hour to go 40 kilometers, an average speed of about 25 mph. This was in large part due to the many slow trucks but was made worse by insufficient passing areas and in my opinion very poor drivers who were especially poor at passing or letting others pass. We spent far too much time on the road taking away from birding opportunities. Costa Rica is mountainous with twisting curvy roads and another problem was that far more than I remembered in other recent birding trips in Central and South America, there just weren’t good opportunities to pull off and bird along the road.

At such a high elevation, it got really cold at the lodge. Rooms had no heat. Hot water bottles were available (and well received) but the main source of warmth was many layers (4 or 5) of blankets. Bearable but I wish I had brought another warm layer. But the birding was great. The morning of December 8th was definitely a highlight of the trip as we visited a private lek where Resplendent Quetzals put on quite a show. It started dark and cold but it was a thrill when the first quetzal made an appearance not more than 10 minutes after we arrived. Lighting improved and there were many fine photo ops. If anything I felt we stayed there too long (over two hours) as Greg emphasized flight shots and the possibility that the next one would be better than the preceding one. I would have preferred moving on an hour earlier and trying for some other species. But definitely no complaint about the photos and views that we got.

Later back at the lodge I added several lifers with life photos adding to a very productive morning.

Two more lifers were found and photographed that afternoon – the spectacular Golden Browed Chlorophonia and the Black Billed Nightingale Thrush. I also heard but never got a look at a Ruddy Capped Nightingale Thrush – another lifer.

A special blind was available to hire at Quetzal Paraiso Lodge which provided views of feeders on the ground that were loaded with corn meal. The previous day we had a partial distant view of the feeders from outside the blind and saw some Buffy Crowned Wood Partridge – an exceedingly difficult species to see – usually on forest roads in the morning. Greg immediately decided to reserve some time in the blind the next morning. It was a great decision as not only did the Wood Partridge return but we earlier had a small flock of equally hard to see Spotted Wood Quail – both were lifers. We also had great looks at Yellow Thighed Brushfinch, another lifer in addition to life photos of Scarlet Rumped Tanager and Olive Backed Euphonia and more great hummingbird photo ops.

We had another long drive (4.5 hours) to get to our next lodging – Laguna del Lagarto Lodge. We arrived too late for any birding but had a very welcomed surprise as there was a known Crested Owl roost on the property. A spectacular owl, Cindy and I had seen a pair of them at Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorean Amazon in 2023.

The owl was species #160 for the trip. We were less than half way through the adventure. This seems like a good place to end this first blog post for the trip.