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.