White eared Ground Sparrow, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 21, 2022
Blue vented Hummingbird, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
Azure hooded Jay, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
Magenta throated Woodstar, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
The whole day was not totally lost as I was able to track down a Cabanis’s Ground Sparrow in a small wood lot behind a Wal Mart about a half a mile from my hotel. It is a known spot for this rather rare and unique species. The hotel also hosted a large roost site for Crimson fronted Parakeets that noisily fill the palm trees every evening.
Orange billed Nightingale Thrush, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Jan 21, 2022
Golden olive Woodpecker, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Jan 21, 2022
Northern barred Woodcreeper, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Jan 21, 2022
Lesson's Motmot, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Jan 21, 2022
White eared Ground Sparrow, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Jan 21, 2022
On Friday the 21st I made the trip up to the Monteverde area in the northern mountains to spend six nights and try to salvage something out of all this Covid mess. The ride took a bit over three hours with a thirty minute delay due to road construction. I stayed at La Casa De la Montana in the town of Santa Elena. I made a walk around town to get supplies and then spent some time late in the afternoon poking around the small area of woods around my lodging and ran across some good birds (most in the area of an army ant swarm). The highlight was a lifer White eared Ground Sparrow (my second ground sparrow lifer in as many days). The weather in the area was quite breezy but warmer than I expected. Rain came in around sunset and I just managed to make it back from dinner before the deluge started.
Chestnut capped Warbler, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
Long tailed Manakin, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
Blue vented Hummingbird, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
Agouti, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
Slate throated Redstart, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
Hook billed Kite, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
Golden browed Chlorophonia, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 22, 2022
On Saturday I explored some areas within walking distance with a large portion of my morning spent at Santuario Ecologico covering several trails over almost four hours. Among the highlights there was a lifer (Blue vented Hummingbird) and a large variety of warblers (ten species) plus great looks at a variety of other species. I added another lifer while walking the local area with two flyby Red fronted Parrotlets. I walked a few other areas after a lunch break but didn’t find too much. The wind was yet again an ongoing issue in tracking down birds. I did have a few close mammal encounters for the day with multiple White faced Capuchin Monkeys near my lodging and some vary tame Agoutis.
Cinnamon bellied Saltator, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 23, 2022
Hoffman's Woodpecker, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 23, 2022
Ovenbird, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 23, 2022
Rainbow, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 23, 2022
Brown Jay, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 23, 2022
Sunday was another day of covering areas nearby on foot and I headed back to Santuario Ecologico where I spent a few hours. Before I got there I had a nice selection of species on the road in the preserve where I had a lifer Nutting’s Flycatcher. The preserve itself was a bit more quiet than the day before but I did find a number of new species for the trip including a very uncooperative Kentucky Warbler. The rest of the morning was spent trying to figure out a flight home. In the afternoon I walked around the neighborhood.
Azure hooded Jay, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
Buff fronted Quail Dove, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
Costa Rican Warbler, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
Ochraceous Wren, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
On Monday I hired a guide and we went out birding with a early meeting time of 5:30. It was a very windy and cool morning (coldest one yet for the trip). With the targets I was still after in mind we decided on going to the lower part of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. We got there before it opened at seven and birded around the gates before paying the admission fee and heading into the reserve. Even before we made it into the preserve proper I had picked a lifer with a Magenta throated Woodstar. Once in the reserve we walked one of the trails and over the course of the next three plus hours I picked up three more lifers including Prong billed Barbet, Azure hooded Jay and Chiriqui Quail Dove. We had to work hard to get these as the chilly conditions and the wind kept activity quite low. The preserve is a super popular spot and I was surprised at the number of people around. As we looked for our target species we also came across some other stuff and I got some photos of species I had seen before but not photographed.
Rufous collared Sparrow carrying food, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
Magenta throated Woodstar, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
Pale billed Woodpecker, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
Townsend's Warbler, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 24, 2022
The day eventually warmed up and the wind died down and the late morning into the afternoon ended up being the most pleasant one so far with lighter winds and no on/off light rain or drizzle. I walked quite a bit along the road and picked up quite a few birds along the way and got some photos of a number of good species.
Kentucky Warbler, Santuario Ecológico, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 25, 2022
Keel billed Toucan, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 25, 2022
Baltimore Oriole, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 25, 2022
On the morning of Tuesday the 25th I got a notice that my quarantine time was up (I never got notification of how long it would be so had to guess by looking online and that information pointed toward 10 days and possibly more). I was happy to start planning my escape back to the cold north. With all the details to be worked out I picked Thursday as the day to make my flight back home. I had to change my flight, hotels, and try to get a doctors note saying I recovered from Covid just in case my new Covid test came back positive again. The day turned out to be sunny almost the entire day and the wind almost became calm by later morning. I decided to spend my last full day in Monteverde seeing how many warblers I could turn up over the course of the day and managed a total of 13. I visited the nearby Santuario Ecologico once again early in the morning (which became my 37,000th complete eBird checklist!) and then spent the rest of my day (in between working out details of the trip home) exploring a few spots around the town of Santa Elena.
Rufous and White Wren, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 26, 2022
Northern Emerald Toucanet, La Casa de la Montana, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 26, 2022
Golden winged Warbler, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 26, 2022
Gray headed Chachalaca, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 26, 2022
Looking toward ocean, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Jan 26, 2022
I had a few hours free in the morning before making the trek back to San Jose and I walked the road up toward the cloud forest preserve as well as a few areas in the neighborhood with the goal of turning up a Sunbittern. Nothing particular unusual (no sunbittern) but nice to stretch my legs before the long journey home.
Overall for the trip I found 270 species with 10 life birds bringing my total to 1674. My Costa Rica lists now stands at 537 (14 new species added on this trip). Life birds seen included Scaly throated Leaftosser, Cabanis's Ground Sparrow, White eared Ground Sparrow, Red fronted Parrotlet, Blue vented Hummingbird, Nutting's Flycatcher, Azure hooded Jay, Prong billed Barbet, Magenta Throated Woodstar and Chiriquí Quail Dove.
Link to all the photos: Costa Rica January 2022
Link to more details on warblers for the entire trip: Costa Rica warbler January 2022
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