In May, Holbrook Ambassador Debbie Jordan joined a group of Holbrook Explorers on a birding expedition in Costa Rica.
Accompanied by their Costa Rica guide David Mora, they spent time in and around the Maquenque National Wildlife Refuge in the Caribbean lowlands and in the cloud forests of the Tilarán Highlands. Enjoy these photos from their trip!
The birding got off to a good start right away! Here we have the resident Lesson's Motmot at Hotel Bougainvillea, a Red-legged Honeycreeper (a popular favorite), a Red-headed Barbet at Cinchona, and a Scarlet-rumped Tanager displaying. This time of year, there is so much breeding activity to witness!
Our guide David Mora is incredibly knowledgeable at age 27. He’s from Sarapiquí and has been guiding for 9 years now. David is a master of bird sounds. His unique ability to mimic bird calls with uncanny accuracy has earned him the nickname "Bird Whistler."
Here he is demonstrating digiscoping, along with a digiscoped image of another Hotel Bougainvillea resident, the Mottled Owl.
Mirador Cinchona has upgraded their space since the last time I was there. It's huge in there now.
They still have delicious lunch cooked on a wood fire, and you can't beat the view. This Silver-throated Tanager and female Green Hermit were among the many birds we saw here.
In addition to birds, we saw some interesting insects. This giant moth in the upper left is a Lebeau's silk moth at Boca Tapada. The spots are transparent!
In the lower left are a pair of longwing butterflies at The Nest Nature Center, where we also saw White-collared Manakins lekking one morning.
On the right is a katydid. Katydids are incredibly camouflaged, right down to the brown spot making it look exactly like a leaf. They look like aliens!
The King Vulture experience at Boca Tapada was unforgettable. They are such strange-looking birds. You can also see some Black Vultures in the mix.
At Canto del Rio, we ran into our longtime friend, Edwin Ramírez. Behind us is the 58-acre cattle pasture he purchased 28 years ago. It's an incredible example of how tropical forests can come back in one generation—there’s hope for the future! It’s adjacent to a cloud forest reserve, so it was reseeded naturally; they did not replant. After much education, the community of San Ramón is catching on to the importance of ecotourism.
On the right, we're looking at a sunbittern nest. Wowza!
And here's a close-up of the Sunbittern on her nest. The babies are about to fledge!
Enjoying a boat ride on the San Carlos River. ¡¡¡!Pura vida!
Photos by Debbie Jordan
