Costa Rica Day 38

13th February 2022

I only wished this Swallow-tailed Kite hung around for just a little while longer instead of goin straight through

This morning, for the first time since arriving in Costa Rica, I was late in getting up. I stayed in bed until gone 07.00 and after breakfast, I wasn’t in any rush. So just before 10.00, I braved the humid conditions with no idea where I was goin. I never really plan anythin but ended up following the road south towards the river, Rio Plantanares that is less than two miles away. I had only been ten minutes away from my digs and it started to open up with fields and raptors. In the space of twenty minutes of standing still and looking skywards, I counted up to five species. A Roadside Hawk was at the side of the road while at the same time, a pair were displaying briefly. A single Yellow-headed and Crested Caracara, Great Black Hawk and the icing on the cake, a low flying Swallow-tailed Kite. Ahead of me, boarding the road, were a row of tall trees and a stop underneath paid off on the first bird I put my eyes on. A female Rose-throated Becard. It stayed up high in the canopy but at head hight I was focused on getting close range views of the usual suspects that I come across daily. Yank warblers and vireos with also a single Southern Beardless Tyrannulet and Cocoa Woodcreeper. In the garden opposite were a couple of Dark-striped Sparrow and in a small shrub was the becard! However, it never showed out in the open and ended up flying deeper into the garden out of sight.

Although pretty common in the area, this Southern Beardless Tyrannulet was a first for myself

Roadside Hawk

Yellow-headed Caracara

This Great Black Hawk was a new species

I’ve only seen a distant flock of Swallow-tailed Kite on my first visit to Costa Rica and also the two dots high up that I had yesterday. So really this was like a new species I guess as it gave crippling flight views

As this female Rose-throated Becard spent most of it’s time high up in the canopy, I took the opportunity of when it very briefly came lower and this was the result before it returned to the tree tops again.

Further south, down the road and it was over an hour later that in the same tree, I managed to get two new species. Mangrove Cuckoo that showed off superbly and while rattling off the camera, a pair of Spot-crowned Euphonia dropped in briefly. It was now mid-afternoon and I finally reached the river. Nearby, of note, there were a male White-winged Becard, Riverside Wren and a pair of Black-crowned Tityra. Although I wanted to continue walking towards the sea, I couldn’t stand the heat anymore and turned around and made the treck back. As I moved slightly quicker, like it only took me over an hour to the hostel, as expected, I didn’t really see much. There were a small flock of Costa Rican Swift and the highlight was a Tiger Rat Snake that showed it’s head very well before retreating.

My first Mangrove Cuckoo showed off at close range in trees bordering the road

Another first, in the same tree as the cuckoo, were up to 4 Spot-crowned Euphonia

At least some 7 Yellow-throated Vireo with only a single Philadelphia Vireo seen

Good numbers of Chestnut-sided Warbler in the area

What a corker this Black and White Warbler is

A new species of swift were a small flock of Costa Rican Swift

I was fortunate to come across this Tiger Rat Snake just off the road

The last leg of the road I was following before I turned around and returned to my digs.

Deema Wawe, only 12 years old, the youngest Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails. Can you imagine this? No matter what the reason is, a child with this age shouldn’t suffer such abuse. Children of Palestine are unprotected and being abused by all means all the time and no one cares. This is a critical situation against children that the world horribly ignores. You visit Israeli apartheid state, then you help fund this child and others getting abused and put in cells. Some in there for the rest of their childhood