15th February 2021
This was my view from Bolita Rainforest Hostel that I woke up to every morning looking east over the forest towards Pavon Bay. In the first twenty minutes of arriving at the hostel, almost the first bird that I observe are 2 male Turquoise Continga and at the same time in the next valley to the south, I can hear a Wattled Bellbird.
After eight days in the rainforest with no wifi, the headlines on my twitter account is that one of my all time artist, Mark Lanegan, passed away today, 23rd Feb, at 57! The grunge rock artist is one of my top notch performers that I’ve been following for years and fortunate enough to see him live. He’s approved and got better and better over the years as a solo artist and working with others. Also was the front man for ‘Queens of the Stone Age’ and has worked with everyone. And everyone that he’s performed with, I also follow from Unkle, Maggie Bjerklund, Nancy Wilson, PJ Harvey, Duke Garwood, Chelsea Wolfe and he did an album with Isabel Campbell, just to name a few. I always looked forward to what his next project was goin to be and who with and his last piece of work was the song that he wrote himself ‘The Lonely Nights’ with Moby and sang it with Kris Kristofferson. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, did a very moving tribute to the Lanegan this evening during a gig he was doin.
Where do I start? What can I say about Bolita Rainforest Hostel? I can’t recommend this hostel enough where I stayed at for the last eight days. If you’re birding in the SW Costa Rica and you’re on a budget, then staying here won’t just save your pocket at £10 a night, but you will also see so many and hard to get species, thanks to the 15km of trails connected to the hostel. But just in the garden alone, I managed to count over 70 species without spending that much time in there due to being out in the field or relaxing in a hammock. Some of the highlights from the garden included Turquoise Cotinga, Orange-collared and Red-capped Manakin and on three different occasions, I heard Wattled Bellbird. While every day, Little Tinamou were very vocal and at night, it was Crested Owl that took over with Common Pauraque.
As for the hostel itself, it’s basic, with fresh spring sourced potable water and is run on solar panels and batteries. There are four buildings, two kitchens, no fridge, living area and upstairs Common Room, toilets and showers and two separate dorms with mossy nets. Hammocks are spread out all over the shop and I probably spent more time relaxing in them instead of getting in the field as much as I should have, maybe. But that’s what I was there for, to chill out and enjoy the environment that I was so fortunate to make my home for a short while. The trails are well marked and maintained leading to waterfalls and stunning views at various elevations of primary and secondary forest. The 61 hectors of the Golfo Dulce Rainforest Reserve on the Osa Peninsula, backs onto the Corcovado National Park which spreads out west and north all the way to the Pacific Coast.
Here is a link to the hostels website that I highly recommend for only £10 a night!! http://www.bolita.org/index.html
Kitchen with hammocks on right
Living area with upstairs common room
One of the dorms where I slept in
From Puerto Jimenez, where I stayed for four days, for £14, it’s a thirty minute taxi north of the town. I was dropped off in the village of Dos Brazos and from there I had to struggle as I crossed the River Tigre and entered the rainforest. Following a track climbing higher in the humidity for nearly forty five minutes with a week’s shopping, including a large watermelon! I also had my small heavy backpack on and nearly died when I finally made it to Bolita Rainforest Hostel. But it was well worth the effort. The hostel is based in primary rainforest with a small garden overlooking the rainforest to the east and beyond that, the sea and immediately I spotted a Black-tailed Flycatcher and 2 Rufous-tailed Jacamar. Good start, but there were two target species I was hoping to encounter and with in twenty minutes of arriving I got both of them, sort of anyways. I couldn’t believe my luck when 2 male Turquoise Cotinga dropped in briefly in a tall tree above me!! And at the same time I could hear a Wattled Bellbird to the south in the next valley!! With the Cotinga already in the bag, in the next ten minutes it was followed by a Bentbill and doves and pigeons. A pair Blue-ground Dove and 2 Grey-chested Dove and at the same time, there were 2 vocal Short-billed Dove nearby.
2 stunning male Turquoise Cotinga dropped into the garden in the first twenty minutes of me arriving at the hostel
Bentbill showed well in the garden
Black-tailed Flycatcher
A pair of Rufous-tailed Jacamar were hanging out in the small garden
A pair of Blue Ground Dove in the same tree as the jacamars including this female
With Grey-chested Dove as well I found out later that this was the commonest dove in the area
Other species moving through included the more common birds that I’m used to seeing most days elsewhere. Mistletoe Tyrannulet Shinning and Red-legged Honeycreeper, Tennessee and Chestnut-sided Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo, Golden-hooded, Blue-Grey and Cherry-rumped Tanager and a single Paretic Flycatcher. Overhead, a single Swallow-tailed Kite and there were a small group of Costa Rican Swift and as night fell, Common Pauraque started to kick off all over the shop with a distance Crested Owl.
Mistletoe Tyrannulet
So in the first hour of being at the hostel, I’ve already added six new species just from the garden and without even trying. Two heard only and one of them was the Wattled Bellbird that I’m goin to make an effort to try and connect with while I’m here. For the next week this will be my home. Up here your cut off from wifi and charging laptop or batteries is a challenge as the power doesn’t work sometimes. However, I’ve already decided I might stay longer. Well that was until someone just shouted ‘There’s a rat in the box in the kitchen!
I’ve lost count of how many times over the years I’ve tried to make folks aware of millions of Russian dirty money donated to the Tory Party on my blog, FB and Twitter.
Fool Of The Week – Liz Truss And Russian Donations!
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