16th February - Kura Day Two, Uvita, Costa Rica

The rain of yesterday eased during the evening, but in the middle of the night I could hear the rain and it was raining when we woke up, and when we went for breakfast we were greeted with this view.

This was a good view, at times it was a complete white out.  We questioned our trip whale watching and eventually we were told it could be postponed to the following day.  The rest of the morning it rained and the cloud came and went.  It wasn't until about 13:30 that the rain eased and the clouds started to drift away.  Looking out across the view and to the ocean there were still pockets of cloud about.

I went back to our room to get my camera and as I came back there was a Yellow-headed Caracara sitting in the Palm tree.  I have seen them here before so this wasn't a surprise

Calls from the trees belonged to a Golden-naped Woodpecker, this one a male.

The cloud was lifting and with it the vultures started to appear on the slopes, Turkey and Black Vultures were suddenly everywhere as if the end of the rain was a signal to get on out there.

In our last two visits here one bird was very special and I was scanning across the trees below and eventually I found one, the King Vulture.  Distant, but unmistakeable.

It drifted to the north and eventually settled on what seemed to be a usual perch.  I was looking through the telescope and was able to get a photo through it.

The birds of prey were about now, this a Crested Caracara, larger than the Yellow-headed Caracara.

I picked up a King Vulture once again amongst a group of Turkey Vultures.  It was soaring using the thermales and very slowly was making its way close towards me.

There are four species of vulture that call Costa Rica home. All four species have a lot in common. They spend most of their time soaring through the skies, they eat dead stuff and they lack feathers on their head and neck. They King Vulture does all of that, but with style.

The King Vulture’s name in Spanish is zopilote rey (so-pee-low-te ray) which translates to King Vulture. So, both languages agree that they are the king of the vultures. They earn their name by being bigger than all of the other vultures in Costa Rica. They come in at 32 inches tall, between 6 and 10 pounds, with a wingspan of up to 7 feet. They’re big birds.

The King Vulture disappeared below me and was almost immediately replaced by the Crested Caracara once again.  The beauty of this location is that the birds of Prey can pass at eye level or just below you.

It flew straight at me showing really well.

A distinctive call could be hear, it was a loud whistle "weh-weh-WEEew"  The owner was a Black Hawk Eagle.  The wings have bold black and white barring on the flight feathers and a barred tail.

The whistling calls were due to their being a pair and it seemed like some form of display between the pair.

There were talon grappling and the two almost knocking into each other.

This one flew over my head very close and it is possible to make out the feathered tarsi on the legs, these are barred and are one of the ways of distinguishing them from the other black raptors.

It was warming up and I spent some time in the pool, but had to get out when a large group of vultures appeared above.  In amongst the Turkey and Black Vultures were three King Vultures, it was amazing.

Besides being huge, the other leading attribute of the King Vulture is that it looks amazing, generally vultures are ugly. It’s the fact that they eat stinky, dead stuff and the all-skin, no-feathers head that they sport.

Two birds in one shot!

The King Vulture breaks the mould for vultures. First, it’s mostly pure white, which is weird for vultures because they’re generally black. Second, it dazzles with its colourful head. Yes, its head is featherless, but it makes up for it with all of the colours and interesting skinfolds.

The adult King Vulture’s head is a mix of bright yellows, oranges, reds and purples, topped off with a fun orange waddle and a big piercing white eye with a contrasting black pupal. In short, they’re beautiful.

They throw this weight around when it comes to feeding time. Often after a dead animal has been found, several individuals from several species of vulture will meet to dine together. When the King Vulture arrives, with his impressive bulk, the other vultures clear a path. The King eats first. Sometimes this actually benefits the smaller vultures.

King Vultures possess the strongest bill of the group, equipped with a hooked tip and a sharp cutting edge, giving them the ability to rip into the tough hide of their deceased meal, leaving an opening that the others can use when the king is full.

Around 17:00 the passerines arrive in the surrounding trees, once again it seemed that the rain in the morning had increased the activity.  This Blue Dacnis arrived with a female.  This is a Honeycreeper, and can sometimes be called the Turquoise Honeycreeper.  The name Dacnis is from the Ancient Greek daknis, an unidentified bird from Egypt

A Great Kiskadee was hawking insects from the sun beds.

In the trees a Yellow-throated Vireo, one of the commoner vireos seen in Costa Rica.

And another flycatcher, the Yellow-bellied Elaenia, the crest is diagnostic.

I was surprised to see this male Variable Seedeater.

In the trees above the restaurant a Mealy Parrot was calling.

This is the same parrot species that Perry, the bronze statue was.

The Golden-naped Woodpecker seen earlier, this time in a better position.

A Palm Tanager.

There are two species of Aracari and they are not seen in the same habitat, the Collared on the Caribbean side and the Fiery-billed Aracari here on the Pacific side.  I had hoped we would have seen one sooner, but a small group arriving it the trees above us was better late than never.

There are six species of toucan in Costa Rica, we had now seen five.  The missing species was the Yellow-eared Toucanet, a bird that is extremely difficult to see.

This Aracari was named for the colours on the bill.

There wasn't a real sunset this evening, but it stayed dry.  The hope was that we would be able to go out whale watching in the morning.

The trip list was now 208 and the lifers 77.

15th February - Kura - Day One, Uvita, Costa Rica

We left El Ramanso after breakfast and once again we were being taken to Puerto Jimenez by 4 x 4.  Once again we were slowing down at the areas of water to look for Caiman, at the first one a Spotted Sandpiper flew across the road in front of us, 199 now for the trip.

There was a couple that had stopped their motorbikes and were looking into a stream, we pulled over and at the last attempt found the elusive Caiman.

Caimans are much smaller than their crocodile cousins. They typically grow to about 6 feet in length and weigh about 80 pounds.  Crocodiles can grow to up to 23 feet long and weigh up to 2,000 pounds!

This is a Spectacled Caiman, a native of the tropics from southern Mexico to Brazil, takes its name from a bony ridge between the eyes that resembles the nosepiece of a pair of eyeglasses. It is abundant along quiet mud-bottomed waters. 

We reached the pick up place at the airport and set off on the journey to Uvita, a trip trhat would take three and a half hours.  As we approached the highway 35, we saw a Belted Kingfisher on the wires, number 200 for the trip!

Like El Ramanso, to get to Kura requires the services of a 4 x 4 again, it is a steep climb up the side of the mountain.  This is the third visit to Kura, a wonderful location that looks out across farmland and out over the Parque Nacional Marino Ballena and the Whale's Tail, a feature that is similar to the peninsula at Manuel Antonio, but lower and with rock and beach.

Out on the edge of the incredible infinity pool was the bronze statue of Perry the parrot.  The story is that this little Mealy Parrot became very tame when the owners were constructing Kura and wold come all the time.  Sadly he passed away and the statue was made to remember and celebrate it.

We checked in to our room and then came back to the pool.  Later in the afternoon the birds started to arrive in the nearby trees.  A male Scarlet-rumped Tanager.

And the stunning Golden-hooded Tanager.

The commonest North American Warbler we have seen on the trip is the Tennessee Warbler, and there was one here showing quite well.

As the sun was starting to drop the Yellow-throated Toucans would start to call from prominent positions in the trees.

I had missed out on photographing a Yellow Warbler on our last day at El Ramanso, so it was nice to get the chance here, not the best photograph, but it clearly shows the Yellow Warbler.

I decided to hang around for the sunset as the clouds were opening up out on the ocean, unfortunately the skies above us looked a little threatening.

As can happen here the clouds built up over the hotel and and it started to rain, and it became quite heavy.

It was raining on us, but out on the ocean the sun was still out and setting up a lovely end to the day.

Looking to the east and along the side of the mountain you can see the hazy conditions created by the rain and the setting sunlight.

The sunset, maybe not as I thought it would be, but a good start.

Tomorrow we were on a whale watching trip in the morning, so something different to what we have seen before.