26th July - Rancho Naturalista, Tuis de Turrialba, Costa Rica

Last year, we returned to a country for our annual holiday for the first time, that country was Costa Rica.  This year we were surpassing that by returning once again for our third trip to Costa Rica, we just can't stay away, and there was still plenty to see that we had not achieved on our last two visits.

This year our visit was just under two weeks earlier than previous trips, it would be interesting to see if this would have any impact on the weather and what we would be able to see from a wildlife perspective, two weeks should not make that much difference but you never know.  The flights we re the same, direct from London Gatwick on British Airways, and there was the customary one night stay in the capital San Jose before setting off around the country.  This year we were heading south east out of San Jose, stopping first on the Caribbean slopes around Tuis de Turriabla at a about 1,100 metres, then to a higher elevation of 2,600 metres in San Gerado de Dota, before heading down to the Pacific Coast at Quepos, then to the Osa Peninsula, and finally Uvita before returning to San Jose and home.  Contrasting environments once again that will produce and variety of wildlife,some we are familiar with, and hopefully some we have not seen before.

We arrived on time, and the transfer to our hotel, the Gran de Oro in San Jose was quick and simple.  After catching up on our sleep we had an early transfer in the morning which took just over two and half hours, taking us through Cartago, a town known for the Black Madonna shrine at Our Lady of the Angels Basilica, in the centre of the town.  At this time of year, many Costa Ricans undertake a pilgrimage to walk to the cathedral from all over the country and even from surrounding countries, we encountered many of these walking pilgrims on our trip.  It all culminates on the 2nd August, a religious holiday in Costa Rica, and is one of the most enduring Costarican traditions.

Our first destination was the Rancho Naturalista, a lodge set two kilometres up a track from the main road out of Tuis.  The lodge is set in grounds with trails, and the highlight has to be the balcony over looking a garden filled with plants and flowers, and many hummingbird feeders.  As we arrived and was shown to our room in the main building, hummingbirds were zipping past us, and we rushed to drop our bags and head off to watch the feeders.

There were several hummingbirds on the feeder outside our room, moving to and from the feeders, while in between settling on a favourite perch in a nearby bush. They provide the perfect positions for photography, and I began what became quite quickly a collection of many different pictures of the main species around the lodge.

A Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, one I had seen before, but not in the same level of detail that I would on this trip.

The red bill helps to distinguish from other similar looking hummingbirds.

A female Violet-crowned Wood Nymph, a first for me

We made our way to the main balcony, and settled down to watch the activity.  With the effects of the jet lag still with us, it was a lovely way to relax.

A Brown Violetear, we had seen this hummingbird on our trip last year, mostly in Monteverde

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Then the first encounter with the most numerous hummingbird around the feeders, a male White-necked Jacobin.

And the female, lacking the striking colours of the male.

As well as the hummingbird feeders there were also small tables with bananas on them, and bananas attached to logs that were spread around the garden.  With food in such supply it naturally attracts other animals, and a Coati, or Coatimundi came out of the bushes to take advantage of the fallen bananas.  A member of the raccoon family it is usually foraging at night, but obviously knows where to get an easy meal.

All the meals were included for our stay, and they are served as the lodge likes to call it "family style", which is where we all sit down on one large table.  The food throughout our stay was superb, and there was plenty of it.

Sitting down to lunch we still had a good view of the bushes and feeders, and it was on the verbena flowers, or to give it the Latin name, Stachytarpeta that we saw the hummingbird that the lodge is famous for, this one was a female Snowcap, not as striking as the male, but a good start, another first for me.

The Coati returned, this time climbing up on to the feeders to get to the bananas.

After lunch we returned to the balcony to continue our watch around the garden.  A large Owl butterfly appeared, and settled on the ripening bananas.

There are many Owl butterfly species, the large eyes on the underside of the wings acting as a deterrent to would be attackers.

We were then treated to a visit from a group of Collared Aracaris

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A member of the Toucan family, they have a slimmer bill than that of the well know Toucans.  On the Caribeanean slopes here, you find the Collared Aracaris, moving across to the Pacific it is replaced by the Fiery-billed Aracari 

The female Snowcap again, perched.

More birds were coming to the bananas, A Blue-Gray Tanager

I have seen many of these tanagers in previous trips, but not had the opportunity to get close to be able to get some good pictures.  This bird is quite common around gardens and open areas.  I was trying to capture them away from the food and tables.

It was time to explore a little bit, and we wandered around the gardens, the butterflies were about, attracted to the verbena as much as the hummingbirds.  A Green-celled Cattleheart.  The male has green on the upper forewing, while the female only white.  This is a female.

While here the male with the green in the upper wing.

A Two-Barred Flasher, a member of the skipper family, and a species I have encountered before

We walked a bit of the trails around the lodge, one leads to a stream with a series of pools that the hummingbirds come to bathe in during the late afternoon.  It was quiet when we arrived, with little activity, we did though find this interesting butterfly, a Mollis Satyr.  Apparently these are fairly rare in Costa Rica, and found mainly in primary forest.

Back in the garden there were more butterflies to be seen.

A Plain Long-winged Skipper

A Grass Dart Skipper

A Tropical Yellow

Up in the dead branches I found a trogon, the old books about told me it was a Violaceous Trogon, however the species has recently been split based on vocalization data, and it has now been renamed as a Gartered Trogon, it is the only trogon found in Costa Rica with a yellow orbital eye ring, what you can not see here is the bright yellow belly.

The Clouds were rolling in around the hills, a sight we are familiar with from previous visits to Costa Rica.

This normally means we should expect some rain, so we made our way back to the balcony for some more Hummingbird watching.

White-necked Jacobin, male.

White-necked Jacobin, immature male.

White-necked Jacobin, female.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird.

Green-breasted Mango, a female, a first for me.

Brown Violetear.

A male Violet-crowned Wood Nymph, wonderful names!

Another first, but unfortunately I managed to only photograph the female, there was a male about but it was very elusive, the Green Thorntail.

At this point we were joined by our guide that would be taking us out tomorrow, and we walked around the gardens as he pointed out other birds in the trees.  There was a Grey-headed Piprites, Plain Xenops, a collection of feeding tanagers in the trees that successfully avoided the camera, and  a couple of Blue Dacis, and a Green Honeyeater that did show well enough for photographs.

What we wanted to find though was the male Snowcap.  We stopped by a large patch of verbena in the car park, at first an immature male.  Here you can see the patches of reddish feathers on the upper parts, and a small patch of white on the cap.

But then the bird we had come to see, the male Snowcap.

The only reddish maroon coloured hummingbird, and distinctive with bright white cap.  It moved quickly through the flower heads, many of them down low and in the dark places.  Finally it settled on a branch giving me the opportunity to get closer.

The male's plumage is black overall, but with a unique purple or reddish bronze iridescence on the upperparts.

And then he was gone, but I felt confident that there would be plenty of other opportunities to watch and photograph this spectacular tiny hummingbird, they stay loyal to their food sources, and protect them aggressively.

We returned as the light faded to the balcony, the perpetual motion of the hummingbirds continued well after the sun has set and the light was fading.

The White-necked Jacobins still on the favourite perches, guarding their feeders, and becoming silhouettes as dusk rolled on into night.

Tomorrow we are off with our guide Carlie to find some more of the bird specialties around the lodge and surrounding area.  But for now it was dinner, and an earl y retirement to bed, the seven hour time difference kicking in as the darkness came.