Highlighting the huge cumulo-nimbus clouds way out in the Pacific Ocean
Finally that golden light
In the Cecropia tree, the Yellow-throated Toucan turned up and started to take the fruits in the tree.
And it made a chance to see it in sunlight, and without the white sky behind it.
A red-crowned Woodpecker to was enjoying the sunshine.
Despite the early hour the butterflies were about and the verbena was the main attraction, this is a Tiger Longwing.
Then in the trees at he back of our bungalow, a pair of Scarlet Macaws turned up to feed on the fruit.
At first look it looks like there is hardly any fruit in the tree, but the macaws have no difficulty in finding them.
The Cecropia is like a magnet to the birds, a male Chere's Tanager
The sloth was still there tucked away at the top of the branches under the leaves.
We left for breakfast, passing under the Scarlet Macaws, who were dropping the skins of the fruit as they peeled them.
As we waited to leave for Puerto Jimenez a Green and Black Poison Dart Frog was on the floor in the reception area.
As we drove along the track from Lapa Rios to Puerto Jimenez, a Roadside Hawk was sitting on one of the fence posts.
After being shook up along the road to Puerto Jimenez we
finally made tarmac and a smooth ride.
With today being a Sunday, the main streets were quiet. We headed past the airstrip, and then around
to the beach, and then on to a jetty where many people were fishing. We walked down to the end of the jetty, and
boarded our boat, a small boat, about 30 foot long, and met our captain and
guide. We were the only persons, so we
had it all to ourselves. The ocean was
like a mill pond, calm and still and the most wonderful colour blue, all was in
place for the perfect morning.
The Gulfo Dulce is a large sheltered bay, surrounded by the
Osa Peniinsula to the south west, and the Costa Rica mainland to the north east. The name Dulce is the Spanish word used for
freshwater, and while the water isn’t fresh it is fed by many rivers that flow
the short distance from the Osa Peninsula and the surrounding mountains. As the warm air comes off the Pacific Ocean
it rises over the mountain range and huge clouds form and rain falls feeding
the streams and rivers that ultimately flow into the gulf.
We were cruising along the southern side of the gulf,
passing many mangrove swamps that had grown where the rivers flow into the sea.
Last year we had taken a trip to Cano Island from Uvita in a
similar sized boat, the trip had been a real challenge, the ocean was very
rough with a huge swell that was as a result of a close pass of Tropical Storm
Harvey through Central America. We said
then we would not go out in a boat like that whale watching, but here we are
today. The weather conditions though
were a lot different today.
The first stop was for a very brief view of a turtle, it
diving as the boat’s engine slowed down.
As is the way along the Pacific coast there were huge tree trunks in the
water, and at first it was what I thought I had seen, but then it appeared
again, and I could clearly see there was a dorsal fin on the tree trunk. As we edge closer there was a blow followed
by a smaller one, and in front of us was a female Humpback and calf.
The size of the boat meant for the first time in all our
whale watching experiences we could get quite close, and appreciate the size of
the animal.
They would stay up , the young whale taking time to breathe,
and then would dive together, the young one coming up before the female.
Then we had the most amazing experience. The young whale dived towards us, and we
could see about a couple of metres below us the white pectoral fins, and the
head of the whale on its side, presumably looking at us. We were so taken by this we completely forgot
the opportunity to take a photograph, the memory though will always remain.
The female then came up on the other side of the boat with
that wonderful sound as she blows out on breaking through the surface.
As is always the case our captain was in contact with other
boats, and on the northern side of the gulf there were reports of more
Humpbacks, and a pod of dolphins. We
were given the choice, do we stay with the female and calf, or do we head
across the water to catch with the others.
There was no decision to be made, and we set of at full speed across the
blue water.
About half way I noticed a tree trunk once again, but this
time it was one, and the interest was what was sitting on it.
Brown Boobys. Lat
year we had seen on a piece of wood.
Because of the water conditions I had the camera tucked away in a dry
bag, and struggled to get it out, only for the bird to fly off when I did. This time I could take my time as we drifted
past.
The Brown Booby is a widespread breeder throughout the
neotropics, breeding on small islands in the Caribbean, and Pacific coast of
Central America. While the adult birds
stay close to these colonies the young will disperse around the nearby waters.
It is likely that these are immature birds doing exactly
that, the adult birds having a clear white belly.
There was a distinct lack of birds throughout the trip,
other than a single frigatebird close to Puerto Jimenez, these boobys being the
only birds seen.
It took us about twenty minutes to cross to the northern
side. This shore was large mountains
covered with thick tropical rain forest that come down all the way to the
water’s edge. It didn’t take long to
come across the whales, a huge adult breaking the surface in front of us.
Then a female and calf once again.
It became clear that there were at least four adult
Humpbacks here, possible three males and a single female, and of course a young
calf. This was possibly the same five we
had seen from Lapa Rios on our first day, and it soon became clear that the
males were still intent on pursuing the female and fighting each other.
The adult whales would break the surface at speed, as if
pursuing the other males or chasing the female.
The female would always manage to keep herself between the males and the
young calf.
Every so often 30 tonnes of whale would break the surface at
speed, and you suddenly became aware of the size of the boat you were sitting
in.
Here two males in pursuit of either the female or to ward off the other males.
Then some really frantic action. What could only be a male broke the surface
alongside the female and was thrashing the pectoral fins around. Here you can see the male pushing close to
the female as she breaks the surface.
Remember this is like an iceberg, there is a huge amount of whale below
the surface!
Here the female looks to dive while the male is just below
the surface, the white pectoral fin lying on the surface of the water to the
left of the diving whale.
With the male to the left under the surface, the female is
starting to dive, while the calf on her right is also blowing before diving
with her
With the female diving the male surfaces very close to us, I
was hoping we might see the eye but it stayed under water.
The female surfaces once more with the calf away to the
right
It all then went quiet. And we waited to see where they
would turn up. Then one whale appeared
blew a couple of times then arched the back and we knew this was going to be a
deep dive.
And the arched back ended up with the one and only sight of
a fluke today.
We waited to see if there would be any more action, but it
remained quiet. How can over 150 tonnes
of whale just disappear?
When it was clear that they had gone we decided to go after
dolphins. There are two species of
dolphin seen in the gulf, the Tropical Spotted that are usually seen in pods of
over fifty individuals, and the Bottlenose Dolphin. Our guide and captain were looking out for
the Spotted Dolphins, but after a considerable amount of time searching it was
clear they were not about. We declined
the offer of a trip to the beach and preferred to continue searching.
The weather was changing, the blue skies and clam seas had
been replaced with increasing clouds and a swell. We headed over toward the northern area of
the gulf, around the Piedras Blancas National Park and around the mouth of one
of the larger rivers to flow into the sea.
We could see the sediment flowing out into the gulf. Here there were three Bottlenose Dolphins,
coming here to hunt as with the tide now falling, the fish were being pushed
back into the deeper waters.
The dolphins would swim fast through the water with their
dorsal fins well above the surface
Bottlenose dolphins are the commonest members of the oceanic
dolphins, being found in all waters other than the Arctic and Antarctic. These are the dolphin species every one
associates with dolphins
Clearly aware of us they would push their heads out of the
water to look at us looking at them.
Coming in closely, with that friendly face with the
permanent smile that is so endearing to human beings
It looks as if this one has had some sort of injury on its
head, possibly an interaction with a propeller?
They stayed with us around the boat until, like the whales,
they arched the back and dived showing the tail fluke, and a deep dive that
took them well away from us
By now it was close to midday, and the sea was now showing
white caps, something we would not have thought possible three hours ago when
the surface of the water was like a mill pond.
We sped across the water heading back to Puerto Jimenez, after a very
successful trip
We were picked up by our driver and headed back along the
gravel track to Lapa Rios. At about
hallway we came across another 4x4 by the side of the road. There were two Tropical Screech Owls in the tree
above, roosting under leaves on a horizontal branch. They were difficult o locate, but the laser
of the other driver helped. Here a
record shot.
As we approached the stream where yesterday we had been
birding a Green Kingfisher flew up to a post.
We were able to pull alongside and with the car acting as a hide had
superb views.
Once back at Lapa Rios we had lunch. The cloud had built up and this changed our
plans for the afternoon, gone was the opportunity to spend time by the pool so
we decided on reading on our own personal deck.
Walking back the Leaf Cutter Ants were pouring across the
path. They are not around first thing in
the morning, and compared with the other animals are rather late risers, but in
the afternoon they are totally industrious, carry leaves more than their own
size.
While we were on the deck the Yellow-throated Toucan
appeared once again in the Cecropia tree.
The feeding behaviour is interesting to watch. The Toucan will land in a branch, and then
slowly turn its head to look up into the branches. This may involve moving around to get a
better view with one eye. Once the right
fruit has been selected it is delicately plucked and held at the end of the
beak. It is then thrown up.
And the bill thrown back to swallow the fruit in one
Some great views this afternoon
The sloth was about but keeping out of sight. Once again as the light started to fade the
birds became active as they looked to feed before going to roost. In the Cecropia tree a male Blue Dacis
appeared.
And one of the other resident woodpeckers, the Golden-naped
Woodpecker
Like first thing this morning the Scarlet Macaws were about
late in the afternoon. Signalling their
arrival with the loud calls pairs would fly past.
And then these three in almost perfect symmetry
Absolutely wonderful to see these beautiful birds fly past,
the beauty only being let down by the harshness of the accompanying calls.
As we walked down to the restaurant for drinks and dinner there was a red glow in the sky away to the west the cloud having lifted just after sunset.
Yet another wonderful day, we have gone from some of the
smallest birds, the Volcano Hummingbird once again to one of the largest
mammals on the planet, the Humpback whale, and with it some amazing behaviour
close up. Tomorrow we must leave this
incredible place, we have a transfer to our last destination late in the
morning so there is plenty of time to continue our interaction with the
wildlife here, I am sure we will be up early with the sunrise once again.
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