A Rufous-tailed Hummingbird was around the verbena just below the deck, and a group of Cherrie's Tanagers were in the surrounding bushes, the male standing out.
The cloud then became a little heavier, and with it came the first rain, light at first but becoming more persistent.
We made our way to breakfast, taking our time as the rain looked like it was settling in for the morning. After breakfast the rain would come and go, but with the cloud hanging low around us. Helen took the chance to read, I spent sometime working on the photographs from the start of the holiday.
The property is set on the side of the mountain and has fantastic views out across the Marino Ballena National Park, which has a rock formation the shape of a whale's tail. Beyond this is Cano Island about thirty miles offshore, but today you would have to take my word for it as the cloud was obscuring everything.
Towards the late morning the cloud began to thin and there were signs of the sun breaking through. Around us the cloud was lifting from the hill slopes, and at last there was movement around us as Turkey and Black Vultures were soaring around the valley and below us.
A Swallow-tailed Kite drifted past the pool, and I waited for it to come back.
The Swallow-tailed Kite continued to soar above us.
A Yellow-headed Kite than appeared above us in the dead tree branches beside the pool.
Another specialty of Kura is the insects that just seem to appear, Praying Mantis on the floor in the bar, grasshoppers on the glass fences, and this huge spider in the reception area. It must have been five inches across, and at first I thought Orb spider, but after consideration it is like some form of wolf spider, you can't seem them here but it had huge fangs that would give a nasty bite, but the staff did not seem concerned, if they didn't bother it, it wouldn't bother them.
The specialty of the area is the King Vulture, the largest vulture found in Costa Rica with a wing span of just over 1.5 metres. We had seen them last year and I was hopeful we would get good views this visit. The good news was that they have been quite regularly seen recently.
With the sun now making its way through the cloud, and the temperature rising Helen ventured into the pool. While she was gazing out across the lowland and out to sea she picked up a white bird circling above the trees below us. Calling me I confirmed what we thought, it was not just one, but two King Vultures.
The King Vulture is a large, unmistakable bird with the adult being predominantly white with contrasting black wing edges and a black neck ruff.
They continued to circle below us just above the tree tops.
One settled high in a tree, and we were able to watch it through a telescope. Through this you could see the bare head and neck that have folds of skin in intricate patterns of purple orange and yellow.
The other bird continued to circle, gaining height with the Turkey Vultures and heading towards the valley to our right as we looked out to sea.
Like all other vultures the King Vulture is a scavenger but lacks a developed sense of smell like the Turkey Vulture, and as a result is dependent on the other vultures to lead it to food. Once there its size and powerful bill allows it to dominate at any carcass, ripping into areas the smaller vultures can't reach.
Drifting ever closer to my camera, you can now see the colourful skin folds on the hea
It then drifted away from sight, but I was sure it would return, and later in the early afternoon it did, this time initially soaring above us.
But then dropping much closer.
Coming down almost to eye level, but still distant.
A really impressive bird.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun, and in the pool, there was no where near the number of birds in the sky as we had witnessed last year but I was more than pleased to have managed to get the views of the King Vulture as we did.
The hope was that there would be a sunset tonight. The cloud was breaking up in places and I decided to wait and see. Another, or maybe the same Yellow-headed Caracara appeared at the top of a tree.
And at last we were able to see the "whale's tail" on the coast, Cano Island, was partially visible on the horizon.
The sunset was not what was hoped for, the cloud not clearing sufficiently in the west, and all we managed was an orange sky as the sun set into the Pacific
It was a dry evening and we were able to enjoy our last evening here in Costa Rica by the pool, tomorrow we would start the long journey home.
Another early morning and another wonderful sun rise, this time over the hills to the south of Uvita.
Our last morning and we took our time sorting ourselves out before walking up to breakfast. A completely different morning to that of yesterday, the sky was almost clear with just very high wispy clouds, and the swifts, another specialty around the mountain side here, were about.
Two definitive identifications, a White-collared Swift
And a Chestnut-collared Swift
A pair of Roadside Hawks were together calling in a tree nearby.
Just after this both were soaring above the pool area.
I was scanning the trees and area below us for any sign of the King Vulture, and picked out two distant white dots that once I managed to get the telescope on them I could confirm were two adult King Vultures. Very distant, they stayed in the tree for quite a while before disappearing completely.
While keeping an eye on the vultures I noticed another bird of prey above us. This is a Black Hawk Eagle.
It has a distinctive shape when flying, broad paddle shaped wings, and a long tail with broad black and white bands. What you can't see here is the crest the eagle has on it's crown. They feed on birds , mammals and reptiles usually taken from the branches of tree and hunted by moving from perch to perch, then flying fro m a perch at great speed to ambush the prey. The Black Hawk Eagle will usually make soars of about 10 minute duration, at great height above the trees and forest, around mid morning before returning to the forest.
We were now killing time, and I occupied it photographing the dragonfly that was continually flying around the pool.
Probably a species of Darter or Chaser
Movement across my line of vision above me picked out what I thought at first was a bird but turned out to be a Tiger Longwing butterfly.
Reluctant to leave I went for one more walk around the grounds, on the wall of reception what looked like a leaf
Was in fact a species of Praying Mantis.
I walked down to the main gate and came across a Golden-hooded Tanager feeding on seeds in a tree.
A common but quite spectacular garden bird.
This tanager was to be my last photograph of the holiday as it was time to pack everything away. We packed the bags and returned to the pool area for one last look across the pool and out across the ocean. Although we were not planning to return we both like to think that we will come back here one day.
Costa Rica is a fantastic location. It has everything a vast range of different habitats, amazing wildlife including so many species of birds, fascinating insects, reptiles and of course the variation in mammals. The People are so friendly and welcoming, you feel safe and wanted. All the properties we have visited have been superb, and the food just incredible. There is very little else I can say about the place.
We drove down the hill with STYX's "babe" playing on the radio, the lyrics appropriate. It was an emotional goodbye, and we were off on our way to the airport, eighteen hours later we landed at Gatwick in rain, much different to that we had left in fifteen days earlier. What a great holiday
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