13th February - El Ramanso, Day Two, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

 It was an early start for a walk around the gardens, I wasn't expecting that much but it turned out to not be that bad.  As we waited for the group to come together a Yellow-throated Toucan was calling from the nearby trees. 

As is the way in forested conditions we could hear birds but they were high in the tree canopy and a combination of many branches and silhouettes made identification and photographs difficult.

It wasn't until we were out in the open that we started to see birds.  This is a Short-billed Pigeon that has a very annoying call, the phronetic description doesn't really describe it.  They call constantly and it sounds like this "hu HU, hu-HUU"

The path to the restaurant overlooks a valley gorge and you can look down onto the trees.  In one Garlic tree a White-faced Capuchin or Monkey was feeding on the flowers.

It is mostly black, but with a pink face and white on much of the front part of the body, giving it its common name. It has a distinctive prehensile tail that is often carried coiled up and is used to help support the monkey when it is feeding beneath a branch.

White-faced capuchins are highly social, living in groups of 16 individuals on average, about three quarters of which are females. Groups consists of related females, immigrant males, and offspring. On average, females birth offspring every 27 months even though they mate throughout the year. Females tend to stay within their original group while males leave their natal group when they are 4 years old and change groups every 4 years after. Both male and female capuchins exhibit different dominance behaviours within the group.

An Amazon Parrot in the trees next to us.

Then a real special bird, a Turquoise Cotinga, a bird that is endemic to the Osa Peninsula and Panama.

The male is a stunning electric-blue with purple patch on throat and belly. Female completely different; pale greyish with heavy spotting below and scaling on back. It is a rather plump and short-tailed bird with small bill and large eye. Tends to be slow-moving, perching obviously atop the canopy or inconspicuously feeding within a fruiting tree. Found in forested areas, singly or in pairs and endemic to the Osa Peninsula and Panama.

A Cotinga was the bird I wanted to see, but the bird the rest of the group wanted to see was the Scarlet Macaw and the guide duly delivered.

A different view.

I had the camera with me at breakfast which was handy as this Magnificent Frigatebird flew over.

And then the spectacular Swallow-tail Kite.

After breakfast we decided to walk towards the beach, you go downhill and through a covered area.  Here a female Red-capped Manakin sat motionless in the gloom.  Nice to see the female but it is the male I hope to photograph.

A Great Currasow, chicken-like birds that despite there size are quite arboreal and can also fly.  The male and the female both have crests, the male black and the female a rufous brown.  The male also has a yellow wattle on the bill.

The walk down to the beach was steep so decided not to go down, but stopped at the view point.

Brown Pelicans passing.

A long, long way off we found a few pods of dolphin.  From the phots taken I am happy that they are Tropical Spotted Dolphins.  Costa Rica is home to two dolphin species, this and the Bottlenose.

Back at he restaurant the butterflies were moving and also stopping on the leaves.  This the  spectacular Malachite.

Then some spectacular names, the Sunset Daggerwing.

And a Many-banded Daggerwing.

One of the many Heliconia butterflies.

We spent the rest of the day by the pool and were briefly visited by this lone White-faced Capuchin.

This dragonfly stayed around all afternoon and had a favourite perch. The colour in the photograph does not give justice to the actual dragonfly.  It is known as a Carmine Skipper.

Standing at the back of the pool this Traveler's Palm.

At the water shower the small birds were back bathing and drinking.  This male Golden-hooded Tanager.

A Grey-headed Tanager.

A Yellow-crowned Euphonia.

A Spot-crowned Euphonia, with the spots on the crown.

A Green Honeycreeper.

Then the male Red-capped Manakin.  A spectacular little bird that is known for its dance in leks.  It would shuffle along a branch in a dance that has been seen on many wildlife programmes.

A chunky little bird of middle levels and understory in humid tropical forest of lowlands. Away from display areas, usually found in ones and twos perched quietly or feeding at fruiting trees and bushes from understory to canopy.

A red cap, and white eye with a black iris.  The other stand out is the yellow legs.

The Green Honeycreeper in a nice pose. 

The Riverside Wren.

The White-crested Coquette on the same perch.

A flyover from a pair of Scarlet Macaws.

And a new tanager for here, the White-shouldered Tanager.

An end to the daylight observations, but we were booked on a night walk, which will come next.

Trip list now 174, lifers up by 5 to 63.