17th February - Kura Day Three, Uvita, Costa Rica

 The morning was dry and sunny, so the whale watch was on.  A taxi took us down to an office in Uvita and from there into the Parque Nacional Marino Ballena and onto the beach.  Here we boarded a small but fast boat, and after what seemed like an age we headed out to sea.  Due to the size of the boat and the experience we had last time we went out on the sea here in 2017 I decided not to take my Canon and was left to use my phone.

We headed out at speed and very quickly came across several more boats, and despite all the cautioning words from the guide about "you might not see anything" we came across two Humpback Whale adults, a male and a female, plus a young calf.

From late December through to late March, a population of northern Humpback Whales swim from the Oregon Coast towards Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast.  

The female Humpback, the male had a distinctive white dorsal fin.

There are two seasons for whales in Costa Rica with the other being from July to September and then it is more around the Gulfo Dulce in the Osa Peninsula.  While in Costa Rican waters the whales do not feed, having stored up during the northern summer in the rich feeding grounds around Oregon and British Colombia.

The male and female together.  

The females come here to give birth and see her calf through the first few months of their life in the warm waters of the national park.  Males will also be preset normally to shadow the females to ensure they have the best opportunity to mate.

The female with her calf.

We watched the whales for about 20 minutes.  The water here is not that deep and the whales stayed close to the surface.  There were a couple of times when it looked like one of the adults would dive, but the tail never really came out of the water.

Costa Rican regulations require boats to move off when they have watched for the 20 to 25 minutes if too many arrive, we headed south along the coast past the rocks we could see from Kura, after a short while we came across a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins.  The dolphins seemed to be as interested in us as we were in them.

They would come alongside the boat swimming under the boat and longside on the bow water.

There are two species of dolphin seen in the Costa Rican waters, these Bottlenose Dolphins and the Tropical Spotted we saw off El Ramanso.

Leaving the dolphins we headed towards the cliffs where there was quite a spectacular arch to see.

The tour ended and we had to wade through the sea and back on to the beach.  From there we were taken back to Kura where there was a lovely view of where we had just come from, the Whale's Tail just off Uvita beach.

We spent the afternoon by the pool, interesting there was very little bird life, much fewer vultures than the day before and no sign of the King Vultures of yesterday, how lucky was that?

But what I did manage to see was a group of seven Wood Storks, down, close to the beach, clearly a record shot.

The harsh call of Scarlet Macaws saw a pair fly across below us, the first time I have seen them here at Kura.

the clouds out on the ocean were an indication that there could be a spectacular sunset.

We sat with a drink and watched it unveil.

The light producing a spot on the ocean.

Golden light spread out across the ocean towards us.

I went up to the top of the building for a different view.

Looking south towards the Osa Peninsula.

The spectacular clouds reflected in th infinity pool.

Wonderful clouds.

Dark shadows from the clouds across the ocean.

This video was of the final moments of the sun as it set for the day.

And the final shot needs to be of Perry on the edge of the pool

We were leaving in the morning and after some discussion the pick up was arranged earlier than we were initially advised.  The journey to the airport was eventful, and we just managed to avoid a closure on the highway, taking the old road to San Jose.

Our fourth visit to Costa Rica was as wonderful as the previous three.  The trip list ended with 211, the highest of our trips while I was pleased with the 77 lifers.  It was sad to leave, but I think now we have covered most of this lovely country, stayed in some spectacular properties and met some truly wonderful people.

Thank you Costa Rica!

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.