On 18 February we travelled from Savegre to the Carara National Park, which is close to the coast on the western side of Costa Rica. It was a long journey that took up most of the day and involved returning to San Jose before taking the road to the west, but we did stop for a while at a few good birding locations that broke up the travelling. First we drove to the Paraiso Quetzal Lodge just off the main road to San Jose since it has some excellent hummingbird feeders.
It was raining at this high elevation site, but the covered balcony at the back of the lodge provided an excellent seltered area from which to photograph the hummingbirds. Highlights were the Talamanca and Fiery-throated Hummingbirds. In addition to the hummingbirds, we also saw Wilson’s Warbler, Slaty Flowerpiecer, Sooty-capped Chlorospingus, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Sooty Thrush and a Black-and-yellow Silk-flycatcher, although the latter was difficult to photograph as it was deep in a bush.
We made further birding stops along the way and saw Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Palm Tanager, Orchard Oriole and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Towards the end of our journey we had good views of a female Cherrie’s Tanager, which is only found along the west coasts of Costa Rica and Panama.
In wetland areas beside the road we saw White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill and Anhinga.
After the long drive we arrived at the Hotel Villa Lapas, which is located just next to the Carara National Park where we were to stay for 2 nights. Our room opened out onto a wide area of grass surrounded by trees that provided an excellent birding environment.
Next morning (19 February) we were up early and birding at 6 AM to catch the first flurry of bird activity. Although the light was still poor, we managed to get good photos of a pair of entertaining Fiery-billed Aracari, a bird found only along the Pacific coast of southern Central America. The forests around the hotel were full of birds at this time of day and some of the many species we saw were Palm and Summer Tanagers, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Brown Jay, Pale-billed Woodpecker. Flying over were Costa Rican Swift.
The Rio Tarcolitos runs close to the hotel so we also saw some waders, ducks and other birds associated with wet habitats, including Spotted Sandpiper, Northern Waterthrush and Muscovy Duck.
After breakfast we continued exploring the forests of the national park. Photography in gloomy, tropical forest is never easy because of the low light levels, which slow down the camera autofocus, and the difficulty of getting a clear background to shots. But we did get reasonable photographs of Red-legged Honeycreeper, Blue-black Grosbeak and White-tipped Dove.
In the afternoon we had a boat trip along the Rio Tarcolitos where photography was a lot easier as the birds flew over or perched in good light on trees on the riverbank. The undoubted highlight was seeing a pair of Scarlet Macaw fly over us against the blue sky. But other good sightings were Tricoloured Heron, American Pygmy Kingfisher, Osprey, Purple Gallinule, Roseate Spoonbill and Black-necked Stilt.
Next morning we were again up early and looking for birds at first light. As ever at this time of the morning, photography was quite difficult but we soon saw a striking Spectacled Owl looking down at us from a tree in the hotel grounds. While on the roof of the lodge we could see a Rufous-backed Wren. Wandering through the forest, in the trees we had good views of White-whiskered Puffbird, Pale-billed Woodpecker, White-winged Becard and Spot-billed Woodcreeper. While on the forest floor we photographed Orange-billed Sparrow and Streak-chested Antpitta.
