Costa Rica, Day 1

This will be the first of many posts about our recent trip to Costa Rica from March 7th through the 20th.  Pamela and I had planned this trip with the great folks over at Costa Rica Gateway, and especially wish to thank Sonia there.  We had considered taking a birding tour with one of the very many companies that lead them there, but in the end, decided to save some money and do the trip on our own.  Costa Rica Gateway acts as an agent in helping to arrange reservations, guides and transportation, and they did a spectacular job for us.  We spent three nights at Selva Verde Lodge, three nights at Rancho Naturalista, two nights at Savegre Mountain Hotel, and three nights at Punta Leona, bookended by a night each at the beginning and end of the trip at the Hotel Bougainvilla - a sort of a birder's introduction to Costa Rica.

We flew into San Jose, Costa Rica on March 7th from Boston with a layover in Miami, and arrived at about 1:30.  After waiting in an incredibly long line to get through customs there, we retrieved our baggage, and our driver was waiting for us at the exit to take us to the beautiful Hotel Bougainvilla.  You might have heard people talk about the beautiful gardens at the hotel, and it is no exaggeration - they are wonderful!

This was the view from our balcony of the gardens behind the hotel (well a small percentage of the gardens)

A wonderfully landscaped area with a large variety of plant and flower species - which of course, also attracts a number of birds.  Within a few moments of walking out the door into the gardens, the birding began in earnest.  The first bird we found was, oddly enough, one that we are quite familiar with - a Baltimore Oriole spending time at it's winter home.  Soon after though we were also spotting species that are a little less known in the US as well as many that never make their way north of the border at all.  For instance, the national bird of Costa Rica, the Clay-colored Robin which is seen pretty much everywhere in C.R. has been seen with some regularity in the southern Rio Grande Valley in Texas in the last few years.

A few years ago, when Pamela and I went to Arizona, we felt pretty lucky to see Rufous-capped Warbler from a pretty good distance.  In the gardens at the hotel, we had a pair hunting insects within a few feet of us.

Another species that I thought was pretty cool was the Rufous-collared Sparrow:

What I didn't realize at the time, was exactly how common this dapper little sparrow is. As a friend on facebook said - it one of the world's prettiest 'trash birds.' I think this might have been my first of very many 'life birds' for the trip. My first new woodpecker of the trip was also easily found in the gardens here. A Hoffman's Woodpecker made it's presence known by the familiar tapping as it foraged along.

Adding to the list of birds we saw in the short time we spent in the garden before the sun set and we headed in for dinner included some more familiar species from the southern US like Great Kiskadee and Tropical Kingbird, a few species we'd seen on last year's trip to Trinindad & Tobago like Blue-grey and Palm Tanagers and  a few other lifers like Greyish Saltator.

At the bar in the hotel (we were a little early for the restaurant, but were ravenous from the day's travel) we ordered a traditional Costa Rican dinner plate which consisted of rice and beans, plantains, salad, and I had chicken while Pamela had a fish - both of which were delicious.  Oh yes, we also had our first of many Imperials - la cerveza de Costa Rica.  I'm no beer connoisseur, but I found this lager consistently refreshing.  (Actually reminded me a little bit of the Carib we found in Trinidad & Tobago)

That evening we enjoyed a luxuriously comfortable night's sleep at the Hotel Bougainvilla.  Well, for a little while at least - I was so excited for the trip, I could hardly wait for the next day to begin and woke at 4:30 am.  But I'll pick-up there in the next post.