Costa Rica, Day 3 - Selva Verde, all day

Waking up in the rainforest is like nothing else in the world, and if you have not done it - I highly suggest that you find a way to do so at some time.  It is pretty special.  Now mind you - I wasn't waking up on the rainforest floor itself, sleeping next to the buttressed roots of some huge tree, or even camping - nothing so adventurous as that.  Nevertheless, when I awoke at 4ish on our first morning at Selva Verde it was pretty damn cool.  Frogs that I was (and still am) unable to identify were still chirping, as well as who knows what other denizens of the forest were making noise that I also couldn't id - all I can tell you is that as I lay in the dark, waiting for dawn to bring the technicolor variety of birds that we traveled to Costa Rica to see, I was really happy, comfortable and at peace.
As the next hour passed, I heard the distant crowing of Selva Verde's neighbor's roosters... and then at about 5:10 I heard that sound that many who have spent time at eco-lodges in Costa Rica or Panama or any of a number of other places have woken to - Howler Monkeys!

I took the above photo a little later in the day - not a great photo as they were high in the trees - but at five in the morning when they are doing their thing, it sounded like they were just on the other side of the screened and slat-shuttered windows above my head.  Some people complained of being awakened by these guys, but I was pretty happy for my first primate experience.  As dawn approached, I got up and dressed to head over to where the feeders (and the coffee) are - Pamela decided to stay in a bit later and get up at her own pace.  As I passed the large almond tree, I spotted several Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, as well as my first Keel-billed Toucan.

Also known as the Rainbow-billed Toucan, I think this was probably the inspiration for 'Toucan Sam' of Froot Loops fame.  Interestingly, it flew in the direction of the Dining Room. 

"No way!" I thought to myself, and headed in the same direction - I half expected to find Froot Loops available for breakfast, but there was only coffee at this hour. (And when the cereal was put out, there was only corn flakes, etc) By the way, I just bought this cereal from our local cantina truck, just so I could include this pic - I hope you all appreciate the lengths I am willing to go to on this blog for you!

After my prior experience on the veranda at Asa Wright in Trinidad, I expected the feeders to be a mob-scene, but was actually surprised to see almost no birds at all at the feeders in Selva Verde in the early morning!  I guess there is plenty of food throughout the area that they don't check in at the feeders first thing.  I chatted with a few other guests over the morning's coffee, then many of them left to join the 6am daily bird walk.  On my way to wake Pamela for breakfast, I encountered an Orange-billed Sparrow and a Chestnut-backed Antbird.  After waking my wife, who was pleasantly dozing in the morning's warmth, I headed back outside to wait to go with her to breakfast - I didn't want to waste a moment being inside!  I wandered over to the white sheet that they had set up to attract bugs and moths at night...

These were among the more interesting ones on the sheet (well to me at least - as much as I do like moths - I like the big crazy ones, and haven't delved into the smaller, plainer looking ones yet.)
Pam soon joined me and we had out first breakfast at Selva Verde, and soon enough a few birds showed up at the feeders, which contained mostly bananas.  Again, maybe not as busy as the ones at Asa Wright, but we certainly saw some cool birds there...
Among the larger birds that came to the feeders were Montezuma Oropendola...

as well as one of the birds that would easily contend for a spot in my top 10 favorite birds of the trip (hey - that's not an easy call to make on one's first trip to Costa Rica) Collared Aracari:

After taking a ton of photos, I had to try taking a video as well...

Birds weren't the only ones interested in the bananas though - this Caligo Butterfly landed for a little while and posed for a photo...

Sometimes the butterflies in the Caligo genus (there are about 20 species) are referred to as Owl Butterflies - I really hope I don't have to explain to you why.

We had signed up for an 8:30am walk across the suspension bridge into the primary forest (yes, all of this and more was before 8am) and so after breakfast we stuck close to the dining area where we would meet our guide.  This the the only way you can access this portion of the Selva Verde property these days.  While waiting, we watched  a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (one of the most common hummingbird species that we'd see in Costa Rica) enjoying some sunlight and apparently doing it's morning calisthenics:

Soon enough we met our guide and crossed the bridge to the primary forest. Surprisingly, we encountered few birds there, but we did learn quite a bit about the ecology of the rainforest, watched many leaf-cutter ants (which seem to be pretty much everywhere in Costa Rica), saw many more Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs, as well as quite a few Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frogs:

As well as a photo of this little guy, who seems a little angry and embarrassed that I caught him at such a unflattering moment:

As we were wrapping up, we were treated to wonderful extended looks at two male and one female Red-throated Ant Tanager. And as we crossed the bridge back, a bird flew in front of me in the distance, and something about the shape said "trogon" to me. Up until that point, I'd been walking very cautiously and carefully across the suspension bridge, but now I was moving, and in no time we were looking at our first trogon of the trip - a Slaty-tailed Trogon:

We thanked our guide and decided to relax and do a little easy birding close to the room until lunch time, as we planned to hike a bit around the secondary growth forest across the street in the afternoon.  Along the covered walkways, we noted a few other interesting birds like Buff-rumped warbler picking insects from along a stream's edge and flicking its tail about.  The grounds of the lodge are incredibly full of life if you stop to notice it.  Even if you are a birder and there aren't many birds around to look at (?!?), chances you will stumble across some other interesting forms of life, from little caterpillars:

to HUGE Iguanas!

(yeah, this guy was easily +4' from head to tail)

Lunchtime provided more opportunity to watch Aracari Antics, as well as watch a Strip-throated Hermit (hummingbird) zipping around some of the smaller flowering plants, and noticed a large Basilisk hanging out in a tree.

We then headed across the street, but as it was the hottest part of the day there wasn't much bird activity, although we did find a family of Howler Monkeys lounging in the upper branches of the canopy.  Arriving back near the dining room area, I noticed a different hummingbird where we had seen the Rufous-tailed doing it's funky posing earlier.  Figuring (well, maybe more hoping) that it was probably "trapline" feeding (typical of hummingbirds, where they have a pattern of food sources that they regularly visit) we decided to sit and relax and hope that it returned.  After about 20 minutes we were rewarded with pretty good looks at a Violet-headed Hummingbird.
At almost any point it was easy to entertain ourselves watching the many (well, at least 9) Chestnut-mandibled Toucans that constantly worked the nearby big Almond Tree...

While I was taking photographs of these colorful characters, Pamela called over to me that she had a big woodpecker working on one of the other trees.  She didn't have to say it twice - I was almost running.  Lo and behold, my lovely wife had found what was one of the species I had most hoped to see here - a Pale-billed Woodpecker.  The photo isn't great, but the moment was!

We watched him fly from tree to tree for a while before losing him in the forest.  After a day like we'd already had, a siesta was well in order, and we enjoyed it immensely before heading to the bar (which overlooks the river) late in the afternoon for a few Imperial cervesas, and then another great meal that evening.  And again, we headed early to bed as the next day would certainly be a long one - we were scheduled for a full day at La Selva OTS just down the road.