Picus Blog: Costa Rica, Day 12 - Carrera NP & Tarcoles River

Our second morning at Punta Leona, we had arranged for a cab to pick us up at the reception desk at 6:30am to take us to Carrera National Park. I had done a little research on the area, and knew that this was someplace I wanted to bird, but never was able to find a guide that could take us there and show us around, which I will admit now, worried me a bit. You see, there is a main entrance to the park with some trails (where you need to check in first), but from what I was able to gather, the best birding was from a trail a few kilometers down the road, and I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of having to walk along the highway to get there (and then back again in the hottest part of the day.) We arrived at the park HQ at a few minutes past 7, but it didn't open until 7:30 so we just birded around the entrance for a little while, listening to a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl tooting across the street, and seeing birds like Masked Tityra working the treetops.

Soon enough a few others started to show up, including one guy in an older Land Rover (my dream car). He approached us and asked if we needed a guide. I quickly noted that he had custom printed shirt with the park name, as well as his name on it - so I was a little more comfortable that this wasn't somebody that was trying to rip-off a few know-nothing tourists. His name was Freddy Villareal, and he'd been birding and guiding in the area for well over 20 years, and it was quite obvious that this guy knew his stuff. We talked about rates, which seemed very reasonable and hired him to guide us until our cab came to pick us up around noon. We then checked in and paid our entrance fee to the park, and headed to the other entrance. I mentioned that one of the birds I was really hoping to see was Royal Flycatcher, as this was supposed to be one of the easier places to see them. Freddy knew of several nest and assured me that we'd see the bird - and almost by the end of the sentence on flew over the path we were on. I don't know what you think of when you hear the word "flycatcher" - but for some reason, my brain immediately goes to the small bland Empidonax flycatchers that I just can't get that excited about, as opposed to the Myiarchus (like Great-crested) or even the cool Tyrannus (like the Kingbirds) flycatchers. I tend to not think of the cooler flycatchers like Scissor-tailed or Fork-tailed Flycatchers. Why? Honestly, I don't know. But the Royal Flycatcher is a bird that I've seen some really cool photos of over the years, and I was hoping that with some luck, I'd get to see one with its crazy crest raised - though I didn't keep high expectations. You see, it raises it's crest very rarely, and I had no intention of disturbing the bird just to get it to do so. But if you want to see what I mean, this is what it looks like with its crest raised. (Many photos of the bird with its crest raised are pics of birds "in the hand") We did manage to get great looks at the bird - even as it was nest-building, but we never did see it raise its crest.

Over the next few hours, Freddy enthusiastically showed us why this park was so special - from nesting Common Tody-Flycatchers:

to an Orange-collared Manakin lek, where the males were flitting and "clicking" around:

to this cute little white Tent Bat:

We looked for and found Motmots:

This Turquoise-browed Motmot was only visible though this little "keyhole" through a number of trees - don't know how he managed to spot this one!
We also spent a bit of time on finding trogons:

Slaty-tailed Trogon (male)

Slaty-tailed Trogon (female)

We stopped along a stream bed area, where there were a few night herons as well as a few Boat-billed Herons. We also had an Amazon Kingfisher fly past us and land in nearby tree. But a this spot, I have to give some credit to Pamela who not only spotted a tiny American Pygmy Kingfisher in a distant tree:

but then also spotted one of the few snakes we saw on the trip. I probably spent 20 minutes entranced by the smooth cool Green Vine Snake and it worked its way up. down, and around the nearby foliage:

This park really is a wonderful place, and I am 100% convinced that Freddy is the man to go with. He is there regularly even when he's not guiding - looking and learning, making sure that he knows what is where so that when he is guiding birders, he does not disappoint. His enthusiasm, knowledge, and experience undoubtedly made it one of the favorite spots for me on this trip, and my only regret of these entire two weeks is that we didn't have more time at the park. Next time (and there's always a "next time" isn't there?) I will definitely plan for more time there,and will be calling Freddy in advance to make sure that he is available. (If you are planning a trip to Costa Rica and want his information, drop me a line!)

One of the reasons that we only had a few hours at the park is that we had been scheduled for a Mangrove Birding Tour on the nearby Tarcoles

Along the trip, we saw a few waders that we are accustomed to see in North America, including Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron Tri-colored Heron, both Night Herons, Great, Snowy, & Cattle Egrets, White Ibis, a few Roseate Spoonbills and a Wood Stork or two, and some shorebirds as well like Spotted Sandpipers and Whimbrel, not to mention Black-necked Stilts, and a number of Jacanas.

But the highlights on a trip like this for me are the birds that rarely make into the ABA area, like Collared Plover, Double-striped Think-Knee, and Southern Lapwing:

Also exciting was how close we managed to drift up to an Amazon Kingfisher:

Another bird we saw that I enjoyed was the Common Black Hawk, which up until a few years ago, had been a separate species known as Mangrove Black Hawk, but it had been 'lumped' back in, so a few people I know "lost" a bird on their list because of this decision.

Other raptors seen on the trip included several Yellow-headed Caracaras, that try as I might, I could not get a clear photo of (again difficult to get flight shots with the point-and-shoot), and many Osprey.
It was a very pleasant, relaxed way to spend a hot afternoon and still get some good birding in. On the drive back to the resort, our driver pointed out the beautiful sunset (I said it before and I'll say it again - everybody is an ambassador for this county and they love to point out it's beauty) and asked if we wanted to get a photo, as he knew a nice overlook along the way. With a pacific sunset like this, how could we say no?