Costa Rican Rainforests at La Selva

 Earlier this month I took a week off of work and spent it exploring Costa Rica. This was my first time out of the country by myself, and after a nightmare in Tulum over 4th of July (a blogpost I am very late on) I was extremely nervous. On top of that, I booked this trip the delta variant got bad, so being that added to nerves. Fortunately, I had nothing to stress about. Costa Rica's biodiversity is off the charts, and early on their government decided to prioritize protecting the country's natural resources and promoting ecotourism. There were no issues at all, even when you account for arranging a Covid test on short notice!

Blue-Gray Tanager

One issue I have when birding is a desire to see everything. I tend to not spend enough time in one place, and as a result I am prone to getting tired and losing focus. It's vacation after all, and I wanted to slow down the pace and enjoy the experience. Instead of driving from one end of the country to another, I opted to pick two places that I knew would have minimal overlap in bird species and habitat and take it slow.

Sloth

The first place I went was the La Selva Biological Station in the Caribbean rainforest in Sarapiqui. This is primarily a research facility full of primary forest, and not many tourists come here. Toucans, tanagers, and all sorts of incredible lowland birds are found here. Labor Day is also the perfect time to go, as there is a slight break in the wet season around this time.

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

The sun starts coming up at 5:30 in the morning, and I was sunscreened up and ready to rock. I wore more clothing at La Selva than I did in Alaska. I'm not trying to get sunburned or eaten alive by mosquitos (the latter of which was nowhere near as bad as I feared). After arriving close to midnight I didn't see anything when I got there, but the sunrise illuminated a stunning rainforest around me. It was time to see some birds!

Scarlet-rumped Tanager

Walking through the garden on my way to the bridge I was floored by the array of gorgeous birds casually hanging out in the busiest part of the station. Violet-headed Hummingbird and Green Honeycreeper were right here in front of me! Amazed, I looked up and saw the bird that drew me to Central America: Golden-hooded Tanager. I had no plans of coming to Costa Rica until I bought Vallely and Dyer's "Birds of Central America" in January. I primarily got it to learn how to identify vagrants to the US, but instead a whole new world opened up, with the star of the show being Golden-hooded Tanager. I desperately wanted to see one, and I had one within 10 minutes of starting out. This was a good omen. 

Golden-hooded Tanager

A large bridge connects the two section of the station over the Puerto Viejo River, and my mind exploded as I soaked in the view. The quiet water rushed by 50 feet below me and I realized how advantageous this was. I was high up, and tops of the trees around me were closer to eye level. Good thing I was up there when I was because a Rufous-tailed Jacamar made a brief appearance.

Pale-billed Woodpecker

As I got my bearings before breakfast I would quickly realize why the rainforest gets so much hype. Birds were everywhere. A Variable Seedeater here, a Blue-gray Tanager there, and...YELLOW-THROATED TOUCAN! Way up in the trees, in perfect light, was a bird that even non-birders go crazy for. Not to be a hippie, but as I admired the toucan I noticed I stopped sweating, I forgot about how far from home I was, and I felt this rush of a high that I have only felt when exploring and experiencing nature at its finest, like at Eeilson in Denali, or at Boot Canyon in Big Bend. All while this is going on, Great Green Macaws (which I only heard, but did not see) were squaking and this absurdly loud, unknown grunt echoed through the trees

Yellow-throated Toucan

.I tend to be very anti-guide. I like to find my own birds, and I think some people overly rely on them. But I did have a guide at La Selva who took me around and taught me all sorts of things about the rainforest. He showed me things I never would have seen, like small group of Honduran White Bats that make their roosts by making banana leaves into a tent. After my experience, I now think everyone should hire a guide on the first day in a new place just to learn more about the environment they're in and to learn the subtle differences between what they're looking at, birds and other animals included. Over the next day and a half I was able to self find pretty much every bird we saw in different locations on the trails.

Orange-chinned Parakeet

What is truly mindblowing was the beauty of the most common birds. Scarlet-rumped Tanagers were everywhere, but looking away felt like a crime. You also couldn't really look away, because they were good indicators that a flock was nearby. I'd heard of mixed flocks before, but to experience one is different beast. I took a seat by a building on my second afternoon near a small clearing, and common birds turned into uncommon sights at every level. Eye-ringed Flatbills perched in the trees with Cinnamon Becards. A Pale-billed Woodpecker silently scooted up the trunk. A Squirrel Cuckoo, which I only had a fleeting glimpse of the day before hung out at the top of a small tree. There were at least 30 species of birds all around me, and I got to follow them as they moved to the trees over the river. That bridge gave me a massive advantage. Here I was, eye level with a Slaty-tailed Trogon and Black-faced Grosbeak. A bird pooped on my head, I didn't even miss a beat. Blue, green, and red birds darted everywhere around me. I almost passed out from excitement. 

Slaty-tailed Trogon

But mixed flocks aren't the only places to see birds. Buff-rumped Warblers guided me down a path near a fast flowing creek that covered up the noise of my footfalls perfectly. Crested Guans in the treetops kept my presence a secret from a pair of Great Curassows on the ground, another tropical bird that shouldn't exist but somehow does. As I entered a botanical study area I got an excellent view of Collared Aracaris, a member of the toucan family that I think may be cooler than toucans themselves. Black-throated and Gartered Trogons were also present, can't believe I'm mentioning those birds as afterthought.

Black-headed Trogon

There is a small marsh that can be quite productive as well, with minimal mosquitos. Green Ibises were lounging in the trees, but it was the Russet-naped Wood-rail that stole the show. Secretive and hard to see, any chance I get at seeing a rail is an opportunity worth seizing. 

Collared Aracari

The birds did not want me to leave and did everything they could to get me to stay. I spent my last morning seeking out any bird I could get, and I got to spend it doing something I always wanted to do: observing parrots. A flock of White-crowned Parrots foraged in a tree above me with a clear view, forcing me to choose between admiring them and a swimming otter below me. Montezuma Oropendolas called out to me as I crossed the bridge one last time, and unfortunately I had to get in the van to go to Savegre.

White-crowned Parrot

I know this is a long post, but this is the pared version. I'm leaving off incredible sightings of Black Hawk-eagle, Snowy Cotinga, Bay Wren, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Blue Dacnis, Cocoa Woodcreeper and so many other species that deserve more than a brief mention. And that's just the birds. Howler Monkeys were everywhere, hanging by their tails. Wild monkeys, you couldn't take your eyes off of them, or miss their echoing howls. An Emerald Basilisk brought me screeching to a halt, and Bullet Ants, supposedly the animal with the most painful bite on earth, kept me eyeing any rail I touched. Caimans patrolled the river underneath the bridge.  And of course, a sloth made me weak in the knees.

Howler Monkey hanging by its tail

Both nights after the afternoon rain I'd walk on the bridge and watch the sunset. The rising fog, cool air, and pink sky of the rainforest was one of the most beautiful sights I'll ever see. I observed 83 species of birds, countless other animals, and was probably seen by at least a few poisonous snakes in the span of 2 days. La Selva was the best way to dive headfirst into a birding trip in Central America, but there was still more to come!

Sunset on the Puerto Viejo River