Window to Wildlife

Following on from our pre-breakfast boat trip, we gathered together again at 10AMand set out for an area of scrubland in search of owls. Our guide knew exactly where to take us for these beautiful Black-and-White Owls: As we stood by the road admiring this pair, a local Tico pulled up and offered to show us some more owls roosting nearby. They were actually roosting in tress very close together just a few hundred yards away, but incredibly well camaflouged. There was a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl Photo by Clive And a wide eyed Pacific Screech-Owl staring straight at us All beautiful birds, but the trip highlight was unfortunately not seen by me. Later in the trip and in a different location, Clive had walked along a forest trail in search of Spotted Wood Quail, and after successfully locating a family group, he sat down to rest in a secluded area with a seating area and small fountain. Before long, a small brown bird flew past into a bush, then returned to start bathing

Our first day in Costa Rica got off to an early start with a boat trip on the beautiful  river Tarcoles booked for the unearthly hour of 6AM. This was to ensure we had a suitably low tide with more birds making use of the muddy banks, but also had the advantage that we had the river to ourselves. The trip was a great success with so many birds everywhere that we scarcely knew where to look. A few birds were familiar to us, such as Great Egret, Sanderling and Grey Plover, although this is known as Black Bellied Plover in Costa Rica. There were many varieties of elegant herons and egrets: Snowy egret  Wood Stork Boat-billed Heron White Ibis Yellow-crowned Night-Heron                                                                         Bare-throated Tiger Heron There were numerous waders present including these dainty Black-necked Stilts Brown Pelicans and Black Vultures lined the banks, presumably hoping for some easy pickings...