COSTA RICA August 1985: Chomes, Irazu & Panama

20 August 1985:  We set off early on a long day trip from San Jose to Chomes, taking the first bus then a longish walk to the saltpans.  Being back a sea level and with very little shelter it soon became very hot.  At the end of the day we were pleased to be given a lift back to the main road where we didn’t have to wait too long for a San Jose bus.  Birds seen included Snowy Egret, Little Blue and Louisiana Herons, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, Semipalmated and Wilson's Plovers, both Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Least, Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Short-billed Dowitcher, Black-necked Stilt, Gull-billed and Least Terns, Blue Ground Dove, Rose-throated Becard, Rufous-naped Wren and Mangrove Warbler.

Rufous-naped Wren, an impressive member of a generally impressive family

mangroves at Chomes

Greater Yellowlegs at Chomes

21 August 1985:  Being at the whim of bus timetables was taking its toll so we chartered a taxi for a morning visit to Volcan Irazu.  We were lucky that it was clear, although hazy, when we arrived giving views of the Caribbean to the east and the Pacific to the west.  Few birds were seen but included Baird's Sandpiper and Volcano Junco.  We returned to San Jose and visited the Zoo in the afternoon seeing Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and Hoffman’s Woodpecker before catching the overnight bus to Panama City.

looking back towards San Jose from Volcan Irazu

Volcan Poas from Volcan Irazu

insides of Volcan Irazu

Volcan Irazu crater

Colin on the rim of Volcan Irazu

Nick

me

Volcan Irazu group photo

Volcan Irazu ridge

Colin on the edge

looking down from Irazu

little vegetation at the summit

22 August 1985:  We continued our bus journey to Panama City, crossing the border at Paso Canoas.  By now the bus was quite uncomfortable.

23-28 August 1985:  We caught a train from Panama City to Gamboa from where it was a short walk to the start of the famed Pipeline Road.  Here what looked like a fortuitous but unlit box toilet by the entrance barrier gave me a shock as when I sat down I noticed something moving in the corner a foot away - a small dark snake that I didn’t spend too long looking at.  All thoughts of using the toilet rapidly vanished, and since that day the forest has always been much more appealing.  We took food for a couple of days and camped a couple of miles down the Pipeline Road at the ‘Limbo Hunt Club’, me in my bivy bag under the fly sheet again.  Very disappointingly it was just a clearing, the building we’d imagined sleeping on the veranda of having long since gone.  It was very hot and with little shade during the day but the forest along the road, which was little more than a dirt track, was superb.  On 26 August we returned by train to Panama City, getting a bus to the airport where we saw off Nick who was flying back.  Colin and I returned but in broad daylight on our way back to the railway station Colin was set upon by four muggers.  He took an arm out of his rucksack to lay into one of them who was trying to get his money-belt while I was grabbing another around the neck to keep him off.  The other two grabbed Colin’s rucksack, literally off his back, and they all ran off into a rather seedy tenement building with it.  Fortunately Colin’s passport and cash were in his money-belt which he’d kept a firm hold on but his binoculars, notebook and Nick’s tent, which we’d borrowed, were lost.  We found the local police station and reported the theft, which they blamed on Colombian immigrants.  A couple of cops returned to the scene with us but unsurprisingly there was no sign of the perpetrators or any of Colin’s stuff.  We spent the rest of the day finding replacement binoculars and buying a plastic sheet and rope for a makeshift tent.  We found a cheap hotel for the night, our day trip I to see Nick off had become rather more eventful than we’d anticipated.  Next time he could find his own way to the airport!  The next morning Colin and I returned to the Pipeline Road for two days.  Birds seen during our stay included Least Grebe, Anhinga, King Vulture, Double-toothed Kite, Black Hawk-Eagle, Crane Hawk, Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon, Grey-headed Chachalaca, Scaled Pigeon, Grey-chested Dove, Red-lored and Mealy Parrots, Greater Ani, Spectacled Owl, Semi-collared Nighthawk, Paraque, Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, Purple-crowned Fairy, Slaty-tailed, White-tailed and Black-throated Trogons, Green & Rufous Kingfisher, Broad-billed, Rufous and Blue-crowned Motmots, White-necked, Pied and White-whiskered Puffbirds, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed and Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, Cinnamon and Crimson-crested Woodpeckers, Black-striped Woodcreeper, Plain Xenops, Scaly-throated Leafscraper, Fasciated, Slaty and Russet Antshrikse, Spot-crowned Antvireo, Streaked, Checker-throated and Dot-winged Antwrens, Dusky, Chestnut-backed Bicoloured, Spotted and Ocellated Antbirds, Streak-chested Antpitta, Blue-crowned, Red-capped and Golden-collared Manakins, Blue Cotinga, Rufous Mourner, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Fork-tailed, Panama, Ruddy-tailed and Sulphur-rumped Flycatchers, Golden-crowned Spadebill, Olivaceous Flatbill, Brownish Flycatcher, Plain, Buff-breasted and Black-bellied Wrens, White-breasted Wood Wren, Song Wren, Long-billed and Tawny-faced Gnatwrens, Louisiana Waterthrush, Buff-rumped Warbler, Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Scarlet-rumped Cacique, Fulvous-vented Euphonia, Golden-hooded, Plain-coloured, Crimson-backed ,Yellow-rumped, Carmiol's and Sulphur-rumped Tanagers, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Slate-coloured Grosbeak and Thick-billed Seed Finch.  Highlights were encountering an antswarm on 24 August, Colin finding a day roosting Spectacled Owl, seeing the antpitta twice and a Puma walking down the track towards me before it realised I was here and promptly turned off.  We also saw Sloth, Amradillo and Coatimundi.

Panama Canal

 29-31 August 1985:  We got the train from Gamboa to Gatun, a very impressive and efficiently run set of locks on the Panama Canal.  Birds here included Pied-billed Grebe, Snowy Egret, Little Blue and, Louisiana Herons , Collared Plover, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Ringed Kingfisher, Red-breasted Blackbird and Saffron Finch.  From there it was a longish walk to the Achiote Road where we slept by the road under plastic sheet for two nights.  We’d taken food and some water but found it difficult to replenish the latter as most of the pools were very muddy although we did eventually find a small fairly clean stream and used plenty of iodine with no ill effect.  Birds seen on the Achiote Road included Agami Heron, King Vulture, Zone-tailed and Semi-plumbous Hawks, Striped Cuckoo, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Band-tailed Barbthroat, Violet-bellied Hummingbird, Purple-crowned Fairy, Slaty-tailed, White-tailed and Violaceous Trogons, Pied and White-whiskered Puffbirds, Grey-cheeked Nunlet, Spot-crowned Barbet, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed and Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, Cinnamon and Lineated Woodpeckers, Black-striped Woodcreeper, Fasciated and Great Antshrikes, Pigmy and Streaked Antwrens, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Golden-collared Manakin, White-winged Becard, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Black-headed Tody Flycatcher, Southern Bentbill, Black-chested Jay, Plain, Bay and Black-bellied Wrens, Black & White Warbler, Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Yellow-tailed and Yellow-backed Orioles, Plain-coloured, Crimson-backed, Yellow-rumped and Dusky-faced Tanagers, Red-throated Ant-Tanager and Black-headed Saltator.  On the way back to Gamboa we met an American scientist who very generously offered to put us up in the research apartment he was using there.  Much better than another night under our plastic sheet!

approaching Gatun Locks

Gatun Locks

very impressive, as was the whole operation

swallowtail-type butterfly

Colin in our new tent, leaf cutter ants were keen to join us too as we failed to notice we were on the route of one of their highways!

1 September 1985:  Our friend was going to Barro Colorado, an island in the centre of the canal where there was a research station.  We had planned another day on the Pipeline Road but it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.  He also offered us the use of his apartment that evening even though he was staying on BCI.  A very generous offer indeed.  In conversation it turned out he’d been mugged a couple of times in Panama City, part of the Panamanian experience was how he put it.  Westerners generally being a soft-target unless an off duty US marine was picked on in which case the outcome was usually different!  BCI was interesting with an impressive canopy tower, and we got a nice lunch, but we were not there at the best time of the day and saw few different birds although they did include Grey-headed Kite, Slaty-tailed and Black-throated Tanagers and two male Blue Cotingas.  We returned to the Gamboa apartment and made use of a communal tumble drier in the basement of the block to dry out our wet shoes although the noise of them being tumbled must have been audible to most of the residents.  It didn’t work that well and we soon got them wet again the next morning.

2 September 1985:  We had a last look around Gamboa seeing 2 Sloths and a Coatimundi before catching the train into Panama City.  We’d said we’d return the key to an office in town as our friend was heading back to USA but when we got there it was all locked up.  The best we could do was lob in over the entrance gate with a cryptic note and hope it’d be found.  We got the bus to Tocumen Airport and after checking in – Colin with just hand baggage - found some pools outside the airport where we saw Collared Plover, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Least Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Red-breasted Blackbird, Ruddy-breasted Seedeater.  We flew home via Aruba (Magnificent Frigatebird) and Amsterdam but KLM managed to lose my rucksack on the way and we both finished the trip with just hand baggage.  On getting home I phoned Nick.  I got some bad news I told him.  He was fearing that I’d seen Rufous-crowned Antpitta (no such luck) so was quite relieved when it was only that we’d lost his tent.  Nick had even got back to the UK in time to see the Little Whimbrel at Cley, meeting another very good friend of mine, Martyn Kenefick who he didn’t then know in the hide there.  Birding is a small world.  KLM even found my bag and eventually sent it on to Brighton Station where I collected it two weeks later, complete with wet and now rotting canvas shoes.  I even managed to get a refund from them for a new pair!

Sloth at Gamboa

Many thanks to such excellent companions, Colin and Nick, for a very enjoyable trip.  It worked out pretty much to plan, at least once I got to Costa Rica!  The trip cost me about £800 all in and I saw over 480 species of which almost half were new.

[blogged March 2013]

COSTA RICA August 1985: Santa Rosa, La Selva & La Georgina

6 August 1985:  We rather reluctantly left Monteverde getting a bus from Santa Elana to Santa Rosa.  We broke the journey at La Victoria where we had a two hour stop by getting off one Santa Rosa bus and onto the next.  It was a site for Boat-billed Herons which we saw along with Rufous-naped and Banded Wrens.  Back on the bus we got dropped off by the turning for Santa Rosa and it was a longish walk in from main road.  We took in our food and camped by the HQ as there was no food or accommodation available.  We just had Nick’s two-man tent between us but I had a bivy bag and slept in that squeezed partly under the tent's flysheet. 

adult Boat-billed Heron at La Victoria

superb birds

well worth a two hour stop

Nick and Colin on the Santa Rosa approach road

7-8 August 1985:  Santa Rosa was much drier forest than the other sites we visited in Costa Rica.  One day we walked to the coast visiting a beach where Green Turtles come ashore to breed but unfortunately not at that time of year.  Colin reminds me that I nearly got wiped out by the surf as an unexpectedly big wave came in while I was attempting to swim, a memory I'd happily expunged!  Another day a couple of American researchers showed us a large rattlesnake as it disappeared down a hole.  It was at least as thick as my arm and not seeing its head a sit slid away made it even more evil looking.  The researchers were wearing heavy boots, denim jeans and knee high snake-bite proof shin-pads.  As we were walking around in trainers and shorts we hoped their attire had more to do with paranoia than necessity.  It also added to my concerns about sleeping in a bivy bag but I survived.  At Santa Rosa we saw King Vulture, Grey-headed and Double-toothed Kites, Collared Forest Falcon, Great Currasow, Crested Guan, Spot-bellied Bobwhite, Wilson's Plover, Double-striped Thick-knee, Orange-fronted Parakeet, White-fronted, Red-lored and Yellow-naped Parrots, Lesser Ground Cuckoo, Paraque, Plain-capped Starthroat, Citreoline and Elegant Trogons, Turquoise-browed Motmot (brilliant), Pale-billed Woodpecker, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, Barred Antshrike, Long-tailed Manakin, Nutting's and Northern Royal Flycatchers, Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Cliff Swallow, White-throated Magpie-Jay, Rufous-naped and Banded Wrens, White-lored Gnatcatcher, Long-billed Gnatwren, Grey-crowned Yellowthroat, Chestnut-capped Warbler, Streak-backed Oriole, Scrub Euphonia, Blue Grosbeak and Olive and Stripe-headed Sparrows.

open grassland at Santa Rosa

Stripe-headed Sparrow

Inca Dove

White-throated Magpie-Jay, not at crepuscular despite the impression that this image gives

coastal forest at Santa Rosa

The Pacific from Santa Rosa

large Iguana at Santa Rosa

turtle beach and the Pacific

coastal mangroves at Santa Rosa

Wilson's Plover

playing hide and seek in the mangroves

Brown Booby

Brown Pelicans

waiting on the main road for a San Jose bus, weather didn't turn out nice, again

9 August 1985:  We packed up the tent, walked out to main road and flagged down a bus to San Jose.  We checked back into the ‘Peace Corps’ hostel to find many of the same occupants there watching the same TV programmes.

10 August 1985:  We caught a bus from San Jose to Puerto Viejo where we found a room for three in a basic hotel.  We walked down the road 3-4 kms to the entrance of Finca La Selva and back before dark to make sure we could find it and see how long it would take as we wanted to arrive at dawn.

11-13 August 1985:  Each day we left Puerto Veijo before dawn and walked to Finca La Selva in the dark, arriving as it was getting light.  We’d booked our visits in San Jose and paid the daily admissions charge on arrival.  The cost of visit included lunch which was apparently very good although I always ended up missing it in preference to staying out on the excellent forest trails and superb grid system.  At most forest sites where we spent any length of time we tended to split up and wander quietly around on our own – in the hope of seeing some forest skulker that 2 or 3 of us together might disturb.  Nowhere was that more so than at La Selva where we all saw loads of good birds and each had memorable encounters with an ant swarm and attendant ant-things.  Good birds were not restricted to the forest with the diminutive Snowcap hummingbird, another of our main targets being fairly common at this time of year on the flowers around the headquarters.  At La Selva we saw Great Tinamou, Slaty-breasted Tinamou, Green Ibis, Bat Falcon, Great Currasow, Rufous-fronted Wood Quail, Grey-chested Dove, Olive-backed Quail-Dove, Olive-throated Parakeet, White-crowned, Red-lored and Mealy Parrots, Bronzy Hermit, Black-crested Coquette, Green Thorntail, Snowcap (brilliant), Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, Purple-crowned Fairy, Black-throated and Violaceous Trogons, Broad-billed and Rufous Motmots, White-fronted Nunbird, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed and Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, Chestnut-collared, Rufous-winged and Pale-billed Woodpeckers, Barred, Black-striped and Spotted Woodcreepers, Slaty Spinetail, Slaty Antshrike, Streak-crowned Antvireo, Dot-winged Antwren, Dusky, Chestnut-backed, Bicoloured, Spotted and Ocellated Antbirds, Black-faced Antthrush, White-collared Manakin, Rufous Piha, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher, Eye-ringed Flatbill, Northern Bentbill, Black-capped Pigmy Tyrant, Band-backed, Stripe-breasted and Bay Wrens, White-breasted Wood Wren, Louisiana Waterthrush, Buff-rumped Warbler, Montezuma's Oropendola, Scarlet-rumped and Yellow-billed Caciques, Black-cowled Oriole, Yellow-crowned and Olive-backed Euphonia, Golden-hooded and Dusky-faced Tanagers, Red-throated Ant Tanager, Black-headed Saltator, Black-faced Grosbeak, Thick-billed Seed Finch and Orange-billed Sparrow.  At La Selva we also saw Tayra and Armadillo.

entering La Selva, buy suspension bridge over the river

one of the excellent forest trails crossing a stream

Keel-billed Toucan at La Selva

14-15 August 1985:  We stopped off at Finca El Bejuco on our return from Puerto Veijo.  We stayed on reserve where we were put up and fed by a very friendly lady who was looking after the place for an American University.  We saw some nice birds and another Tayra but it was not a patch on La Selva and our time would have been spent more productively staying longer there.  We did see Little Tinamou, Double-toothed Kite, Bat Falcon, Grey-headed Chachalaca, Blue Ground Dove, Grey-chested Dove, Olive-throated Parakeet, White-crowned and Mealy Parrots, Striped Cuckoo, Broad-billed Motmot, Keel-billed and Chestnut-mandibled Toucans , Great Antshrike, Black-faced Antthrush, Red-capped and hite-collared Manakins, White-winged and Cinnamon Becards, Bright-rumped Attila, Yellow Tyrannulet, White-breasted Wood Wren, Montezuma's Oropendola, Yellow-billed Cacique, Black-cowled Oriole, Olive-backed Euphonia, Golden-hooded Tanager, Red-throated Ant Tanager, Black-headed Saltator, Black-faced Grosbeak, Thick-billed Seed Finch and Orange-billed Sparrow.  After two days at El Bejuco we caught a bus back to San Jose and the ‘Peace Corps’ hostel.

Nick at El Bejuco

16-19 August 1985:  The next morning we caught a bus south down the Pan American highway getting off at the restaurant at La Georgina where we stayed for three nights.  We spent most time on the road back up to Cerro de la Muerte and along interesting looking side trails but low clouds rolled in each afternoon making birding very difficult and often curtailing it.  La Georgina was cold, especially at night, but going back to the room to read was often the only alternative to staying out in the cloud and rain.  Unsurprisingly we were the only people staying at La Georgina although there was a steady passing trade of truckers and busses.  We lived on rice, meat and beans (arroz con carne con frijoles) - fortunately in my pre-veggie days – although they sometimes took a while to arrive.  Fortunately we were patient and didn’t make the mistake of another group of friends who visited a couple of years later and when no food appeared ordered again, and again and finally ended up with three plates each!  Birds seen included Red-tailed Hawk, Green Violetear, Fiery-throated, Magnificant and Volcano Hummingbirds, Grey-tailed Mountaingem, Resplendent Quetzal, Emerald Toucanet, Acorn and Hairy Woodpeckers, Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, Ruddy Treerunner, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Streak-breasted Treehunter, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Black-capped Flycatcher, Silver-throated Jay, Timberline Wren,  Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher, Black & Yellow Phainoptila, Yellow-winged Vireo, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Flame-throated and Black-cheeked Warblers, Collared Whitestart, Wrenthrush (several, excellent to see some more), Yellow-billed Cacique, Sooty-capped Bush Tanager, Yellow-thighed and Large-footed Finches and Volcano Junco.  After a final morning at La Georgina we caught a bus back to San Jose and checked back into the ‘Peace Corps’ hostel.

La Georgina, our base at Cerro De la Muerte for three nights

Restaurant La Georgina, we stayed in an upstairs room at the back, not that there was a lot of noisy traffic on the road

Nick & Colin on the Pan-American Highway at La Geogrina

Volcano Junco

Sooty Thrush

view from La Georgina to Volcan Irazu, lots of forest and, as yet, little cloud

view from La Georgina to Chirripo, forest as far as one could see in this direction too

view west from La Georgina showing distant cleared hillsides

clouds coming in, must be lunchtime

Pan American highway in the cloud, fortunately the road was never very busy

Sooty-crowned Bush-Tanager

squirrel near La Georgina

out of focus Large-footed Finch

Silver-throated Jay auditioning for a part in Hitchcock's the Birds

Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, a smarter bird than this image suggests

out of focus Collared Whitestart

Black-capped Flycatcher

Hairy Woodpecker

Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush

two Black-billed Nightingale-Thrushes

one of several species of Nightingale-Thrush seen in Costa Rica

forest clearing near La Georgina

female Volcano Hummingbird

male Volcano Hummingbird