Birds of Paradise

We are on our way to Arenal today. Yesterday was filled with hikes and bird watching. We went on a guided hike in the morning ( woke up at 6.25am, so early!) with our host, Eduardo Venegas. Eduardo is a naturalist and has spent many years studying birds. He is currently editing the Field Guide to Costa Rican birds and is studying the Oilbird, a rare bird in CR. Three hours of hiking and we saw two different types of toucans, the iconic black and an emerald pair, multiple flycatchers, migratory warblers, a three-wattles bell bird and a variety of other birds I can no longer remember the names of. Eduardo was full of information and you could tell that he really enjoyed teaching about CR wildlife. We also spotted a deer which is very rare in CR. the native deer population had all but been wiped out due to hunting but are now very protective and are growing in number.



Montezuma Orelopendula nests



Three- waddled Bell bird



Deer!

After a delicious lunch and some ice cream from the local cheese factory, Ben and I went into the Monteverde Cloud forest and hiked some more while trying to remember what the different birds sounded like. We did see a couple new ones but couldn't identify any of the ones that we heard. The forest was amazing with so much plant life!


Strangler Ficus
We did cross the Continental Divide



Outside of the park is the Hummingbird Gallery which was closed but the hummingbird feeders were open for business! So many tiny birds buzzing and dive bombing each other. They didn't seem to be as territorial as the ones back home but they certainly didn't seem to care how close they flew by our heads!


Violet Saber-winged hummingbird


Five at once!

Then it was back to town for some delicious piña con leche and then a wonderful dinner.
Getting to Arenal could take anywhere from 3 to 5 hours so we are trying to get an early-ish start. Ben might even drive some today!