This post covers Day 4 of our Costa Rica photography trip.
We started out at dawn (6 AM) hiking on roads and trails around Cerro Lodge, where we stayed. After we left the lodge, we crossed the Tárcoles River, where there are American Crocodiles (they are called Caimans in Spanish). We stopped for our last visit to a beach for this trip. Dominicalito had a very nice beach and a lot of beautiful rock formations. Mary Ann finally got to take off her shoes and wade in the surf! She had started to get a cough the day before, and by today she was feeling feverish.
We then headed up the mountains to our next hotel: Bosque del Tolomuco, which is at an elevation of about 6000 ft. It was about a 3 hour drive. The hotel is about 10 miles north (up a steep mountain road) of San Isidro de El General. We stopped for lunch at Las Vueltas (‘the curves’, which describes the curvy mountain roads – website is here), which had some feeders and nice birds. Once we got to Bosque del Tolomuco we spent time photographing around the lodge. It was starting to get dark, so the light for pictures wasn’t great.
The lodge proprietors went to bed around 7:00 PM, so we got no service after that (we needed a new light bulb and blankets). They advertise WiFi, which is just available on request when the proprietor turns on her iPhone as a hotspot, so really there is no WiFi! It’s advertised as a bed and breakfast, but they charge extra for the breakfast. The tankless hot water was very temperamental and required a fine touch to get hot water out. Despite all that, I’m not really going to complain, because the birds were fantastic.
By this time Mary Ann had a fever, and all she wanted to do was climb in bed and sleep.
Here are the pictures:
8 Comments
What magazine did you get these from ???? Unreal! FOMO to the max!!!! Red Headed Barbet…. beautiful…
Thanks Dave! It would have been fun if it worked out for you and Alice to come.
The colors are unbelievable. You are so talented, brother Joe!! Thanks for sharing. Keep ’em coming!
Thanks Jill! I think there will be approx 4 more! It takes time to go through the pictures and identify the birds, and I’m taking my time. Don’t want it to be a chore 🙂
I didn’t know there were so many tanagers! All pics are amazing! Except the weird people on the beach in the strange clothes and hats! Looks like fun! TK
Thanks, Terry! The number and variety of Tanagers is pretty amazing. I don’t know what the species is on the beach – maybe ‘Hat-headed Camera-Nerds’? Except for one, who may be a ‘Bare-footed Beach-Babe’.
Too bad the Bare-footed Beach Babe was sick on the trip. Tell her hi!
Beautiful birds! I wish some of those were in our yard.