Rich wildlife around Arenal

Our last post from the rich nature wonderland of Costa Rica focuses on birding around the Arenal Volcano. We had quite mixed weather including lots of rain but we were still pleased to see a range of birds and other wildlife.

Arenal Observatory Lodge

We had a very wet soggy morning at Arenal Observatory Lodge. We picked up several new hummingbirds which cannot stop for the rain as they will die if they don’t eat every couple of hours (Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, Violet-headed Hummingbird, White-tipped Sicklebill, Blue-throated Goldentail and Brown Violeteer). We also saw several Tanagers on the fruit feeders and in nearby trees including Bay-headed, Golden-hooded, Crimson-Collared and Camiol’s). But because it was so wet I had left my camera in the car. We did however get some photos from the car on the the nearby stream of a Fasciated Tiger Heron.

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Bogarin Trails

The next day was a bit dryer so we went for a walk by ourselves in the Bogarin Trails from Fortuna and took the camera this time. We didn’t have a guide but were keen to try and find some Sloths if we could.

Stopping at the fruit feeders near the entrance we saw several interesting birds with the Orange-Chinned Parakeet offering lovely close views.

A nearby pond also offered good views of a Green Kingfisher and a Bare-throated Tiger Heron which stayed skulking behind reeds so I didn’t get any good photos.

We continued to walk the trails looking particularly for Sloths. After some perseverance we found a total of 4 sloths – 1 Hoffman’s Two-Toed and 3 Three-Toed Sloths. It was rewarding working to find them rather than just being shown them by a guide.

Whilst looking for Sloths we also saw much more wildlife around the reserve including Leaf-cutting Ants, Black and White Owl, Rufous-Tailed Jacamar and Broad-billed Motmot (life-tick).

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La Selva Biological Station

A couple of hours east from La Fortuna we visited La Selva for a couple of early morning walks – first birding at 5.45am and general nature at 8am. This was a fantastic experience with Great Green Macaws (critical endangered) and Sungrebe being among the highlights of what we saw. But the general wildlife from frogs to bats and a sloth was really interesting too.

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We have had an absolutely wonderful time in Costa Rica. Altogether in our four weeks here we have seen 342 species of bird of which 182 have been lifers and 98 species have been photo-lifers. Our trip total at the end of our time in Costa Rica was 584 species. Next up Panama.