Waking up was amazing, partly due to the amazing sounds coming from outside! The roar of Howler Monkeys and the quivering calls of tinamous started things off...
I could hardly wait to get out birding. New birds came fast and furious through the entire day at La Selva. La Selva is in the Carribbean lowlands so that basically means hot temps, high diversity of birds, and lots and lots of jungle.
That morning we had a guided bird walk by one of the local guides. He spoke decent english and above all, he found us many good birds! Highlights from that walk included Great Tinamou, Crested Owls at a roost, Hooded Warbler (a big rarity here!), and dozens and dozens of other species.
Above is a Bronze-tailed Pumeleteer (a type of hummingbird). It was found on the north side of the main bridge and was the only pumeleteer we saw on the entire trip.
Above is a Yellow-bellied Elaenia (a type of flycatcher). We photographed this from the back deck of our cabin!
Above is a male Great Curassow. These are apparently uncommon (although we had them at most of our stops on this trip). This male was walking around a clearing along with a female and was one of the first birds on our trip.
Above is a Broad-billed Motmot, 1 of 2 species of motmot present in this part of Costa Rica.
Above is a Collared Aracari, a type of a small toucan. These are fairly common and we quickly found a flock of nearly a dozen.
Above is a Great Tinamou, an odd skulker of the forest understory. This was the only one we actually SAW on the entire trip. However, you can hear them almost everywhere!
Above is a Violaceous Trogon. This, too, was photographed from our back porch.
The following is our bird list for the FIRST day at La Selva:
Antbird, Dusky
Aracari, Collared
Bananaquit
Cuckoo, Squirrel
Curassow, Great
Dove, Blue Ground-
Dove, White-tipped
Egret, Cattle
Elaenia, Yellow-bellied
Euphonia, Olive-backed
Flycatcher, Dusky-capped
Flycatcher, Gray-capped
Flycatcher, Great Crested
Flycatcher, Ochre-bellied
Flycatcher, Social
Flycatcher, White-ringed
Grosbeak, Black-faced
Guan, Crested
Hawk, Semiplumbeous
Heron, Great Blue
Hummingbird, Rufous-tailed
Jacamar, Rufous-tailed
Kingbird, Tropical
Kingfisher, Green
Kiskadee, Great
Motmot, Broad-billed
Motmot, Rufous
Oriole, Baltimore
Oriole, Black-cowled
Oropendola, Montezuma
Owl, Crested
Parrot, Red-lored
Parrot, White-crowned
Pauraque, Common
Pigeon, Short-billed
Pumeleteer, Bronze-tailed
Saltator, Buff-throated
Seedeater, Variable
Sparrow, Black-striped
Swallow, Southern Rough-winged
Swift, Gray-rumped
Tanager, Bay-headed
Tanager, Blue-gray
Tanager, Crimson-collared
Tanager, Golden-hooded
Tanager, Palm
Tanager, Passerini's
Tanager, Silver-throated
Tanager, Summer
Thrush, Clay-colored
Thrush, Wood
Tinamou, Great
Tinamou, Little
Tityra, Black-crowned
Tityra, Masked
Toucan, Chestnut-mandibled
Toucan, Keel-billed
Trogon, Slaty-tailed
Trogon, Violaceous
Tyrant, Long-tailed
Vulture, Turkey
Warbler, Black-and-white
Warbler, Buff-rumped
Warbler, Chestnut-sided
Warbler, Hooded
Waterthrush, Northern
Woodcreeper, Wedge-billed
Woodpecker, Black-cheeked
Woodpecker, Chestnut-colored
Woodpecker, Pale-billed
Wren, Bay
Wren, House
Wren, White-breasted Wood-
