Monteverde
Our second stop was Monteverde. After the taxi-boat-taxi ride (see the pictures I took during this ride on the Arenal and La Fortuna page), we arrived on the Monteverde side. The views were beautiful (though it was getting cloudy by this time), but the roads are notoriously treacherous. (Click on each image to see the high-resolution version)
Mountain View on the way to Monteverde
Mountain View on the way to Monteverde
After what seemed to be an interminable and bumpy ride (in reality, the boat ride across Lake Arenal cut the land travel time by more than half), we arrived at Hotel El Bosque (see my Tripadvisor review here). Immediately after we checked in, I noticed an Agouti roaming the hotel grounds, oblivious of the comings and goings.
Agouti
Agouti
And when I looked up, I added a new bird to my lifelist: a flock of White-fronted Parrots were hanging out noisily in the trees.
White-fronted Parrot
There was just enough time for me to see the sunset over the mountains, so after putting down the luggage I went out. During just this brief outing I added yet another new bird: a Black Guan (there were a few of them foraging in the trees).
Sunset
Black Guan
The next day -- March 8, 2016 -- was our only full day in Monteverde and it would prove to be the greatest wildlife viewing day of the trip. Things got to a great start in the morning: just when I was eating breakfast I noticed a Blue-crowned Motmot perching on a branch in beautiful morning light. As it turned out, this one was one of the resident pair at the hotel complex (but they are wild, not pets), more on this later.
Blue-crowned Motmot
Blue-crowned Motmot
Next we went to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and the greatest wildlife show on this trip began -- as we just got on the trail, a group (family?) of White-nosed Coatis were running around along the trail and up to the trees. We had seen these racoon-like creatures in Arenal, but I did not realize that they were such good climbers.
White-nosed Coati
No sooner did we see off the coatis, did our guide spot a pair of nesting Resplendent Quetzals for us. These are the quentissential cloud forest dwellers and arguably the most iconic bird of Costa Rica, many people travel all across the globe and don't even get to see them, but here we saw them right away and at close range. In fact, we saw another pair farther down the trail.
Resplendent Quetzal
Resplendent Quetzal
Resplendent Quetzal
Resplendent Quetzal
At the same time as we were admiring the quetzals, another bird, perched high up on a tree branch, caught our attention. This was the elusive Three-wattled Bellbird, many search all their life without seeing one, but again we got lucky.
Three-wattled Bellbird
We saw other birds and other creatures, but soon -- too soon -- we reached the end of the trail at a waterfall. Somewhere in this picture there is supposed to be a hummingbird, which I saw from the guide's scope, but never located myself before we started hurrying back (one of the few times on this trip that I felt rushed).
Waterfall in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve
But it was at the Hummingbird Gallery that I was really blown away -- I was literally breathless watching and photographing the dazzling hummingbirds at the feeders. I could stay here for a whole day just enjoying these turbo-charged yet elegant fliers that seemingly change colors constantly flashing their shinny metallic feathers in the bright sunlight. A sweet-loving Bananaquit also joined the buffet.
Bananaquit
Coppery-headed Emerald
Green Violetear
Green Violetear
Green-crowned Brilliant
Magenta-throated Woodstar
Purple-throated Mountaingem
Purple-throated Mountaingem
Purple-throated Mountaingem
Purple-throated Mountaingem
Lunch at the Stella's Bakery brought other birds to enjoy -- a pair of Brown Jays and a couple of fledgling Baltimore Orioles. Even a Blue Morpho butterfly came to visit (not shown here).
Brown Jays
Baltimore Oriole
We went back to the hotel to rest. I walked around the hotel grounds, taking a break before the afternoon's activities. But I would get no reprieve -- a pair of Blue-crowned Motmot were flying around, apparently unafraid of people. One of them flew to a branch right in front of me. I was amazed that I could reach out and ever so gently touch its racket tails. It either did not sense it, or simply did not care. This was one of the very few times I actually touched a bird. It flew away after sometime, unalarmed.
Blue-crowned Motmot
Just then, a White-faced Capuchin Monkey descended a tree and walked about. In front of my startled eyes, it went into the kitchen and stole a banana! I told the hotel manager about this, he shrugged and said nonchalantly: "He sometimes does that." Later, more monkeys joined him (?) and they made a raucous scene in the trees.
White-faced Capuchin
White-faced Capuchin
In the afternoon we went to Selvatura Park. We took the hanging bridge trail, but at this hour, we did not see many wildlife.
Hanging Bridge
After the hike, I had some time to spare and went into their Hummingbird Garden, here again I saw many of these magnificent creatures and took many pictures.
Coppery-headed Emerald
Green Thorntail
Green-crowned Brilliant
Green-crowned Brilliant
Green-crowned Brilliant
Purple-throated Mountaingem
Purple-throated Mountaingem
Purple-throated Mountaingem
Violet Sabrewing
But the next day we had to leave this wonderful place. In the morning I took a short walk on the hotel grounds again. In less than an hour, I "bagged" yet another two new birds -- a Yellow-faced Grassquit and a Philadelphia Vireo.
Squirrel
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Brown Jay
Philadelphia Vireo
But eventually we had to leave ... I will forever remember Monteverde as a wonderland of wildlife.
Taking the shuttle ride by Ride Costa Rica (see my review here), we went to Manuel Antonio. We made a few stops to see the mountain view -- first on the Carribean side of the Continental Divide, then on the Pacific side, and at the Rio Tárcoles where large crocodiles were hanging out.
Mountain View on the way to Manuel Antonio (Carribean side)
Mountain View on the way to Manuel Antonio (Pacific side)
Rio Tarcoles
Crocodile
Crocodile
Crocodile
Crocodile