Part three, Day 14, Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Continues........Coastal Rice Field birding, Jaco and Tarcoles- After leaving Quepos we were soon at the Rice Fields where we stopped on the way up. The birds were a little closer to the road which gave me a better opportunity to observe them and to photograph them.
Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork and Bare-throated Tiger-Heron-
.....with a Great Egret and Black Vulture-
Bright "pink" plumaged Roseate Spoonbill flies into the field-
Wood Stork-
Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork-
A Crested Caracara flies in and lands by the fence where i was standing-
Bare-faced Tiger-Heron-
A very muddy Black Vulture-
Capping off a great morning and early afternoon, it was now time to move along......Beny and I were getting a little hungry! A couple of miles down the road, I was distracted looking at more Egrets and Storks in some of the other rice fields. Beny looked over and said that he just saw a "Falcon or something" sitting on a telephone pole on the other side of the road. He made a quick stop and turn around and sure enough, Beny had found a striking and regal Laughing Falcon. Wow, what a gorgeous bird! I have seen them before, but always at a distance in poor lighting or heavy rain! This one was really close!-
Beny and I admired this spectacular Falcon for at least fifteen minutes. He told me that he had never seen one before, he also thought it was a very regal bird! The Falcon must have seen something moving in the rice field (maybe a snake) and suddenly crouched.........
..............and flew off the pole revealing those beautifully barred wings!-
Another great "gem" encounter of the day......."It just keeps gets better and better"!! :^)
Every field with cattle and livestock had large numbers of Cattle Egrets present-
At this point I was quite happy ending my day with that magnificent Laughing Falcon! It was around 2:30 pm and it was past lunchtime. Beny knew of an excellent restaurant up the road that served great traditional Costa Rican food.
After a great lunch of fish, gallo pinto, squash, plantain and cabbage, we started back for San Jose. About a mile up the road Beny started slowing down, but this time didn't say anything to me.....but I could tell by the huge smile on his face he saw something. Since we were at the point in the road in Jaco where it meets the ocean, I assumed what he was looking at were Macaws! Looking into the almond trees all I could see was red.....and a lot of red! There were at least fifty Scarlet Macaws in the almond trees and the calls were deafening!
Macaw location (orange arrow)-
A friend of mine often says "This just gets better and better".....and this is the way this day is going to end! We left the Macaws in the almond trees while they were still actively feeding. I still had my camera ready on my lap just in case. As we passed Playa Tarcoles, I looked down to the beach and saw a Mangrove Black Hawk perched on the end of a large drifted up tree/log on the beach!
As usual, Beny pulled over and I jumped out of his van to get a closer look at the Hawk. The immature Black Hawk was quite tame.......it let me approach within ten feet of it, and I sat on the same log that it was perched on! Talk about amazing!! -
The Hawk just perched there and looked around.....could care less that I was keeping it company! Since I am currently working on a very realistic wood carving/sculpture of a Mangrove Black Hawk this quiet interaction offered me a great opportunity to study the personality and the delicate anatomic features and details of this magnificent bird-
I stayed with this Hawk for at least ten minutes, we were both quite confident with each other. Suddenly it just took off in flight! I know I did't scare it since I wasn't moving and it had grown accustomed to me. A few seconds later the reason became clear; two dogs come running down the beach and came close to me and the Hawk........
It flew down the beach for a short distance.......
........and flew towards the almond and palm trees.........
.......and disappeared. Another Wow! That was incredible!
Fishing boat with resting Brown Pelicans,
Ruddy Turnstones and a Western Willet-
Western Willet flies by-
Last shot of the day.......pair of adult Mangrove Black Hawks roosting in a dead tree in a marsh-
The perfect ending for a perfect day!
Week Two Continues, Day 15, Last Day, Thursday, Oct 13, 2016, Alejuala.........
Click on "Older Posts", Below Right > > > > > > > >
Bird List, Pacific slopes, foothills and coast, Orotina, Tarcoles, Jaco, and Quepos-
Neotropic Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Black Skimmer, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Tri-colored Heron, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Boat-billed Heron, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Whimbrel, Western Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, Short-billed Dowitcher, Ruddy Turnstone, Spotted Sandpiper, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Crested Caracara, Yellow-headed Caracara, Osprey, Harrier, Gray Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Mangrove Black Hawk, Spectacled Owl, Common Pauraque, Mangrove Swallow, Inca Dove, Common Ground-Dove, White-winged Dove, Scarlet Macaw, Gartered Trogon, Blue-crowned Motmot, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Ringed Kingfisher, Hoffman's Woodpecker, Lineated Woodpecker, Spotted Woodcreeper, Northern Barred Woodcreeper, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Variable Seedeater, Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Social Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Long-tailed Manikin, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Great-tailed Grackle
