Costa Rica Day 13

This was another pretty big day, and a great day at that. We woke up early and birded through breakfast at the Tarcoles Birding Lodge where we got more Little Tinamous, a nice stream of parrots leaving roosts including Yellow-naped and Mealy Amazons and also had another pretty cool bird we spotted long-distance: Yellow-billed Cotingas! That was an exciting way to start the morning. After a little while, we made our way to the Carara National Park and birded pretty hard. It was humid, hot, and really dark in there, but we saw more than 80 species which was great. Of those 80+, the highlights include Great Tinamous, Ruddy Quail Doves, a King Vulture, 4 trogon species, White-whiskered Puffbirds, Golden-naped Woodpecker, Russet Antshrikes, Streak-chested Antpittas, Northern-Plain Xenops, Rufous Pihas, Ruddy-tailed and Sulphur-rumped Flycatchers, Stub-tailed and Golden-crowned Spadebills, Tawny-crowned Greenlets, 5 wren species, a locally rare White-throated Thrush, and more. 

After lunch, we headed inland to some drier areas and picked up a Lesser Ground Cuckoo which was sweet, and had Spot-bellied Bobwhites calling adjacently. We also were able to grab a pair of Pearl Kites, which stunned me as I was not ready for how tiny they were. Sitting next to a Tropical Kingbird, these kites could not have been bigger than it. We also got our first Ferruginous Pygmy Owl of the trip, a lifer for Peter and Mom. 

A little bit of evening birding relaxing at the lodge got us a Northern Barred Woodcreeper, some time watching parrots streaming over on their way to roosts, and some Costa Rican Swifts swirling around. 

Trip report for the day here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/351673