Costa Rica Day 6

This day, we woke up at The Nest Nature Center, Juan Diego’s (owner of Lifer Nature Tours) personal Air BnB-style lodge in Aguas Zarcas. It truly is an amazing place, just a few acres of his family former cattle fields, now revitalized and converted back into gorgeous forest. 230+ species of birds and many more mammals, reptiles, insects, etc. have been recorded here over the last few years, a true testament to what can be done if you plant some trees and get rid of cows. 

White-necked Jacobins, a Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, Lesson’s Motmot, and more greeted us as we began birding around the property. We headed down to the large observation deck and spent some quality time working with Yellow-throated Toucans and Red-legged Honeycreepers. At 7:40a.m. on the dot, a White-tipped Sicklebill popped in to the Heliconias, a really special bird to see here, and a true sign that this property is doing its job right. Before we head out for the days adventure, mom spotted a pair of Black-crested Coquettes zipping around the flowers. 

On our way out, we met up with Juan Diego and birded the park that his family owns, which just so happens to have a resident Yellow-eared Toucanet. We got great looks at that bird with a Northern Emerald Toucanet, and I spent some time photographing a really nice Ruddy Ground Dove. Juan Diego’s uncle apparently had a male Snowcap visit his shrubs the previous day, so we went up the street and spent some time waiting for it to no avail. He did show us his coffee roasting equipment in his yard which was really cool. 

Eventually we were off to the east to spend some time with one of the best wildlife artists, photographers, and people I now know: Cope. Cope has an incredible property in Limón Province and has access to other incredible properties in the area, so we had to spend some time at his feeder setup before running off for other stuff. Right off the bat, the star of the show, a Band-tailed Barbthroat zipped around us, and eventually we picked up on a local Long-billed Hermit. A locally scarce Silvery-throated Tanager popped in briefly, Chestnut-headed Oropendolas hung out at the bananas, and we got fantastic looks at Shining Honeycreepers. After a while, we tossed a pair of muck boots on from Cope’s collection of them, and drove a few minutes to a patch of lowland forest where he showed us Crested and Spectacled Owls, sloths, bullet ants, and more. Huge shoutout to Cope, definitely stop by Donde Cope if you’re in Costa Rica. 

Trip Report for the Day: https://ebird.org/tripreport/347538