Costa Rica- Tirimbina Rainforest Center and Caño Negro (Day Four)

Our last morning at Hotel Gavilan we did not rush out the door immediately.  We packed up, had coffee, and watched the birds in the courtyard.

Masked Tityras

 Black-cheeked Woodpecker, super common yet I only have a couple photos of them

Our morning checklist is here.

Once we had packed up Chery the car we got on the road to Tirimbina Rainforest Center.  Next to the entrance area this lady Rufous-winged Woodpecker was going to town:

Orange-billed Sparrow

 White-whiskered Puffbird

There's a lot of cool stuff going on at Tirimbina like bird banding and raising butterfly cocoons.

Jacob + bags of cocoons

This is where we encountered our first hanging bridges which I had been excited about.  Unfortunately I realized pretty quickly that birding from swaying bridges while people are walking back and forth is pretty nauseating. 

Looking down on the Rio Sarapiqui

 Black Phoebe

 Little Blue Heron

A guide on the bridge pointed out a Purple-crowned Fairy nest.

Orange-chinned Parakeets from the bridge

We made it off the 262 meter-long bridge, to my relief, and quickly found a Black-crowned Antshrike pair.

 A flock of birds appeared to be moving in the trees between us and the birdge which unfortunately for my stomach meant returning to the bridge for better views.

Shining Honeycreeper (female)

 Broad-billed Motmot on the bridge

This next bird caused some confusion and I don't remember what it was decided to be, if it was decided at all.

The bridge flock moved on and so did we. 

No ID yet

 Helicopter damselfly 

Blue Dacnis

Semiplumbeous Hawk

Capuchin monkey

Yellow-throated Toucans

Pale-billed Woodpecker

Eye-ringed Flatbill, cute but jealous

White-collared Manakin (right?)

We ate lunch at the cafe there but the birds were distracting.

 Golden-hooded Tanager

Black-faced Grosbeak

Chestnut-sided Warbler, the most abundant bird of the trip

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We finished our time at Tirimbina (complete checklist here) and packed back into the Chery for the bumpy ride to Hotel del Campo in Caño Negro.  The main entrance road is its own hotspot and rightfully so. 

White-crowned Parrot

 
This little wetland area proved to be very birdy with Northern Jacanas, a Ringed Kingfisher, and an American Pygmy Kingfisher!

 Ringed Kingfisher

American Pygmy Kingfisher

And more from the road...

Melodious Blackbird

Blue-black Grassquit

 Montezuma Oropendola

 Hoffmann's Woodpecker

Ruddy Ground Dove (right?)

We pulled over and birded another wetland area that seemed very birdy.

Green-breasted Mango

 Southern Lapwing

 Northern Jacana family

 Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

 Nicaraguan Seed-Finch

 Thick-billed Seed-Finch

Back on the bumpy road...

Roadside Hawk

 Olive-throated Parakeet
 
Finally we made it to Hotel del Campo, our home for the next three nights.  Complete checklist from the entrance road here.

Lineated Woodpeckers

We checked in, wandered around, ate dinner, and then met up with our guide Chambita, aka Barnaby, for some night-birding.  Owls and potoos were the targets. 

Taking photos of birds at night is easy. 

Pacific Screech-Owl

 Great Potoo!  Google their sounds!

 We learned that both potoos and Black-and-white Owls use streetlights to hunt for insects at night.

Black-and-white Owl

Striped Owl

Not pictured from our outing:  a Jabiru nest!  Don't worry, we stopped there on the day we left Caño Negro for photos.  SO much more to come!  Good times!!!