view

view
Along the Natchez Trace

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Birds and more Birds

Hola!  We stayed here at the hotel yesterday.  No need to go anywhere when there are more species of birds here than we ever expected.

The grounds here are wonderful... The landscaping is beautifully done and there are lots of terraces to walk down closer to the woods (jungle?) and wilderness.  The first thing we saw when we looked out our door was this pair of Rufus collared sparrows.  At first glance I thought of house sparrows...  but these are much more colorful.

Not too far outside our cabin door are bushes of bougainvilla...
These bushes grow into small size trees.  I think
 there are over 50 different colors of bougainvilla that you can find.  They are gorgeous!

We walked down the trail...  more trees and bushes...  some in bloom...  most I don't have names or species...
 The flowers on this tree were SO aromatic! 
 Look at the long, bean-like seeds... 

And here's Bill...
This hand of bananas had broken off the tree...  I wonder if they will get ripe?

We saw a gorgeous blue and black butterfly...  about the size of my hand.  But it was way too quick for me to photograph.

 Here I'm standing on one of the lower terraces...  looking up at the cabins.  Those are orange and other fruit trees in front of me.

A eucalyptus tree...  it's on the far right...  kind of a white skinny branch...  the leaves are in the front of the picture.

AND...  now...  for the birds!
 The blue-gray tanager is building a nest in this palm tree...  there are lots of these birds around!


 A Montezuma oropendola....  you can see his white cheek very plainly.  Weve seen lots of these when wintering in Mexico, but it's great seeing them again.

 Here he is in flight...  kind of blurred...  but you can see the yellow tail feathers here.

 My favorite of the day....  a Blue crowned Mot Mot. His tail is long...  you can't see the "tuft" of feathers at the very tip.  He's a big bird...  and they make a lot of noise in the trees.

A Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher....  another new bird for us.

A very blurry picture of a Rufus tail hummingbird.  At least I caught a  picture of his most identifyable part! 

We walked up the road a ways...  saw this neat hedge? maze? in a field. 

 This heart is huge!  Someone put a lot of work into that!  I just hope that it wasn't some love gone wrong...  kind of looks like two parts of a broken heart to me....

 Towards evening, Bill & I walked about a quarter of a mile...  maybe a half mile...  up this road...  we were heading for...

 this restaurant...

It is only open on weekends...  so we decided to have dinner out.
 We both got the garlic shrimp...  along with a slaw-type salad.  The french fries were a bit of a surprise to us...  I'm not sure how much of this is a typical "Costa Rican" meal.  I can say that it was very good and we cleaned up our plates.

Of course we had to have a beer...  Bill's is the Bavaria and mine is on the right.  Funny thing about this... I just got a comment from a former CR "resident"...  Clark Rambling...  and just last night he mentioned both beers.  Yes, Clark R....  you are right...  very good!

Carlos took us under his wing...  showed us all around the grounds of the restaurant...  which is being developed into a resort-type area.  A huge new party hall is being built...  there's a hotel, swimming pool...  the works.  Carlos was so friendly...  spoke English very well (our Spanish isn't real good)...  and we really appreciated his hospitality!

After the meal, and the tour of the resort, we walked back down the hill...  you can see the lights of the town, Grecia, in the distance.

It wasn't real late, but we called it a night.

Today (Saturday) we're going on a tour of Poas Volcano...  and also waterfalls. It's almost 7am and about time for breakfast.  So...

That's all for now...


9 comments:

  1. Wow, it sure is beautiful there! And the birds are amazing. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing your trip with all of us

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like you're enjoying your time. Reminds me of parts of Puerto Rico.
    If the "bananas" are in fact plantains, which I suspect they are, you'd be well advised to not get any of the sap on you. Not entirely sure why, but when our gardener cut off a stalk from the plantain tree we had growing in our back yard with his machete (a wonderful multi-purpose tool which I highly recommend btw) he was very careful not to get it on himself.
    Maybe ask the locals what it is?
    In the meantime, have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I bet seeing all those beautifully colored birds makes your heart smile - I know it would mine. The dinner looks pretty good too. I sure am enjoying seeing Costa Rica through your eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've been following your text, but wasn't able to see the photos until today. I just went back to before you left on your trip. Beautiful pictures of the area and the birds. The Hawk photo is fabulous, I love photos of birds in flight, but they are so hard to get.

    It looks like you and John are having a wonderful time. Look forward to the next post! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's nice when the birds come to entertain you and you don't have to go in search of them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very cool pics. I love Costa Rica, only been there once and it was for work not play. Have fun and keep posting. I love the blog.

    ReplyDelete