So. We are now at Leaves and Lizards near the volcano Arenal in Costa Rica. We arrived at two this morning and have been enjoying ourselves ever since. Yesterday was a rather (un)enjoyable - depends on how you look at it - traveling day. We got to the airport at 7:30 AM, learned our flight had been cancelled, and relaxed in the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for the rest of the day until our 5:30 PM flight, which ended up leaving at about 7:30 PM. Two redeeming happenings yesterday were: we all received $20 coupons from Continental Airlines in compensation, and the fact that Sebastian and Austin both slept for more than seven hours on a semi-comfortable armchair and a cot, respectively. This morning, things brightened considerably with the bird activity outside our cabin. A number of tanagers, honeycreepers, hummingbirds, and wrens called and sang - the cecropia tree near our deck was visited by three types of tanagers, Bananaquits, Olivaceous Piculets, and Black-cowled Orioles. We took our first tour of the property, marked the points where we will be doing point-count bird surveys for the next four days, and had a marvelous breakfast at the main building. We then finished our walk around the property, seeing Black-throated Wrens and a few Broad-billed Motmots. We hope to run into the Spectacled Owl pair that Oscar tells us lives in this patch of forest...
We spent the afternoon hiking around the Arenal volcano - spectacular views of Lago de Arenal off to the west, and of course of the volcano itself. A bit of smoke was being let off by some fumarole activity, but towards the end of our visit the peak became wreathed in cloud. We saw a number of Montezuma Oropendolas in the canopy of the forest surrounding the volcano; several White-throated Magpie-Jays near the entrance were definitely bonuses. Unbelievable.
We've already seen 49 species on the property, and are going to go to bed momentarily so we can get up at 5:00 am tomorrow and do some mist-netting. Expect some great photos!!
-The Walker Bros
We spent the afternoon hiking around the Arenal volcano - spectacular views of Lago de Arenal off to the west, and of course of the volcano itself. A bit of smoke was being let off by some fumarole activity, but towards the end of our visit the peak became wreathed in cloud. We saw a number of Montezuma Oropendolas in the canopy of the forest surrounding the volcano; several White-throated Magpie-Jays near the entrance were definitely bonuses. Unbelievable.
We've already seen 49 species on the property, and are going to go to bed momentarily so we can get up at 5:00 am tomorrow and do some mist-netting. Expect some great photos!!
-The Walker Bros
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