Teaching Erika to Weave

Ten hours after we got home from Costa Rica, we picked up Erika at the airport.  She wanted to come out here to visit us to learn how to weave.  How wonderful that is, that she wants to come and that her parents sent her.  I’d given a good amount of thought to the project we’d do and suggested to her she might choose a scarf.  She texted me photos of one she liked. We would try to duplicate it.   I was concerned I’d be up to the task with no recovery time from our trip, but no worries.  Erika is very easy to have around and my energy soared having her here.  Tuesday afternoon after she had a long power nap, we went to the yarn store and found the perfect yarn, thin and soft and very pretty irregularly dyed greens, blues with some purple.  Her task for the first day was getting the yarn, winding the skeins into balls and then winding the warp on the warping board.  She was surprised at the function of the warping board, thinking for years it was just an odd shaped hanger.  The next morning after a good long sleep, we put the warp on to the loom.  She did all the steps, after my instruction, in threading the loom.  It involves threading each end three different times, once through the rattle, then through the heddles and then through the reed.  Erika is a quick learner and picked up each task without any difficulty.  Then after lunch we tied up the ends on the front beam and she began weaving her scarf.  She, like me, likes this part best and she was happy to see the scarf appear as she moved the shuttle back and forth.  She’s doing it all on her own and I think she’ll finish the scarf today.  Listening to the sound of the shuttle moving and forth and the thought of my granddaughter doing the weaving makes my little heart swell with joy.  I’ve never taught anyone to weave before and I am thrilled by her interest.  It’s nice the scarf will be finished so quickly because now there is time for Bob to teach her some welding before she leaves Saturday morning.  

                                                        

Day 9 - the Last Day

 I felt a tinge of sadness as we left Arenal Observatory Lodge to begin our final day of birding in Costa Rica.  We stopped once in a pullout by the Arenal dam to hunt for the Common Potoo. Though we didn’t find it super-camouflaged as it is, the forest there was full of birds perhaps because the trees were full of flowers and fruit.  I was attracted to the red flowered vine growing on a tree.  Our next stop was a couple of hours south on a narrow dirt road on the side of a steep forested canyon of the River Sarapiqui, the same river that flowed by Selva Verde.  It was Los Virgenes Nature Reserve.  We didn’t see many birds but the butterflies were spectacular gliding about with the floating kapok fluffy seeds.  Mark said we saw so many butterflies because it was a bright sunny day.  When we got to the bottom of the road and the bridge, we all lined up and looked for birds.  An American dipper was spotted on the rocks in the river gleaning for aquatic insects.  Then more two dippers were seen, a family.  It was fun to watch the juvenile practicing getting under the water and glean insects.  We also saw a Torrent Tyranulet and a Black Phoebe fly catching.  

Then we headed up to a nearby local hangout for lunch. Our driver called in “The Lookout” but the sign said “Cinchona, Soda y Mirador.”  It waas crowded, filled with Costa Rican families and motorcyclists. I didn’t see a single other American, besides our group.  The food was very good, typical Costa Rican:  a plate with what meat you choose (I had Chicken Fajitas), then rice and beans, fried plantains, a scoop of diced yucca (tasting somewhat like potatoes) and diced potatoes.  It was a very hardy meal.  Costa Rican cuisine isn’t spicy, like Mexican food.  I was hungry and the food tasted wonderful!  They served, as is typical at meals, fresh pureed juice, like a smoothie.  I had guanabana.  It tastes like nothing I’ve had in the States and is delicious.  What else is wonderful about this little restaurant was that the seating was outside under a cover on the side of the mountain with a glorious view of the forest and a waterfall off in the distance.  There were many bird feeders, both a feeding tray with lots of bananas and papayas and well as 8 or 10 hummingbird feeders.  Everyone was enjoying watching the colorful forest birds come to dine.  I loved watching the hummingbirds come within inches of a mother holding a 1 1/2 year old child.  The child was amazed, as I was.  We saw a Northern Emerald Toucanet, a pair of Red Headed Barbets and many colorful birds we’d seen at Arenal.  The hummingbirds were spectacular not only because of their diversity and beautiful colors, but because they were so close.  We could stand as close at 2 - 3 feet away from the feeders and the birds would still come. I was enchanted with this place.  It felt like it had the soul of Costa Rica!

We returned to the Hotel Bougainvillea where we began our tour and said goodbye to Wilson, our driver.  Then before our farewell dinner, we met to do the final bird check list.  As a group, 247 species of birds were seen.  I didn’t see all of them and that was just fine.  I enjoyed myself immensely and have wonderful memories 

I feel so fortunate to be able to travel to this beautiful little peaceful country.  Besides its amazing nature, it is a very special country.  One thing I noticed was a total lack of roadside trash here.  I  wonder what that tells about the Costa Rican people?  Perhaps it tells of a love of their country and a pride in its beauty. Perhaps it tells of respect they have for others.  I’ve seen how they seem to all wear masks in the pandemic, much more so than in America.  Perhaps it tells of good public health or a lack of poverty.  Whatever it tells, I am impressed.  Costa Rica is one of nine countries in the world that doesn’t have an army, instead spending the money on social services and education.   The people we encountered were hardworking, kind and extremely helpful.  People we met wanted us to enjoy their country.  It’s a good place to visit and I am extremely grateful for the wonderful time we had on this trip.  

                                                    

Day 8 - Arenal Adventures

 Things are winding down on the trip.  There’s a sense the ending is near.  Today, our second full day at Arenal, was to be mostly a repeat of yesterday.  It started with a Dawn Walk around the grounds of the Lodge.  At one point, I heard two birds calling, an Oropendola and a Trogon, and I thought how nice it is to know the calls.  I saw seven birds well on the walk.  At the big feeder, I saw a dozen or so different kinds of fancy freeloaders.  Under the feeder, a band of baby coatis arrived, swarming as they ate up the scraps fallen from the high feeder.  

After breakfast, only four of us chose to go into the forest with Mark.  We were delighted, as it is so much easier to see things in a smaller group.  I could get better positions next to Mark to see the birds.  In birding being in the right position is what it is all about.  Bob told me Mark said while he likes the boat rides and feeders, the best is the hunt for birds—-that’s the challenge.  The hunt is not only finding the birds but knowing which ones we see.  Yeah, it’s a flycatcher, but which one?  To know that one needs to know the calls, the shapes and coloration of the birds, the behavior and the preferences of the birds.  Also that involves knowing what birds to expect in what habitat. We  went on the same walk we’d been on yesterday.  I wasn’t too thrilled about repeating the same area, seeing, or not seeing, the same birds.  But I told myself, this is your last Rain Forest walk, so just ENJOY it.  The first bird we saw was the Dull-Mantled Antbird, same bird we saw yesterday in exactly the same place.  As we walked along, we encountered a mixed flock of frenzied birds feeding as fast as they could.  We got a good look at a Rufus Mourner, a mid-sized rusty bird.  Mark said, though the bill looked funny.  Later he told us it was a different similar looking bird.  Could have fooled me.  We heard more birds than we saw:  a white breasted wren, a song wren, a nightingale thrush.  The best bird of the day was the jacamar, a smallish bird that looks like a squished kingfisher (all beak and head) but acts like a flycatcher.  It’s in a family all by itself with puff birds.  It was sitting on a railing, calling a loud insistent one note call.   We had fabulous views of the bird.  It is emerald green with a bit of rufus in the tail and a rusty breast.  They are cavity nesters, digging holes in the dirt banks.  Costa Rica is its northern limit.  Most jacamars are found in the Amazon.  The photo below I took from the Field Guide.  As we returned the same trail, we saw the same jacamar in the same place on the railing, but this time with its mate.  Wow, two jacamars!

Finishing this walk, we continued along to scope out another trail.  It wasn’t as dense forest and seemed to have fewer birds, not as good a place to go.  But it was the trail to the waterfall.  We followed it and when we got to the steps, only Mark, Bob and I went down them to the waterfall.  It was a roaring beautiful waterfall and nobody else was there.  What a treat!!!  After lunch, we toured the Museum, a fine place to learn the history and natural history of Arenal Volcanic Park.  Then, I suggested we go to the Nest, a 92 foot tall tower just of steps going high above the canopy.  I only got up 30 or so steps and turned around, but Bob continued all the way up and got good views out of the volcano and the canopy.  He saw just one bird, a parrot.  Returning to our room, I suggested we go to the nearby hot tub.  We had a relaxing soak just at sunset.  This is really feeling like a vacation.  After a brief rest, we met some of the group and went on a night hike with flashlights.  We saw mostly big spiders and thank goodness no snakes.  Today was our day of adventures, birding, relaxing and exciting adventures.  I am so very grateful.  

                                        

Day 7 - At the Feeder and in the Forest

 This morning the birds were ready, all lined up, when the feeder outside the restaurant was refilled with many big halves of papayas and watermelon. One after another beautifully colored birds came.  There were iridescent little green ones, two kinds of iridescent blue ones, yellow and black ones, red rumped ones, plain ones and more.  Mark called it “an orgiastic deep dive into feathered eye-candy.”  And besides those eye candy birds, both a male and female Great Curassow appeared.  We were duly entertained.  

After breakfast we went into the forest.  It was much harder going finding the skulky birds, but they were there. The trails are very well maintained and easy to walk.  No roots or rocks here.  This is how it goes: Mark hears a call and then plays its song on his IPhone to call in the bird and we watch for movement.  My brain is working hard.  I find shapes that look like birds, but are leaves or sticks.  It’s movement one looks for and then I focus in on the window of view.  With luck and skill, the birds appear for a brief moment, rarely longer. The forest is vertically divided into layers:  the canopy, the mid-story and the understory.  Most birds are specialists in one layer.  Of course, there are birds that go to any of the layers, like hummingbirds.  Understory birds are very hard to spot, like the White-breasted Wren that we over and over but never saw.  There are a lot of them living in the dark understory of this rain forest.  Several times, mixed flocks flew by or stopped to feed near us.  One flock had 5 different kinds of birds.  Having many  provides multiple eyes for spotting danger and good feeding spots.  In one such flock, we found a smoky brown woodpecker, a wood wren, an ant vireo,  a warbler and more. The highlight for me was seeing a really big male black Great Curassow on the forest trail.  It was calling a deep low call.  Watching it, we could see the bird moving its big wings in and out like an organ bellows and hear the sound of its call.  We wondered if the wing moving made a parabola to amplify its call. Eventually, it turned its back to us, fluffed its wings, lifted its tail showing its white rump and strutted calmly and slowly off into the forest.  Mark does love his forest birds and could keep going all day.  For me it’s hard work.  

                                                            

                                                                

Day 6 - To Arenal Observatory Lodge

 Stepping outside our room this morning for our pre-breakfast bird walk around the grounds at Cano Negro, we came upon a wonderful sight for a second morning in a row.  This morning there was a kurfluffle among a group of birds.  Of course, we wanted to know what caused the excitement.  When Mark spotted a bald-crowned Antbird, “a rare and scarce, wonderful exceptional bird (as described by a fellow birder),” he knew there were Army ants around.  He spotted them swarming around the base of a tree.  All sorts of other birds came around—-gray-headed tananger, clay-colored thrush, scarlet-rumped tananger, Swainson’s thrush, black-stripped sparrow and more—all ant swarm followers.  Shy birds hop out fast to get ants and then quickly move back to the thicket for cover.  It was like watching a sale at Macy’s.  

We spent most of the day driving north and west going up above 2000 feet in elevation to get to Arenal Observatory Lodge.  Arenal is a big perfectly symmetrical volcano most recently erupting in 2010.  There is a National Park here so there is lots of really good rain forest.  In the Lodge’s grounds there are, if I remember correctly 11 kilometers of trails.  The grounds are very beautiful, green, planted with trees and flowers.  It is a first class lodge.  It even has a bird feeder that goes up and down with a rope pulley. At the feeder were a group of large oropendolas and under the feeder were a group of coatis eating the spilled fruit.  Sitting on the balcony of our room later,I spotted a huge rusty brown bird with a red wattle and a black crest.  It turned out to be a Crested Guan.  

Before dinner, after a soaking in the nearby elegant tiled hot tub, I joined the Night Walk to the Frog Pond.  We saw Headlight Beetles.  They’re aptly named, having a bright yellow light shining from their forehead as they fly through the dark forest looking like fairies. Then, we saw some green lights of fireflies rising up from the grass.  When we got to the Frog Pond, it was crowded with people, not frogs!  But nevertheless we saw some wonderful red-eyed green frogs and a bullfrog.  On the way back, Mark pointed out a Pauraque, a kind of nightjar, a nocturnal bird that hunts from the ground, flying out to catch night flying insects.  All I saw was a dark brown blob, shaped like a nightjar.  So many birds I’ve never heard of before!  It’s great to be at this beautiful lodge and I can’t wait to go out and find more birds.  

                                                            

Day 5 - Howlers, Anhingas and Potoos

 Stepping out of our room yesterday at 6 AM, there was a family of howler monkeys in the Inca tree just beyond feeding on the nectar of the white flowers.  The monkeys were so close it was easy to watch them stuffing the flowers into their mouths with their little hands and to see them move from place to place often swinging and leaping.  There was a baby monkey along in the group, so cute with its little brown face rimmed with black fur and big eyes.  Mark told us about the nectar and flowers that are produced only at night so it will be fresh to attract bats that pollinate the flowers.  I had to go over and try a flower.  You got more nectar if you squeezed the base of the flower and then sucked out the sweet sweet nectar.  

This eco-lodge, Natural Lodge, is located in Cano Negro on the Rio Frio River.  It is mostly an agricultural area here with cattle roaming in the cleared rain forest fields.  On either side of the river are huge big lagoons many many miles across.  After breakfast we went on another boat ride.  It was different than the previous day because the river was moving along pretty fast.  We saw many many birds.  Outstanding among them were the limpkin, a big brown bird looking to me like an over-sized much bigger curlew; two wood rails with their bubble gum pink long legs preening each other, a rainbow of color to behold; a cinnamon becard and a sungrebe (that doesn’t like the sun and isn’t a grebe).  We got amazingly close eye level views of all these wonderful birds. But the story of the trip for me was an Anhinga trying to swallow a tilapia. So there it was without hands (of course) trying to get the fish it had stabbed with its long beak, off the beak so it could toss it up and then catch it with the fish’s head facing down so it could swallow it.  The bird repeated banged the fish on the big limb where it was standing.  Over and over we watched it do that.  Perhaps it was moving the fish gradually off its beak.  Finally it tossed the fish in the air, we all cheered and then missed catching it.  The fish dropped in the muddy water.  The bird immediately dove in after it.  And soon came up with the same fish.  This time when the bird soon tossed the fish up, it caught it and swallowed the fish quickly.  Hooray!!!  But such work for the bird.  We saw four different birds doing this work on the trip.  Finally, a wonderful vision making me wish I had a better camera.  There were many caiman in the river.  I wouldn’t want to swim in this river.  But the best one was one stretched out sunning itself on a thick horizon tree limb.  The caiman had an orange butterfly on it’s nose.  Mark said, “Now you know the caiman’s buggers are just as salty as yours.”  We do love Mark.

At 4 o’clock we went out again to see what we could see.  This time it was a Potoo looking like a stump on a high up snag.  I’d never heard of a Potoo.  It is a fluffy looking large nocturnal insect eating bird.  Bob though it looked like an owl, I thought its feathers were more mottled and fluffy and the bird had a squarer look. We are gawked at the good view of it.  I got a good digiscoped photo of it.  We went off to look for the Pygmy screech owl and spent time walking along a road birding in the thickets, ending up by a lagoon as the light faded seeing an eclectic mix of birds.  At sunset we stopped by the Potoo to look for nighthawks (we saw them).  the Potoo was there but soon flew off across the road to another snag.  We were all on it.  Amazingly, another Potoo appeared and scared off the first Potoo who went to another snag nearby.  Then in awe we watched them scoop down from their high perch, presumably catching big insects.  One of our group videoed them and watching the replay was great!  And then just because one does, the driver who showed us the Potoo in the first place checked the original perch and lo and behold there was a fluffy white baby Potoo hunched down on the limb!  Potoo don’t make nests, the female just lays a single egg in a depression on the tree limb and the baby hatches then huddles there.  It was an amazing Potoo show yesterday!  Each day is more wonderful than the one before.  I don’t know how long this can go on!!! 

                                

Day 4 - A Boat Ride

For me, the highlight of Day 4 was our boat ride.  We drove several hours to the northern edge of Costa Rica, right by the Nicaraguan border, to the small village of Medio Queso.  There we went to the end of a dirt road and found our boat by a ferry crossing.  It had started to rain seriously so Mark told us to not take anything with us on the boat that we minded getting wet.  “Take your umbrella, raincoat and binoculars.”  So we prepared and left the van concerned about a 2 hour boat ride in the pouring rain.  But luckily the rain let up as we started.  The boat was a simple flat bottomed boat, with 10 blue bench seats and a sun/rain cover over half the benches.  As we began I was impressed how quiet the big motor was.  There were no other boats around to disturb us.  We went very slowly to be able to spot the birds.  Javier, the boatman, knew just how to position the boat so we could have the best views.  It was a freshwater marsh/lagoon with long channels of water and grasses and walls of trees in some areas.  It was so peaceful and serene.  The water was calm, the sun was out, there was no wind.  It was perfect.  And there were so many birds, big birds, easy to see big birds.  We saw three kinds of egrets (Great, Snowy and Tiger), all the herons and many jacanas that walk on the water lily pads and are very nervous.  It was exciting to see our first pinnated bittern as it flew across the channel and disappeared into the grasses.  The first thing it did after it landed was point its beak to the sky and with its camouflaged feathers, it totally disappeared from view right before our eyes.  Can you find the bittern in the photo of the grass?  Then we saw another and another, probably six or seven on the trip.  At one point I saw a green basilisk lizard literally running across the water reared up on its back legs.  I was thrilled!!!!  It’s the kind of thing one only sees on Nature or National Geographic shows.  Later we noticed the sky darkening.  There was a squall blowing its way right toward us.  Sure enough, the rain and wind started with intensity.  We quickly donned the rain gear we had. I took the attitude that my clothes were drip dry so I only worried about my bins getting wet and put them in a plastic bag I held in my armpit.  I huddled behind big Bob to avoid getting wet.  Then the ladies invited me to stand close together with them beside an umbrella.  Javier was smiling enjoying watching our antics.  The rain and wind stopped and we and the birds began to dry out.  We turned around and started back.  During the middle of the storm, Mark told us to look out in a field across the channel at the white dot there.  Some looked, I didn’t.  When the rain stopped, we all got a look at the white dot, now visible.  It was a Jabiru Stork, the tallest bird in the Americas.  It had a black head, a Stormy large black beak, a red neck and a white body.  So cool to see this special bird!  At one point, Mac, the expert bird photographer along, called out, “There’s a least bittern.”  We saw a flash of rust and black and white disappear into the grass.  Javier drove the boat literally on to the edge of the grass, running right over a boat length of grass and came to the front with his phone to play the bird’s call.  It popped up its head, first the bill, then the bill and neck, up and down a number of times, then the whole bird appeared.  It was so exciting.  This is a very special, very beautiful rare bird.  What a very special boat trip!

                                                            

Day 3 - Around Selva Verde and Timibara

 We met again at 6 AM for coffee and then to drove to Tirimbara Nature Reserve of pristine rainforest about 15 minutes down the road.  We were met by our local guide, William.  He impressed me with his excellent English and knowledge of birds, especially knowing names of the birds in English.  We spent the better part of half hour in the parking lot.  I lost it or maybe didn’t find my bird brain this early.  Probably 20 different species were called out, but I saw only a few.  Walking into the Reserve, I was struck by the deep shade and the dark looking forest.  We walked a short loop around and came to the restaurant where we had a buffet breakfast.  All the breakfasts here in Costa Rica are the same:  fruit (watermelon, papaya and pineapple), eggs in some form, rice and beans and yogurt.  After breakfast, we walked to a suspension bridge.  I hadn’t expect it and couldn’t avoid going across it.  It was a single file open grate you could look down through, swaying bridge high above the rainforest and the wide fast moving river and probably 1/5 to 1/4 mile long.  It took me more than 5 minutes to walk across it walking as fast as I could.  For me, it was incredibly scary and my legs were shaking by the time I got off it.  It took a while to recover.  Walking in the mature first growth rainforest was a real pleasure.  It was deep shade, but with spotlights of sunshine here and there.  The ground level was covered with palms and philodendrons not so densely packed so you could look through the greenery.  For a birding focused group, it was sad there were no birds, no bird calls.  It wasn’t quiet though as the chorus of cicadas serenaded us.  We came to an old Ceiba tree, probably 150 feet high and 300 years old.  Bob took my picture by the base of it.  I like to get close to really old trees to commune with them.  Then it started to rain and we all took out our umbrellas.  Rain seems no big deal now.  The group split at a junction with half the group bailing.  The rest of us walked another mile loop.  I have been on the lookout for fungi and lichens, rarely seeing any.  At one point, my eye scanned the base of a tree and I saw a big fuzzy object.  What was it?  A mushroom? Then I noticed a tail and looked more closely and called the group over.  It was a Mexican Hairy Dwarf Porcupine.  We all enjoyed watching it slowly wake up.  It was soooo cute.  Clearly this was the find of the day.  The rain began again hard this time and I had to walk on the suspension bridge in the pouring rain and wind to get back.  Luckily I made it!!

After lunch and doing our bird list, Bob and I hustled back to our room and took a power nap.  We met the group again and returned to the road where we birdied yesterday.  As soon as we got our of the bus, we spotted three different species of kingfisher!  The Amazon kingfisher, the Ringed Kingfisher and the Green Kingfisher. Walking down the road, it was interesting to see the same birds we saw the day before in the same places.  The big drama of the afternoon was watching three collared Aracaris (looking to me like baby Toucans) going into a nest hole on a telephone pole.  It was incredible to watch the big birds go into the hole about 3 inches in diameter headfirst and come out head first.  How could they turn around in such a small space, I wondered?  After a while a pair of Masked Tityras appeared and were hassled by the bigger birds.  At first we couldn’t figure out what was happening.  But it seems the Aracaris were raiding the nest of the Tityras, taking out the nesting materials and trying to take over the nest site.  Quite a bird drama.  All in all, it was a very exciting day.  I mostly enjoyed spending time in the rainforest and just appreciating the coolness, the quiet and the energy of this wonderful old forest.  

                                                        

Day 2 - Around Selva Verde Lodge

 Today was a rainy day.  I learned you just go out into the rain prepared.  Mark tells us to always be prepared taking with us always our masks, our umbrellas, water and so on.  If it starts to rain, I put my IPhone and notebook in my fanny pack and my binoculars under my shirt and take out my umbrella.  Mostly the birds aren’t active during the rain, but once the rain lets up, as it always does, the birds come out big time.  I found things to look for in the rain:  drip tips (pointy ends) on leaves to keep the water from settling on the leaf, fungi, seeing how beautiful and happy the rain forest plants look in the rain.  

Today, I will simply the highlights:

Early Morning birding at 6 AM:  I was too sleepy to grasp all the details differentiating one bird from another.  It was too much, too early.  The charming covered walkways everywhere here point to frequent rain.  Mark taught us how to bird: first find the habitat where the birds will be (e.g. a fig tree with lots of fruit) and always scan the horizon around it for activity. There are waves of action.  Wait for the wave to come.  Know what birds to expect, learn the frequent birds’ calls, then search for the bird.  My favorite bird from the morning walk was the Rufus Motmot.  It is the biggest motmot with a Rufus breast, black mask and turquoise wings and back.  Like all motmots, it calls ooo-heh-ooo-ooo.  I learned motmots nest on the ground digging nesting hole in the softer dirt of road cuts and the like.

The rain arrived seriously before breakfast and continued quite a while.  We decided to bale birding and went into the conference room to do the daily bird list.  When the rain let up we walked the Nature Trail.  My strongest memory from that time is thinking when Mark rattled off names of birds-like Becard and Cacique, that these sounded like fancy car names.  I enjoyed the trees in the forest more than the birds which I mostly couldn’t see.

At a leisurely lunch around the viewing benches where we watched colorful birds come and go as we ate, I enjoyed seeing the scarlet rumped tananger and blue-gray tanangers.  Then a coati arrived, climbed up on the feeding tray and proceeded to eat at least 8 bananas.  When he left, he took one more banana with him as a snack.  This coati was interesting as he’d lost his long tail.  

Waiting to go on the afternoon birding adventure, Mark spotted a Mealy Parrot (a huge green parrot) sitting in the pouring rain.  He said that kind of parrot likes the shower as it doesn’t have any preening glands.  Instead it has a layer of fine down feathers just next to its skin.  The feathers are designed to break down into a kind of talc powder that bathes and cleans the skin.  The rain shower washes away the feathery debris.  Interesting.  

When the rain cleared, we walked along a road by the edge of the forest seeing an amazing number of different species.  I’m a sucker for bright blue birds and so my favorite bird was a Shining Honeycreeper.  It was a vibrant blue and black bird, standing out from all the others as it flitted in and out of the trees.

Best though was the late afternoon walk. Bob and I decided to go because one just never knows what you’ll miss if you don’t go.  It was a good choice.  First thing we saw was a blue and green poison arrow frog.  It was much bigger than the Bluejeans frog.  As it hopped along, it looked just like the plastic Amazonian frogs I have kept in my desk drawer for decades.  Fun to see it hopping along.  Then we walked up a gravel road and by a pond Bob spotted a nearby bird.  It turned out to be “The bird of the day”—- a Pygmy Kingfisher.  It’s widespread but rare.  It was so close to us, all head and beak with a small turned up tail.  We were serenaded as we walked by the loud squeaking and beak clicking of macaws nearby and howler monkeys barking (sounding like dogs barking).  It was the music of the rainforest.  All in all, it was a wonderful day!  

                                                                        

Day 1 - the Afternoon

 After lunch, we continued traveling along the extremely busy highway filled with big trucks many carrying ship containers.  We turned off the highway after about 15 minutes onto a dirt road to find Cope’s house, our local guide for the afternoon.  Soon he got on our little bus and we set off to the nearby forest where Cope had several “stake outs.”  We stopped by the side of the road and he and Mark went in to check out if birds were still there.  They were.  But before we walked into the forest, birds were spotted—-a scarlet rumped tanager and a yellow throated toucan.  Good views of both in the far off trees.  Then one by one we walked into the forest for views of little birds sitting on nests. The first was a white necked jacobin (a hummingbird) sitting on a tiny nest made of beige fibers, none of typical lichens covering it.  Next was a white collared manakin, a pale pea green bird, sitting on a nest covered with moss and lichens.  We were all entranced. The nests were probably an inch in diameter.  There’s something special about seeing the patient tender care of the nesting process.  Then we went to the other side of the road and followed Cope into the Bosque (forest).   We walked this way and that, winding through the forest.  It was narrow and muddy.  We saw a keel billed toucan (larger one) sitting with its large yellow crop grossly extended, digesting.  There was no need to waste energy flying with all the extra fruit husks.  We came to a place 10 or 15 minutes where we saw the most amazing sight - Honduran White Bats sleeping in a large down aimed folded leaf.  One by one we stepped up and Cope shined his light on the sleeping little bats.  They were so cute, with their pointy ears and stubby noses.  And then off we walked, following Cope.  I had no idea where we were going.  We passed several sites where trees had been cut down and planed into planks.  Eventually after many twists and turns, we came upon the place where the Crested Owl was yesterday.  Darn.  And on we walked.  And we came to a place where we saw a Crested Owl.  It was a great view.  As we walked on, Cope spotted a red poison arrow frog.  We were all entranced as he held it in his hands and finally put it on a large green leaf for us all to see.  It’s called the Blue Jean Frog and it’s probably 1/3 to 1/2 inch head to end.  We made our way out and he led us across the street through another forest and field to a muddy stream we crossed.  And there in a tree was a very large spectacled owl   He was amazing to see.  Then we went back to Cope yard where he has bird feeders set up with stools and a ledge to lean on.  He served us watermelon and coffee and tea and cookies.  I appreciated the snacks.  I think we were all running low in energy at this point.  

As we followed after Cope I couldn’t imagine how he could have a map of the forest in his head.  Clearly he knew every inch of it.  Cope is a local bird guide, nature lover and artist.  He’s shorter than me with thick black hair.  He has bright twinkling eyes and a already smile.  He clearly spends lots of time in the forest and loves nature.  And he’s a great artist having many paintings of the birds he sees.  He loved showing us his photos of birds on his IPhone.  Cope gave me hope.  His love of nature and desire to protect what he loves is inspiring.  Leaving his place, at dusk, we climbed in the bus exhausted from an amazing first day of the trip.   Just on the way out, Cope’s wife showed us just one more thing—an amazing Baskalisk tree lizard.  Always just one more thing to see.