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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dwatsonbirder" data-source="post: 2838220" data-attributes="member: 92203">After lunch I hung up my bins for the day, and we had a very enjoyable ramble down the mountain to see the waterfalls and to absorb being in such a pristine environment. This area ran the very real risk of being destroyed during the 1980’s when gold was found in the river. Dos Brazos was established as a frontier town - complete with brothel, saloon and presumably swinging doors – and areas of the rainforest were dynamited to locate gold. The area has now been afforded some degree of protection, but there are still gold miners here, though environmental damage is limited to river course diversion and a small amount of rubbish. It is still staggeringly beautiful and incomparable to anything I have seen in Europe or North America.Our last day at Bolita was to be spent with the other guests undertaking the longest route around the area, and walking/swimming back down a river. I added Yellow throated euphonia to the ever growing list during breakfast, but birding was more or less impossible for the rest of the day. If you ever find yourself at Bolita I cannot recommend the long route highly enough, and we had a fantastic time scrambling, swimming and climbing our way along the way. Sadly we were literally 10 seconds too late to see a Jagarundi as we hung back to see more wildlife, but it didn’t matter. The only new bird was a Buff rumped warbler that we flushed from a side stream, but as we saw it down to a metre I didn’t mind not having my bins or camera.We departed in the darkness on the morning of the 22nd at the ungodly hour of 04:00, carrying the heavy rucksack back down the mountain by torchlight, it was a surreal experience, and with the highest density of Jaguars in Costa Rica we had the uneasy feeling we were being watch for much of the journey. Next stop: Corcovado!22/7/2013 On the road to La PalmaLittle did we realise as we boarded the bus at half five that morning, but the 30km journey we were about to make would be an adventure in itself. Our minibus headed north along the semi-tarmac road. As the ancient vehicle chugged along the road become less tarmac and more compressed rock and loose gravel, and we were soon bouncing along in a huge cloud of dusk. As we headed north I noticed a few raptors perched along the roadside, most I was unable to identify as a result of the dust and back-breaking bumps, but the three individuals I did see well were the aptly named Roadside hawk, though it seems likely that 99% of the birds I saw were this species. We crossed over a river, where my attention was drawn to a flock of pink birds wading in the shallows – Roseate spoonbill – and a few Black bellied whistling-duck were present in wet fields.Our bus began to climb steeply up a wooded hill, and at several points the noise of the engine was so loud we couldn’t hear each other as we bellowed to one another. Despite the noise, the bus seemed to moving at what can only be described as glacially slow, and at one point we were overtaken by an elderly man and his donkey…The road suddenly switched and now we were heading downhill, with the driver rolling down the hill, occasionally tickling the brakes as we rounded a hairpin bend. At several points I swear we were on two wheels! After descending for 20 minutes or so we reached a wide river where our bus stopped. Here we were ushered aboard a heavily modified Land Rover in order to cross the river. As we entered the water, a couple of locals pointed and laughed at a young European tourist about to wade into the river, and it transpired that the river held a high density of crocodiles, some of which had a penchant for tourist meat; somebody had been killed here a month before. We continued across the river, unsure of the fate of the tourist!After another half an hour in the Landy, we finally reached La Palma, which was to be our base for exploring Corcovado. As we wandered around the town looking for accommodation I couldn’t help but notice Violvaceous trogon, Black hooded antshrike and a new bird, Groove billed ani flying around. We settled on Martina’s Place, which is a well-appointed hostel owned by a German lady, Martina who is really friendly, and crucially was able to give us a great deal on a private room and a tour into the park. Not only that, but we also had our first hot shower in exactly a month! We had an early night ready to head into Corcovado the next day.23/7/2013 Corcovado National Park, Costa RicaWe awoke early the next day, and headed down to the docks in the predawn light ready for our 7amm boat into the National Park. Corcovado has a reputation as being a unique experience in Central America due to its confiding wildlife and the vast area of unexplored habitat. In the middle of the park is a huge lake and wetlands, but due to the inaccessibility of the area there have only been a handful of expeditions to this area. It harbours some enigmatic and rare species, with jaguar, tapir, four species of monkey and many reptiles. Corcovado offered the only possibility of one of my dream birds for the entire trip though, as it is rumoured that Harpy eagle breeds. They are certainly resident in the area, as they have been monitored for 15 years, but try as I might I couldn’t get any information about the population of this super-raptor from our guide; probably a good thing as this species is very rare in Costa Rica. Needless to say in our 5 hours on site we didn’t see one, though we saw a staggering diversity of other wildlife.Getting to the reserve is quite the adventure; an hour long boat ride takes you south along the coast, with the possibility of whales and dolphins along the way. A few very lucky folk have even seen whale shark on the commute, though we only saw Bottle nosed dolphin and a large fish that may have been a tuna. Once you arrive at the entrance to the reserve, the boats weigh anchor on a reef, and you wait for 10 minutes for the tide to drop before wading through the shallows to the shore. Our entrance was made more “entertaining” by the presence of a metre and a half long Bull shark. I must admit I hadn’t hoped for my first wild shark to be carving the waters around a boat as I was jumping into the sea. Also of note, we later saw something more sobering in one of the river deltas about 100 metres from the boats – a monstrous 3m American crocodile. These prehistoric beauties were common in the waters around and in the park, and it is not beyond the realms of the imagination to think several could have been lurking unseen in the shallows as we waded through the surf. That said all the visitors made it off the boat and onto the shore safely, which was a bit of shame as these included one chap in a bright pink shirt, who announced everything, no matter how obvious, at about 100 decibels. Luckily he wasn’t in our group, otherwise it is likely I would of used him to get better photos of said 3m crocodiles…The park didn’t disappoint, and immediately we noticed quite a few species milling about on the beach including American oystercatcher, Yellow headed caracara, Brown pelican, whilst in the bushes next to the beach were Chestnut mandibled toucan, Common bush-tanager, Cherrie’s tanager and Short billed pigeon. Our first stop was for monkeys, and we clocked all four Central American species in a matter of minutes; Squirrel, howler, spider and white faced capuchin. It was a pleasure to watch our cousins in the wild, and we stood underneath as they fed overhead, dropping less delicious leaves and fruit onto us. Magical.Next we headed for a river area which was a good area for tapir, a species very high up on Kathi’s must see list. We found the huge prints in the sand, along with those of a large feline, possibly Jaguar based upon their size, but no Tapir. Leaving this area we could hear a Black throated trogon calling nearby, and our guide, Carlos, called the bird in, where we enjoyed fantastic views of both male and female birds. We also noted a few other goodies, including particularly good views of Long tailed hermit, Green kingfisher and Black hooded antshrike.As we continued further into the jungle, we became aware of something creeping about in the shadows of the understory. Carlos stopped us, and motioned for us to be silent and still. A tense few seconds followed as the obscure shape edged closer, and rattled around in a bush next to us. The forest was silent. As the tension bordered on unbearable the shape emerged from the bush, and a huge smile spread across the faces of Carlos and I as a male Great currasow strode into the dappled sunlight of the trail. This fantastic bird is a bit like a huge black chicken with a hoopoe’s crest, and is generally a difficult species to catch up with as it moves silently about in undisturbed patches of understory. A few more metres along a track, we stopped to admire a showy Coati, when Carlos spotted some movement high in the trees, he quickly set up his scope and motioned me to look. Perfectly clear in the scope was a cracking Crested guan, another new bird. These birds appear to be an unlikely arboreal specialist, but despite their long tail and grouse-like appearance they are great climbers, and hugely capable of lifting off and twisting their way through the tangled canopy with grace. Try as I might to locate the bird with my bins in the canopy, I simply couldn’t. It became more apparent as the day drew on that Carlos was either magic or knew his patch extremely well.A bit further down the trail, and it was Kathi’s turn to impress, as she peered into a bush and simply said “I guess that is a new bird!” as she pointed to a male Red headed manakin! We stopped to watch this beautiful little bird with its velvety black body and wings, eponymous red head, and golden thighs, and we were rewarded with it demonstrating it’s wonderful courtship display, whereby the male steps quickly from side to side along a branch, throwing his head back in the air. As we watched a female flew in to witness this impressive display, but she had clearly seen it all before as she flicked off into the undergrowth, with the eager male in hot pursuit.We continued towards a river where Carlos said we had a good chance of seeing both Bull shark and American crocodile, but this time from the safety of the shore. As we neared the river we noticed several groups of tourists eagerly pointing cameras in the same general direction, and as we drew closer we quickly became aware of the cause of the excitement as we made out the huge semi-submerged shape of an adult Tapir! This was the mammal Kathi had hoped to see and she was delighted. Slightly disappointingly for us, the beast was facing away, and enjoying its mud-bath so much that it didn’t turn its head once, though we did get probably the best photos of the back of a Tapirs ears that the world has ever seen…PART III to follow when I've written it. I'll be putting a "pretty" version with photos and maps on my blog at some point.Thanks for reading!</blockquote>

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