When we left Canto del Bosque we planned to visit the Salitre Savannahs for some speciality birds like an Ocellated Crake and a Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch but as always we would be only arriving after 10 so not the best time to see birds. In the town of Buenos Aires before we headed up the hills we finally had the chance to get pictures of a Tropical Mockingbird. We had seen one at a distance back where we saw the sloths but it was nice to get pictures and nice views.

It was already hot and dry and dusty as we drove the rocky road up through the mountains and stopped at various spots with likely habitat and where others had suggested they had the birds. We used playback for the Crake but got no responses and then checked all the grass areas for the Grass-Finch but again, nothing. When we first got out of the car Jerry realized he did not have his hat and as we went back over our past days we realized he must have left it in the pizza place the night before. It was too bad we had not noticed earlier but it is just a hat and thankfully it was the last days of the trip. So I gave him my hat to wear and I put on some sunscreen because he as BCC (Basal Cell Carcinoma) and has already had a few surgeries for removing it. The heat built, the grasslands were quiet. We did manage to add two lifers, Pale-breasted Spinetail and a Gray-crowned Yellowthroat. No visuals but the calls were continuing and heard by both of us over and over. We have heard both of these birds at the past lodges for short times and opted not to add them always hoping we would see them elsewhere but now as we end the trip we have added them. With the heat getting to us we drove slowly back down and headed to our hotel in San Isidora.

On the way we hit rain in the afternoon and had to drive through a bit of torrential rain strong enough that Jerry pulled off for a minute because we could not see the road. It eased just a bit and we decided to continue very slowly to get through the worst of it. The weather seemed to be shifting a bit and rain and clouds seem to be happening every afternoon now. The start of the rainy season.

While we were checking in at Hotel De Sur Jerry missed seeing a step and took a pretty hard fall near the reception desk. He hit hard on his elbow and knee but tough guy that he is bounced up declaring he was fine. We had a good laugh once we realized he was not injured. OMGosh! we do not need anything to happen before we finish our trip. Our rooms were not ready, we were an hour early, but they sat us down with complimentary smoothies while we waited.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by the pool with a beer and making final plans for getting home. We ordered Guac and it came with these yummy plaintain chips that we both gobbled up. Jerry thought he might swim but then never managed the energy to do so. There is no doubt that we are tired. The heat takes the energy out of you. As is always the case near the end of a trip, we started talking about home and what we needed to do when we get back. I want to keep the Pura Vida feeling going when I get back. We had a nice dinner, the food as always was very good and we turned in early with one last birding adventure planned for tomorrow.

We were up early, had breakfast at 6:30 and were heading out to the car with our luggage when a medium size bird with a very, very long tail flew over us! Fork-tailed Flycatcher! I knew they were in this area and had contemplated driving around this morning to see if we could find one and here it was over top of our car at the exact moment we needed it to be. Unfortunately, Jerry had suitcases in his hands and could not get a picture in the brief seconds we saw it but a lifer non the less! A great start to our last birding day. After sitting the usual 10 minutes to try and get the car in gear we headed to a place that Volcano Junco’s frequented. One hour later we turned onto a relatively nice gravel road by Costa Rican standards and within a few feet we saw 5 Juncos with the bright yellow eye. Lifer number 2 for the day! We pulled off a bit further up and got out to immediately hear a Timberline Wren calling, Lifer number 3. This was beginning to feel epic! Then a short hike up the road brought us a first Sooty Thrush for Lifer #4. We enjoyed walking the area for a while and got good pictures and video of the Juncos and Thrush. We waited hoping to get pictures of the Wren but we only had brief looks of it in the shrubs and then finally decided to get back on the road.

The next stop was Miriam’s Quetzel Restaurant on the Savarge road. When we turned down the road on the way in we heard and quickly saw a Spot-crowned Woodcreeper. We thought we had already seen it so we did not stop for a picture, the road was very narrow, but later realized that it was Lifer #5. Wow! Epic last day! The feeders at Miriam’s are famous to birders and tour groups that want to have close-up experiences with Hummingbirds and Tanagers. We ordered a Strawberry/Mango milkshake and headed for the deck to get our last close up views of Hummers, Toucanets, Tanagers and an assortment of other pretty birds.

It was nice to feel the trip coming full circle and ending seeing birds up close at feeders that we saw at the beginning of the trip. And after so many frustrating days for Jerry trying to take pictures it was nice that he could get some great shots of birds so close. I had taken so many videos of the Flowerpiercer trying to get it piercing the flower and finally managed it on this last day.

Eventually, the clouds and fog started to roll in so we left Miriam’s and then stopped shortly after at the Quetzal National Park and just walked the road and parking lot for a few minutes.

It was extremely busy as it is the start of the Costa Rican Easter holiday (Thursday) and the traffic going into the mountains was constant and slow. Thankfully the traffic going back to San Jose was almost nothing and our side of the road was empty.

It was bittersweet to be taking the final drive down from the mountains towards the city and highways. We were tired of living out of suitcases but also wishing we had still seen more lifers. All in all we had done really well I think, considering so much of our birding was on our own. And again, every Merlin list had 5-10 birds on it that we did not add because we could not figure out which calls were which or see the bird so the potential for more was probably there.

Will we come back? I think so as there are many birds we missed but not sure we are ready to have it be all about chasing. We kind of enjoyed just having whatever turned up turn up. Chasing ups the pressure to see it and increases the disappointment if you miss. We liked just being surprised with moments like the White-throated Crake suddenly calling while we walked by or the Orange-collared Manakin flying past and then appearing on a branch. Those are the moments we will remember, the Fork-tailed Flycatcher flying over as we walked to our car. Only seconds, no picture, but such a great memory.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn at the airport and arranged for them to come and pick up our rental. It actually made it the whole trip! LOL. Over a last plate of Patacones ( double fried plaintains) we talked about how we could have stayed a few more days with plenty of birds still to see at most of the lodges we stayed at and what we liked about this slower way to bird. We liked finding the birds ourselves, there was something missing when guides took us out and pointed birds out to us. Both of us were happy with how I had planned the trip and what we had seen. It was the right length of time, both of us were tired of living out of a suitcase and we had lost a bit of our enthusiasm for getting out to bird in the last few days. But it was nice to have that as a choice which we would not have had with a birding tour. We both agreed we were still not ready to go the fixed tour route, at least not in countries where it is easy to plan your own trip.

Our costs for the trip for airfare, hotels, car rental, guides, food/booze came to $15,000 for 23 days for 2 people. I think 21 day guided, everything included trips were running about $10-12,000 plus flights so $12-14,000 per person so we did it for close to half the price and still had the benefit of guides part of the time. If we went back I would use local guides from different areas to help us with what birds we were looking for. I took information from a few of them we met and used so that if we go back we can contact them.

In the end we saw 403 species in Costa Rica with 303 of them as LIFERS! in 23 days. How crazy is that?

Pura Vida!