Megan, as a working woman, had limited time off for a trip, but that was all right with me. I had yet to visit Costa Rica (CR). Both May 1st and 6th were travel days, leaving four good days for us to explore the Monte-Verde area where I had chosen our stay at the Lodge.
Too old to rent a car in CR, Megan had already lined up our ride.The 2022 Hyundai mid-size SUV worked perfectly. Plenty of power for the hills; new tires, etc. In her email to her parents letting them know we had arrived at the Lodge, Megan described the drive north as "terrifying." She would get over that by the end of the week! The main highway was great. It was as we moved higher in elevation the road became a narrow two-lane paved road with chunks of it washed out from recent rains. She claimed it looked like a dinosaur took a bite out of the edge of our paved lane.
As we approached the Monte Verde area, we came upon restaurants and quick-eating places. I opted for the two-story Tree House Restaurant built around a 60-year-old ficus tree on Santa Elena's Main Street. Dinner was great; we ate up. My serving of fettuccini alfredo (sauce with chicken and mushrooms) was more than I could eat! And, I was really hungry.
Driving a bit farther to the Lodge, our second-floor room had two queens and our own little balcony where we sat out to enjoy the top portion of the cloud forest just beyond our room. We had amazing bird-and-creature sightings surprise us there during our week.
Monday, May 2nd:
After our 6 a.m. substantial breakfast (included), we walked the trails at the Lodge. It was here that Megan fell in love with the natural world. She was ahead of me and walked up face-to-face with a White-nosed Coatimundi about two feet in front of her. She stopped. "Will it bite me?
By then the Coati had scooted up a tree and was watching us!
The first birds I spotted were also exciting. I recognized the colorful LESSON'S MOTMOT from reviewing CR field-guide books but had to wait until I got home to discover I had seen a MASKED TITYRA.
MASKED TITYRA Two White-eared Ground Sparrow were also bopping around between the trees and ground,
WHITE-EARED GROUND SPARROW
Always fun to catch a bird "acting out", we had the pleasure as we walked through the parking lot at the Lodge. A CHESTNUT-CAPPED WARBLER was entertaining itself in a car's outside rearview mirror: flying at the mirror; perching on its top; going back down for another look in the mirror...repeat...repeat.
Walking was uphill, downhill on roads/sidewalks. When we reached TacoTaco, it was near lunchtime, so we walked in. What great seats! At a wooden counter overlooking more forested jungle, we could watch for critters and birds while we snacked.
I was beside myself with a stunning bird: a BOAT-BILLED FLYCATCHER.
The most unusual bird observed there was a WHITE-THROATED MAGPIE JAY.
For Megan's enjoyment, I tried to keep track of a Variegated Squirrel in a tree across from us, literally running back and forth from a low level to fill its mouth with tree leaves (needles), then running to the top left of the tree where I assumed a nest was being built. Too thick to see.
Somehow, a RUFOUS-COLLARED SPARROW also found my camera out in the jungle.
We continued to walk around town to get the gist of it before heading back to the Lodge.
Megan relaxed in the swimming pool while I walked that area around the Lodge.
Our NIGHT TRIP into the jungle would happen tonight. It had rained a bit in the afternoon, so we decided to wear our ponchos with hoods. It wasn't wet, but flying insects just slid right off our covered bodies eliminating any fear of what had landed! Fortunately, we learned about many insects and frogs before finding a pair of vipers off to the side of the trail in the jungle. Both snakes below are Vipers.
There had been insects, spiders, Grand-daddy Longlegs, and teeny frogs out in the dark forest along our good trail with lots of steep steps (I'm short; they were steep for me but Megan gave me a hand.) The frogs come out at night to keep their skin moist (5 pm to 5 am).
Our first full day in friendly Costa Rica had us ready for more.
Tuesday, May 3rd:
Waking to the sound of a Lesser Motmot, I rolled over to see if Megan was awake. She was opening the balcony door. She saw MONKEYS! Wow! Coming from the back of the forest forward toward us, I was able to catch a few photos. The highly intelligent Capuchin Monkeys were priceless.
Beyond the monkeys, KEEL-BILLED TOUCANs began flying in. Five of them landed but were quite distant.
To me, it looked like it was wearing lipstick. When it slept (we saw one on our Night Tour) that's what we saw, "red.
I was glad we had decided to explore on our own. Megan, who no longer teaches Spanish in the classroom, wondered whether her skill would come forward. After listening to others, she started to speak fluently. The Costa Ricans were decidedly very receptive to us as a result.
Off to the Monte Verde Cloud Forest, we drove to the correct location. Again, Megan knew how to use various apps to bring up the driving maps on the console. Here, we discovered the hummingbirds that were formerly seen around the outside of the Lodge. They had been relocated to the entrance area of the Cloud Forest. We started there.
Hummingbirds buzzed in and out of the feeders. Taking many photos, it appeared that six species (male and female) were present: LESSER VIOLETEAR, GREEN-CROWNED BRILLIANT, PURPLE-THROATED MOUNTAIN-GEM, MAGENTA-THROATED WOODSTAR, and VIOLET SABREWING. I concentrated so much on the gorgeous Violet Sabrewing that I took just a few poor shots of the Woodstar, the approximate size of our AZ Anna's Hummingbird. The Woodstar often cocked its tail at the perch. The bird favored the feeders in the darkest area.
Then, we set off into the Cloud Forest.
The bird we were hoping to see:
Note how the Quetzal is turning its head toward me. Some of its longest feathers disappear toward the forest floor.
Even Megan knew this was "the bird" to see in Costa Rica. What neither of us knew was that future sightings would make us almost forget we had seen this extraordinary Quetzal.
Back at the Lodge, Megan headed for the pool while I carried my camera for possible bird photos. We had a Cabanis's Wren along the stream running behind our room, but I had yet to get a photo of the beautiful fast-moving bird.
One of the landscape workers approached me to follow him for a bird. Wow! Megan had seen this bird the first day in the forest beyond our balcony but I had missed it. (She had a good enough photo, I knew what it was.). The worker pointed out the NORTHERN EMERALD TOUCANET perched on a limb fairly close by. I thanked him and started trying to get a decent photo in the darkness of the local cloud forest.
Wednesday, May 4th:
Curi-Cancha Refuge with bird guide, Dennis Fernandez Duarte. At 6:00 a.m., the kitchen had our breakfast packed into a bag for us to take on our outing. Meeting us at the front door, Dennis waited with us briefly until the van for the trip showed up. Then, it was off to what I hoped would be a splendid day.
Walking Birder style, we slowly picked up one unusual sighting after the other: RUDDY PIGEON, COLLARED TROGON, BROWN-HOODED PARROT, SPOTTED BARBTAIL, YELLOWISH FLYCATCHER, RUFOUS-AND-WHITE WREN, BLACK-HEADED NIGHTINGALE-THRUSH, ELEGANT EUPHONIA, COMMON CHLOROSPINGUS, CHESTNUT-CAPPED BRUSHFINCH, SILVER-THROATED TANAGER and more.
It was the THREE-WATTLED BELLBIRD that blew my mind. Never expecting to see this bird based on recent sightings in eBird, I was thrilled. 
It's rufous body and white head stood out in the valley below us, looking much like a bald eagle. The male called "Bonkee" several times. It sounded more like a "clang" to my ears as it reverberated through the damp forest.The best photo I found of the Bellbird was on the bag of some coffee beans I brought home.
As it turned out, the adults had left the nest. This juvenile ORNATE HAWK-EAGLE was trying to get up its nerve to fly off on its own. My photos showed it looking in every possible direction but moving nowhere. Dennis was, I think, hoping he could catch its "take off" with his camera. After taking many photos, Megan and I sat on a bench to eat our breakfast! (Kitchen staff had packed yogurt and granola plus fruit for me--based on previous orders that would carry well. The delicious omelet would not have been a good choice for packing out.) I had handled the 3+ miles of walking on 1/2 cup of coffee made to my liking. Now, we finished the food while waiting for Dennis. Eventually, we let him know that we were ready for the return. He contacted another van (the one we used to arrive had another call to take).
Having topped off our professional bird-guided tour with a Three-wattled Bellbird and a Juvenile Ornate Hawk-Eagle, we almost forgot about yesterday's sighting of the Resplendent Quetzal.
That trip wrapped our official birding. The clouds brought rain during the night and well into the morning. Maybe the rain was better when we could not have gone out early due to waiting for our Covid-19 test right in our room. The woman who gave the test told us to call her if we didn't have our results by 6:00 p.m. She would be sure to get the results to Delta and to us in order for us to check in. Negative Covid Test was essential for doing that.
Aside from packing and lazing about, we enjoyed the downtime. Megan drove out in an afternoon drizzle to bring back some empanadas from a place she had noticed. The day before we had enjoyed a Margharita Pizza from a local shop.
Megan planned our departure allowing plenty of time for unforeseen problems like heavy traffic or delay returning our car and being driven to the airport. With the two-hour time difference, we were back in Atlanta by 1:00 p.m. Met by Jerry and Kelly, we dropped Megan at her own house, then returned to their place in East Atlanta Village. I would enjoy a delicious paella for Mother's Day before returning home to Arizona.
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Accumulated 49 Life Birds in my short time in Costa Rica tipping me over the 800 mark for lifetime species.
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