Slate-throated Redstart
In the morning, we hiked in the tree canopies on six suspension skywalks. Unfortunately, there was light to heavy drizzle the entire time and all the birds were hunkered down. I did see a Slate-throated Redstart just before the start of the hike. We saw an orange-kneed tarantula in its tiny cave, and a White-nosed Coatimundi made a showing near the end of the hike.
Slate-throated Redstart
Slate-throated Redstart
Slate-throated Redstart
Orange-kneed Tarantula
White-nosed Coatimundi
Of course, within 30 minutes after our drizzly hike, the sun came out! We were bussed down to the very small, old section of Monterverde, and had 45 minutes of free time before our bus would be taking us to lunch. Alice and I opted to sit and rest rather than walk around, and PANIC STRUCK!
Alice saw that the bottom of one of her tennis shoes was separated from the upper part of the shoe! These were her only walking shoes for the trip. We found a small store that sold us some super glue, but we didn't know if that would work. There was a small tourism office, and we asked if there was any nearby store that sold shoes. We learned that there was a (very) small sporting goods store two blocks away. The shop had two 10 foot x 15 foot rooms, and the owner didn't speak any English. But Alice found a good pair of tennis shoes in her size. We couldn't believe how lucky we were.
After lunch, we were bussed back to the lodge, and we had two late afternoon lectures in Monteverde before dinner. While waiting for everyone to gather for the bus to leave for the lectures, I saw a lot of different birds flying back and forth and disappearing in the trees. I tried to photograph as many of them as I could. Some of the birds were North American species vacationing for the winter in Costa Rica.
Black-throated Green Warbler
Philadelphia Vireo
Spotted Woodcreeper
Spotted Woodcreeper
Buff-throated Saltator
Common Tody-Flycatcher
Mountain Elaenia
Common Chlorospingus
The first lecture was at a bat rescue center, and the talk was interesting and the speaker was excellent. The second talk was given by a decendant of the settlers of Monteverde, and the 10 to 15 minute talk lasted close to an hour. After a fine dinner, we were eager to move on to our next stop in the morning.
Sunset
We had one more stop in Monteverde this morning before leaving the cloud forest. We stopped at a butterfly farm, and I got a couple of more trip birds.
Butterfly
Butterfly
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Lesson's Motmot
Today's life birds (trip# 17-20): Spotted Woodcreeper; Mountain Elaenia; Common Tody-Flycatcher; Lesson's Motmot.
Click here to continue on the trip to the Tarcoles River Cruise and Puerto Caldera on January 9
Jump to start of trip; January 5/6
Jump to Monteverde Cloud Forest; January 7
Jump to Monteverde Cloud Forest; January 8
Jump to Tarcoles River Cruise; January 9
Jump to Corcovado National Park; January 10
Jump to Golfo Dulce; January 11
Jump to Golfo Dulce; January 12
Jump to Coiba National Park; January 13
Jump to Panama Canal; January 14
Jump to Gatun Lake January 15
Jump to Panama City trip extension January 16-18
Jump to Final remarks and trip bird list