Costa Rica

The Final Costa Rica Post – La Gamba area, the Osa, and more

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La Gamba, Parque Nacional Piedras Blancas, Rincon de la Osa, and Los Cusingos 14 – 16 June 2014 The Osa Peninsula and the nearby Parque Nacional Piedras Blancas are one of the great birding destinations of Costa Rica. While lacking the huge suite of Caribbean slope specialties, there are some very range restricted endemics here, the best lowland [...]

San Vito and around (Finca Cántaros, Las Alturas, and Las Cruces/Wilson Botanical Garden)

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11 – 13 June 2014 To finish out our tour of Costa Rica we needed to check out some of the birding spots on the southern Pacific slope. We headed straight to the sleepy town of San Vito, picked up some supplies and headed toward Finca Cántaros, a small private reserve between San Vito and Las Cruces that makes a great place to camp. Finca [...]

Buenas Aires Grasslands and the hunt for the Ocellated Crake and White-tailed Nightjar

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10 June 2014 and 24 June 2014 The Ocellated Crake is another one of what we have taken to calling unicorn birds … people say they exist but no one ever sees them. That could not be a more apt description of the Ocellated Crake; they are, quite literally, nearly impossible to see. Imagine trying to find a small (6”), secretive, miniature [...]

Antpitta quest – Tapanti National Park and Reserva El Copal

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29 May – 1 June 2014 Tapanti National Park is situated in the Orosi Valley, not far from San Jose. The drive to Tapanti takes you through small towns and “shade” coffee plantations. I say shade in quotes because many of the plantations were shaded with non-native eucalyptus, a species of tree that provides little value to birds. To me it [...]

1 Year on the road

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1 year ago we left San Diego, CA 19,176 miles 7 countries 1,123 species of birds 506 eBird lists 249 recordings made uncountable mosquito, sand fly and no-see-um bites more chiggers than is fair Here are a few shots of us in action as well as some of our favorite places [...]