How to describe Costa Rica? Well nothing better than the colours of this Scarlet Macaw- a riot of colour and the most wonderful cacophony of sounds. They are the things I will never forget. Its a place that is so different to home and everywhere there was something new to wonder at. Our drive stopped the minibus for us to stare at a tree full of these macaws, just a riot of colour and the raark-raark calls. Only found in some areas of the country now we saw many of these living paint palets in the Tarcoles region.
And dragonflies were not to be forgotten. Have not found a book on them yet- but have a collection of photos including this beautiful golden dragon seen in a garden area of a small cafe not far from the border with Nicaragua.
At the Hotel Tilajari near Muelle every meal was a treat and a time to have the camera with you - in particular breakfast with so many birds enjoying the fruit put out for them. One of my favourites was this red legged honeycreeper - such bold blues and with its long beak for feeding. Its part of a large family - one that I saw many of- the Tanagers.
And it was not only the birds that were so vibrant but the plants and flowers. So many different forms and the crimson red of this passionflower was just so vivid. There were ferns, mangroves, fruits, crops, trees so tall they towered over the rainforest, plants with strnage leaves and fruits and so many different shades of bright reds, oranges, yellows and pinks.
Some of the animals just made me fall in love with them, such as this baby two toed sloth with its mother resting high in the canopy above the jungle floor. We were lucky enough to see three kinds of monkeys and two kinds of sloth, including a female that wlaked by as we had dinner one night- quite a rare treat as they are often sloth by character as well as by name, but are very good mums to their young.
But it was birds we saw so many of - birds from so many different familes from the unusual Great Potoo, ducks, herons, kingfishers, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, tanagers, fly catchers, hawks, vultures and this fairly unusual sun grebe on an early morning sail along the Rio Negro.
So a fabulous holiday, lots of photos to sort out and I am sure more to appear in this blog. But heres hoping to wildlife close to home too- especially dragons.............
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