Eventually I will post more from my rain forest birding. Molly and I had a great time, and the rain definitely came through as advertised. Yesterday we moved over to the Pacific Ocean and a town named Las Catalinas … no cars allowed! Early this morning a bit before 6 am I walked over to the parking lot to collect my car and then went birding at sunrise. There are two HUGE reasons to get out birding very early. First the birds are much more active, but in addition the temperature will soar later in the day to 95F.

My special find of the day was a weird and unusual bird, the Double-Striped Thick-Knee. This “shorebird” likes dry savannah, and that is where I discovered this lifer … near an almost dry creek bed that bordered the more open land.

Double Striped Thick Knee

Only 400 yards away from “old double knee” I found a “Roadside Hawk.” Now at home in Minnesota this term might be used to describe any hawk hunting a road, but down here in Costa Rica it is actually the name of a specific hawk / bird.

Roadside Hawk

For a while I hiked the almost dry creek bed. I heard and saw Black Headed Trogons, Turquoise-browed Motmot, and these Howler Monkeys.

In closing if you will allow me to “bird nerd” out a bit, and if you are interested in learning about research on how songbirds maintain territories over the course of the years since 1960 in a wilderness area of northern New Hampshire, browse to this fascinating work done by a fellow Dartmouth graduate, Miranda.Zammarelli. (read an article about this research). However, let me point out this impressive young woman is earning a PhD from my alma mater. I only managed a basic college degree!