"Misty cloudforest and deep green foliage is what has made Monteverde an absolute hot spot for eco tourism in the Central Highlands of Costa Rica. Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve shelters many wildlife species, including jaguar, ocelot and the colorfully plumed resplendent quetzal. Marked trails cut through ferns and orchids, and way overhead, suspended bridges allow walks above the forest canopy".
This is the marketing blurb. In reality I found Monteverde somewhat disappointing, very few if any visitors would ever see a jaguar or ocelot, and less than one in ten get to see a Resplendant Quetzal for which the Reserve is famous. Upon arrival I found the famous Cloud Forest Reserve was closed anyway due to storm damage from Hurricane Otto. A nearby privately run Forest Reserve called Curi-Cancha was open however. This is virtually next door to Monteverde and it includes some primary cloud forest but also re-planted or secondary forest, plus areas of open space which can be better that pristine primary forest for wildlife watching. It also has a hummingbird garden that can be interesting.
This is the marketing blurb. In reality I found Monteverde somewhat disappointing, very few if any visitors would ever see a jaguar or ocelot, and less than one in ten get to see a Resplendant Quetzal for which the Reserve is famous. Upon arrival I found the famous Cloud Forest Reserve was closed anyway due to storm damage from Hurricane Otto. A nearby privately run Forest Reserve called Curi-Cancha was open however. This is virtually next door to Monteverde and it includes some primary cloud forest but also re-planted or secondary forest, plus areas of open space which can be better that pristine primary forest for wildlife watching. It also has a hummingbird garden that can be interesting.
White-eared Ground Sparrow - melozone leucotis
I paid the entrance fee and commenced walking some of the trails. The first bird I captured was a White-eared Ground Sparrow. I was using flash again, it was quite dark in the forest and also the rain was coming down steadily, this is "cloud" forest after all.
Common Agouti
This is a Common Agouti, a large rodent, quite common and seemingly used to humans as it was not at all afraid when I approached.
I had been hearing a flock of large, very noisy birds moving around the forest in a group, never far away. I eventually came close enough for a photograph and grabbed a few shots of the Brown Jays responsible for all the noise. They seemed to be quite agitated by my presence which was surprising considering there were other people in the Reserve. perhaps it was the camera they didn't like.
I had been hearing a flock of large, very noisy birds moving around the forest in a group, never far away. I eventually came close enough for a photograph and grabbed a few shots of the Brown Jays responsible for all the noise. They seemed to be quite agitated by my presence which was surprising considering there were other people in the Reserve. perhaps it was the camera they didn't like.
Brown Jay - psilorhinus morio
Whatever it was they eyed me up very suspiciously and warned the entire forest of my evil presence with the racket they made. In fact it may have been because of them that I found other birds hard to find, so I walked round to the Hummingbird Garden, at least they would not be spooked by the Jay's alarm calls.
Brown Jay - psilorhinus morio
So here are a few of the Hummingbirds from Curi-Cancha. First is a Stripe-tailed Hummingbird, I saw lots of these in the mountains.
Stripe-tailed Hummingbird - eupherusa eximia
The Magenta-throated Woodstar is a very attractive hummingbird which looks amazing when the sun catches those throat feathers. Unfortunately today, as in fact most days up here, it was raining so the light was not showing them at their best.
Magenta Throated Woodstar - calliphlox bryantae
This is one of the most beautiful of all, the Purple-throated Mountain Gem is a stunner. Very geometrical in shape with strong, well demarcated colouring make it stand out from the crowd, particularly the male. What a shame the light was not better.
Purple-throated Mountaingem (male) - lampornis calolaemus
Purple-throated Mountaingem (female) - lampornis calolaemus
The Green-crowned Brilliant is another very attractive species, that green is almost incandescent in good light. Even in dim overcast conditions it is possible to see how the green really sparkles, no wonder then it is named Brilliant.
Green-crowned Brilliant - heliodoxa jacula
And now my personal favourite. The Violet Sabrewing is truly wonderful. No photograph can do it justice. When the sun catches that amazing dark violet plumage it literally glows as if it has its own light source. It is also quite large and extremely elegant in shape with a nicely decurved bill, very long wings and white flashes in the long tail. A great show stopper.
Violet Sabrewing - campylopterus hemileucurus
After the hummingbirds I moved back onto the forest trails and caught a nice shot of a Crested Guan in a nearby tree. This is not an uncommon bird up here and it is a very fine looking species with hints of purple and russet brown in the plumage, a fiery red throat crop, white speckled breast and a large impressive crest it makes a fine sight perched on the side of a tree trunk.
Crested Guan - penelope purpurascens
It was getting late and I needed to find somewhere to stay, so I left the Reserve and drove a short distance down the dirt track & found a lodge style hotel called El Bosque (The Forest). It was a great choice. To start with this fabulous Emerald Toucanet greeted me from a low tree directly opposite reception, a good omen.
Emerald Toucanet - aulacorhynchus prasinus
Once again I got a deal on a good room in a lodge style bungalow with extensive gardens. There was also a large area of private forest with several kilometres of trails to follow, not a bad pick at a reasonable price, around $50 including breakfast.
Emerald Toucanet - aulacorhynchus prasinus
On the grass just outside my bungalow was a nice Rufous-collared Sparrow. There were also other small birds flitting around including Wilson's & Black & White Warblers, but the light was getting low and I was in need of a rest before going out to find somewhere to eat.
Rufous-collared sparrow - zonotrichia capensis
Next morning I took an early breakfast and drove the short distance over a very rough dirt track to the Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve. It was busy, tourists were queuing up to pay for tickets to enter the Reserve on guided walks and I duly lined up and bought mine. I was feeling uneasy, this felt more like a theme park than a wildlife sanctuary. I and two other British tourists were teamed up with a guide who led us into the Park. He was full of regurgitated facts about the forest and its plants etc but I had already concluded that this was a tourist trap, we just walked on tarmacked paths through a tiny section of forest listening to his memorised speech but seeing precisely nothing. We stood around with many other groups of tourists with their so-called "Guides" looking for the mythical Resplendant Quetzal, a bird I had already seen anyway in Ecuador where it is not considered such a big deal. I doubt that any self-respecting Quetzal would parade itself for hoardes of tourists here when there were vast areas of pristine forest free of humans to inhabit. I did press the guide on how many times they actually saw a Quetzal and he admitted it was less that one in ten tours, and I suspect even that was a gross exaggeration.
Monteverde Anole - Endemic Lizard species
We did at least see an endemic lizard species named after the park, the Monteverde Anole, and I liked this Variagated Squirrel caught feeding in one of the open areas near the entrance.
Variagated Squirrel
This place had been a good lesson in that mainsream tourism and wildlife do not easily co-exist. Perhaps this was once a magical place teeming with wildlife, but now it teems with tourists and the wildlife has very definitely gone. The authorities are still raking it in on the strength of past reputation, I wonder how long it can last? Still, after the waste of time tour we could at least look at the hummingbird feeders by the entrance where I did pick up one new species, the Brown Violetear. Overall I would not recommend this place to any serious eco-tourist or birder, it's not worth the entrance fee and your time would be much better spent in one of the other reserves, or in fact just walking around outside the Reserve, for example at the El Bosque Hotel, where I saw many more birds.
Brown Violetear - colibri delphinae
In fact I was glad to get back to the hotel where I wandered around the gardens and ventured into the forest & started to see a few birds at last. A lovely Golden-olive Woodpecker in a garden tree......
Golden Olive Woodpecker - colaptes rubiginosus
.....and a nice Hoffman's Woodpecker on a small palm right outside my bungalow.
Hoffman's Woodpecker - melanerpes hoffmannii
Great-tailed Grackles were being very vocal in the taller trees. These birds have an unusually large repertoire of vocalizations that are used year-round, in fact for this reason alone they are considered pests as it is quite non-stop for long periods. They are extremely intelligent, being able to solve Aesop's Fable tests - a problem involving a tube that is partially filled with water with a piece of food floating out of reach. They solve the problem by dropping objects into the water to raise the level and bring the food within reach. How clever is that?
Great Tailed Grackle - quiscalus mexicanus
A Bananaquit was a nice addition to my Costa Rica portfolio. Not a rarity or a particularly hard to find species but this was the only photo opportunity I had so I made the most of it. This bird is of uncertain relation. It is tentatively placed in the Tanager family but the American Ornithologists Union does not agree and classifies it as uncertain.
Bananaquit - coereba flaveola
Another bird in the garden was a familiar one, a Rose-breasted Grossbeak. I had photographed this species earlier this year in Ontario Canada, which seems a long way from here. I wonder if this little bird had travelled that far?
Rose-breasted Grossbeak - pheucticus ludovicianus
Next was a new one for me, a Black-throated Green Warbler. not a great shot but a lifer, so I was happy with it.
Black-throated Green Warbler - setophaga virens
Last bird of the day was a little Yellow-throated Vireo, I don't think I had recorded this one before either, which was pleasing.
Yellow-throated Vireo - vireo flavifrons
The Vireo rounded off what had not been the best day of the trip so far, but there had been highlights, and who knows what might turn up tomorrow?
