Costa Rica--Nature at Its Finest

Costa Rica has one of the most diverse populations of birds and wildlife in the world. This is one of the reasons Costa Rica rates so high in tourism and is its number one industry. That and its miles and miles of beautiful beaches; which by the way are hardly ever packed, maybe because there are literally miles and miles of them.

John and I have always enjoyed nature, that is one reason we chose the southern zone on a mountain. City life is not for us, rural living fits us best.

The following pictures are not taken from stock photos.  These White-headed Capuchin Monkeys live on a nearby mountain; if they live here I haven't seen them yet.  On our mountain we have Howler monkeys, often right in our yard. The males make the strangest sound, hence their name. We have pictures in past blogs of the Howlers.

Toucans call out with a loud unusual call, signaling to us to search for them. They are a very large bird with an equally hefty bill. There are two types, the one pictured is common to this area, the Chestnut-mandibled. One recent day Aldemar spotted the other type, Keel-billed, that is not common here. It is a little smaller with a multi-colored bill. One of my birding buddies was extremely excited to hear a “visiting” Keel-billed toucan was spotted here in Serenity. As birds migrate “birders” often spot unusual types flying through. I am not yet well versed enough on Costa Rican birds to know a resident bird from a visiting one but I am learning.

Cusingas (called Aracai in English) are the small relative to the Toucan. We have a water apple tree next to the house which has brought Cusingas visiting morning and afternoons along with many other types of birds and squirrels.  It is common to have 6 Cusingas at a time in the tree, just outside our windows!   

The Bobo (called Motmot in English) is a fairly large gorgeous bird.  We have one that lives in our yard and the jungle tree line. It was very exciting to discover it the first time just sitting on a branch seemingly posing for us.

The Guaco (called Laughing Falcon in English) also signals to us by its call. It gets it name of Laughing Falcon, and in Spanish Guaco, because of its strange call. One day I spotted one from the veranda on a nearby branch with a coral snake in its strong beak. It had already swallowed the head and was sucking the remainder up like a string of spaghetti. It sucked down that whole snake and sat on the branch for the longest time because it was so full.

 

This snake came up on our porch railing during a hard rain. It sat there all day long, preferring our railing to the soggy rain soaked ground. It was a harmless type and since it didn't bother us, we didn't bother it; other than John repeatedly taking its picture while I am in the house looking on the internet to check if it was poisonous.  I am calling out to John, “please stay away from it until I can find out more about it, please stop getting so close!”, as he gets closer and closer to it. Men!  It turned out to be a harmless snake but still...

 

 

 

 

No need to write me and explain these aren't wildlife!  But I just had to show you what we find as entertainment on this mountain.  We all came out to see the oxen till a new garden for neighbors, Mike and Di Gill.  This is what you get when you want a garden tilled instead of a machine.  The farmers who brought them up our mountain walked them for miles to get here, the men and oxen worked and then walked back home.  All for $15.00!

 

 

Come to visit Costa Rica!!  The mountain views, beaches, waterfalls, rivers and wildlife are amazing!!

  The Ticos are pretty great too!