Landing in San Jose went smooth as did customs…rubber stamp, literally. My first CR bird a Blue-and-white Swallow that I saw through the glass of the airport. We were soon riding along the highway in a turismo bus. Most of the group were exhausted, I on the other hand was gawking at everything.

  We were fruitless on finding the fruit stands in Orotina due to it being Sunday…bummer. A stop at the bridge over the Rio Tarcoles was completely awesome. The crocodiles were right there with several lunkers, to borrow a fishing term. A multitude of white-collared swifts were feeding overhead. A Great Kiskadee was on the powerlines along the bridge. Leaving the bridge, the driver pointed out a pair of flying Scarlet Macaws…things are looking up.

Once we arrived in Jaco of “Jacko” as one of my worth constituents called the town, I went out into the heat and managed to trespass on a lot for future condos…damn condos…but it still had some great habitat along the sides and back of the property. I was able to find a Bare-throated Tiger-heron and a few Blue-black Grassquits. A Black Iguana also was seen scrambling up a tree.

The rest of day was spent ambling around Jaco with Bret, I was able to scare up a Basilisk Lizard and a Green Kingfisher.

Tonight I went out at night and hear a Common Paranaque.

I’m packing my stuff and preparing to leave for Costa Rica…I’m super excited to have this opportunity to experience Latin America again.

I’ll be taking my LowePro FaskPack 350 camera/laptop backpack. This seems to up to the task and field testing it in the humid tropical forests will definitely put it through its paces. The pack packs up great…finally a bag that accommodates my laptop and camera kit along with bug dope, notebooks, headlamp, towel and passport.

I will be completing a review after my return from CR…the inane blogging is to continue the day after tomorrow.

CR Countdown: 22 hours

I think might be on something with this umami of life thing. Umami of Life comes from happy times, good friends, great food and drink, adventure, and success as you define it. So this trip to Costa Rica will be all about the Umami of Life for me. I want to see as many birds as possible, as many places as possible, and meet as many people as possible. Heck, I’m even going to enjoy the 12 hour road to Denver…add to my Wyoming and Colorado lists with a little high speed birding.

Bianco Sardo di Moliterno, from Puglia, Italy, is also known as Canestrato, after the baskets in which this hard sheep’s milk cheese is matured. These unique molds are made from Apulian reed and greatly influence the flavor and complexity of the end product, all while giving the cheese a beautiful exterior that reinforces its handmade appeal. Furthermore, the raw sheep’s milk used for Bianco Sardo comes only from animals grazing on Apulian green grasses, instilling Bianco Sardo with the well-rounded and balanced flavor of the land. Its paste is dense and sometimes crumbly, its flavor earthy, sweet, and sometimes tangy. Pair Bianco Sardo with Nero d’Avola or Muscat.

This cheese paired with Full Sail IPA is a nice combination of floral from the beer and earthy, sweet from the cheese and truffle.

Appearance: Nice pillowy, retaining head. Medium amber in color. nice lacing, as if lacing means anything.

Aroma: Rather floral, reminds me of the lilacs that are currently blooming in the valley.

Mouth: Short, sudden hop burst with little aftertaste. Very nice and refreshing.

Overall: Not a slap you in the mouth IPA, but a good summer sipper. If I had to rate it on a 1 to 10 scale, I would give it 7.5.

CR Countdown: 2 days

The Japanese have fifth element of taste called Umami or roughly translated "deliciousness". That concept got me to thinking about how umami relates to life. Taste traditionally has been broken down into four elements; sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Life has also been broken down into broad elements that everyone is suppose to keep in proportion. Family, Work, Sleep, Religion, and Play among them. But do people think, or much less seek, the umami of life, the deliciousness of life? What the umami of life exactly is, I don’t know, but I have a feeling when I find it.

CR Countdown: 4 days

My excitement continues to build for this trip. Starting on Saturday, I will begin a daily blog which will cover any thoughts and images from this trip. We start early Saturday with a ~12 hour drive to Denver. I think a stop at the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins is the order of the day and any birds that I can find along the way as my Wyoming list is scant and my Colorado list is non-existent. I have been studying intensively and I believe that I getting close to ready. Just have to really work hard for the next few days.

CR Countdown: 11 days

The tickets have been purchased and the date looms on the horizon. My excitement is getting completely amped and almost out of control. I have realized that my life is my own, and I deserve it to be the busiest, most fun, and outrageous experience. So today is day 0…my new fresh start begins today…no more baggage, no more fruitless commitments…from here on out, I am doing what makes me happy and content, and therefore allows me to give more to others. I have partially wasted the previous 10+ years, and today is the start of no more…enough of me droning on, I just wanted to set the stage for this blog and my life.

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of beer podcasts, and on The Good Beer Show, Mikey Mason performed one the funniest and most true songs ever.

Drinking with Satan from Jeffrey Meyer on Vimeo.

Sam, a gentleman from Georgia named Lloyd Snyder and myself went for a most excellent day of birding around the south-central area of Montana. We started the day off at 4:00 AM with a couple of Sugar-free RockStar energy drinks for this kid. As the luminous dawn twilight progressed, we drove eastward toward Columbus.

Arriving at Columbus, we headed for Itch-Kep-Pe Park. The morning air was cold and thick with spritely songs of Yellow Warblers and American Robins sliced through the humid ether. I was observing a Spotted Sandpiper along the near flood Yellowstone River when Sam hailed me over for the first big surprise of the day. A Black-billed Cuckoo was calling from the thicket region along the north edge of park. Soon another cuckoo joined the chorus from ~50 yards away. Talk about a day fulfilled already.

We continued toward Red Lodge and Barb Jaquith’s amazing backyard. I had called Barb the evening before and she said the Black Rosy-finches were in her yard Sunday, but has with all all rosy-finches, there was no guarantee that they would be there tomorrow. As we pulled up along side the house, we had a few of the target finches, maybe 200! One more lifer for Lloyd, who is approaching 700 for his ABA count, quite a feat. We fired the cameras away as the finches eat seed and occasionally flushed by a domineering Common Grackle. A couple of Pine Siskins and Cassin’s Finches rounded out the yard birds. Many thanks to Barb for the great advise that helped make this trip an uber-success.

Onwards to the Pryor Mountains, the land of gnatcatchers, Mountain Plovers and lizards. This region is unlike anything else in the entire state, an area with a serious Southwest feel to it. Parking the car at the entrance of Bear Canyon, we quickly heard Rock Wrens and observe Mountain Bluebirds and many Lark Sparrows. We soon picked up the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a great bird for Montana. Along the road/trail, we had many butterflies including Juniper Hairstreak and a Skipper of some sort. Nearing the campground, White-throated Swifts were flying at close proximity to us. On the “flats” near Gyp Spring, we found 5 Mountain Plovers and a Horned Lark nest. Also, near the nest there where many mollusk fossils, which were Gryphaea.

After the Pryors, we headed over for the Boulder River and Mission Creek areas. We picked up a few species in the Boulder area and crossed the divide over into the Mission Creek uses Swingley Road. We made several stops on the road without much new being sighted. Near the old gravel pit, we had our biggest surprise of the day. A Yellow-bellied Marmot was standing erect alongside the road and calling rather insistently. Stopping to take pictures of the rodent, Sam exploded with, “There’s a bobcat“. Looking up the little cat was crossing the hillside slowly. It appeared to be hunting a marmot den from on high. This amazing animal allows us to shoot around 200 images each. Totally incredible.

After the bobcat, we stop at a patch of great habitat, and observed American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, MacGillvray’s Warbler and a displaying male Northern Harrier. From here we gassed up at Livingston, and went up the Shields River Valley and a stop at Cottonwood Reservoir. We picked up many waterfowls species, Willet, and Black Tern.

All in all, we finished the day with 125 birds and several great species being observed well. Below you can find a summary of these sightings.

Trip Map