Independence Day – CR Style

The Fourth of July in Costa Rica – no Red, White and Blue here.

I walked up the street to the bus stop at about 5 AM and passed the Jaco Taco, which still had the party raging even though it was getting light out now. Well, at least it is dedication to the theme. As I strolled up the street and worked up my first sweaty lather of the day (heat and humidity do not do me any favors), I noticed that there where a steady stream of security guards getting off from their shifts. I am certain that the major industry of this town is not tourism, but security. My God, what a herd of uniformed night watchmen.

Once I was on the bus, I work to explain to the driver that I went to let off at Carara National Park headquarters. After about a ~30 minutes, I was standing in the empty parking lot of the park. I went birding around the grounds where I was able to find several good birds – Scaly-breasted Hummingbird and Yellow-crowned Euphonia. God, those little euphonias are tough – they all look alike and never stay still long enough.

Having paid the entrance fee, I started down the trail was almost immediately hearing a Great Tinamou and a group of White-faced Capuchins overhead. I finally got a great look at these little, gregarious primates. The group moved, well, let’s say less than gracefully through the canopy. What a racket these little buggers make. Limbs thrashing and crashing, a variety of chips and squeaks, and the occasional fruit landing on the forest floor with a thud. I am astonished at how much of the floor of the rainforest resembles the floor of a cedar-hemlock forest back home in Montana. Both are rather open in the understory as so little light reaches the earth to span any new growth. However, every little speck of light that does make it to the floor has a bit of new vegetation growing within it.

Soon, I had picked up Bicolored and Chestnut-backed Antbirds. The understory was absolutely thrashing with several species of lizards – anoles, amevias, and iguanas. The song of a White-breasted Wood-wren rings through the thick, verdant forest. I stop at small gravel at the creek and foraging at the water’s edge is a pair of Sulpher-rumped Flycatchers. The forest across the little was raucous with a myriad of calls and chips, and to my ears it was an enjoyable cacophony. It was very difficult to pull out any specific species but what a joy it was to sit back and breathe in this spectacle of avian diversity and volume.

One of my favorite things about Carara was the number of leaf-cutter ants. It seems that every few meters a little trail of these insects crossing the trail. It is amazing to think that they spend their lives harvesting bits of leaves from the forest, dragging them back to the colony, and allowing a fungus to use the leaf fragments. Then, the ants utilize the fungus for food. Simply amazing. I was trying to be as careful as possible not to step on these creatures. What an experiences lay down next the column of ants and watch them as they went about their business.

Further along the trail, I managed to find a Scarlet Macaw pair that appeared to be coming in and out of a nesting cavity. Finding macaws is relatively easy in that they are constantly calling and, believe me, those calls are harsh and loud.

After leaving the national park, I hike along the highway for about a mile and half to the bridge over the Rio Tarcoles with a idea being to catch the bus back to Jaco. The walk was, to say the least, intense – the sun is just about 3 feet from the back of my neck. Crossing the bridge, I glance down at the 20+ crocs that gather under the structure. I arrive at the little restaurante and gift shop on the far side of bridge and I buy a big bottle of water and an Imperial (a common refrain). Enjoying my beverages, I strike up a conversation with an attractive ex-pat from Canada who worked in the gift shop. She mentioned that she could hook me up with the Crocodile Man Tour, and after a few calls, we had strike a deal for the tour and a ride back to Jaco for $20…totally awesome.

Soon a driver arrived and I was off to the mouth of the Rio Tarcoles along the dirt back roads. No matter where you go in the world, the backroads have common feel to them – the potholes, roadside fence and the gentle pace of life.

Arriving at the boat dock, I was able to pick up Mangrove Swallows. The boat left the boat and soon I was picked up a great bird – the Boat-billed Heron. These birds seem like some remanent of ancient times with their prehistoric expression that the bill imparts. I have actually been waiting to see this creature for quite some time and this sighting did not disappoint.

Now about the Crocodile Man, I am definitely not a fan of feeding critters that may start associating humans with food, especially those 14 feet long and have a hundred teeth within their bone-crushing jaws. However, the opportunity to see these crocodiles up close and unfettered was amazing. The Crocodile Man, whose parents named Jason, would hand-fed the crocs with large hunks of fish, and it seemed that he absolutely knew what he was doing. I wonder how he developed that talent? A steeper learning curve, I can not imagine. Below is a collection images from this part of trip.

On a sad side note, the Rio Tarcoles is absolutely filthy with garbage from San Jose on downstream. Even in a country known for its ecological diversity, the human animal has managed to come up with ways to spoil their own environment. Hopefully someday the children of Costa Rica will stop simply throwing their garbage in the streams and thinking that out of sight means out of mind.