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Re: CBC Costa Rica Trip



At 2:54 PM -0500 12/19/02, SIMON THOMPSON wrote:
C-birders
By now some of you will have heard that the Carolina Bird Club's recent trip
to Costa Rica went very well. The weather was almost perfect, despite the
torrential rain the last evening. The river rose about 15 feet during
breakfast and we were almost marooned at the hotel. Thankfully a combination
of a great driver and receding water gave us a chance to escape and head
towards San Jose.
So how were the birds? I could list them all, but that would take forever as
we saw around 400 species. I will get a complete list to the CBC website for
those that really want to know all of the gory details. Here are the
highlights:
Great Tinamou, both Boat-billed and Bare-throated Tiger-Herons, White Hawk,
Laughing Falcon, Crested and Black Guans, Black-breasted Wood-Quail (yes!),
Sunbittern, Olive-backed and Chiriqui Quail-Doves, GREAT GREEN MACAW (bird
of the trip?), Pacific Screech-Owl, a pair of Black-and-white Owls,
Short-tailed Nighthawk, 30 hummingbirds, Turquoise-browed Motmot,
White-whiskered Puffbird, 5 toucans, inc. Fiery-billed Aracari, Cinnamon
Woodpecker, 9 woodcreepers (!!!), Plain Xenops, Spectacled Antpitta,
Black-faced Antthrush, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Orange-collared and
White-ruffed Manakins, 51 flycatchers (arg!), Long-tailed and
Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatchers, 10 wrens, 29 warblers, inc.
Flame-throated and a "lost" Yellow-rumped, 30+ tanagers, inc.
Black-and-yellow, Spangle-cheeked and Silver-throated..........and many,
many more.
For those who are fans of creatures with more than 2 legs, the Brown and
Emerald Basilisks were incredible, both 3-toed and 2-toed sloths,
magnificent Blue Morphos and Owl Butterflies, an Olingo
("honey-possum")walking down the wire to drink from the hummer feeders,
Spider and Howler Monkeys, several Poison-Arrow Frogs and a magnificent
Orange-kneed Tarantula!  Again I could go on.
Check out the CBC website after Christmas and the full report may be there
by then....we hope!

Onto other trips happening soon: There are 2 short Ventures on the calendar
for January 2003.
January 10-13    Chattanooga, TN    Aquarium, Sandhill Cranes and more
January 23-26    Charleston, SC    Winter Birding inc. swamp, forest and
shore
For more information contact the Ventures office or check the website.
See you in Washington, NC this January.
Simon

Simon Thompson
Ventures Birding and Nature Tours
PO Box 1095
Skyland, NC 28776
Phone: 828.253.4247
Travel@birdventures.com
www.birdventures.com


--

Patrick Coin
Durham, NC
patrick@coinconsult.net