We just got back from a wonderful trip to costa Rica. So many people
responded to my inquiries about CR before I left and I thank all for the
info. I decided to break this into 4 short reports that highlite areas and
critters rather than blasting it all in one session. Of course, there is
the always present "oportunities to participate in studies" that I'll
include at the begginning and the end so that noone who's interested will
miss it.
Chronologically, I'll go through our trips to Tortuguero
(northeast Carribean coast), Cloud forests, Cararra, and NW Pacifica coast
and highlands. thanks to George Wooten for keeping all the field notes and
compiling these lists. for those with botanical interests, you can contact
him directly.

Tortuguero is a tremendous area-premier green turtle nesting beaches, and
something in the order of 1% of the total global botanical diversity. It's
a bit hard to get to (no roads-go by boat or plane) but well worth the
effort.We spent the week at the biological research station at Cano Palma.
fortunately, there was a group from the Santa Anna Zoo there, and several
people were very well versed in the area natural history.The station has a
canoe that is an excellent way to view birds et al. It does rain there-we
got 5" in an 8 hr period. So now I know why people don't camp in the
tropics! Other than that day,the weather was mostly beautiful and
delightfully warm.
Critters without feathers: howler monkeys (daily) white faced capuchins,
spider monkeys, a yet to be keyed out opossum. Basilics lizards (lots-both
juveniles and adults) very large iguanas (about 4ft long), poison dart
frogs (the bright red ones) caimans and no snakes. Hundreds of butterlfies
and dragonflies (Sorry Dennis-we actully did collect a few but thought
we'd have trouble smuggling them into the country)

Winged beasts: (The R indicates rare)
R Green Ibis
Amazon Kingfisher
Anhinga
Black Vulture
Collared Aracari
Fasciated Tiger-Heron
Great Green Macaw
Great Kiskadee
Great-tailed Grackle
Keel-billed Toucan
Laughing Falcon
Lineated Woodpecker
Little Blue Heron
Montezuma Oropendola
Northern Jacana
Ringed Kingfisher
Sanderling
Scarlet-rumped Tanager
Yellow-headed Tanager
Semipalmated Plover
Slaty Antwren
Slaty-tailed Trogon
Snowy Egret
Squirrel Cuckoo
Turkey Vulture
Yellow-Crowned night Heron

References

Taylor, Keith, rev. 1993. A Birder's Guide to Costa Rica; an Introduction to
Birdfinding; a Self-Made Tour for the Independent Birder, Keith Taylor
Birdfinding Guides. 238 pp., spiral.

Stiles, F. Gary and Alexander F. Skutch, 1992. A Guide to the Birds of Costa
Rica, illus, Dana Gardner, Cornell Univ. Press. 511 pp., paper.

This is not an inclusive list-but only those that we could identify. all
told we saw over 200 species of birds, including a record day of 156, so
this first week was really just a warm up.
The research station is a wonderful place for people who want to
experience this area. Individuals and groups are welcome, the food is
great.. and you don't have to camp-they do have some rustic accomadations.
a trip into the nearby Tortuguero National Park is mandatory and can be
arranged at the station. I can provide more details for folks who are
actually going-email me.
Our birding efficiency increased dramatically when we went up to
the Monteverde area. This was mostly because one of best birders in the
area, Alex Viellgas, took us under his wing (ouch) for 3 days. I'll give
details on the area and birds tomorrow but I wanted to mention that Alex
is an exceptional contact for anyone visiting the area. He can identify
most birds by sound and has excellent recordings.He has several projects
that involve neotropical migrants that volunteers could participate. If
anyone is heading down that way and wants Alex's # let me know.

Mary Poss
Dept. Micro
UW