this wonderful winter weather is keeping me on the west side of the
mountains this weekend. Did we get this much snow in Seattle the last time
the snowy owls visited us? Anyway, the weather is probably making lots of
people think about going to Costa Rica, so I thought i'd post our
sightings from the Cararra reserve. This is a small reserve on the Pacific
coast. It is the southern limit of northern migrants and the northern
limit of southern migrants, making for splendid, high intensity birding.
Scarlet macaws are common here. Non-avians are also well represented-some
of the largests crocs I've seen are in the river (Rio Tarcoles) and there
are a wealth of lizards and iguanas. we saw howler monkeys, white-faced
capuchins, agoutis, peccaries, coatis as well. so coupled with the 156
species of birds, it was quite a day.I've edited the whole list to include
those birds that we only saw in cararra. Again, george has this all neatly
in a Paradox database, if anyone really wants the whole list let me know
and I will forward it to you.It has all the birds cross-referenced
by locality. In this list g=Guacinal, birds sighted on
the drive from Monterverde to Cararra(c). Rare birds (R) for this area are
listed first.

R Anhinga
R Beryl-crowned Hummingbird
R Least Sandpiper
R Long-tailed Manakin
R Tawny-crowned Greenlet
R Turquoise-browed Motmot
R Yellow Tyranulet

Plate.
No. Bird Locality Seen
-----------------------------------------------------------------
03.08A Laughing Gull C
03.11A Black Skimmer C
04.01A Brown Pelican C
04.06A Wood Stork C
04.07A Roseate Spoonbill C
04.08A White Ibis C
05.02A Boat-billed Heron C
05.03A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron C
05.04A Black-crowned Night-Heron C
05.06A Great Blue Heron G2C
05.08A Tricolored Heron C
05.10A Snowy Egret G2C
05.13A Cattle Egret G2C
05.14A Great Egret G2C
05.16A Bare-throated Tiger-Heron C
05.17A Rufescent Tiger-Heron C
06.01A Green-backed (Striated) Heron C
06.02A Green-backed (Green) Heron C
07.04A Least Grebe C
08.07A Black-bellied Whistling-Duck C
08.09A Fulvous Whistling-Duck C
09.01A Black-bellied Plover C
09.12A Black-necked Stilt G2C
09.14A Whimbrel C
11.02A Greater Yellowlegs C
11.08A Spotted Sandpiper G2C
11.12A Western Sandpiper C
11.14A Least Sandpiper C
12.06A Great Tinamou C
12.14A Crested Bobwhite G2
14.01A Short-tailed Hawk G2
14.12A Crested Caracara G2C
15.08A Laughing Falcon TC
15.09A Yellow-headed Caracara C
15.13A American Kestrel G1G2
16.01A Double-toothed Kite C
16.12A Roadside Hawk C
16.14A Gray Hawk G2C
17.14A Osprey G2C
18.02A Red-billed Pigeon G2C
18.06A Blue Ground-Dove C
18.07A Ruddy Ground-Dove G2C
18.08A Common Ground-Dove G2C
18.11A Inca Dove G2C
18.12A White-winged Dove G2C
18.13A Mourning Dove C
18.14A White-tipped Dove G2C
18.15A Gray-fronted Dove G1
18.16A Gray-chested Dove C
19.01A Scarlet Macaw G2C
19.03A Mealy Parrot G2C
19.04A Red-lored Parrot G1G2C
19.05A Yellow-naped Parrot G2C
19.06A White-fronted Parrot G2M
19.07A White-crowned Parrot C
19.09A Brown-hooded Parrot C
19.10A Crimson-fronted Parakeet C
19.13A Orange-fronted Parakeet G2S
19.14A Orange-chinned Parakeet G2C
19.14B Brown-shouldered (O.-chinned) Parakeet G2
20.17A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl G2C
21.09A Groove-billed Ani MG2C
21.12A Lesser Nighthawk C
21.18A Common Pauraque G2
22.11A Band-rumped Swift C
22.12A Barn Swallow G2C
22.15A Gray-breasted Martin C
22.18A Northern Rough-winged Swallow G2AC
22.19A Southern Rough-winged Swallow G2
22.23A Mangrove Swallow G2C
23.01A Little Hermit C
23.02A Long-tailed Hermit C
23.10A Scaly-breasted Hummingbird C
23.13A Green-breasted Mango G2C
23.14A Purple-crowned Fairy C
24.09A Blue-throated Goldentail C
24.18A Beryl-crowned Hummingbird C
26.10A Black-headed Trogon G1C
26.12A Rufous-tailed Jacamar C
27.05A Green Kingfisher G2C
27.06A American Pygmy Kingfisher C
27.11A Turquoise-browed Motmot G2C
27.13A Lineated Woodpecker TC
27.14A Pale-billed Woodpecker C
27.15A Collared Aracari T
27.16A Fiery-billed Aracari C
27.19A Chestnut-mandibled Toucan C
28.17A Red-crowned Woodpecker C
28.18A Golden-naped Woodpecker C
29.03A Plain Xenops C
29.06A Wedge-billed Woodcreeper C
29.17A Buff-throated Woodcreeper C
30.15A Black-faced Antthrush C
31.03A Barred Antshrike G2C
31.05A Slaty Antshrike C
31.08A Dusky Antbird C
31.11A Chestnut-backed Antbird C
32.01A Dotted-winged Antwren C
32.04A Tawny-crowned Greenlet C
32.09A Slaty Spinetail C
32.15A Long-billed Gnatwren C
33.04A Long-tailed Manakin G2C
33.12A Rose-throated Becard G2C
33.13A White-winged Becard C
34.01A Masked Tityra C
34.10A Rufous Piha C
35.01A Tropical Kingbird G2C
35.05A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher G2
35.17A Great Crested Flycatcher G2CR
35.21A Dusky-capped Flycatcher MC
35.23A Royal Flycatcher C
36.08A Eastern Wood-Pewee C
36.09A Tropical Pewee G2
36.14A Alder Flycatcher C
36.20A Yellow-bellied Flycatcher C
36.25A Ochre-bellied Flycatcher C
37.06A Northern Bentbill C
37.07A Common Tody-Flycatcher G2C
37.11A Yellow Tyrannulet C
37.16A Yellow-olive Flycatcher G2C
37.20A Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet C
37.26A Yellow-bellied Elaenia C
38.02A Rufous-naped Wren G1G2C
38.08A Rufous-breasted Wren C
38.11A Black-bellied Wren C
39.04A Wood Thrush C
39.08A Clay-colored Robin C
39.18A White-throated Magpie-Jay G2C
40.07A Lesser Greenlet G2C
40.15A Philadelphia Vireo G2
40.16A Rufous-capped Warbler G2
41.02A Tropical Gnatcatcher C
41.05A Golden-winged Warbler C
42.01A Prothonotary Warbler C
42.02A Yellow Warbler G2C
42.13A Gray-crowned Yellowthroat G2C
43.04A Chestnut-sided Warbler G2C
43.14A Northern Waterthrush C
44.09A Chestnut-headed Oropendola G2
45.01A Yellow-crowned Euphonia C
45.04A Scrub Euphonia C
45.05A Yellow-throated Euphonia C
45.17A Gray-headed Tanager C
45.19A Palm Tanager C
46.15A Blue-gray Tanager G2C
46.18A White-shouldered Tanager C
48.17A Orange-billed Sparrow C
49.02A White-collared Seedeater G2C
49.03A Variable Seedeater G2C
49.07A Blue-black Grassquit C
50.07A Stripe-headed Sparrow C

Needless to say, this was the most outstanding day of birding I've ever
had.the euphonias were highlites for me-beautiful birds. Alex was very
excited over the jacamar and the pygmy kingfisher. We had one very
suspensful moment watching a least grebe swin upstream in the path of a
downstream crocodile. We all anticipated that a large set of jaws would
open and engulf the little fellow... but he swam within 2 ft of the croc
with no ill effects. It was probably equally entertaining watching 4
biologists watching nature take its course.
Hope everyone has a good Christmas bird count tomorrow. Skiing is
the preferred mode of travel.