Los Cusingos

The office where we bought our tickets from a very nice young girl who spoke some English.

Set in the countryside about 15 minutes from our rental, is Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary or Refugio de Aves Los Cusingos. This 192 acre (78 hectares) reserve once served as the home and outdoor laboratory to the late Dr. Alexander Skutch. In addition to Skutch’s simple home, the property contains a significant parcel of land for conservation and has a network of well-maintained trails that run through the adjacent tropical forest.

Skutch moved to Costa Rica in 1941 and purchased the property that now makes up the reserve. The name Los Cusingos came from the Spanish name for the Fiery-billed Aracari, a relative of the toucan, which frequented the property. Dr. Skutch spent 60 years studying the birds of Costa Rica and wrote 40 books and many scientific papers. 

Today Los Cusingos is managed by the Tropical Science Center which purchased the property after Skutch’s death.

When we researched that park, we were lead to believe that the trails are easy and suitable for everyone young and old which made me think that it might be a good place for me to be able to enjoy nature. WRONG! Right from the beginning, the trail goes down a fairly steep hill which I knew I would have to climb back up. When we got to Dr. Skutch's house, it was under renovation so it was closed to the public - apparently, it is now a museum dedicated to his work. There are many flowering bushes in the garden which attract butterflies. We then went down to the river (Penas Blancas river) which is quite spectacular with its many small rapids. We did catch a glimpse of a beautiful Blue Morpho butterfly in flight. When the sun would hit its wings they would glow like a neon sign. Magical! 

 

I carry my oxygen concentrator in this mesh backpack.

Do not enter the river. In other words - no swimming.

I've got my oxygen on a high level but Glen had to carry me up some of the hills.
Thank God he's strong!

We then started back towards the house and I just couldn't keep climbing. Glen slung me over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes and carried me up the hill. We sat on a bench for a while in the garden and I started seeing a lot of beauty around me while Glen kept exploring around the area.

These beautiful trumpet flowers were in a large tree.

Not fun anymore. I'm trying to catch my breath so I can continue up the hill.
It doesn't have to be steep to bring me to my knees. 

We discovered that this black bird had a blue cap only after seeing the picture.
Blue-crowned Manakin

Very nice trails.

This one had just grabbed a small fruit.
Yellow-throated Euphonia

Summer Tanager - we see those frequently enough at our place.

A work of art!

We decided that I could not continue onto the other trail that goes further in the forest. I was already feeling weak and tired. Dammit! I hate myself when that happens. It's not my fault but it's so discouraging! I used to be so active!  Let it go, Jocelyne. Nothing you can do about it...

So after many stops along the way, we made it back up to the office. I sat on the porch and let Glen explore further. The young girl from the office was so nice. She sat with me to keep me company and answered my questions about the park. She then showed me a flowering bush right beside where we were sitting that apparently has a Green Honeycreeper's nest in it. So we got closer and there was the bird! I had never seen one. They are called green but they are more of turquoise with reflective plumage. It so happened that a hummingbird was also attracted to the flowers so it was interesting to watch the Honeycreepers trying to shoo the hummingbird away. After all, he did have a nest in that tree!

Those were the flowers on that bush that were so coveted by both species.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

She then called me a short distance down the road and showed me a woodpecker. It looked like the Lineated Woodpecker which we had seen at home a few days after our arrival but when I looked at the picture closely I realized that it was a Pale-billed Woodpecker which is uncommon. So that was exciting!

We were then standing around with a family that had just come into the park when a bunch of parrots (apparently they were Red-fronted parrots) all took off squawking loudly from a nearby tree. We soon saw what was causing the commotion. A Roadside Hawk flew just over our heads carrying one those parrot in his talons. The poor thing wasn't dead and I thought how frightened it must be. The hawk disappeared in the forest. The circle of life. Hard to see sometimes or to accept but that's how it has to be. Thankfully, Glen had come back from his trek and witnessed the whole thing. It's probably the only time we'll see something like that.

I was very disappointed with myself when we came back home as I realized that my walking the trails days were over. But our visit to the park wasn't a total bust. We did see some interesting birds and some beautiful flowers and plants. We don't have time to go back but I would have like to go one more time in the afternoon when the White-faced monkeys can be seen in the trees across the road from the office. We'll have to see monkeys somewhere else.

We're now in full packing mode. We are moving to Atenas in 2 days! I hope that the move will bring more adventure. Just exploring the town and the nearby beach and Costa Rica's capital San Jose will keep us entertained.

More birds, plants and life in Costa Rica

We can't believe the variety of birds we are seeing here right from our balcony! You just look up and you see a bird in the distance and once you zoom in with your camera you discover that it's a species you haven't yet seen. I love it!

Great Kiskadee  - they are everywhere!

The cute swallows (called Blue & White Swallow here)

Every morning I watch the swallows fly gracefully while catching bugs.

The first time we saw Toucans we were so excited! Right there from our house!

But each new bird we see brings joy. And if I can identify them it's even better!

Lots of Kiskadees! 

Blue-gray Tanager 

This is the national bird of Costa Rica

A beautiful Lineated Woodpecker

Too cute not to post!

Unidentified

Our neighbour invited us to go through his property to get to the river. It's a nice walk down and there are many different trees and bushes down there. We even cross through a small coffee plantation! Once there I normally sit on a makeshift bamboo bench and just watch the river flow and listen to its song. Water always brings me peace.

This is our neighbour's driveway. The trail to the river starts from there.

Rio General

We have no idea what this fruit is. Fairly large.

Plant a coconut and get a tree! Everything grows in Costa Rica!
The leaves are ridged until they get bigger and split apart.

These could be oranges or lemons or even limes. They all look alike.

This beautiful flower grows on a vine. 

Flowers from the coffee bush. They later become the coffee beans.

This flower feels rubbery. Weird.

Unfortunately, the walk back is less pleasant for me as we now have to climb a few fairly steep hills which leave me breathless and tired even while using supplemental oxygen. Glen has had to carry me piggyback a few times!

One of the neighbours throws food over the fence (on our side) and I don't know what they throw but the birds love it. On one of those feeding, we saw our first Motmot. Wow! It's not a good picture but I hope you can see the long tail with the lone feather at the end.

Sometimes when you're looking for birds, any movement or colour in a tree is worth grabbing the camera and zooming in to see what it is. What a surprise to see an Iguana way up high in a tree!

We also see some pretty interesting things on the road in front of the house. This is a noisy, busy road (that's why we're moving soon) and there is no shoulder.

Yet, this guy has been seen twice leading his horse while he rides his motorcycle. That's what I call a bombproof horse!

The mail in Costa Rica is hit and miss. Just to mail a letter you have to go to the post office and wait forever in line. There are no mailboxes anywhere nor can you buy stamps at a store. And have you seen the addresses here? It's always in reference to something of importance like a store (200 m. west of ....) then the city, the region, the province and then the country. The mailman is a guy on a motorcycle with a lockable box behind his seat. Since many houses are not accessible from the road, he honks a few times and if nobody comes he leaves. You might never get that letter!

The mailman

People work very hard here. Everything is done by hand. Right now they are harvesting the sugar canes. A portion of the field is burned (we were once told it was to get rid of the snakes) then the canes are all cut by hand with machetes. Everything is loaded on trailers that are then hooked up to a tractor or a truck two at a time.

The piece of land behind our place is being prepared for the construction of another house like the one we live in. It was a rough terrain with rocks, etc. and that was leveled by 2 guys with shovels and a wheelbarrow. They did a splendid job!

This is now a level field free of all debris.

The vegetation along the road is also cut by hand with a machete. The guys work early in the morning because it just gets too hot in the afternoon.

We sometimes wake up to the crow of the rooster and the chop chop sounds of the machete along with the sound of traffic.

Our resident rooster. Isn't he gorgeous?

The neighbour's dog comes often for a visit and will sometimes spend the whole afternoon with us. Her name is Maddie and she seems to like our company. We keep our door open most of the time for air circulation. There are no mosquitoes so far and very few flies. We did get a HUGE grasshopper once in the bathroom. It was at least 3 inches long if not bigger.

Glen with his adopted dog.

When we move, we will miss the views we get from our balcony. The mountains are always beautiful, even at night when they get all dotted with tiny lights from the homes. We've had some pretty sunsets and in the mornings the clouds sit on and around the mountains like white ribbons.

These are the sugar canes across the street.

A few other visitors.

These lizzards make a kissing sound at night. 

Sorry for the very long blog with so many pictures, but there is so much that we find interesting and we want to share with you hoping you'll find it worth seeing also.

Buenas noches!