The Quest for the Quetzal

(Location: San Gerado del Doto, Costa Rica) We’re not birders. Well, I’m definitely not a birder. Andy says he’s not a birder. In any event, we found ourselves driving halfway up the Pan American highway in search of the Resplendent Quetzal. Neither of us are feeling that great at this point in the trip. Let’s […]

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Birds, birds, birds

(Location: San Vito, Costa Rica) From Pavones, we drove (well, were driven) two hours back to Golfito, and then another very hilly, windy hour to Las Cruces Biological Station. There is one reason to go here: birds. We were only here for one night, and had the whole place to ourselves. We did a two […]

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Lots of hummingbirds and one less camera

(Location: Pavones, Costa Rica) No one had heard of this place. We were pretty close to Panama. There were small planes that seemed to land and take off in the middle of the night. Where the heck were we ?? From the Osa Peninsula, we took a private ferry to the other side of the […]

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The last time I saw my toenail

(Location: Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica) Getting to the Osa Peninsula isn’t easy. It was a very bumpy flight, in a very small plane, from San Jose to Puerto Jiminez. There was a bit of confusion at the airplane landing place (not really an airport, per se) – the lodge had arranged transportation but none of […]

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San Jose Layover

(Location: San Jose, Costa Rica) The last time we were in Costa Rica was in 2004. On that trip, our flight was canceled making for a day of stress and difficult connections to our remote lodge. This time we would do it differently. We planned a “safety day” at the beginning of the trip. No […]

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Birding in Bosque

Location: Socorro, New Mexico Bosque del Apache – unless you’re a birder, you’ve probably never heard of it. I don’t remember how we became aware of this National Wildlife Refuge located an hour and a half south of Albuquerque. The best time of the year to visit is from early November to mid-February, so it […]

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