I never really thought about this, but baby monkeys when they are born are NOT ready to swing through the forest canopy. This morning at sunrise I drove over to Zapotal Beach Road from Las Catalinas, Costa Rica. The moneys also like the cooler mornings, and I suddenly realized a baby monkey was hanging on for dear life as its mother navigated the forest canopy.

Howler Monkey & Child

The Movie (video link for email subscribers)

And two more Howler Monkey photographs. There were about 20 above me, and they did not care about my presence at all.

Zapotal came through again this morning … the Savannah habitat. The raptors find this area great for hunting. Today’s find was a Crested Caracara (see yesterday’s post with instructions for birding this area if you are visiting Las Catalinas). I watched “the Mexican Eagle” for over 15 minutes, and then came back later and found the Crested Caracara once again.

Zapotal Crested Caracara

And from a few days ago … the Great Black Hawk (apparently rather uncommon … the double white stripe proves this is not the Common Black Hawk).

And now movie time … a video I took of the Gray Hawk seen earlier this week and today’s Crested Caracara (video links for email subscribers: Gray Hawk | Crested Caracara)

And just to compare the Common to the Great Black Hawk, here is a photograph of the Common Black Hawk which lives and hunts mainly crabs near the ocean, and which I saw over at Playa Potrero at the beginning of this week.

I think there needs to be some better naming conventions for these Costa Rican raptors … Black Hawk … Gray Hawk … Roadside Hawk (links are to posts with these birds). The names of these hawks are exactly original … but they all were seen at the Zapotal Savannah.

This spring is the 3rd time I have visited Las Catalinas (Guanacaste, Costa Rica), and this naturalist from the Northwoods is starting to get a bit comfortable with the Dry Forest habitat of Las Catalinas. While the nearby area is not as exotic as Costa Rica’s Rain Forest birding, there are some cool feathered friends if you know where to bird. In a dry forest, find the food and water opportunities and you will find the birds. Today’s top sight was the Pale-Billed Woodpecker’s nest cavity (found a few days ago). I wish I would be down here in Costa Rica when their young hatch. (see the very end of this post to learn how you may download a full PDF copy of my Birds of Las Catalinas book)

To reach the Zaptal area you will need a 4WD vehicle. The road up and over “the hump” is extremely steep, but very drivable with 4 wheel drive. Upon getting down to the new golf course, turn left at the “T Junction”. Once you drive past the entrance to the golf course construction site (only a few hundred yards from the T Junction), traffic drops to nill. My favorite birding area starts at the road to Playa Zapotal. The start of the beach road is a great place to park a car.  The round trip walk to the beach is 1.4 miles with zero elevation change. I often drive my car to the stream crossing and walk from that spot (do not drive further). The walk to the beach is then even shorter … about 8/10 of a mile round trip. (Google Maps Link / GPS Coordinates for Stream Crossing)(Google Maps Link for Playa Zapotal but WALK from the stream crossing … only a few hundreds yards)

I actually saw this Streak-Backed Oriole while driving the Hump Road to Zapotal.

All along this beach road you will see birds and wildlife including lots of Howler Monkeys. Just before you reach the stream crossing, the road has one nasty stretch of about 15 yards. If you drive slowly (1 mph) with 4WD locked and stay to the far left I have never had issues … even with a small 4WD Mitsubishi rental car (hatchback, not SUV). My trips have always been in March and April (dry season). I assume in the rainy season the bugs and conditions are extremely different)

Both this Turquoise-Browed MotMot and many Black Trogons gave me great views between the start of the Playa Zapotal Beach Road and the Stream Crossing.

My normal Zapotal Birding Outing is to hike to the beach and back a few minutes after sunrise. After my birding hike, I use the car as an ATV and slowly drive the same road with a window down and the AC blasting. I also drive the road for the couple of hundred yards leading to the left (reach a locked gate) when I get back to the start of the beach road.

The beach changes every day based upon the tide schedule, the height of the tides, and the pools. Normally you will find some herons foraging along the beach or at the tidal pool which is also fed by the stream / river. Here is a Little Blue Heron that was fishing in the surf.

The birding habitat is fantastic … a dry stream (filled in the rainy season), dry forest, savannah, and finally beach plus some tidal pools … all within a stretch of about 1/2 mile. Finally the new golf course means some ponds and more water. Normally I hate golf courses because they become birding deserts, but in this instance the golf course has brought more water into the birding habitat. In six visits over to Zapotal this trip, where I tend to bird from 6:00 to 9:30 am, I have never seen another person on the beach, and I might see one other car on the main road over the 3.5 bird outing. Along the beach road, most mornings I will meet up with a couple mountain bikers, an occasionally a car or motorcycle (a few more on weekends). Be prepared to move your own car. The road is narrow, but there is plenty of room to park a car at the stream crossing.

Even the Common Ground Doves which you will see along the road are quite pretty … particularly in flight.

In closing out this blog post, here are two more Pale-Billed Woodpecker images. I have grown to love this bird, and thankfully it loves the savannah habitat over near Zapotal. It reminds me of a smaller version of the Lord God Bird, the likely extinct Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.

And the promised information about my Birds of Las Catalinas Book. You may get your free PDF copy via this page on my website. I wrote the current version two years ago, bug expect I will update this book in the months ahead (and link / update this post). I expect to make additions to most sections of the book, and add a new section for Hacienda El Roble.