Hiking and Birding at Arenal Observatory
March 11, 2022
Nestled within the Arenal Volcano National Park, Arenal Observatory has been known as one of Costa Rica’s best birding hotspots. The 870-acre property contains two life zones: the tropical rainforest of the Caribbean lowlands and the premontane forests of the Caribbean foothills. The diversity of habitats, ranging from primary and secondary forests to agricultural pastures, creates various niches for birds and other animals to inhabit. We started our morning at the famous watermelon “tree” and it did disappoint.
The Grail Bird - Great Curassow
Among birders, a grail bird is an avian pursuit that evades observation and proves to be a biblically difficult task to finally find. Grail birds can be rare, secretive, or just live in wildly inaccessible locations. We have many grail birds but seldom do we add that tick to the old lifelist. That all changed this morning when the checkbox next to Great Curassow was finally marked.
The Great Curassow is a physically large Cracid, a family of turkey-like birds that includes chachalacas, guans, and curassows that ranges from Mexico south to Ecuador. It is a secretive species found in humid tropical forests that feeds mostly on fruits but also eats small invertebrates as well as vertebrates. Arenal Observatory Lodge is one of the most reliable locations to catch a glimpse of the species. Males are black with white underparts, a shaggy crest, and a bright yellow spherical knob on the bill. The crest and yellow knob were the features that captured our attention when we first came across the illustration in Birds of Costa Rica. Females are polymorphic (meaning they can present in a wide array of color combinations), usually either barred, rufous, or blackish. The Great Curassow has varying calls that range from low-frequency booms to high-pitched yips. The species is declining due to habitat loss and overhunting, but it still can be seen stealing across the forest floor or feeding in the upper levels of the tree canopy at Arenal Observatory Lodge.
With a face that says “hello ladies” and a call that Alexander Skutch (the godfather of Costa Rica birding) described as “a long-drawn, far-carrying liquid gurgle, an undulatory sound ascending in pitch. When heard in the distance it is most melodious, but when the performer is nearby his screeching overtones somewhat mar the effect”, the Montezuma Oropendola made its presence known to us. This large and gaudy blackbird nests colonially, often in isolated large trees where they create clusters of large, hanging, basket-like nests. Montezuma Oropendolas are polygynous, and dominant ‘alpha’ males perform most copulations in a colony (meaning they get lucky with many of the ladies).
The Rest of the Avian Gang
White-nosed Coati - Nasua narica
We saw the peculiar-looking white-nosed coati at the Arenal Observatory grounds and they put on quite the show
- They are a member of the raccoon family. They look it, don’t they?
- They spend most of their time on the ground, but they’re excellent tree climbers. Just like a monkey’s tail, a coati’s tail helps it balance.
- The male coati is solitary, but females and their young often live in packs (pic 4).
- They use their noses to sniff out grubs like beetles and termites, and occasionally frogs, lizards, or mice.
Hitting the trails and ascending The Nest
Hiking in Costa Rica typically starts off on a trail constructed with concrete blocks before becoming the gravel and dirt path that we are more familiar with. This trail at the Arenal Observatory courses through secondary forest and leads to “The Nest”, is a 28 meter (92 feet) observation tower that offers unparalleled canopy-level, 360° panoramic view of Arenal Volcano, Arenal Lake, Cerro Chato, and the Tilarán Mountain Range. The tower sways in the gentle breeze, perfect for folks like Vida who enjoy the occasional bout of motion sickness.
From the thick forest a series of loud, piercing upslurred whistles like “kwee…wee…wee…wee…wee” pierce the din of cicadas, and then this incredible Semiplumbeous Hawk (Leucopternis semiplumbeus) perched in full view for a few moments.
Danta Waterfall
“Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it more from his wandering.” – Charles Dickens
We hiked to a lot of beautiful tropical waterfalls and it seems like you’re never more than a stone’s throw from a waterfall in Costa Rica, and we hiked down to this beautiful cascade at Arenal Observatory Lodge.
Botanizing the Observatory
A few butterflies and a dragonfly
