Manuel Antonio National Park
Wow! Could we ask for more? After six days in Panama and four in Costa Rica, hiking, snorkeling, riding Zodiacs, we thought we had seen it all.
We discovered a very special surprise today at Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the smallest national parks of Costa Rica and considered one of the crown jewels of the national park system for its wild life and beautiful scenery, located in the Central Pacific coast. We spotted three toed sloth, howler monkeys, white face capuchin monkeys, crab-eating raccoons, Central American agouti and black iguanas. What is that?
What is what?
That, right there, on the ground. Don’t you see it?
Where?
Wow! What is that?
Common pauraque (picture) are one of the most well camouflaged birds that you can see in the forest. Their cryptic plumages of brown, buff, gray, and black, mottled, streaked, vermiculated, or barred just blend the bird in with the brown of the ground so well that it’s hard to see it, even if you are a few steps away from it. It is in the same family of the nightjars (or goatsuckers) with 67 species that occur in temperate and tropical regions worldwide except New Zealand and most oceanic islands. They are nocturnal birds that feed on insects and by day rest on shady ground in thicket, light woodland, hedgerow, coffee plantation and second growth. And just to end our perfect journey, we had a display of scarlet macaws nesting at Carara National Park for our afternoon hike.
Wow! Could we ask for more? After six days in Panama and four in Costa Rica, hiking, snorkeling, riding Zodiacs, we thought we had seen it all.
We discovered a very special surprise today at Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the smallest national parks of Costa Rica and considered one of the crown jewels of the national park system for its wild life and beautiful scenery, located in the Central Pacific coast. We spotted three toed sloth, howler monkeys, white face capuchin monkeys, crab-eating raccoons, Central American agouti and black iguanas. What is that?
What is what?
That, right there, on the ground. Don’t you see it?
Where?
Wow! What is that?
Common pauraque (picture) are one of the most well camouflaged birds that you can see in the forest. Their cryptic plumages of brown, buff, gray, and black, mottled, streaked, vermiculated, or barred just blend the bird in with the brown of the ground so well that it’s hard to see it, even if you are a few steps away from it. It is in the same family of the nightjars (or goatsuckers) with 67 species that occur in temperate and tropical regions worldwide except New Zealand and most oceanic islands. They are nocturnal birds that feed on insects and by day rest on shady ground in thicket, light woodland, hedgerow, coffee plantation and second growth. And just to end our perfect journey, we had a display of scarlet macaws nesting at Carara National Park for our afternoon hike.
