Day 11 - Tortuguera Day 2

We slept well considering there is no air conditioning.  I just woke once in the night after hearing something hit the roof and then is sounded like scampering across it, so we assume it was probably monkeys or racoons.

Another early start - 5.30am.  We were taken on a boat ride around the area to see the wildlife.  Unfortunately our guide is extremely quietly spoken and was sitting in the middle of the boat and we were towards the back and was he was talking away from us so it was very difficult to hear.  He was also giving the wrong English names for some birds as the Merlin App was picking up the sound and giving what I think was the correct name.  He was good with the larger birds, but all small birds are "Flycatchers" to him.  We did waste about 20 minutes getting tickets to do the tour which was not long after we had left the dock and on the other side of the water.  Why they cant do this online or ahead of the tour I really dont know.  I suppose it is a job for someone but the guide had to go and queue, along with the scores of other guides doing the same to pay for us to go ahead.

About half way through it started raining - not much to begin with but then it got heavy.  I had a waterproof coat but they gave out ponchos.

We saw quite a lot of wildlife including ghekos, bats and birds

 
Heron

 
Toucan


 
Striated Heron (poss)

 
Northern Jacana
 

 
Purple Gallinule

 
Montezuma Oropendola 

 
Montezuma Oropendola
 

 
Dove

 
Iguana



 
Green Iguana

 
Toucan

 
Toucan

 
Toucan


 
Black Collared Hawk 

 
Black Collared Hawk 

 
Aninga

 
Green Basilisk
 

 
Heron

 
Montezuma Oropendola


 
Long Nosed Bats

After breakfast, it stopped raining and the sun came out.  Paul caught up on sleep while I went around the grounds of the lodge.  I saw a few different creatures.

 
Blue-gray Tanager

 
Female  White Collared Manakin

 
Brown Thrush


 
Social Flycatcher


 
Chestnut sided Warbler


 
Moth on flower

 
Yellow Crowned Night Heron

While sitting on the balcony of our room I saw a Slaty Tailed Trogon bird on a branch very close to me.  He waited while I got my camera and took a photo.  Paul then got an excellent video of it eating a red flower.  It is a bit long to upload so he is trying to remove the beginning and end.  A hummingbird also visited and there were some little lizards on the path.

 
Slaty tailed Trogon


 
Strip-throated Hermit

 

 
Tiny lizard on the path 

 Our afternoon excursion was to the local community town of Tortuguera.  This is where most of the hotel staff live.  It is just over the water from our lodge so we were taken by boat.  We first were told about the origin of the town which was founded by Albert Carr who first discovered what was the largest nesting colony of Green Turtles in the Americas.  We then walked across the narrow strip of land to the Caribbean Coast before having free time in the town.  The town is essentially touristic.  There are many souvenir stores, restaurants, bars and other shops to attract the tourists.  It was quite pleasant to walk around, if a little hot.

 

 
One of the unusual litter bins

 
Tortuguera Church

 
Entrance to National Park

 
Turtle shaped Pizza oven

 
Local fast asleep on bench

 
Locals enjoying the park

 
The Caribbean Ocean


While waiting for the boat back we saw some very bright blue birds feeding in a tree and a giant heron.

 
Fasciated Tiger Heron
 
 

 
Yellow Winged Tanager (poss)

 
Yellow Winged Tanager (poss)

The first thing I did was to go for a swim and then we had a cocktail and dinner.  We then took a torch to look for nightime wildlife before having a final drink in the bar.  We only saw a cricket type insect and a caterpiller but heard a lot of sounds in the forest.



It has been very good here and it is a lovely location full of wildlife but it is so commercialised.  There are many lodges and each one is heaving with visitors.  It has been very difficult to find anywhere quite to watch for wildlife.  There is always a lot of noise from ongoing building works or pressure washers cleaning the fronts of the rooms or people on mobile phones face timing friends.  During the excursion times, there are so many boats on the water transporting tourists around.  We leave at 8.30am tomorrow for our journey to Arenal.


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