Day 5--Saturday, February 15
Santa Elena Reserve
We had scheduled a tour of the The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve (Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena) for this morning, so after breakfast, we met our guide, Dennis, and our driver, Oscar in the lobby at 7:00 am. This was a private tour and turned out to be the best of the trip.
Established in 1992, Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve protects 765 acres of cloud forest land. Originally farmland, most has regrown into cloud forest and trees are still being planted, but there are some fields and open spaces, too. The reserve is a neighbor to our Lodge and the world famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, which we had visited on our second day. Due to its proximity, Santa Elena is often overlooked and rarely visited. The Santa Elena School Board is charged with maintaining the reserve, so entrance fees are split between the reserve and schools. I would like to be on this school board!
The tour began very windy and cold. Since we were on the continental divide between two mountain ranges, windy conditions were especially typical in mornings and evenings. As we listened to the loud wind outside the room last night, we went to bed discussing how the pioneers on the prairie were driven to distraction by the constant sound of the wind sweeping across the prairie. Also, the weather in Santa Elena at a higher 7000-foot elevation can be chilly. On the morning of our tour, it was probably in the low 70s, high 60s and, of course, foggy and damp.
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| Rebecca, me, and guide Dennis |
When first on the trail we saw a Collared Redstart. This colorful little bird popped out several other times on our hike.
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| Collared Redstart (Internet) |
In addition to this trailside friend, Dennis helped us see the following species: Black Guan, Prong-billed Barbet, Streak-breasted Treehunter, Bare-shanked Screech Owl, Spotted Barbtail, Ruddy Treerunner, Red-faced Spinetail, Ochraceous Wren, Slaty-backed Nightingale Thrush, Common Chlorospingus, and Sooty faced Finch.
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Black Guan (Internet)
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Prong-billed Barbet, Streak-breasted Treehunter (Internet)
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Bare-shanked Screech Owl; Spotted Barbtail (Internet)
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Red-faced Spinetail; Ochraceous Wren (Internet)
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Slaty-backed Nightengale Thrush; Lineated Foliage Gleaner (Internet)
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Common Bush Tanager, AKA Common Clorospingus; Sooty-faced Finch (Internet)
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Because Santa Elena sits at higher elevation than we had birded in the Monteverde Cloud Forest, it is attractive to some different bird species than we had already seen. We walked the foggy wet trails and had a chance to climb the tall observation tower at the top of the mountain. We declined because it was high, open stairs and swaying in the wind. Not for the height wiene in either of us. Plus, one would not have had a view out over the forest because it was too foggy. I was glad for this excuse.
Not long after passing the tower we descended to a more open grassy and hedged area set up with Hummingbird feeders. Wow! Hummers were flying in from all directions. Here we saw among others that I cannot now remember, the Violet Sabrewing again and the tiny Magenta-throated Woodstar. Dennis took super slo-mo pix of both the sabrewing and woodstar, but this blog platform does not accommodate them, or, again, I do not know how to embed them.
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Magenta-throated Woodstar (4"); Violet Sabrewing (6") (Internet)
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An American couple named Susan and Jeff rode back to the Lodge with us. Serendipity? My name is Susan and my husband’s name is Jeff. I find it interesting that the drivers wait for us in the parking lots. This means a two- or three-hour wait. They are paid by the touring company I suppose, but we tip them as well as our guides. There is a café connected with each of these venues, so I suppose they drink a cuppa and play on their cells whilst waiting.
After lunch at the Lodge, we spent the afternoon in the town of Santa Elena at Stella’s Bakery and CASEM—Cooperative of Artisans Santa Elena Monteverde—a woman's cooperative that benefited local women.
This turned out to be an excellent afternoon. We called a taxi to take and return us ($5.00 each way) and spent the afternoon browsing CASEM, eating sweets, sipping tea or coffee and observing the birds and monkeys that came to the Stella’s Bakery’s fruit feeder, the first fruit feeder we found in our travels. Costa Ricans are very intent on preserving the natural balance and not using fruit and hummingbird feeders, etc. But, I'll have to admit, this feeder was a treat and an easy and comfortable way to observe some birds.
First, however, we went to CASEM. The building, as you can see in the photo below, had a high metal roofed porch over its entrance. When we approached, we spotted a small orange-and-white kitten high on the roof next to the building. It was meowing and trying to get down. I moved under it and stretched up my arms hoping it would jump on me, and that it did but awkwardly into my arms and thence to the ground. I probably should have turned my back and let it jump to my back, but it got down and seemed unscathed. Probably would have jumped the distance anyway after getting its nerve up. Cats are good about landing on their feet.
We found CASEM more crafty than arty. Some of the wooden bowls were lovely, but a lot of the products were hand-embroidered wall-hangings, purses, napkins, placemats, coasters, glasses cases, key chains, weary tee-shirts, and other touristy trinkets. I found interesting a couple of framed stone people pix, however, and though I would not like to hang any, I thought it would be fun to try to make some animals and people from smooth stones. Just so happens I have baskets of smooth stones picked up in my travels.
Across the street from CASEM and a small park was Stella’s Bakery and a jewelry store. I took a photo of the jewelry store’s sign—very smart looking and made up entirely of gold-colored screws. Thought it might inspire my arty daughter, Lucy. (Click on the pic to see it close up.)
We sat near a table of 20-somethings and beside one guy was a winsome dog who rested its head on the man’s thigh and looked longingly at every bite of food the guy took. For some reason this dog reminded me of the old Buster Brown Shoe slogan: “I'm Buster Brown. I live in a shoe. That's my dog Tige. Look for him there, too.” But, when I checked with the Internet, I found that my memory was faulty (what’s new?) and that Tige was an English bulldog. This dog was more Jack Russell Heinz 57.
Presently we were to see the reason this dog was hanging around when a band of White-faced Capuchins came out of the forest to rob the bananas and fruit on the platform feeder. “Tige” went into overdrive and chased them away, barking loudly. Then he proudly returned to the guy’s thigh. Turns out that he wasn’t the man’s dog but simply taking care of lunch while guarding the fruit feeder.
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| Stella's, just across the street from CASEM |
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| Bakery part of Stella's. Stella's also served lunch. |
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| Entrance to porch where we sat and observed the fruit feeder |
A female capuchin came close to the rail where I was standing. She had a small baby on her back. I missed a photo of her there in the bushes but caught a distant photo of her high in the trees, leaping from one tree to another. Had I the energy to carry my “real” camera rather than just the cell, the photo would have been better, of course.
Just before the monkeys arrived an agouti arrived to steal a piece of fruit that had fallen to the ground. Apparently these animals know where their lunch is. I was also delighted when a red-tailed squirrel came to the feeder. Red-tailed squirrels are medium-sized tree squirrels. The color of their coat varies depending on location. It can range from dark orange to dull yellow sprinkled with black to all black. Their bellies can be white to bright orange-rust. These squirrels have bushy tails which are yellowish brown in color and may have a black tip. During the winter the color of their coat differs slightly from the summer coat. While larger than our Oklahoma Fox Squirrels these red-tails looked quite similar.
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| Agouti (Internet) |
To the fruit feeder came the following birds. Though Rebecca and I each took pix of the motmot, mine was too blurry and Rebecca's did not show the racquet tail, so all of the photos below are from the Internet, the ones at the feeders actually taken at Stella's: Turquoise-browed Motmot, Tennessee Warbler, Ruddy Treerunner, Red legged Honeycreeper (m & f), Baltimore Oriole (m&f), Yellow-crowned Euphonia(m&f), Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Blue-grey Tanager, and Great-tailed Grackle (m & f).
Presently we were to see the reason this dog was hanging around when a band of White-faced Capuchins came out of the forest to rob the bananas and fruit on the platform feeder. “Tige” went into overdrive and chased them away, barking loudly. Then he proudly returned to the guy’s thigh. Turns out that he wasn’t the man’s dog but simply taking care of lunch while guarding the fruit feeder. 
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