Birdwatching El Mono Road : Birdwatching Drake Bay

Birdwatching Drake Bay: On the third of July I reserved 2 clients for a birding/photography tour with the idea of viewing and photographing as many birds as possible in 3 hours. My clients Josh and Jack from the UK had just arrived the previous day to Drake Bay so my tour was the first activity they would participate in during the days they stayed here.

At 4:35 as I am getting ready to meet with the clients in downtown Drake Bay, on my drive to the village that morning we were greeted with a heavy downpour that was falling all night long. It didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Luckily as I am getting close to town the rain starts fading in some moments, but is was most definitely still there. By the time I met Josh and Jack the rain stopped at precisely the perfect moment. That is the key to birding! Patience 🙂

We started our birdwatching adventure right at the beach at the crack of dawn 5 a.m. I begin the tours sometimes by the little river mouth near Jinetes de Osa, a good point to see Green Kingfisher, Charming Hummingbird, Blue-throated Goldentail and Golden-naped Woodpecker, all within a close radius to the bridge. As we walk up the mono road, (this road is a very famous point known by local guides that until recently did not have good conditions for transit of vehicles). The road goes from the beach to half way up the main road that takes you to Los Planes town. The terrain leads up in the slopes, so you can make your way back to the town. This trail brings you by gardens, secondary areas, forest transition points, amazing views and the rural roads of the bay, the best to collect a very extensive bird list.

I remember Josh asked me for some species he wanted to see and photograph. One of these was the Yellow-throated Toucan. They are found here, especially in open areas where it is a bit easier to see them. That morning we were standing beside some Cecropia trees listening to bird acoustic around us when not only 1 but 6 Toucans landed. They posed and snacked from the tree right in our faces! What a moment to be there with the right equipment and light. We all were hyped and didn’t expect such a spotting that good in the first 30 minutes into our tour. After that we also saw Yellow-billed Cacique, Costa Rican Swift, White-crested Coquette, Bairds Trogon, Riverside Wren, Black-hooded Anthsrike, White-necked Jacobin, Golden-naped Woodpecker and Rufous-tailed Jacamar just to name some. Looking for all the details and in between all the good birds we had seen and photographed already, they asked how much was the chance for us to find the Fiery-billed Aracary, a must see for any birder here in Osa! We had heard them before from far but luckily just before we got to the main road to Los Planes, we found four. One literally flew face level like 2 meters in front of us, then perched some minutes. Just enough so they could picture the bird in the best conditions like a scheduled photo shoot.

We started our way back to the village walking by the road, we had great views from the Laughing Falcon, Bay -headed Tanager, Blue Dacnis and the Squirrel Cucko all eye level aside the road, be careful all time with motorbikes nad cars going by the narrow drive ways. Just before we arrived to the town  there was a big thermal current with several Turkey and Black Vultures, Zone-tailed Hawk, and as we spoke about the impressive bird, flying very low like it kind of heard us talking about its unique beauty, the King Vulture made its appearing to close up our tour with amazing views while circuling around trying to catch the current too.We continue our way to the village among blue skyes and amazing landscapes .
That morning after a very rainy nigth, we found 82 species of birds, 9 of them regional endemics, amazing conditions for photography  good weather, food abundace( fruits and insects) , no doubt a day like no other birdwatching in Drake Bay, the best day I have being out so far in this year 2019, thank you so much Josh and Jack for booking the tour, it was a terrific birding day!!!