Tram Lodge

19th-21st February 2018 - Tram Lodge Area

Located in an extensive area of mountains in the Braulio Carrillo National Park, this lodge enabled us to see many birds of the Caribbean slope.



19th Feb - We arrived at Tram Lodge late afternoon but just in time to see a few Bullet Ants just outside the restaurant! Not to be messed with!! We just had time to fit in a night walk with local guide Dennis where we saw a variety of frogs and a snake. We were also surprised to see a Swainson's Thrush roosting low over our heads in the lodge courtyard.

Not often you see warnings for Ants!

The warnings are well founded as these are BIG ants the bite of which is incredibly painful.

A size comparison - Bullet Ant Vs Pen

Collared Peccary, Pecari tajuca 

The night walk took place along made up paths, which is just as well given the possible presence of poisonous snakes!  Some photos taken on our night walk :-

Red-eyed Tree Frog     Agalychnis callidryas

Masked Treefrog      Smilisca phaeota

Brilliant Forest Frog / Warszewitsch's Frog      Lithobates warszewitschii

Crowned Frog    Anotheca spinosa

Colombian Longtail Snake / White-headed Snake     Enuliophis sclateri

Talamanca Rain Frog / Cat Frog       Craugaster talamancae

                                                                                   

20th Feb - Early morning birding along the roads where the star turn was a pair of Central American Tapir at very close range.

Central American Tapir  - Apparently Tram Lodge is the most reliable place to see Tapiers in Costa Rica.
We were fortunate to have a pair walk past us at extremely close range.  They were not bothered by our presence.

The Tapiers were rather tame and took no notice of us!

Ocellated Antbird - We were lucky to get excellent views of this elusive species.
The following photos were taken early morning in extremely poor light.
  Occurs from Honduras south to Colombia and western Ecuador.

Spotted Antbird  - Three individuals were present early morning in poor light.
Present through Central America to NW South America.

Bi-coloured Antbird   -  Also photographed in poor light.  Three individuals present.
The range mirrors the Spotted Antbird quite closely.

Eye-lash Pit Viper  - This extremely poisonous snake had taken up residence by an artificial pooling the lodge centre.

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth   -     Bradypus variegatus

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth    -    Bradypus variegatus
A diurnal species.

Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth    -   Choloepus hoffmanni 
A nocturnal species.

                                                                                             

After breakfast the morning was spent on a tram ride up the mountain. This gave fantastic views of the surrounding area and the forest below. A few of us were fortunate to see a male Snowcap during the tram ride, one of our target hummers. Poor Dave was frustrated to be sat at the back of the tram and unable to see it!

The lower Tram station

The tram was big enough for 5+ people.

Dave enjoying the ride.

Great views from the tram.

                                                                                                     

Later in the day we were taken to Cope's house where there was a very busy hide overlooking a pool with several feeders. So plenty of birds at close range and good photographic opportunities.  There were also some good birds nearby which had been staked out and we were taken by Cope's daughter to see a pair of Crested Owls and some incredibly small white bats.  Unfortunately we missed a Potoo at another stake out.

Long-billed Hermit    - We saw this species in three different areas.

Black-throated Trogon  - A widespread species of lowland forests which is found in Central and several large areas of South America.

Rufous-winged Woodpecker  - Found in the humid forests of Central America  along the northern parts of these countries.

Passerini'sTanager  - Only found in the northern half of Costa Rica, plus other Central American countries.  

Pale-vented Pigeon - A widespread species in much of Costa Rica and South America.   

Green Honeycreeper - We saw this species on about half of our days in Costa Rica.
A widespread species in much of Central America and the northern half of South America.    

Red-Tailed Skimmer        Orthemis schmidti

Grey-cowled Wood-Rail -  Costa Rica is at the northern most part of this species range.
It is widespread in the northern part of South America down to Argentina.  

Great Kiskadee - A very common and widespread species which we saw on a daily basis.

White-necked Jacobin -   In Costa Rica mainly found on the Caribbean slope which is where we were!  

Chestnut-headed Oropendula - We just saw three of this species from the hide.

Smooth Helmeted Iguana / Helmeted Basilisk   -   Corytophanes cristatus 

Heliconius erato ?

Crested Owl  - A pair in their daytime roost.
It is widespread from Mexico south to N Bolivia and central Brazil

Honduran White Bat      Ectophylla alba      - Incredibly small!!

Collared Aracari  -  We only saw this species in this area.
The species ranges from Mexico south through northern Venezuela and western Ecuador.   

                                                                                                                               

On arriving back at Tram Lodge we had another night walk.

Limon Robber Frog / Horn-nosed Robber Frog  -    Pristimantis cerasinus 

Unidentified Frog Species

                                                                                      

21st Feb - Early morning birding along the roads again gave excellent views of some "Ant" species. A walk around part of the Braulio Carrillo National Park was a bit of a wash out with steady rain the whole time. We decided to revisit the "Black-crested Hummingbird" property again before checking out of Tram Lodge and heading for the Aeroporto Hotel.

Sunbittern - Seen on the exit from Tram Lodge.

Black-crested Coquette -   Our only sighting of this tiny hummer.
The species is found from southeastern Mexico to eastern Costa Rica, mainly on the Atlantic slope.

Snowcap - A male showing just how it got it's name!  One of our most sort after target species.
Found in Atlantic slope evergreen forests from southern Honduras to central Panama.

Snowcap - A female.

Mexican Anteater  -  A brief view and our only sighting    

Spider Sp   

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