Costa Rica Trip IV and NYPhil.

2-3-19 SHORT HILLS: We were in the city for a NY Phil concert last night. They opened with Mozart’s Symphony No. 1, composed when he was 8 years old, and closed with the Jupiter, Symphony No. 41 his last. In between Emanuel Ax played Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D major, and after halftime, Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. We had dinner with Sarah and Jon at Bar Boulud before the concert.

Back to Costa Rica—Day IV…

1-25-19 MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA: We had an early bus ride to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve at the top of the mountains. We were led by our guide, Tony, on a walk across many hanging bridges that spanned deep gorges. The tour had a lot of up and down and crisscrossed the continental divide. There was dense forest growth, some of it primary forest. It was cool, misty and foggy with occasional drizzle. There was a huge diversity of plant species, and even bigger diversity of epiphytic growth on the trees.

Hanging bridge through the forest canopy.

Tree covered with a epiphytes.

Tony demonstrating a flower stalk. The flowers open sequentially from the top downward. The long flowers, open in the middle of the stalk,  are evolved to be pollinated by hummingbirds.

The clouds dipped in and out of the forest.

Trees with plant friends, or enemies, from a bridge.

Canopy from a bridge with clouds settling in.

A bridge from lower in the gorge.

We saw the Resplendent Quetzal, a dramatic bird, two males, blue-green with long tails, in flight and a female eating in an avocado tree. It is harder to spot the fauna here because of the density of the flora. Tony showed us an orange-kneed tarantula.

The female Quetzal in an avocado tree. Those grape-sized fruits are the avocados. Avocados come in a variety of formats. The large ones from the supermarket grow on a bush.

Tarantula with orange knees on the doorstep of its house.

At 11 AM we were back on the bus to town.

After lunch at the hotel we saw other birds and a bunch of coati.

Rufous-collared sparrow pokes around in the grass.

Social flycatcher darts in and out of the trees eating insects. Eat away, bird.

Coatis, about a dozen, crossed the hotel grounds, going from one side of the forest to the other.
They have stripped tails like raccoons. We also saw them on the road begging for food.

We did a night walk at SantaMaria's Night Walk with guide Roy, a different Roy. They are located in Monteverde between a couple of farms on a few acres of forest. We walked around the trails with flashlights starting just after sunset. He showed us katydids, spiders, lizards, three green vipers, four armadillos, one skunk, one sloth and an immature broad winged hawk. The pix were disappointing, not because of the dark, but because the flashlights were too bright.

Lizard at night.

Green palm viper, AKA side-striped pit viper. It's hard to spot in a tree.

Sloth, two-toed, giving us the eye.

Armadillo, nine banded, headed toward us.

Broad-winged hawk, immature, trying to nap.

Back at the hotel, we packed for the next transfer after a late dinner.

Costa Rica Trip II and III.

1-23-19 MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA: Today the Nat Geo driver, Caroleena, was right on time and picked us up in a big van for the drive to Monteverde. Monteverde is a town in the Central Highlands, further to the north and in sight of the Pacific Ocean. The trip was 3 hours with the last 20 Km on very bumpy dirt and gravel mountain road with cutbacks, twists and a number of washouts. We saw a lot of sugar cane fields on the way.

We are staying at Hotel Senda, our room is up a steep hill and has great views. We got another sunset. I got a few bird pix today at the hotel, including grackles, who we had all fall in NJ. These grackles are a long-tailed, but otherwise very similar to the common grackle. I saw a coati and an agouti on the hotel grounds in the afternoon.

We have a morning bird walk at the Curi-Cancha Nature Reserve.


The road up to Monteverde, that's the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

Long-tailed grackle. A large flock hangs out on the hotel grounds.

Nice bougainvillea at Senda.

Agouti, a large rodent, at the hotel. The red ear is catching the sunset. People eat these.

1-24-19 MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA: We were up early for a walk in the Curi-Cancha Reserve, a nearby nature site that used to be a dairy farm. They let the forest take it back and did additional planting of flowers and shrubs. Our guide, Juan Carlos, walked us around the reserve for most of the morning, and we saw many birds, a few squirrels and an agouti. There were toucans, many hummingbirds and several iridescent birds.


Like all the guides, Juan-Carlos, is a genius at spotting a bird or animal in a tree.

Slate-throated Redstart is a tiny bird, flitting around the lower forest. This is the bird on the sign above. Note the red yarmulke.

Judy and Juan-Carlos in front of a huge fig tree. The fig vines grow on some other tree as a parasite, choke it to death, leaving the fig alone on the spot, but hollow and providing animal habitat.

Judy trying out the habitat.

This forest is still open in places that were dairy pastures.

Tree covered with epiphytes. This is the dry, Pacific, side of the country, and that tree is waiting for rain to leaf out. The Caribbean side is the wet side.

Purple-throated mountain gem and Magenta-throated woodstar.

Motmot bird. People come to this reserve specifically to see this bird.

Green toucanet. These pix were taken with the iPhone through the spotting scope, not the best photo, but better than none. It's hard to find a green bird in a green tree with the camera.

Golden-browed chlorophonia.

Back at Senda, we had lunch and went up the hill to the room for naps. In the afternoon there were more birds to see at the hotel, a sunset, and then a taxi into town for dinner at the Tree House Restaurant, built around a huge ficus tree. The setting is dramatic, the food so-so.


Grey-headed chachalaca. A flock of twenty of so were in the trees and on the ground back at Senda. They are chicken-sized and very fast runners.

Sunset looking out to the Pacific.

Tree House Restaurant. You climb the stairs around the trunk to get to the Maitre D.

We have been impressed by the huge national enthusiasm for curating and preserving the environment and nature. Costa Rica has 160 protected areas including 26 National Parks. The protected areas total 25% of the national territory. They abolished their army in 1949, they do have police.

Tomorrow, another morning bird walk and an evening forest walk.

It occurred to me that Monteverde and Vermont both mean Green Mountain.

Costa Rica Trip I.

1-31-19 SHORT HILLS: We're back in the land of fast WiFi and I'll start posting on the trip to Costa Rica. It was great to be warm for a few days...

1-23-19 ALAJUELA, COSTA RICA: Our plane rolled into SJO, San José Airport, a few minutes early. The flight left EWR at 7AM. We got to the terminal at 4AM so that we could get through security without a long delay. We slept on the plane.

At SJO the Nat Geo rep was a no show, so after a half-understood phone call to the local office, we taxied to Alajuela, a city to the north of San José, to our hotel, Xandari Resort for check-in and lunch. We liked the taxi driver, Roy, so we used him as a guide to for an impromptu visit to La Paz Waterfall Garden, Roy’s suggestion. The trip took about 45 minutes. Road travel is slow, and there is plenty of traffic on bumpy roads.

On our drive east to the La Paz garden, we went over a 6000-foot mountain with a cold, wet cloud at the top. We saw coffee plantations, cattle and dairy farms, twisty, steep roads. There were tropical plants, our houseplants all grown up and adult sized, vivid flowers are everywhere. There were abundant hydrangeas and bougainvillea. The volcanic soil is very fertile, and every thing is on the side of a mountain.

La Paz is a hillside garden, extensive and beautiful, with an animal rescue center. We spent so much time with the birds and animals that we never got to see any of the several waterfalls. Xandari also has a big garden, also on a hillside, also with waterfalls, but we didn’t see them either—so, in total, we passed up ten waterfalls. The view from the resort and our room was all the way to SJO, distant mountains and a sunset at about 6PM.

The pix below are from La Paz Waterfall Garden...


Is green out of fashion now? Strawberry poison-dart frog is terrestrial and diurnal.

Red-eyed tree frog lives high up in trees not in a pond and is nocturnal.

Many, many hummingbirds, this is a Violet sabrewing.

This one is a Green-crowned brillant hummingbird doing a stare down with a Common chlorospingus.

Puma at the rescue center. We saw no cats in the wild. One of our guides, who leads walks everyday, said he the only cat he ever saw in the wild was a puma and only once.

Many orchids, cultivated and wild.

Bananaquit hangs out with the hummers.

Nat Geo sent us a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of malbec by way of apology and offered to reimburse us for our taxi expenses.

The airport, SJO, has jetways and air conditioning, rarities in tropical airports. The cars here are mostly late models and clean, the people are friendly and English speakers readily available. Almost every house or business is enclosed in a wall or fence with gates. The unit of currency is the Colon, 600 or so to the dollar, but dollars work fine too.

After dinner at Xandari, it was off to bed. The pix below were taken the next morning.


White-crowned parrot outside our room at Xandari Resort.

The view from our room at Xandari with a Turkey vulture soaring over the valley.

Cold Wave.

1-21-19 SHORT HILLS: The snowstorm, named Harper, passed through the area yesterday, leaving about two inches of slushy snow and then rain, heavy at times. Judy and I shoveled the driveway without much difficulty between the snow and rain. I cleared the drain in the driveway and did the sidewalk. Vermont got at least a foot of snow. Today it’s very cold, zero at daybreak and now up to 8°, but, with an 18 mph wind, it feels much colder.

The birds are besieging the feeders. They need a lot of energy to stay warm on days like this. We have had a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker here this morning, totally fluffed up to deal with the cold. We haven’t seen one here for a few years. A few robins are still here. They are poking around in the leaves, but never go to the feeders. They do eat berries, of which, we still have a lot.

We are off to Costa Rica tomorrow.


Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker is not a frequent visitor, but has been around this morning, all fluffed up against the cold wind.

One of a few robins still hanging around.

Cardinal and a bit of a Junco under the feeder.

Sapsucker earlier in the day with ruffled feathers from the wind and cold.

Carmen.

1-18-19 SHORT HILLS: Nothing is happening in the gardens, obviously, there have no new bird pix, and no interesting weather. The birds have been back at the feeders for a few weeks.

Our family has a bunch of birthdays in Jan. and Feb. We did a Gramercy Tavern event with Val, Steve, Alison and Dan last week, and a DB Moderne dinner with Anna, Gardner and Lily this week.

Last night we went to the Met to hear Carmen. It’s a new production, well reviewed and well enjoyed by us. Carmen, Don José and Michaëla are sung by Clémentine Margaine, Roberto Alanga and Susanna Phillips. Louis Langrée conducted. We had dinner at Café Fiorello beforehand.

The days are slowly and slightly getting longer as we inch our way through January.


Chandeliers  in the lobby of the Met Opera.

The cast soaking up the applause.

Conductor Langrée and the orchestra in  the pit.

NY Phil.

1-5-19 SHORT HILLS: We were in the city for the NY Phil last night during the heavy rain. The drive in was a snap—light to moderate traffic only. Maybe the rain kept people home.

We had dinner at Bar Boulud with Ina and Marcel. The noise level wasn’t too bad, as three of us wear hearing aids. The food was fine, and we bumped into Elaine and Richard dining with friends after the opera matinee.

We got to Geffen Hall a little early because now everyone has to go through metal detectors to get into the auditorium.

The first half of the program was the Dvořák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, with cellist Gautier Capuçon, a rising French star. The audience loved it, and we got a brief encore on the cello. Paavo Järvi conducted.

After intermission, Järvi conducted the orchestra in a short Sibelius piece, Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island, Op.22, No.1 and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No.2.

I liked the second half of the program better, while Judy loved the cello concerto. Today we dog walked with Bebe and Ronnie.


Geffen Hall before the concert....

At intermission with the fountain in the plaza...

Applause for the orchestra after the Ravel.

Orange Reservoir in the South Mountain Reservation, Essex County, NJ.

1-4-2019 SHORT HILLS: HNY Dear Readers. Not much is happening in the gardens now. We have had a ton of rain with more on the way tonight. NJ had a very wet year with more than 60 inches of rain, normal 40-45, but actual figures not available because of the government shutdown.

Since we’ve been back from VT, there has been only a little activity at the re-filled bird feeders. It usually takes the birds a day or so to realize that the feeders are full, but the dozen of birds we had had are not back after a week—very unusual.

We are in the forties most days and barely below freezing at night. There is not scrap of snow or ice to be seen. There were only a couple of inches of snow in VT when we left.

Driving through the South Mountain Reservation the other day, I noticed some waterfowl in the Orange Reservoir. Across the road from the reservoir there is a low area that fills with rainwater, creating a shallow pond, really a half-acre puddle. I thought I saw an odd duck there and went back with the camera.

It was a solitary Bufflehead, female or immature male, on the edge of a small flock of Mallards. In the reservoir itself there was a flock of ten or so Mergansers. Usually the reservoir has a lot of Canada geese, but not yesterday.


Bufflehead duck, female or immature male, is alone and hanging out near a bunch of mallards.

This 'pond' forms after every heavy rain, is about a half acre in size.

Two pairs of Mallards sharing the big puddle.

The Mallards are much bigger than the Bufflehead.

In the Orange Reservoir, across the road from the 'pond', there were a flock of Mergansers, about ten.

Male Common Merganser with dark black/greenish head and white body.

Female Common Merganser has a red head with a prominent mullet and a gray body.