Sunset at La Ensenada Lodge, 20 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

30 January 2026

I’m at home now in Pittsburgh after nine full days of birding in Costa Rica with Road Scholar. What a trip and what great friends we became! Today I’ll show you a few of our activities. In the days ahead I’ll describe the birds, mammals and much more. But first …

Special thanks to our Road Scholar guide Erick Guzman for his excellent leadership and for finding so many special birds for us to enjoy. Also a big thank you to our driver Chicho who carried us safely on all types of roads in northern Costa Rica and twice over the Continental Divide!

Every day (except one) the weather was hot — definitely short-sleeves-and-sandals. Here we stopped for gasoline and a group photo on our way from the Pacific to Atlantic watersheds and Caño Negro. (Sandy is taking the photo so she’s not in it.)

Group photo on our way from La Ensenada to Caño Negro (photo by Sandy Colburn) [Gary, Ken, Susan, Elizabeth, Kathy, Iris, Wendy, me, Heleen, Rhonda, Kevin. Our guide Erick Guzman down in front]

We traveled by bus …

Chicho at the helm as Erick Guzman describes what we’ll see at Arenal, 26 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

… by boat …

Birding the mangrove forest at Gulf of Nicoya, 21 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John) [Sandy, Rhonda and Erick in photo]

… and on foot. (here in a downpour on the rainforest SkyWalk at Arenal)

On the SkyWalk at Arenal, 27 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman)

We learned from local experts about restoration of the land, the habitats and endangered species. Here Edwin tells us about the restoration of the land at Canto del Rio. The bird-filled forest behind us grew back in only 20 years.

Edwin tells us about his project at Canto del Rio, 28 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman)

Every evening we stopped to review the day and update our paper checklist. Erick also shared his eBird checklists to us.

Getting ready to do the checklist at Selva Verde Lodge, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Gary Levinson-Palmer)

We had three excellent photographers in the group. Our guide, Erick Guzman

Erick Guzman photographing the spectacled owls, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

… Iris Winslow from Port Angeles, WA.

Iris Winslow takes photos from the boat on Gulf of Nicoya, 21 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St, John)

and Gary Levinson-Palmer from northern California who used his Pixel 10 cellphone at 48x zoom(!)

Gary Levinson-Palmer takes photos of the spectacled owls using his cellphone, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

It was a great and unforgettable experience.

At the Skywalk overlook at Arenal, 27 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman) [Erick, Rhonda, Wendy, Gary, Susan, Kevin, Sandy, Kathy, Iris, Ken, Heleen, Kate(me) and Elizabeth]

Yesterday my trip home to Pittsburgh took almost 24 hours with an 11.5 hour layover in Miami airport(*). Today I woke up to brilliant sunshine, the remains of 12″ of snow and -8°F (-22°C).

Clear and cold and no wind in Pittsburgh this morning, 30 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

I’ll be catching up on my sleep today. As I did during a break at La Selva Biological Station 😉

Kate takes a quick nap at La Selva Biological Station, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman)

What a great trip on the Road Scholar Birding in Northern Costa Rica. New friends, new birds, and a renewed appreciation for Costa Rica.

Until we meet again, my friends, Pura Vida!

(*) My journey home: Yesterday I was awake almost 24 hours. Got up at 2:00am to leave Costa Rica; got home this morning at 1:30am. No travel difficulties, just the airlines sweeping the remnants of the cancellations and major delays caused by Dallas-Fort Worth snowstorm at the beginning of this week.