R. Doug Wicker — Author

On the River

By no stretch of the imagination am I knowledgeable on birds, but what Ursula and I saw this day along the Tárcoles River was indeed impressive.  So, you’ll just have to enjoy the beauty of our feathered friends without too much in the way of identification.  I do know that this proud fellow is a great egret:

Great Egret

Also in the waters of the Tárcoles River were various other animals, some cute:

Sunbathing turtle

And some rather dangerous:

American crocodile

Below is today’s photo gallery of Tárcoles River birds.  Click on any image to enlarge and bring up today’s slide show:

Birding on the Tárcoles River

Great Egret

Birding on the Tárcoles River

Birding on the Tárcoles River

Birding on the Tárcoles River

Great Egret

Entering crocodile territory

Our ultimate destination on this trip into the wilds of the Costa Rican jungle was a boat ride on the Tárcoles River, a river teaming with potentially dangerous American crocodiles and other more benign wildlife.  But first it was time to feed the tourists before possibly feeding the tourists to the crocodiles.  And so it was that we stopped at a charming little restaurant called Steve -n- Lisa’s, where we were greeted by this friendly little fellow just outside the front entrance:

Friendly iguana

Steve -n- Lisa’s used to be located on the beach, but has now relocated adjacent to el Rio Tárcoles (the Tárcoles River).

Steve -n- Lisa’s

When I call Steve -n- Lisa’s is charming, you can see why in the following two photographs (and, yes, the food was good and the beer cold):

Steve -n- Lisa’s

Steve -n- Lisa’s

After lunch we continued on.  Next stop Jose’s Crocodile River Tour.

Jose’s Crocodile River Tour

Jose’s is not the only river tour on the Tárcoles.  Several other establishments boarded near the same spot.

Tárcoles River

On the way down to our river boat I managed to snag a shot of this bunch (literally . . . bunch!):

Going Bananas

Now, bearing in mind that this is a tour of crocodile infested waters, how would you feel walking on this to get to your tour boat?

Tárcoles River

On Wednesday — No Lions, No Tigers, No Bears, but Oh My!