THE JOCOTOCO RUN LODGE AT COPALINGA is a gem. Secluded on a forested hillside, you can easily forget you are only minutes from town. The cabins are clean, well-lighted and have plenty of hot water. Maria and her staff make wonderful meals and keep the hummingbird feeders well stocked. The big draw here is a hide often visited by the Gray Tinamou and the lodge’s proximity to the lower part of Podocarpus National Park.
Eating dirt! White-breasted Parakeet
It rained all night long forcing Dusan to reluctantly postpone our hike into the park. When we finally started up the trail, the river below was a raging torrent of chocolate milk while flocks of tanagers, warblers and flycatchers flitted in the trees. The highlight of the 3 mile walk was a group of eight white-breasted parakeets who alternately perched and pecked at the hillside for minerals essential to their diet.
Gray Tinamou (Connie's photo)
I played sloth while Connie joined the others in the rain to look for the tinamou and nightjars. Birding in the rain for semi-domesticated fowl isn’t exactly my cup of chai and as Maria quipped, “Tinamou is just forest pollo!”
