Season Greetings!

Naturalist Notes:New Adventure

This morning the manager and I took a short walk to explore the environment of our new work place, Amanecer~Retreat and Spa. This is a new hotel situated in the 

Lopinot Valley, surrounded by lush rainforest. Originally it was a cocoa and coffee plantation, to date there are numerous other fruit trees.

As we ventured up the quiet road looking at the flora, I decided to imitate the call of the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl to see who or what we would attract. Suddenly the forest became alive with sounds, we heard the Violaceous Euphonia (which is locally called Semp) Rufous-breasted Wren, Golden-headed Manakin and Orange-winged Parrots were squawking as they flew overhead. A family of Golden-fronted Greenlets was peeping at us, luckily we were able to see them. In the distance ahead we caught a glimpse of the Long-billed Gnatwren as he hurriedly disappeared into the bamboo. We also saw quite a few species of butterflies, including the Red Rim, Red Anartia and Blue Transparent, which is really cool because you can literally see though his wings! Amongst all that we saw on our short stroll today, for me the pinnacle was the view of a peaceful, trickling stream of crystal clear water. I hope to keep you posted of more discoveries as time goes along.

Denise Etienne

The Bird Whisperer