We gathered at the dining area for our morning walk and this female Blue-black Grosbeak was eating from the heliconias just off the deck.

Female Blue-black Grosbeak on heliconia near the dining area at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Golfito, Costa Rica

Female Blue-black Grosbeak

Female Blue-black Grosbeak

This Charming Hummingbird was also drinking from the heliconia.

Charming Hummingbird

Some fog came rolling, but as we started our walk, Chito spotted this Turquoise Cotinga in a distant tree.

Great Kiskadee

Moving down the road, we found a Crested Guan.

Crested Guan

Rainforest at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge

We took some more photos of the white-flowered, ginger-related plant.

White-flowered ginger plant

White-flowered ginger plant

White-flowered ginger plant

White-flowered ginger plant

Heliconia

Heliconia

Pale-vented Pigeons

Pale-vented Pigeons

Guanacaste Colorado tree, favorite feeding spot for the White-crested Coquette, but not today

Blue-gray Tanager

Male Baltimore Oriole

Palm Tanager

Palm Tanager

Streaked Flycatcher

Palm Tanager

Streaked Flycatcher

Buff-throated Saltator

Female Green Honeycreeper

Female Scarlet-rumped Tanager

Short-billed Pigeon

Short-billed Pigeon

White-tipped Dove or Gray-chested Dove

White-tipped Dove or Gray-chested Dove

White-tipped Dove or Gray-chested Dove

Merlin identifies this photo as a Gray-chested Dove, which is consistent with the brown on the back of the head, but the preceding photos of the same bird it identifies as White-tipped Dove, Merlin's second choice for this bird's ID.

White-tipped Dove or Gray-chested Dove

White-tipped Dove or Gray-chested Dove

Social Flycatcher

Gall midge eggs

Gall midge eggs

Gall midge eggs

Female Scarlet-rumped Tanager

On our way back toward the dining area for breakfast, Mealy Parrots landed above us on the trail.

Mealy Parrot

Mealy Parrot

Mary wonders whether this is hypoestes; it was planted intentionally.

Chito identified this as Bamboo Orchid.

Bamboo Orchid

Bamboo Orchid

Bamboo Orchid

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Red ginger flower with black bees on it

We had breakfast and left the lodge on the bus. Along the road, Chito saw a Crested Oropendola fly by, then Monica and Deb noticed there was a tree in the field with at least a couple of oropendola nests in it.

We also paused along the road to get good looks at a White-crowned Parrot.

Our ultimate destination for the day was the Las Cruces Biological Station; we stopped in Neily at a mercado for supplies.

Outside the Neily mercado, Chito showed the group what he had purchased; Derek, Tom, Fran, Deb, Monica, Jody (behind), Chito, Ann, Mary and Carolyn

This vendor was pedaling by in the traffic outside the mercado.

Looking across the street, we started noticing birds, like this Tropical Mockingbird.

There were two Tropical Mockingbirds and they were flying into a small tree below the power pole as if they might have a nest there.

There was also a Social Flycatcher with a nest.

A Swallowtail Kite flew by overhead.

After chasing vultures away from it, a Peregrine Falcon landed on the microwave tower across the highway.

Peregrine Falcon, on a microwave tower in Neily, Costa Rica

Blue-gray Tanager, in a tree in the mercado parking lot

Tropical Kingbird, at the edge of the parking lot

We took a side road out of Neily to look for the Savanna Hawk; one of the first birds we saw was a Turkey Vulture.

On a barbed wire fence along the road, we saw a Fork-tailed Flycatcher.

Chito stopped and talked to another birding guide with one or two birders in his SUV; the guide pointed out the Savanna Hawk on a nest in a far away tree on the back edge of the field. Even with the spotting scope, it was difficult to see the bird.
This photo digiscoped by Chito Motina using his Leica spotting scope and my Pixel phone camera

Savanna Hawk on a nest (with its head partially obscured by a leaf)

Before we left to return to the highway, a Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture circled us several times.

When we arrived at the Organization for Tropical Studies' Wilson Botanical Gardens/Las Cruces Biological Station, we went straight to lunch in their dining room, then out to the patio adjacent to the dining room to take a look at the area: Tom, Derek, Leigh, Monica (seated), Steve, Jody, Fran (seated in front), Deb

The view from the patio, looking back to a bird feeder on the left, bottle brush tree in the middle and the dining area behind.

The patio was up a couple of flights of stairs, so we could look down across part of the botanical gardens below.

Part of the view below the patio

The patio at Wilson Botanical Gardens/Las Cruces Biological Station, Costa Rica

A portion of the supplies Chito purchased were bananas and when he placed them on the feeder, birds immediately began arriving, like this Speckled Tanager.

Those black spots are between the bill and eyes of the Speckled Tanager.

Silver-throated Tanager

Male Green Honeycreeper

Blue-gray Tanager

Female Green Honeycreeper

Clay-colored Sparrow

Speckled Tanager

Female Thick-billed Euphonia

Back view of the female Thick-billed Euphonia

Golden-hooded Tanager

Back view of the Golden-hooded Tanager

When this guy showed up, Chito started hollering "Banana thief!"

Male Green Honeycreeper

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Male Green Honeycreeper

Silver-throated Tanager

After we left the patio, we got our room assignments and checked out our rooms. Each had a deck in the back that looked out on the rainforest.

The view out our back door, leading onto our deck.

The view from our deck

Passionflower, growing on the wall along the stairs leading from our rooms to the dining area

Passionflower, growing out of the wall

Passionflower

Following our settling into our rooms after lunch, we went back to the patio where this Buff-throated Saltator was eyeing the feeder.

Buff-throated Saltator at Las Cruces Biological Station, Costa Rica

Buff-throated Saltator

Common Tody Flycatcher

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch

After gathering below the patio, we took off for an afternoon hike to the observation tower and passed this stand of giant bamboo along the trail.

Fran, Jody, Leigh, Ann, Derek, Tom, Deb, Monica, Mary, admiring the bamboo

Closer look at the stand of bamboo

Bamboo along the trail at Las Cruces Biological Station

Closer look at the patterns in the bamboo

More bamboo

And more

And more

Chito, with his spotting scope, a little farther down the trail, trying to call in a bird

A Crested Oropendola flew into the trees near us.

Crested Oropendola, Las Cruces Biological Station, CR

Crested Oropendola

Crested Oropendola

This palm showed us three stages of flowering/fruiting; at first I thought this spike was dead because of the color, but on closer inspection, insects looked to me to be pollinating little white flowers.

On the opposite side of the trunk, this spike seemed to be immature.

And below them on the trunk was this spent 'bloom.'

All three on the same trunk

We made it to the observation tower and were rewarded with a 360-degree view of the canopy and sky above; Leigh, Derek (behind), Tom and Fran take first looks.

Tom, Fran and Deb, atop the Las Cruces Biological Station observation tower

We heard in our orientation later in the afternoon that the row of palm trees on the horizon are iconic for the station and one that has died has become home to multiple cavity-dwelling birds.

We had seen this Double-toothed Kite at the far edge of the clearing, but then it flew into a Cecropia tree just below the tower, where we got excellent views of it.

The Double-toothed Kite was clearly looking around for a meal while we watched.

Overhead, a couple of large flocks of Crimson-fronted Parakeets flew past us.

Crimson-fronted Parakeets

Swallow-tailed Kite

The Double-toothed Kite flew farther into trees, looking around, even closer to the tower.

I went down a flight of stairs and got eye-level with the kite.

Double-toothed Kite

After we came down from the tower and started back along the trail, we saw this Golden-olive Woodpecker.

Side view of the body of the Golden-olive Woodpecker

Farther along the trail, this Agouti was eating a tender morsel.

Agouti, with a plant stem

Back at the main building of the biological station, one of the staff, Rudolfo, gave us a historical and geographical orientation to the station and botanical garden.

A couple, Robert and Catherine Wilson, started the botanical gardens later named after them. Their original aim was to grow and sell tropical plants.

In 1973, the property was transferred to the Organization for Tropical Studies to use as a research station for a consortium of universities.

Rudolfo showed us the layout of the property.

Vegetation map of the property

Costa Ricans, as well as students from around the world, come to study and learn at the station.