Nosara Biological Reserve

19 March 2009

It’s our last full day in Nosara, and it seems we are finally acclimatized a bit to the hot weather. (Sitting in the house at noon with no AC, I feel alert rather than hopelessly lethargic.)

This morning, we visited the Reserva Biologica Nosara, which is located on the south edge of the Nosara river, near its mouth where it discharges into the ocean. The opening shot, from just above and south of the reserve, shows the river discharging into the ocean.

The reserve environment was starkly contrasting with the rain forests and cloud forests we’ve visited elsewhere in Costa Rica. We are roughly midway through Costa Rica’s dry season, which has real meaning here in the northwest of the country. Part of the trail passed through a drying mangrove swamp. Otherwise, it was a mostly dry dusty trail through an interesting, but drying forest. Also in contrast with the rain forest and cloud forest, the wildlife was much more in evidence. (Maybe there were just fewer places to hide and the sounds carried farther.) There were abundant birds with nice songs (but so far as we saw lacking fine plumage).

The best sightings were of the howler monkeys. We’ve seen many here in Nosara, but they are hard to photograph because they are typically backlit and far away in the trees. One was close enough to get a good look using Ingrid’s 10x zoom.