Bird and beach day.

Well, yesterday was a day of the birds. We had an invasion of white-throated magpie-jays by the hotel. Squawkers and talkers, they made their presence know for about 15 minutes in the morning.

National Geographic girl spotted her red-headed vultures multiple times during the day floating on the air currents around the hotel and beach. (Not too easy to photograph on the move. Here a shot of a cooperative subject.)

NGG did some research and found that there are 4 different species of vultures in CR. Batting only 25% on the vulture identification process, pushed us to be vigilant on bird day. 
         But wait, it wasn't only bird day; there was another 'b' word for today--well aren't you the "retainer of information presented"-yep, beach was in there too!  We bumped into the "NC royals" in the early afternoon and were comparing notes and adventures, when we realized they had been about 15 minutes behind us for breakfast and lunch at the same places. We had mentioned where we had walked that morning-- a hike up a gnarly dirt road to the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean, an awesome spot for a house; when they described a must-see beach that they took their super cool golf cart to see. We compared navigational landmarks until we felt like we could get there. We packed our suits and towels and took off for this new beach. Once again, if it's tough to get to, then it's worth the effort to see what's there. A 100 yards of "not quite a single lane, wet, dirt path" got us to a "parking area". Picking an opening, anywhere the SUV would fit and provide a reasonable opportunity to turn around, we landed. We could hear the surf and see the blue sky ahead. 

       We spent about an hour walking this huge expanse of sand, not covering the whole area, but, sweating and smiling, needed the AC in the car.
​        As we retraced our path back home, we doubled our vulture identification percentage!

These two guys, black vultures, were enjoying a drink from the red-clay mud hole in the middle of the road.
​        Another spectacular sunset was the cherry on top of a great day, and enjoying it with our new friends only made it better!