07 April 2013

The Silky Road...COSTA RICA (28 Feb)

We packed a lot in on this day. We set off from San Jose, and checked out Tapanti National Park, where Andrew Spencer had seen some quality birds in previous years (notably Ochraceous Pewee, Streak-breasted Treehunter, and Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl, which I was still yearning for). On arrival, we quickly added a treehunter to my list quick smart, right where Andrew had seen it before, years earlier! Then we tried his near owl spot, and what do you know, after a duel with the I-Pod, an angry looking Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl was added to my life list, and better still the park was absolutely devoid of people. Andrew, Tayler Brooks and I had it too ourselves, and it was wonderful. 

We, however, could not track down the hoped-for Pewee, and so headed over to Paraiso de Los Quetzales later in the day to feast on Fiery-throated and Magnificent Hummingbirds and try and pick up Costa Rica's marquee bird, the Resplendent Quetzal, while we were there. On site we enjoyed some top notch views of Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatchers, and of course, their loaded hummer feeders, although the quetzal, despite nesting at the time, was elusive and we had to settled for a female.

In the evening (and after visiting Cerro del la Muerte again-more to come on this soon), we headed over to La Georgina and checked in there for an assault on Savegre the next day, among other sites...


2 comments:

john said...

I have so enjoyed reading your posts from Costa Rica, and especially your superb photos.
We also had Tapanti to ourselves when we visited. Our most memorable bird was a Red-faced Spinetail building it's nest above the trail.
La Georgina was the only place that I have seen Silvery-throated Jays.

Sam Woods said...

I went to La Georgina specifically for those blasted jays, which as you can imagine from my description of them, we did NOT get. Had to leave both Costa Rica, and later Panama, "sin" jays! Havr to come back I guess!!!