Costa Rica Bird Challenge: Day 4, (15 Oct 2017)

Rancho Naturalista to Crested Owl; a day for the ages…

 

I have to admit having earmarked this day for something pretty special before arriving in Costa Rica, and I approached it with a little extra excitement to some of the others, no offence to the other excellent sites meant. However, “Rancho” is a bit of a birding legend. The lodge is run by a birder, the supreme host of Lisa Erb, and has a team of excellent bird guides right on site. I knew one of them from my brief time here last February, and was quick to secure the services of Harry Barnard for this day. His hearing skills, spotting skills and guiding skills are superb. I can honestly say I have not experienced such accurate descriptions of where a bird is hidden within a mass of tropical leaves better from anyone else. He carried no laser pointer, and did not require one either!

 

The first few hours of the day were spent birding the grounds close to the lodge, and with the considerable aid of Harry, we had chalked up 120 species or so in a few hours before we left there, including some special ones indeed: Tawny-chested Flycatcher, Snowcap, Black-crested Coquette, a lonely Green Thorntail, White-necked Jacobin, Violet-headed Hummingbird, several Green-breasted Mangos, great looks at a tubby Tawny-throated Leaftosser (a bird that simply oozes character in spite of being largely brown in colour); Golden-olive Woodpecker, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, and Carmiol’s Tanager. Dull-mantled Antnbirds were also heard calling from deep down below calling from a wet gully, while the taunting calls of the always difficult to see Thicket Antpitta echoed down to us from the slopes above. A landmark moment also came when we finally nailed down our first House Wren of the challenge (quite belatedly for such a common species!)

 

After reluctantly leaving Rancho Naturalista behind, (but fortunately not Harry who lent his ears and eyes to us for the entire day), we set off for the Tuis Valley, with two particular targets in mind, a Sunbittern hiding among the boulders of the river, and the rare Lanceolated Monklet in the riverside forest, a very tough bird in this country. The first bird proved straightforward; in spite of the forest seeming deathly quiet, a Sunbittern showed, and due to the tenacity of a fellow team in the same area, the Redstart Wranglers, we all got to enjoy long, long looks at the cute Lanceolated Monklet too, before we all left for El Copal, another area of excellent foothill forest not far from Rancho.

 

After narrowly making it up the dirt road to El Copal, we quickly ate and launched off into the forest, knowing that our few hours on site might feel like barely enough, even in the potentially worst part of the day in the tropics – early afternoon. However, this trail and this reserve bucked that trend, and we enjoyed a near constant stream of birds, and ended up virtually having to run back to the bus to fit in one more site before dark. Flocks were quite active, and we got lots of Black-and-yellow and Emerald Tanagers (no exaggeration), got see well males of both White-ruffed and White-crowned Manakins, got looks at both Song Wren and Bicolored Antbird (but could not set eyes on the calling Spotted Antbirds in the same area unfortunately due to severe time constraints leading us away), Tawny-capped and White-vented Euphonias, a glowing male White-winged Tanager, Red-headed Barbet, and the rare Rufous-browed Tyrannulet were all also seen. Black-breasted Wood-Quails however, approached very close and nearly deafened us with their raucous calls, but never broke cover.

The reason we ended up rushing around the trail quicker that we’d have liked to, was not because we had far to go, or that the birding was bad, quite the contrary; but because the hotel we were heading for Casa Truire is home to a large wetland, which could provide some serious list loading of waterbirds that we may not have time for elsewhere on the bird race. We simply had to make it there with light to spare. We made it there in the nick of time, avoided checking in to give us the time needed, and jogged down to the lake edge. Several Prothonotary Warblers in the trees beside the dock were a nice start, as were wild Muscovy Ducks, Snail Kites, the call of our first White-throated Crake, and news from another group of a Limpkin around the corner, which was soon located along with Least Grebe, and better still Least Bittern. One of the last birds of daylight was a Russet-naped Wood-Rail strutting across the lakeside trail, and several Pauraques lifting off the forest path. However, the day was not over. Following a rather extravagant dinner, we set out for nightbirds, and very quickly were being glared at by an unhappy looking Tropical Screech-Owl. We then ran into the leading team (led by local guide Diego Quesada), who very kindly showed us a Crested Owl (adult and juvenile) they had just found, to round off what was anticipated to be one of the better days of the tour, and surpassed expectations, with just under 200 species recorded for our team on this day.

 

The next day was to be very different indeed, with a visit to the endemic rich highlands to start, and ending on the other, Pacific, side of the mountains. Just outside Carara National Park…

#visitcostarica #costaricabirdchallenge #costaricabirding #futuropa 

#ict #birdwatchingrepublic

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Fire in the Valley...COSTA RICA (24-25 Feb.)

Costa Rica is a country where it feels like it is bursting at the seams with birding sites. Thus, on this short visit I squeezed in some new ones to me, and expanded my arsenal of Costa Rican birding experience in the process! I had found out about a hotel near the airport, and wished to check it out for future tours there-Hotel Robledal (Hotel Robledal) . This could not have gone better; I knew there were some birds to be seen on the grounds, but that was about it. I arrived in the country with Pablo Cervantes Daza, and over my first dinner there discovered they even had a bird guide on their reception (Emmanuel Guzman). So we hired his fantastic services for several hours at the start of our tour. 

Generally speaking, we have not traditionally done a whole lot of birding in the Central Valley (where the airport, and this nearby hotel are located) on the tours I have been part of, as we either have not had time, or are covering some of the birds in other areas later on the tour (if, for example, visiting the dry North Pacific, many of the birds can be found there), However, on this tour we found ourselves with some hours to spare, and, as we were not visiting the North Pacific, knew that this may provide an ample boost to our bird list. We were not wrong; we enjoyed a splendid time birding in and around our hotel. The start finds within the confines of these small hotel grounds were no less than 2 species of owl;  1 by day (Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl), 1 by night (Tropical Screech-Owl). 

Amazingly, during our first few hours there, in a single afternoon/evening, we had a total of THREE owl species; these two on the grounds, and a fluffy young Striped Owl on a finca (or farm) nearby. Also on that first afternoon, around the same finca, were a showy Striped Cuckoo, a few Stripe-headed Sparrows, a single "striped-up" female Green-breasted Mango, a few spritely Gray-crowned Yellowthroats, and even a covey of Crested Bobwhite (which flushed before I could really count them on my lifelist), among the more common fare like Great Kiskadees and wintering boreal birds like Baltimore Orioles and Tennessee Warblers.

It was a stunning opener, but if anything, the next morning's hour and half in and near the hotel was better yet; it opened with a jaffa-orange Spot-breasted Oriole singing in the hotel garden; we then moved on to a lake with Northern Jacanas and Purple Gallinules plowed the edges, while in the woodland alongside we found a male Gartered Trogon, Masked Tityra, Plain-capped Starthroat, and Steely-vented Hummingbird. We moved a little away from the wetland into the dry wooded hills, and things really went crazy, with bird activity at fever pitch. A flurry of activity included lots of birds in and around the same trees, perhaps goaded by a calling Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (our second in 24 hours) in the area: male Rose-throated Becard appeared with its crest raised; Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet did the same, two species of vireo then appeared (Yellow-throated and Philadelphia); then a male Streak-backed Oriole popped up too to complete a fine brace of orioles for the morning; then a Blue Grosbeak appeared, hot on the heels of a Summer Tanager, before a troop of toucans made us drop everything, and literally, run full pelt towards them. 

There in an open tree above us a group of 7 Fiery-billed Aracaris plundered the fruit crop, while other birds continued to swirl all around. Before we had to head back the hotel for breakfast we notched up more Stripe-headed Sparrows and a pair of roadside Blue-crowned Motmots....

The day was only a few hours old and we had racked up quite the list; before the end of the day we were to climb into the foothills of the Caribbean slope, to visit Braulio Carrillo National Park and El Tapir hummingbird gardens, and then move further down into the steamy lowland jungle of La Selva...This packed in not only numerous sites, but numerous birds into our day...