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…
