Life Birds Tour
Tour Organizers: Cotinga Tours & Speyside Wildlife
Leaders: Paco Madrigal & Roy Atkins
Guests: Elizabeth & David Maddocks, Louise & Jeremy
Collier, Daphne & David Knight, Angela & David Mace, Patricia
Northcroft, Alan Willison, Janey McEwan.
Day 1 It is 12th February and here we are in
Day 2 With breakfast at 06:30am we have half an hour or so
of daylight to go and have a look around the hotel gardens which are just
beautiful, with Orchids, Bromeliads and Bougainvilleas all in flower. Its very windy as we step outside but we soon
find our first bird of the trip, a Great-tailed Grackle, quite a common species
round here, but seconds later a Sharp-shinned Hawk flies over our heads... a
good bird! We head through to the garden
at the back of the hotel and where there is a Clay-coloured Robin quickly
followed by Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Grayish Saltator, Tennessee Warbler and
a superb Blue-crowned Motmot.
White-eared Ground Sparrow is a very good find, but the best of all in
terms of rarity is a Provost’s Ground-Sparrow, we are unlikely to see this bird
anywhere else on the trip. We also see
Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Rufous-capped Warbler and Rufous-collared Sparrow. And
all before breakfast!!!
After an excellent breakfast we set off in the direction of Cerro de la
Muerte. The weather is quite pleasant
with a little bit of sunshine and the wind has dropped a little bit from this
morning, but as we get higher and higher into the mountains the weather starts
to deteriorate a bit with drizzle and low cloud. However every now and again we come out from
this onto beautiful views of forested mountains. We see the occasional birds as we drive along
including hovering White-tailed Kites and several Black and Turkey
Vultures. After about a couple of hours
we arrive at a turn off to the Mirador de Quetzales. We get out of the van and very quickly start
to pick up good birds. First comes a Wilson’s Warbler, a nice male on top of some bushes and
there are Red-collared Sparrow’s everywhere.
A few Band-tailed Pigeons fly past and we get fantastic views of a
beautiful male magnificent Hummingbird. A Slaty Flower-piercer is working the
flowers on a low bush and several Sooty Robins are in the trees. The view from here is stunning with forested
mountains right off into the distance.
We are in Cloud Forest, a fantastic habitat where Orchids, Bromeliads
and ferns grow all over the trees, some trees being heavily laden with Bromeliads
along all the branches. Spanish Moss hangs in long threads even from the telegraph wires and
fence posts.
A
Red-tailed Hawk soars above us as we walk into the forest. Then suddenly a Resplendent Quetzal flies
into one of the trees right in front of us!
This is one the main targets of the trip and here we are seeing one
almost before we’ve got started!!! It seems too easy but nobody is
complaining! Surely you are meant to
work for birds of this quality?! We soon
realise that there are in fact three birds, two males and a female and they
really deserve the name Resplendent – they are fantastic! Brilliant iridescent greens and blues on the
back with bright red bellies and the most incredible elongated tail feathers. As the wind blows these feathers get lifted
and blown around by the breeze.
We
spend a long time appreciating these beautiful birds until we get distracted by
other species appearing nearby. Black-capped Flycatcher, Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Black-billed
Nightingale-Thrush, Large-footed Finch, Ruddy Treerunner, Sooty-capped
Bush-Tanager, Spotted-crowned Woodcreeper, Yellow-thighed Finch and some tiny,
tiny Volcano Hummingbirds. What a collection!
Every time we decide to walk on a little bit, somebody spots something
new, so we make very, very slow progress up the hill! A Collared Redstart comes next, absolutely fantastic bright yellow bird, with a
little dark cap. Black-cheeked Warbler,
Ochraceous Wren. We also notice that
some of the flowers are in fact quite familiar to us, for example Tradescantia,
a common houseplant, and Philodendrons.
We walk up as far as an enormous
After this we head back down for a coffee at a lovely little place near
the van. Coffee is excellent – being in
We decide to go for a walk, but before we even get going an Osprey flies
over and we spot two Acorn Woodpeckers not far from the van. Blue-and-white Swallows are zipping around
overhead and White-collared Swifts fly over higher up. Shortly after setting off, we find a
Tennessee Warbler and two Ruddy-capped Nightingale
Thrushes. We cross a bridge over a river
which is full of boulders -
perfect habitat for Torrent Tyrannulet, which we quickly
find. Other good birds seen on this walk
include Tufted Flycatcher, which seems to be nesting, and Long-tailed
Silky-Flycatcher, an absolutely delightful bird.
The river we have been walking beside is the River Savegre and as we
drive up and out the valley it is interesting to look back at the scenery. It appears to be rain forest for as far as
the eye can see, all somehow managing to cling onto
the extremely steep sides to this valley.
It is really very beautiful. As
we drive out we make one or two stops just to see what else we can find and we
see Hairy Woodpecker, get lovely views of four more Collared Redstarts and find
a nice male Flame-coloured Tanager.
There is also another pair or Quetzals and as we pull up beside the road
and they give us superb views. We make a
stop to look for Volcano Junco, but unfortunately we are not lucky though we do
see a few lots of Sooty Robins and a beautiful Flame-throated Warbler. An Osprey flies over returning seconds later
carrying a fish! We are rapidly running
out of time now and head back to the main road then through
Day 3 A fantastic start to today as
immediately outside the Hotel Bougainvillaea are at least six Baltimore Orioles
in a large flowering tree in front of the hotel. Absolutely beautiful birds
with bright orange and black plumage.
Also in the same tree are three or four Social Flycatchers, Clay-colored
Robins and Blue-gray Tanagers and a small flock of Crimson-fronted Parakeets
fly over.
A
short walk around the grounds at the back of the hotel produces Hoffman’s
Woodpecker, Brown Jay, Prevost’s and White-eared Ground-Sparrow and
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, and also a couple of us spot a Long-tailed Weasel
running along the top of a wall.
After
breakfast, all the bags are packed onto the van, and we set off in beautiful
weather towards Bosque de Paz. On the
way, there is great excitement when a House Sparrow is spotted! White-winged Doves perch on the wires and
then as we get nearer Bosque de Paz we stop to look at a Yellow-faced Grassquit
and both Broad-winged and Red-tailed Hawks fly over. The scenery is beautiful, with forest-covered
mountains stretching up Volcano Poaz in the background. Looking down a steep drop beside the road,
there are tall, narrow waterfalls dropping through the forest. There is a real buzz of excitement as we
arrive at the hotel at Bosque de Paz.
The whole place just has a fantastic air about it, the hotel itself is
lovely, but in front of the hotel are Hummingbird feeders, which are just alive
with Hummingbirds! Feeding on the ground
right beside them is a White-nosed Coati, a sort of racoon-like animal with a
very long tail and a very pointed nose.
The feeders are fantastic, there are stacks of Violet Sabrewings buzzing
around them, there are Green-crowned Brilliants and our first Majenta-throated
Woodstar, Purple-throated Mountain-gem and also Scintillant Hummingbird. On the ground underneath Common Bush-Tanagers
and a single Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch pick up bread crumbs. Apparently the latter is a speciality at this
spot, and hard to find anywhere else in
We
put our bags in our rooms, then meet back at reception
to go for a short walk. The forest is
beautiful with the trees covered in epiphytes, which are all the way up the
trunk and along the branches, including Bromeliads, different kinds of ferns
and Orchids one or two of which are in flower.
Along the sides of the path, there are sheets of Busy Lizy’s all in full
flower, looking exactly the same as the pot plants we have at home, but somehow
better and healthier! There are also
Begonias, another typical house plant.
There are White-collared Swifts wheeling around above us as we set of on
our walk and also one or two Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers. Wilson’s
Warbler seems to be the commonest of the North American migrants but we
also get two or three Slate-throated Redstarts.
Another feature of this forest is the Army Ants and at one point there
are so many of them on the track we give up and turn back again, arriving back
just in time for lunch.
Lunch
is in a big dining room which looks out onto the river and one of the feeding
stations so perhaps it is not surprising that we are interrupted mid-meal when
a Louisiana Waterthrush appears then again when two Black Guans fly in to
feed…they are impressive birds! Also a White-tipped Dove and a fantastic male Summer Tanager.
After
lunch we have an hour and a half of free time. Some people sit and watch the
Hummingbird feeders, whilst others go and relax in their rooms, and then we all
meet back again to go for another walk in the afternoon.
As
well as the White-nosed Coati, there is now an Agouti feeding on the lawn, and
a couple of Brown Jays are calling noisily from a distant tree. The walk in the forest is stunningly
beautiful, there are vines hanging down from the trees and again a huge variety
of Ferns and Palms, the whole atmosphere is just superb. It is quite quiet on the bird front, but we
gradually start finding birds such as Three-striped, Rufous-capped and Tropical
Parula Warblers. The only other new bird
we get during the walk is Gray-breasted Wood-wren. After walking through the wood for a while,
we come back out and walk down onto the road.
We get excellent views of Blue-and-white Swallows on the wires, see some more Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers and also
Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Yellow-faced Grassquit and Silver-throated Tanager. We
are pleased to find a Black Phoebe flycatching from a rock in the river when we
return, a nice way to finish the walk.
After
a lovely evening meal, we head down to a separate room where we go through the
list for the day and then the owner of the centre gives us a little chat about
the history of the place. It has not
been open very long and effectively the hotel is used to raise funds to run the
reserve, making us feel even better about staying here.
Day 4 We all meet at the reception area at about 5:45 and
have a coffee before setting off on our early morning walk before
breakfast. There are Black Guans coming
onto the feeders already as well as Common Bush-Tanagers, and loads of
Hummingbirds are at the feeders already.
We set off over the stream and quickly pick up Torrent Tyrannulet, two
of them, flitting along from rock to rock in the middle of the river. Then walking up the far side of the river we
eventually arrive at a Fig Tree which is in ripe fruit. There is a Black-faced Solitaire which keeps
fluttering up to pick off a berry and then go back to
its perch. Also a superb Emerald
Toucanet and a Mountain Robin perched high up in a dead tree. There are plenty of the Common Bush-Tanagers
around and Slate-throated Redstart, Collared Redstart and Spangle-cheeked
Tanagers. Then high over our heads in the Fig Tree, a pair of
Prong-billed Barbets fly in to feed.
Heading
on towards the main area of forest we come across a superb Orange-bellied
Trogon which we get the scopes onto, then a nice Golden-bellied
Flycatcher. We don’t go very far into
the forest before it is time to turn round and head back for breakfast, but at
the furthest point we reach there is a Streak-headed Treehunter working its way
through the Bromeliads and the Ferns on the thicker branches of a high
tree. On our way back for breakfast a
Red-headed Barbet has appeared in the Fig Tree– a fantastic bird with a bright
red head and a green body and a white stripe on the side of its neck. There is also Silver-throated Tanager here,
Yellow-thighed Finch and a couple of us get views of a Barred Becard. Janey is most frustrated as she just misses
it as it disappears!
After
an excellent breakfast we set off again, adding Olive-streaked Flycatcher,
Louisiana Waterthrush, Broad-winged Hawk and Dark Pewee to the days list. The
weather is absolutely glorious and the forest looks superb with the light
shafting down through the trees, highlighting Ferns and Palms on the forest
floor. In some areas the forest is
really thick and it is difficult to peer into the low vegetation looking for
birds, in other areas you get wider open patches with tall Palms and Tree Ferns
and large trees covered in Epiphytes.
We
spend a while trying to get views of a Foliage-gleaner but don’t manage to get
it down to species, and there is a very brief view of a Golden-winged Warbler,
but further on a Flame-throated Warbler is seen again and also Red-faced
Spine-tail. We also see a Red-tailed
Squirrel sat very peacefully on a large branch.
As the day is beginning to warm up the first of the butterflies are out,
some are absolutely beautiful. Big orange ones with white spots on their wings, little black and
white ones with stripes and little blue and red ones. Also a large yellow species reminiscent of
the Brimstones we see at home.
As
we are walking back towards the lodge we get good views of Tufted-Flycatchers
and a Hairy-woodpecker beside the path.
Back at base some people head back to their rooms to freshen up, others
stand around watching the Hummingbirds Agoutis and White-nosed Coatis chasing around. A couple of Brown Jays fly in to the bird
table and a Montezuma Oropendola – a magnificent, big, pointy billed bird with
a bright yellow tail. Then it is time
for lunch which is excellent… we have certainly built up an appetite!
After lunch and a little free time, we gather back at the reception area at about half past two to go for an afternoon walk. We watch a Variegated Squirrel which eventually plucks up the courage to leap from a piece of Bamboo across onto the bird table, only to turn up it’s nose at all the food that is there! As soon as it has gone, two Black Guans appear plus two Brown Jays and again there is a whole mass of birds feeding there.
As tends to happen at these heights the weather has closed in with a lot of cloud building up over the tops of the hills and a hint of drizzle in the air. Undaunted we decide to drive up the road just half a mile or so to gain just a little bit of height and to give us a look down into the trees beside the road. We have hardly left the gates of the hotel when we see a superb male Collared Trogon right beside the road and we all get excellent views. We drive on and start looking for birds making a stop when we see a mixed flock in the bushes beside the road. Again there are a lot of Slate-throated Redstarts, Collared Redstarts, Common Bush-Tanagers, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers, another two Prong-billed Barbets, incredibly brief views of another Barred Becard – the second time Janey fails to see one! There are Black-throated Green Warbler, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Black-cheeked Warbler and also Golden-winged Warbler, which everybody gets onto this time. There are two or three Ochraceous Wrens, a Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Black-faced Solitaire, Red-faced Spinetail, and finally a couple of people manage to see a Lineated Foliage-gleaner.
By
now the low cloud has become almost like fog around us and we decide it is too
difficult to bird watch in these conditions and decide to walk back down to the
hotel. We don’t see a lot more birds but
it is extremely pleasant. As it gets
dark Pauraques start to call outside the hotel, and the first Fireflies light
up their lanterns.
Day 5 It’s quarter to six and we
meet at reception ready to go for another walk along the same sort of route
that we did yesterday morning. Many of
the birds seen on the walk are the same species as those seen yesterday such as
Black Guan, Golden-bellied Flycatcher, Prong-billed Barbet, Slate-throated
Redstart, Collared Redstart. And Janey manages to catch up with Barred
Becard! Black-faced Solitaire was seen
well again and Emerald Toucanet show well but the only new species is a
Brown-capped Vireo.
At
9:15am we are all packed and say our fond farewells then set off in direction
of
Having
had good views of both of those we move on, arriving at Villa Lappa Hotel at
Carara at about half past twelve. After
lunch and a bit of free time, we meet up again at about half past three to go
down to Playa Azul, or ‘The Blue Beach’ – it is really hot! It is almost hard to believe how much hotter
it is here than at Bosque de Paz. On the
way a couple of stops are made – one at a particularly productive tree which
has a few species in it including Yellow-crowned Euphonia. Then another stop is made at a small pond
where we find Pigmy Kingfisher, Green Heron and
Then
it is on to the beach itself, it is more of an estuary than a beach really
where the River Tarcoles flows into the sea.
There is a fair expanse of mud and a bit of beach and there are lots of
terns, herons, egrets and waders here.
On the wader front there are Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover,
A
squadron of 18 Magnificent Frigatebirds glides overhead and toward the end of
the evening loads of Brown Pelicans come gliding in
off the sea to roost in the trees, probably between 50 and 100 all together…
what a sight! There is much amusement as
everybody watches some drunken men who have come in on a boat and get covered
in mud trying to get their boat ashore.
Then Carlos finds a Pacific Screech-Owl roosting in one of the trees in
someone’s garden. But the day is
finished with the superb sight of Scarlet Macaws flying overhead - these birds
feed in the forest during the day but roost in Mangrove Swamps further away and
fly over the river to this roost sight giving the chance of some fantastic
views of them as they fly overhead. A
real treat!
Day 6 We meet at reception at quarter to six, ready to go
for a walk in the grounds of Villa Lappas.
Within seconds of setting off we are picking up birds, including two
Magnificent Frigatebirds, gliding high overhead and Janey spots a King
Vulture. The weather is beautiful, blue skies with no cloud and not too hot yet as
the day has only just begun! Initially
the birding is fairly easy as the walk through the grounds has lots of open
spaces. We find a Pale-billed
Woodpecker; very large with a completely red head. As we start to get into a
more forested areas we start picking up other species such as
Rose-throated Becard, Streaked Flycatcher, Dusky Antbird and Buff-throated
Saltator. A couple of Scarlet Macaws fly
over looking fantastic in the early morning sunshine, and then a Red-legged
Honeycreeper is spotted at the top of a
tree overhead, the red legs catch the sun.
A whole list of species follow including Rufous-naped Wren, Yellow
Warbler, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Kiskadee, Gray-capped Flycatcher, Piratic
Flycatcher and then some Philadelphia Vireos right beside the track. Eventually the path arrives at a little
stream with a bridge over it and we pause here for a little while to see what
is on the stones at the edge of the water.
Quite quickly a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron is spotted, very impressive
bird, also a
As
soon as we are ready, we set off to our second destination which is a track
going into the Carara National Nature Reserve, not very far from the bridge
that goes over the Tarcoles. We haven’t
even driven out of the hotel grounds and there is a circling flock of vultures
over to our right which turns out to have all three species,
We
finally begin our walk down a trail into the forest and soon start picking up
good birds, including Black-hooded Antshrike, Rufous-breasted Wren and a
White-winged Becard. A White-shouldered
Tanager flies off down the track ahead of us and we get good views of Lesser
Greenlet above our heads. Dotted-winged
Antwrens seem to be quite numerous along here and we see both males and
females. A beautiful Hummingbird – the
Long-tailed Hermit hovers around in front of some Heliconia flowers. David Maddocks, who seems on good form today,
picks up a Gray-chested Dove, sat quietly in the gloom under the trees. Rather disappointingly the only Red-capped
Manakin we can find is a female looking rather dull green but we get good views
of Blue Dacnis right above the path and Red-legged Honeycreeper. At one point Paco leads us off the track a
little way to see if we can see any Orange-collared Manakins at a known lek. We all follow him into the undergrowth and
then stand quietly listening for their wing snapping display, but it is
absolutely silent. Shortly there is a
short buzz, apparently an Orange-collared Manakin, and after several minutes
Paco manages to find the bird and sets up his telescope on it. We take it in turns to creep forward and look
in the scope and astonishingly the bird sits absolutely still until every
single person has had a look through his telescope, and as soon as the last
person has seen it, it flies off! And
what a beautiful little bird it is.
We
carry on down the track seeing Yellow-crowned Euphonia, Long-billed Gnatwen and
Barred Woodcreeper. Elizabeth nearly
sits on a very large lizard sat on a concrete bridge, it’s one with a lovely
frill down it’s back – called a Ctenosaur, it must be a good 1 ½ to 2 feet
long! We decide to turn round and head
back to the van, not adding much extra on the way back but a real treat awaits
us as Carlos has a whole load of little tubs of different fruit, all sliced
up! There are papaya, mango, watermelon
and pineapple and it has all been sat on ice while we have been away. The perfect treat to arrive back to when you
are hot and sweaty!
From
here we head on to the bridge over the
Over
lunch, Pat makes a comment about the little green or yellow plastic bracelets
we wear so that the barman knows you are from the hotel, and that way you can
get your free drinks. However, whilst we
have been out, people have been staring at these as though maybe we are
labelled in some way, perhaps from some institution!
After
lunch we have a bit of a break, people can relax a bit and have a swim in the
pool or whatever, and then at three o’clock we all meet up again to go for a
walk in the afternoon to another of the trails on the Carara Reserve. This time the trail is through denser primary
forest. It is absolutely beautiful.
There is a carpet of leaves on the ground, but very few low growing plants,
just the odd ferns here and there. There
is a mid layer of bushes or young trees which look like
We
arrive back at the van where we enjoy more sliced fruit and have a quick look
at Jupiter through the telescopes.
Another six Scarlet Macaws are perched up in the trees then head off
noisily to roost. What a wonderful end
to a fantastic days birding!
Day
7 Another early morning
start, with coffee at quarter to six and then a walk through the grounds,
crossing the river on the same route we took yesterday morning. This morning however, we are walking much
faster, because we are determined to get to an area where Long-tailed Manakins
lek. We get to where the second bridge
crosses the river and get good views of a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron in the same
spot as yesterday with Spotted Sandpiper also there and a new humming bird -
Steely-vented. There are
plenty of Flycatcher around, but nothing new.
A
bit further on Paco notices a Black-faced Ant-thrush calling in the
undergrowth, so by imitating it he manages to get it to come out into
view. We then notice there is some
activity up in the trees, but it seems to be something big and we soon realise
it is a small group of White-faced Capuchin Monkeys. Most of them are in the thick vegetation but
one or two come out into the open and we get very good views of them. We arrive at the lek area and Paco points out
the calls of Long-tailed Manakins. They
seem to do three different kinds of calls.
We spend a long time peering up the slope hoping to get views of them,
and failing dismally, until after what seems like an eternity Paco suddenly
spots a couple high up in a tree overhead.
Most people get onto them but they are difficult and the views are quite
poor, though you can at least see the long tails on them! Then a few minutes later, we come across two
males, again rather hidden in the vegetation, but they are doing their proper
lekking display. In effect they follow
each other in a circular motion, one shuffles up the branch and takes off and
flutters back to where it has started, in the meantime the other bird has
shuffled up the branch and has now taking off.
They follow each other round and round in circles, all the while making
the most peculiar call - goodness only knows why the females find that
attractive but I guess it is entertaining!
Although difficult it has been a wonderful thing to witness.
We
head back getting excellent views of Pale-billed Woodpecker, Great-crested Flycatcher
and a nice pair of Masked Tityras, which are building a nest in a hole. We get brief views of a Violaceous Trogon,
excellent views of Rose-breasted Grosbeak and also a nice Blue-crowned Motmot. And all this before breakfast!
At
about nine o’clock we set off again, starting on the same path as we did
yesterday afternoon, then taking a different loop. Before we have even started down the track we
find a Crimson-fronted Parakeet on top of a tree and whilst watching this, we
realise that high above it there are Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts and
Gray-breasted Martins flying around.
Just as we are about to pack up and head of for the walk a
Double-toothed Kite flies over. We
finally set off down the trail, the first part of which seems quite familiar
after yesterday and very soon we pick up a few good birds. A Plain-chested Dove is wandering down the
track ahead of us, and there are Dot-winged Antwrens either side of the
path. We stop to check out a bird, which
turns out to be a Plain Xenops and as we are looking a Black-throated Trogon
flies into our view – fantastic! We get
incredible views of it through the scope.
We soon deviate from the path that we followed yesterday and go down a
path that is slightly narrower and a bit more overgrown. There are more Black-hooded Antshrikes,
Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, then suddenly we hear a cry of
Golden-crowned Spadebill – a tiny little Flycatcher. It proves difficult to get
onto but most people get reasonable views of it. Our next good bird is a Black-striped
Woodcreeper, probably the most distinctive member of this family. We find another Great Tinamou, our third
including the two we saw yesterday, but Mary’s first, as she didn’t come on yesterday
afternoons walk. We see White-shouldered
Tanagers, Bay-headed Tanager and Tawny-capped Greenlet but an Eye-ringed
Flatbill proves rather difficult to get on to.
We eventually come to a clearing beside a river where we get fantastic
views of Long-billed Starthroat feeding on some orange blossoms on the other
side of the stream. We are still
enjoying this when astonishingly a King Vulture flies in and lands in the tree
opposite us. We set the scope upon it
and get stunning views of it, although it is a shame that it is a young bird
and is rather dull faced, but all the same an excellent find! We cross the bridge over the stream and see
Green Kingfisher and Buff-rumped Warbler, and then Riverside Wren and
Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner. What a
morning!
After
lunch, people relax, have a swim etc until about 3
o’clock when we set off down the road towards
We
carry on down the river. Occasionally a Caracaras flies over. Sometimes Crested, sometimes Yellow-headed,
sometimes both together which is very nice for comparison. We also get a nice comparison of Orchard and
Baltimore Orioles in a tree. One or two
White Ibises fly past and we get good views of Rufous-naped Wren and a superb
Prothonotary Warbler on the river bank.
On a little grassy island in the middle of the river, there are some
Seedeaters feeding and on close inspection we realise there are three species
here. They are Variable Seedeater,
White-collared Seedeater and Blue-black Grassquit. There are small flocks of Orange-chinned
Parakeets flying over and eventually some of them land in a tree giving us very
good views. There seem to be Ospreys
flying up and down the river nearly all the time and we spot several perched up
in the trees nearby. Pat spots a small
group of Black-necked Stilts perched nervous on the river bank.
A
little further down stream we come to a point where a much larger boat has
pulled into the edge, and a man has jumped out and is
wading in the river. This seems like a
pretty stupid thing to do to me since there are Crocodiles around, but then I
realise that that is exactly the man’s intention – he is carrying a dead
chicken in his hand and he starts slapping the chicken on the surface of the
water. A single huge Crocodile is approaching him.
We realise this must be the famous crocodile man and as the crocodile
gets nearer, he wades into shallow water, he is banging the chicken on the
water still, and then holding it high in the air. The crocodile starts to come out of the water
too and eventually starts leaping up, trying to get the chicken out his hand,
which eventually it does. I’m pretty awe
struck because this must be one of the biggest crocodiles I have ever seen,
certainly bigger than the man! He looks
delighted with himself, and goes back to his boat to a big round of
applause! Incredible!!!
We
turn the boat round and start heading back in the direction we came from,
picking up one or two birds as we go back.
A Muscovy Duck flies over the river. It always
seems odd to see birds that we are familiar with in captivity, in the wild and
this Muscovy Duck doesn’t look like the familiar
farmyard version with all their black and white markings. Instead it is black,
with big white patches on the wings. We
also see Red-billed Pigeon and a huge Ringed Kingfisher flies down the river
ahead of us, but unfortunately we don’t get very good views. We find an Anhinga perched up in a tree high
above the water then enter a large bay where the river widens out. There are several Roseate Spoonbills perched
in the trees here and an Amazon Kingfisher perched above them – it flies off,
startling a Ringed Kingfisher in the process.
There is also an immature Common Black Hawk perched in one of the trees
and as we turn the boat around we spot an adult Black Hawk as well. We head slightly further on towards the river
mouth and see a large flock of Black Skimmers wheeling around in the distance,
plus a few Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans.
Then we go up one of the side channels to look in the mangroves to see
if we can find any of the mangrove specialities. One of these is Mangrove Warbler, and after a
short while we manage to pick up a pair, which eventually come to the outside
edge of the Mangroves, giving us superb views.
They are funny looking things like Yellow Warblers with a bright orange
head.
It
is now time to head back, and we turn the boat round and start heading back to
the launch. Three Scarlet Macaws fly
over and land in one of the tall trees looking superb in front of the green
foliage. Their bright reds, yellows and
blues really stand out. Suddenly there
is an amazing sound as a large male Howler Monkey starts calling from the same
tree. It is unusual to see one on it’s
own as they are usually in troops, but nevertheless this one is sat all by
itself munching on some leaves.
Thanking
our boatman very much, we get off and walk back to the van, stopping to admire
a Black-capped Tityra perched in the trees above it. We travel down the road and
Our
final destination is the blue beach again.
The tide is right in today, which means spotting the little Waders is a
bit more difficult as there are all roosting together on an island quite some
distance out. You can still make them
out though, Whimbrels, Willets, Gray Plovers, Western Sandpipers etc, and a few
Black Skimmers in amongst the Royal Terns and Laughing Gulls. There are huge numbers of Brown Pelicans
coming in to roost in the mangroves on the far side, perhaps 300 or more with
more coming in all the time. Carlos does
an excellent job of finding Pacific Screech-Owl again roosting in the tree and
just as we are about to leave, a Ferruginous Pigmy-Owl flies across in front of
us and lands in a tree. It is getting
really dark now and difficult to make out any plumage features, but you can
certainly see it is a Pygmy Owl just by it’s size –
it’s tiny! It is also calling like
mad. We say our farewells to the little
children who have gathered to watch us, and head back to camp at the end of an
absolutely brilliant day’s birding.
However,
the day was still not finished, after doing the list we set off in search of
owls. The target species is Striped
Owl. We take a dirt track scanning with
some spot lights onto trees and fence posts for some time before eventually
trying along the main road and just as we are at the point of giving up Paco
spots one! First we all watch from
inside the van, getting lovely views of it and then eventually open the doors
and climb out. Astonishingly the owl
seems completely unbothered by our presence, despite the fact that it’s only
perhaps ten yards away and carries on looking down onto the grass looking for
food. We even manage to get a scope on
it and it really is a beautiful bird, far nicer looking than its illustration
in the book. I can’t help feeling sorry
for Janey who has gone down with the sickness bug that seems to be going around
and is too poorly to be with us.
Day 8 We meet at around 6am and drive up the road a little way, climbing quite steeply up before getting out and
walking gently back down the hill. A
Black-crowned Tityra is picked up quite quickly and also Great-crested
Flycatcher, but the time spent trying to see a calling Bright-rumped Attila
proved fairly fruitless with just a flight view. We do get a new trogon however - Slaty-tailed
Trogon. There are plenty birds that we
have seen before such as Chestnut-sided Warbler, Tennessee Warbler,
Rufous-capped Warbler, Buff-throated Saltator, the best views so far of
Orange-billed Sparrow, and excellent views in the scopes of Red-legged
Honeycreeper. We have the wonderful
sight of 13 Scarlet Macaws flying over looking absolutely stunning in the early
morning sunlight. There are also one or
two new birds, Yellow-Olive Flycatcher, a rather dull little thing, but Western
Tanager is a stunner - all yellow, black and orange. Palm Tanager is new as is Scaly-throated
Hummingbird. We get wonderful views,
though very brief, of a Long-tailed Manakin sat right out in the open. At this point we suddenly seem to be
surrounded by birds - every bush seems to have something in it. Yellow-throated Euphonia is new as is
Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Squirrel Cuckoo, and a male Painted Bunting an
absolute stunner. More birds seen here
include Blue Ground-Dove, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Lesser Greenlets,
Rose-throated Becard, Rufous-naped Wren - it’s just fantastic, birds
everywhere!
We
suddenly realise that the time is nearly twenty to eight, which is later than
the time we are meant to be back to the hotel for breakfast, so we all get back
into the van and start driving down the road.
We have covered hardly any distance before we stop again because Carlos
has spotted a Lineated Woodpecker. This
spectacular bird is knocking seven bells out of a branch and we all pile back
out of the van to have a look at it when a Laughing Falcon comes and lands in
the tree above it. It looks like a bandit
with a big black mask through its eyes.
During
breakfast, the lovely flotilla of White Ibises flies up the river, and a Little
Hermit comes to the feeders while we’re eating.
After breakfast, we load everything back on the van, hand in our keys and
leaving this delightful place to head off in the direction of Guanacaste.
After
a surprisingly short time the habitat changes considerably. We seem to have
left behind all the humid forest and come into an area of much drier
surroundings. The grass all looks dry,
the ground all looks dry, the trees have got no leaves, and everything seems a
lot shorter. The forest is much sparser
and there is a lot of agricultural land.
Also a lot of cattle, rather like those you might see in
We
continue driving when suddenly Daphne shouts out that there is a bird with a
long tail perched in a tree. We stop the
bus and it turns out to be an immaculate
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - an absolutely beautiful bird and everybody is
enthralled as we watch it drop to the floor catching what looks like large
beetles or big flies take them back into the branch to hit them and swallow
them. It’s lower belly and under wings
are the most beautiful orangey pink.
Again we continue on. We make a
brief stop to check out a bird in the woods which we never get on to, but while
we are looking David Maddocks spots a hummingbird just
above the van. We jump out because we
are in an area where there are different hummingbirds that we haven’t seen
before, and there seem to be at least three species around. Rufous-tailed,
Steely-vented and a new one Cinnamon Hummingbird. Looking up in the branch where it was
originally seen, Paco spots a small nest in one of the branches with two tiny
little chicks, begging for food, stretching their heads as high as they can, an absolutely delightful sight! As we are getting back in the van, a pair of White-lored Gnatcatchers are spotted.
We
make one more stop a bit further along the road, this time for a
Turquoise-browed Motmot, an absolutely stunning bird with electric blue patches
on its head and bizarre racquet shaped tail, it sits beautifully for us letting
everyone look at it through the telescope and those who are not looking through
the scope manage to pick up other birds in the surrounding area as well. Black-and-white Warbler, Banded Wren,
Brown-crested Flycatcher, Rufous-capped Warbler, and then two White-throated
Magpie-Jays fly over.
We
finally arrive at Finca Ensenada, the place where we are staying in
Guanacaste. No sooner do we get out of
the vehicles than we hear a Three-wattled Bellbird calling, it makes loud
bell-like calls, followed by high pitched squeaks. It doesn’t take very long to find it and we
all get good views of this bizarre bird with what appeared to be worms hanging
off it’s beak.
A beautiful male Scrub Euphonia appears at the top of the same tree,
before we head off to find our rooms and settle in before lunch.
But
even lunch is not uninterrupted by birds.
As we are sat there under the large thatched roof of the dining area a
White-throated Magpie-Jay comes and perches just above us on one of the beams,
apparently ready to take up any pickings that we may offer it. It really is a beautiful bird and has a
fantastic quiff on the front of it its head. To see one so close it is a real
treat!
By
early afternoon the weather has become very hot indeed, there is complete blue
sky from wall to wall and the temperature has soared. It is too hot to do anything and most people
either go and have a swim in the pool or just have a rest in their hammocks or
in their rooms, it is all very lazy and relaxed. Magnificent Frigatebirds wheel around
overhead as do Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures. It is a beautiful place with a view out to
the sea.
At
about four o’clock we gather back at the van to do some birding and we head
down to a small pool. As we drive along
we flush a small group of Spot-bellied Bobwhites. There are parakeets flying around including
Orange-fronted and Orange-chinned, there are Baltimore Orioles and there seem
to be flycatchers everywhere. The pond
is almost reminiscent of some of the scenes you see in
Time
is passing all too quickly so we decide to walk along the road a little way to
see if we can spot any orioles or anything.
There are quite a few parakeets and parrots flying over, including
White-fronted, and astonishing numbers of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers flying
over to roost. There is a Prothonotary
Warbler, lots of Tropical Kingbirds and Kiskadees, one or two Baltimore Orioles
and a new bird – Streaked-backed Oriole – an absolute stunner! We see a couple more White-lored
Gnatcatchers, a White-fronted Parrot flies through and some nice Black-striped
Sparrows. We also get better views of Cinnamon Hummingbird. We finish the day with a lovely flock of
Lesser Nighthawks hawking for insects high over the road.
Day 9 We start our day at Guanacaste at the Finca Encanada
where we are woken by the sound of Howler Monkeys. Some of us were woken at about five o’clock
by Howler Monkeys but apparently other people have been woken at about half
past one, two o’clock, three o’clock and four o’clock - they have been howling
all night! It certainly is an incredible
sound, very loud and very hoarse and you can’t help thinking it’s bound to hurt
their throats! However they certainly
look very contented sat up their tree and we can see them very well through our
telescope from where we meet at quarter to six. Some people would like to throw
a brick at them I think!
We
haven’t even made it as far as the van when we get a new bird! Spot-breasted Oriole,
absolutely beautiful orange and black birds with little black spots on the side
of the chest. They fly across the
top of some trees nearby and we follow them to find that there is also
Rose-throated Beccard there, lots of parakeets including Orange-fronted and
Orange-chinned and a nice Black-headed Trogon.
There are also flycatchers all over the place and Kiskadees, Boat-billed
Flycatchers, Tropical Kingbirds, Social Flycatcher, and in the background all
the while you can hear Three-wattled Bellbirds calling. A superbly coloured Variagated Squirrel leaps
from one branch to another in most impressive style. We drive down the road and a short stop picks
up Common Ground Dove, Green-breasted Mango and Squirrel Cuckoo.
We
continue till we reach an area of saltpans.
There are two or three men working already despite the earliness of the
hour, and sacks of salt are stacked up all over the place. There are quite a few big lagoons, all
obviously very shallow and full of waders.
There must be three or four hundred Semipalmated Sandpipers plus a lot
of Western Sandpipers, Black-bellied Plovers, Semi-palmated Plovers and
In
the mangroves there is an Anhinga perched right at the top of one and also
Yellow-crowned Night Heron and at least two Mangrove Black Hawks, both adults
and in perfect plumage. Eventually one
of them drops down onto the ground and starts eating a crab. There are Mangrove Swallows flitting around
above the water, a
Blue-winged Teal and in the mangroves themselves we eventually pick out a
Lesser Eleania. We manage to pish out a
pair or Mangrove Warblers which come out very close indeed and we get very good
views of a Ringed Kingfisher as it flies over high up. One more wader is added to the list –
Short-billed Dowitcher, but unfortunately we don’t have any luck with any of
the other mangrove specialities.
We’ve
got a long way to go today so we need to get breakfast a little earlier than
usual. We turn round now and head back
to base. Back there we have a good
breakfast, then as the van is being packed a couple of
us wander round to see what else we can pick up before we leave. We get excellent views of at least two
Three-wattled Bellbirds, both calling, we find a
Streaked-backed Oriole, and then a Mangrove Hummingbird.
With
the van packed we set off down the road but we’ve hardly gone any distance
before we screech to a halt and Paco jumps up in great excitement shouting
‘Tamandua!’ Most of us don’t have a clue
what this means but he’s clearly very pleased about it so we all pile out to
look. Anybody that knows their mammals
would know this is a species of arboreal Anteater and there it is, a superb
looking animal fast asleep and curled up like a ball in a tree. How on earth it can be comfortable I’ve no
idea as the tree is completely covered with big spines! Lots of photographs are taken before we leave
it in peace and carry on down the road.
We make a final stop at the pool we stopped at yesterday which is still
covered with large numbers of Wood Storks, Black-necked Stilts, Jacanas,
Egrets, Herons and Waders, with an Osprey in the background but I don’t think
we pick up anything new. We do get
lovely views of another Scissor-tailed Flycatcher as we leave however. We now have a very long way to go as we have
to drive from here all the way round
The
road gradually winds it’s way up higher and higher
until eventually we pass over onto the Carribean side of the central ridge and
it is astonishing the difference. Having
just spent a couple of days in the dry Guanacaste area with it’s
brown dry grass and leafless trees, all of a sudden, here we are back in
greenery. The grass is bright green the
trees covered in leaves and also bromiliads and palms and ferns.
We
pass through a lot of farmland then some nice looking areas of forest before
eventually we come down to the lake itself.
We
stop for lunch at a small restaurant not far from the shore of the lake and
whilst waiting for lunch to be served even add more species to the list, Green
Honeycreeper, Tropical Pewee and Southern Rough-winged Swallow. Well fed and recharged we continue on down
the road, following the shore for a long way on a road that gets rougher and
rougher, the pot-holes are absolutely horrendous in places and in some places
the tarmac has gone completely and in others the side of the road seems to have
collapsed into the streams underneath.
However our slow progress means that we are at least able to stop and
look at the odd bird such as Passareni’s Tanager with its bright scarlet rump
and we see Buff-throated Saltator, Variable Seedeater, this time in it’s
completely black form, Pale-vented Pigeon, Yellow-faced Grassquit, a little
flock of Ruddy Ground Doves and at one point we are astonished to discover
sixteen White-nosed Coatis in the middle of the road! Rather cheekily the whole group are stopping
every car that comes along and putting their feet up on the side of the car,
looking up at the windows hoping for handouts!
They really are delightful!
As
we cross the damn at the bottom of the lake there is an Amazon Kingfisher on
the rocks, and also quite a few Northern Rough-winged Swallows but this is
mainly a stop to get out and photograph Arenal Volcano. Sadly, the top of it is completely covered in
cloud so you can’t see any of the pyrotechnics but it is an impressive looking
mountain and the classic volcano shape.
The weather has certainly deteriorated quite a lot and it is spitting
with rain, however we get out to try a short walk
along the track as we are heading up towards the observatory. There are White-crowned Parrots in the
Sacropia Trees when we get out of the van and Gray-rumped Swifts flying around
overhead. We are just trying to coax a
Bay Wren out of the undergrowth when it starts to rain more heavily, so we race
back to the van and head on further up the road.
We
make one more stop before we arrive at the observatory because Paco has spotted
a Keel-billed Toucan in the top of a tree.
We all jump out and set up a scope and a couple of people get good views
of it and then it flies off. But within
seconds it is replaced by another two!
Everybody gets excellent views as these birds hop around on the top of a
tree and one even starts to call! There
is also Montezuma Oropendola there and Red-lored Parrot. There is suddenly a rumble, a bit like
thunder but somehow different, much shorter than most thunder and we suddenly
realise we are hearing the volcano. It
really is beginning to get dark now so we head on up to the observatory itself
to pick up our keys and head off to our rooms to relax and settle in for an hour
or so. We have to cross a rather wobbly
suspension bridge in the process, which is quite fun!
After
a delicious evening meal the final treat of the night is a huge moth outside
the rooms with large eyes on its hind wings.
The weather has really closed in now and there is quite a lot of heavy
rain, so I think everyone is going to be sleeping with their fingers crossed
for tomorrow so we have a good day and we can actually see the volcano!
Day 10 After a quick coffee at 6am we climb the stairs up to an
observation platform from where we can easily view a bird table – well not a
table but a bird feeder of some sort with prongs on which are speared all sorts
of fruit. In no time at all, all kinds
of birds start coming in to feed. The
arrangement is particularly good because the weather is horrible, heavy drizzle
and rain, very overcast, but up on this platform we have a lovely roof over us,
we can open the windows without getting wet and still watch all the birds! Superb!
There are large numbers of Red-legged Honeycreepers, with at one point
eight of them feeding together on the fruit feeder, there are Blue-gray
Tanagers, Bananaquit, Crimson-collared Tanager, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Palm
Tanager, Hepatic Tanager, Summer Tanager, Baltimore’s Oriole, Green
Honeycreeper - a pair of those, Yellow-throated Euphonia and some beautiful
Golden-hooded Tanagers.
Immediately
below us are a line of bushes with little purple flowers that hummingbirds seem
to really like. There are several
species buzzing about, including lots of Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds that keep
chasing everything else around. However,
while we are watching we see Violet-headed Hummingbird, which is a new one, as is White-necked Jacobin, probably the most impressive of the
hummingbirds we’ve seen so far, and a tiny little female Black-crested
Coquette. There are also Violet-crowned
Woodnymph and Little Hermit. Back at the
feeder, everything makes way for a huge Montezumas Oropendola that comes flying in. It
tucks into the fruit and then starts displaying making an astonishing bubbling
noise whilst turning completely upside down.
A White-nosed Coati appears and we soon realise why they don’t just use
a conventional bird table. After a
tremendous effort it manages to get up onto the bird table and tucks into the
fruit with great gusto, eating everything in sight! Three other new species are picked up before breakfast include Black-and-yellow Tanager, Scarlet-thighed
Dacnis, and Black-striped Sparrow. It
has been an incredible scene with so many birds of so many different colours
all feeding at the same time on this feeder.
Best line of the morning has to go to Mary. After we’d seen so many Red-legged
Honeycreepers Mary arrives just before breakfast and says, “Do you get
Red-legged Honeycreepers here?”
After
breakfast we all meet up again and decide to go for a walk around the hotel
grounds. They are extremely nice with
bits of forest as well as the more ornate gardens and it is as we enter the
forest that we see our first Gray-headed Chachalacas. We also see Lineated Woodpecker, Lineated
Foliage-gleaner, Olive-striped Flycatcher, a very close Broad-winged Hawk
drying its wings after the rain and a nice flock of Olive Tanagers. There are a pair of
White-crowned Parrots perched on top of a Secropia Tree and we get brief but
quite good views of a Tropical Parula.
Then of there are the hummingbirds!
We have seen many of them already this morning but not so close to and
we add to the days list a superb adult male Green
Hermit.
After
this we head slowly down the road looking for birds as we go. It seems rather quiet and we have to work
quite hard to find anything but we do eventually get good views of a
Striped-breasted Wren and also a Least Flycatcher. Then a bit further on two or
three Black-headed Saltators fly across the road and we get quite good views of
them through the scope. A Barred
Antshrike skulks in the bushes. In the meantime the weather is improving all
the time, the rain has completely stopped now, the sky has become much bluer
with only scattered clouds and every now and then we look up towards the
volcano to see how much of it is visible.
Each time we look there seems to be a little more and as we head back
for lunch the whole volcano is almost in view.
The cloud keeps drifting across towards the top of it and every now and
then you get a glimpse of the top.
Whilst
we are waiting for lunch,
By
the end of lunch time the whole of the mountain is visible and as we head off
towards Tabacon
Tabacon
By
the time we have all got out and dried off, and back in the van, there’s
probably only a couple of hours of daylight left so we work our way slowly back
up the road towards the observatory lodge, stopping at a few sites to do some
birding along the way. It turns out to
be extremely productive and we see several new species as well as a lot of
stuff we’ve seen before; the new ones include, Crested Guan, which we see
probably four or five all together, Fasciated Antshrike, Long-tailed Tyrant,
which I’ll come back to in a minute, Bay Wren, Banded-backed Wren and Great
Antshrike. I want to come back to
Long-tailed Tyrant purely because it is a very special bird for one member of
the group. Angela, who is pretty widely
travelled now, has been counting down in the last few days to species number
2000 on her world list! And Long-tailed
Tyrant was it! So there was much back
slapping and congratulations and she seems very happy with that being such a
momentous species. It really is an
extremely attractive bird!
Paco has been told that a Great Potoo has been roosting in some trees along the road and he stares carefully into them, checking every branch, to see if it is here today and suddenly - there it is! And what a fantastic bird! It’s big, it looks like an owl, but it is in fact related to Nightjars. As it is getting on towards dusk, we decide to wait and see if it flies and we watch as it wakes up and starts stretching it’s wings one at a time has a bit of a preen before it eventually wakes up, and initially it only makes a couple of short flights from branch to branch.<