A very early attempt for the Crested Owls resulted in
hearing them very well but they stayed at a fair distance while Pauraque sung
again in the gardens. The Collared Forest
Falcons started up while there was just a glimmer in the sky but likewise
remained out of view. However there was
plenty to see pre-breakfast with a group of Brown-headed Parrots up in one of
the bigger trees and Red-lored Amazons squawked around in multiples of
two.
I know my landscapes often make the weather look wonderful but it was often short lived
Brown-headed Parrots
White-collared Manakins wing snapped and the trees behind the lodge held
Yellow-throated and Philadelphia Vireos, Baltimore Orioles, Slaty-tailed
Trogon, both Toucans, Swainson’s Thrushes, Wilson’s Warblers and Northern Bentbill
and we could hear Barred Antshrike and Black-striped Sparrows singing from the
gardens.
Yellow-throated Toucan
Would not want to fall into this tree
A tatty White Hawk flew over and spooked some Orange-chinned
Parakeets. A shout from in side of ‘SNOWCAP!’ had us scampering back inside and
there below us around the one patch of Verbena was a gleaming, shiny almost
pink bumble bee of a bird with that luminous white crown.It zipped around for just over a minute
before the inevitable Rufous-tailed HB saw it off.Thankfully we were all there to see this gem
of a bird.The last time I was here I missed
one by looking at the wrong bush…
Snowcap - it was still early!
Time to go once again and wend our way across toward the
Nicaraguan border and the Caño
Negro. We stopped couple of times along the road
on the way out and had a particularly productive 20 minutes at the Rio Celeste
bridge (where there were still no Fasciated Tiger-Herons) and with blue skies
and warming temperatures there were raptors to be found.Five Double-toothed Kites were up high interacting
and were joined by Broad-winged and Short-tailed Hawks, Turkey, Black and two
adult King Vultures, a squealing Bat Falcon, immature Red-tailed Hawk and a low
Great Black Hawk. Superb stuff. Ramon was trying his very best to find us an
Ornate Hawk-Eagle!
Great Black Hawk
Great Black Hawk
King Vulture
Down the road a ways we found three individual Laughing
Falcons and an obliging pair of White-tailed Kites along with Roadside Hawks
and our first Grey Hawk of the journey.It was looking set to become a raptor day.
White-tailed Kites
White-tailed Kite
White-tailed Kite
White-tailed Kite
Further short stops added Blue-Black Grassquits performing
their little jump display, Variable Seedeaters and a pair of Yellow Tyrannulets
that were in some vines with Black-throated Wrens, Golden-hooded and Passerini’s
Tanagers.A ploughed field on the other
side of the road held a pair of goggle-eyed Double-striped Thick-knees.They always feel so much taller than our own
European species.
Keel-billed Toucan
Double-striped Thick-knee
Yellow Tyrannulet
A dead palm on the outskirts of a village had a fine male Lineated
Woodpecker which even let us get out and scope it. Meanwhile a Green Iguana
looked out from the hollow top of the tree.The regular parakeets and parrots were seen in the villages along with the
usual flycatchers, Grey-breasted Martins and Blue and White Swallows.
Lineated Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Groove-billed Ani
Groove-billed Ani
The long bumpy track ensued and of course as soon as we
reached the tarmac the Hotel de Campo entrance is just 50m up the road.It was seriously hot and sticky but at that
stage at least it was not wet.The
birding continued en route to the rooms with our first look at the dapper
Spot-breasted Wrens one of which was devouring a very skinny cricket.
Spot-breasted Wren
Spot-breasted Wren - feelers sticking out of the bill!
The water level of the lagoon was far higher that I had seen
on my previous visits and with no shallow margins there was little to see bar a
few Neotropic Cormorants and Great White Egrets but the gardens on the walk
back up to the rooms added Grey-headed Doves, Streak-headed Woodcreepers,
Common Tody Flycatchers and a smart male White-collared Manakin.
Not sure on this lizard yet
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
We were soon back out on the road and on the long bumpy road
that would take us to Medio Guesso. It
was so green and wet this time and roadside stops proved most worthwhile a good
selection of the regular herons and egrets, Anhingas and best of all a monstrously
huge Jabiru – a species we missed last time.
Green Heron
Jabiru
Jabiru
Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers were dotted along the
telephone wires with TKs and we had one particular marshy area where the wild
rice was fruiting and found Morelet’s and Variable Seedeaters, Thick-billed and
the impressive top heavy Nicaraguan Seedfinches.
Leafcutter Ants amongst some cow bones!
Monarch
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Red-winged Blackbirds and
Red-breasted Meadowlarks were perched up on the tops and Northern Jacanas
switched between chestnut to lime yellow when they took flight. A solitary
Giant Cowbird was chased off by several TKs.
Our raptor day continued with several more Roadside Hawks
before adding seven Harris’s Hawks including three perched up in the same dead
tree.They soon moved on and were
replaced by two dapper Bat Falcons who wanted to utilise the same
lookouts.We had joked about the chance
of adding Northern Harrier and then I spotted a steadily moving but familiar
shape heading high and south. Ta dah!One
ringtail in the bag and another Costa Rica tick for me to boot. Another
followed shortly afterwards with two American Kestrels on the wires.Jose said that this was one of their regular
spots.
Harris’s Hawks
Harris’s Hawks
Bat Falcons
Bat Falcon
Bat Falcon
Northern Harrier
Northern Harrier
American Kestrel
Western Cattle Egrets
The sky had begun to dark and the rain soon arrived just in
time for our arrival at Medio Guesso. We had a great little boat ride as usual
but the persistent precipitation and grey skies did not quite give the experience
I was hoping for the crew with damp birds all around and with higher water
levels, not the numbers I had imagined.
Saying that we were still very fortunate finding a variety of Rallidae with
a pair of diminutive Yellow-breasted Crakes (not taped by the way!), seven
trilling White-throated Crakes, Common and Purple Gallinules and an obliging
Sora.There were mot too many herony
things but we did end up with five damp Pinnated Bitterns and a single male
Least Bittern.A Pied Billed Grebe was a
good find and looked huge alongside the Least Bittern. Hundreds of Western Cattle Egrets and a few Little
Blue Herons were off to roost and flocks of Blue-winged Teals flighted in as an
early dusk fell.
American Purple Gallinule
Sora
Yellow-breasted Crake
Blue-winged Teals
Least Bittern
Western Cattle Egrets
Pinnated Bittern
There were only a few Ringed, Green and Amazon Kingfishers
and most were sheltering from the rain and a flighty Fork-tailed Flycatcher looked
particularly bedraggled as it flew along the river.There were raptors too with Black-collared
Hawk and a soggy Snail Kite that looked very miserable.That bill is amazing. The weather precluded us
getting many small birds other than a few Red-winged Blackbirds and a singing
Olive-crowned Yellowthroat that did the decent thing and popped up on top of
the flooded grasses.Pale-vented Pigeons
were congregating in the odd bigger trees too roost but we could not find Night-Herons
of any species.
Green Kingfisher and umbrella
Green Kingfisher
rough Snail Kite
We returned damp but happy with the species haul and kept
our fingers crossed for the journey back where we hoped to find some Owls and
Potoos by torchlight as we bumped along.The rain grew steadily heavier making lamping for eyeshine even more
difficult but we stuck to it and Jose did the business on the right hand side
with an American Barn Owl,Striped Owl, two Black and White Owls and a distant
Common Potoo but all I managed to find on the left were lots of spider eyes and
the occasional bovine!
American Barn Owl
Striped Owl
Striped Owl - Jose Pablo Castillo
It had been another long day but we had experienced 26 birds
of prey and somehow not been defeated by the deteriorating weather.Sleep came easy.
