4th
March:
It
dawned grey and murky and the plan was to head out and do the La Selva approach
road before breakfast and with all the crew assembled we headed off down the
road. The first back road we tried felt very birdy but Ramon was a little
dubious about taking the bus down it so we only had a short poke about but it
reaped rewards with the margins of some fields and paddocks holding Blue Black
Grassquits and our first new species of the day with a pair of energetic
Olive-crowned Yellowthroats bouncing around a boundary fence and in and out of
the grasses. It was all a bit grey out there and a group of Black Vultures were
sat up in a bare tree waiting for things to improve.
 |
| Olive-crowned Yellowthroat |
 |
| Olive-crowned Yellowthroats - not great but you get the idea! |
 |
| Black Vultures |
A
flycatcher demanded attention and quickly resolved into a dusky capped Tropical
Peewee while squawking Amazons turned out to be pretty Red-lored Parrots who
were sharing their tree with some very noisy Montezuma Oropendolas who were out
looking for fibres for nest weaving.
 |
| Red-lored Parrot |
 |
| Montezuma Oropendola |
 |
| Orb Weaver |
Doubling
back we hit the main entrance road for an hour.
Steve was hoping that it would have been better but there was a lot of
staff traffic in and out but we were all very happy with the results. Pigeons
and Doves were a feature with Pale Vented Pigeons going over, snub faced Short-billed
Pigeons singing from the wires, Grey Chested Doves plodding up a ride and a
smart Scaled Pigeon serenading no one in particular from a tree top.
 |
| Short-billed
Pigeon |
 |
| Scaled Pigeon |
 |
| Grey Chested Doves |
A
pair of nicely barred Fasciated Antshrikes came to see us and Rufous Tailed
Jacamar, female Black-throated Trogon and a tail-less Broad Billed Motmot
adorned the lichen covered roadside cables.
 |
| Black-throated Trogon - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Broad Billed Motmot - Steve Cullum |
Slaty-tailed and Gartered Trogons were also
seen along with a couple of raucous Squirrel Cuckoos who seemed to be in the
company of a Red-tailed Squirrel most of the time. I am not quite sure where they get the name
from?
 |
| Squirrel Cuckoo |
Yellow-throated
Toucans sung a morning duet and a noisy Cocoa Woodcreeper showed nicely as it
clambered upwards. The same tree also hosted a Woodpecker and with a bit of
work we were able to confirm (with the white eyes) that it was a Rufous Winged.
 |
| Rufous Winged Woodpecker |
Lower
down Red-throated Ant-Tanagers quite literally crashed through the vegetation
and House Wren, Green Honeycreeper, Olive Backed Euphonia, Common Tody
Flycatcher and White Collared Manakin were also picked up. Chestnut-sided Warblers moved through the
canopy and a Buff Rumped Warbler sang from a ditch.
 |
| Red-throated Ant-Tanager |
It
was almost inevitable that we would hear a Bright Rumped Attila but unlike
every other day we actually saw this chunky flycatcher very well this time as
it hunted up and down the drive way trees. Rufous-tailed Hummer and Long-billed
Hermit fed avidly near the main gate and just before we left Gina found our
final Puffbird – a White-necked sitting atop a dead tree much in the way of the
Pied she found yesterday. All too soon breakfast beckoned.
 |
| White-necked Puffbird miles away! |
 |
| Red-throated Ant-Tanager |
 |
| Interesting fish near the dining room |
There
was time for a look off the bridge but
there was no Phoebe to see and only several Southern Rough-winged Swallows but
the Bay Wrens were still in the same spot and I found a definitive Bay Breasted
Warbler in the trees above. A Crowned Woodnymph dazzled us and a female
Blue-chested Hummer was searching for insects actually on the bridge itself and
even landed to search on foot on several occasions!
 |
| Bay Breasted
Warbler |
 |
| Blue-chested Hummingbird |
 |
| Just for Steve - the Yellow Shrimp Plant |
 |
| Tiny Wasps in a tiny paper nest |
We
said goodbye to the Rufous Motmot, Black-cowled Orioles, Orange Billed
Sparrows and Aracaris and headed west.
The
first part of the journey took us through farmland dominated by the sterile
acres of glaucous Pineapple fields with not a blade of anything else green
showing in the bare soil around them. There
were birds to be seen including the regular doves, pigeons, vultures, martins
and flycatchers but it was generally a quiet trip punctuated by odd moments of
excitement.
Swallow-tailed
Kites, Broad-winged, Grey and our first Roadside and Harris’ Hawks were all
seen along with a very nice hovering White-tailed Kite as we did a 360 to go
back for a male Red-breasted Blackbird on a wire.
 |
| Harris’ Hawk - nice to see one without jesses |
 |
| White-tailed Kite - like a bigger Black Shouldered Kite |
 |
| White-tailed Kite |
 |
| Red-breasted Blackbird |
This
dapper chap flew across the road and joined a female and a couple of Red-winged
Blackbirds while the pasture was alive with low flying hirundines of four
species.
As
we entered La Fortuna we nabbed Feral Pigeon at last for the list before
pulling up at a spot that looked like any other bit of town frontage. Common
Ground Doves and Tropical Mockingbirds greeted us on the wires as we got off
the bus.
 |
| Tropical Mockingbird |
This
was the privately created and managed nature reserve called Sendero Bogarin and
we were warmly welcomed with fine Costa Rican hospitality and coffee. It is still a work in progress and the ‘pond’
by the entrance area had a chap building a wall below us but the birds were
flocking in.
We
had two sessions before and after a walk around the jungle grounds which
allowed us to get incredibly close to some of the usual players including
Passerini’s, Palm and Blue Grey Tanagers, Red-legged and Green Honeycreepers, Great
Tailed Grackles, Hoffmann’s Woodpeckers, Buff-throated Saltators, Yellow-throated
Euphonias, Tropical Kingbirds, Kiskadees and Clay Coloured Thrushes.
 |
| Passerini’s Tanager |
 |
| Passerini’s Tanager |
 |
| Passerini’s Tanager -Steve Cullum |
 |
| Blue Grey Tanager |
 |
| Blue Grey Tanager |
 |
| Palm Tanager |
 |
| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
 |
| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
 |
| Green Honeycreeper |
 |
| Green Honeycreeper |
 |
| Clay Coloured Thrush |
 |
| Clay Coloured Thrush - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Kiskadee - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Kiskadee |
 |
| Great tailed Grackle |
 |
| Great tailed Grackle |
 |
| Great tailed Grackle |
 |
| Yellow-throated Euphonias |
 |
| Hoffmann's Woodpecker |
However,
there were additions with long-tailed chicken-like Grey Headed Chachalacas that
popped in and out and took over the fruit bar and down below around the pond a
dinky White-throated Crake slipped in and out of the edges. Adult Green
Basilisks basked in the damp edges.
 |
| Grey Headed Chachalaca |
 |
| Grey Headed Chachalaca - 'Mum told me to be careful where I stuck my head...' |
 |
| Grey Headed Chachalaca |
 |
| Grey Headed Chachalaca - Steve Cullum |
 |
| White-throated Crake - Steve Cullum |
 |
| White-throated Crake |
 |
| Green Basilisk |
 |
| Green Basilisk |
 |
| Green Basilisk |
Hyped
on a coffee or two we set off for a circular walk. The owner had told Steve that he had
Keel-billed Motmots as well as the very shy Uniform Crake (no, it is not
dressed up as a Policeman or suchlike). We started well with a Brown Throated Three
Toed Sloth with a youngster watching us from the canopy and just a little
further on a Hoffmann’s two Toed Sloth did likewise but without an infant
attached.
 |
| Brown Throated Three
Toed Sloths |
 |
| Hoffmann’s Two Toed Sloth |
Yellow-throated
Toucans crashed about and a Golden Olive Woodpecker showed well if briefly.
Steve played the call of the Keel-billed Motmot and got an immediate response.
A Broad-billed appeared right in front of us followed immediately by the
Keel-billed! Apparently not only do they sound almost identical but are often found
together. But this is a very tricky species to connect with and you could tell
Steve and Gina were as pleased as us.
 |
| Keel-billed Motmot |
 |
| Keel-billed Motmot |
 |
| Keel-billed Motmot - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Keel-billed Motmot - Steve Bird |
No
orange tones on this species with shades of green and blue making it even more
adept at blending into the foliage.
 |
| Broad-billed Motmot |
 |
| Broad-billed Motmot |
 |
| Broad-billed Motmot |
We
could hear the Uniform Crakes singing but they would not come into the open so
we pushed on and discovered a pair of Barred Antshrikes complete with punky
crests and a Black Vulture let us walk right past it on a log where presumably
it was waiting to hop down after something dead!
 |
| Black Vulture |
 |
| Black Vulture |
 |
| Black Vulture - Steve Cullum - just realised that this is not the same bird as my one! Must have missed the second bird! |
Just
around the next corner the Uniform Crakes started singing again and this time
by hunkering down on the path and remaining still and silent we were able to
get everyone onto this, well, uniformly ginger and brown unmarked crake with a
pale bill and glowing red legs.
White
Collared Manakins snap crackle and popped at us on the last stretch and some
Morelet’s Seedeaters greeted us as we got back for our packed lunch that Ramon
had magically procured.
The
feeders gave us more chance to marvel at the exuberance of Costa Rican birdlife
while I got distracted by two more White-throated Crakes on another pond around
the back where a Marshish looking Vaillant's Frog also lurked along with some
damselflies.
 |
| White-throated Crake |
 |
| White-throated Crake - Steve Bird |
 |
| Vaillant's Frog |
 |
| Red-striped Rubyspot (Hetaerina miniata) |
 |
| Pacific Wedgetail (Acanthagrion trilobatum) - Steve Bird |
 |
| Racket-tipped Rubyspot (Hetaerina occisa) - Steve Bird |
 |
| Green Honeycreeper |
 |
| Green Honeycreeper - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Red-legged Honeycreeper - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
 |
| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
 |
| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
 |
| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
 |
| Passerini's Tanager |
 |
| Passerini's Tanager - Steve Cullum |
Steve
gave me ten minutes to go explore again before we left and I followed a funny
song that sounded awfully like a tinny Reed Bunting. I looked up and a Scaly
Breasted Hummingbird was looking down at me and singing with all his might with
his white tipped tail fanned wide for all to see.
 |
| Scaly
Breasted Hummingbird |
All
the Tanagers and Thrushes were kicking off in the undergrowth but I could not
see the predator that was freaking them out but I was soon distracted by being face
to face with the Three Toed Sloth and youngster from earlier. She had obviously
been down for her weekly ablutions and was already about three feet back off
the ground.
 |
| Brown Throated Three Toed Sloths |
 |
| Brown Throated Three Toed Sloths - Steve Cullum |
I
jogged back to the group and sent everyone off for a look but without telling
them what for. What a real privilege to encounter this gentle creature at
ground level.
Enlivened
by this productive stop (and more coffee) we moved on with Arenal looming in
the cloud in front of us. Every now and
then a bit more of it would appear alongside but i do not think any of us quite
expected where we were actually staying.
Several
more Swallow-tailed Kites drifted by and our first Southern Lapwings paraded in
a paddock with some truly enormous sheep – so big in fact that there was
actually a discussion about what else they could have been!
 |
| Arenal in the cloud |
 |
| Southern Lapwing |
 |
| Southern Lapwing - Steve Cullum |
Another
brief stop gave us a couple of chunky Thick Billed Seed-finches – like another hitch
in the pointy bit scale from Blue-Black Grassquit through Variable Seedeater
both of which were also seen alongside the road. Two Grey Crowned Yellowthroats fortuitously
appeared on the same fence line and even hopped down into the road for us to
see better.
Up
we climbed and soon we were at the Arenal Observatory Lodge – AOL. I could see
through to the veranda overlooking a pole covered in Oropendolas and a big
black thing flapped across for half a second... Curassow my brain said but I
was being good and did not run off.
Dad
and I trundled our bags down slope to our lodge with a balcony overlooking the
gardens, rain forest and the mighty Arenal Volcano. Oh my word...
I
did not unpack but dumped the bags and scuttled (sorry, but I did) back up to
the veranda by the dining room to be greeted by a female Great Curassow perched
up on the bird table in all her barred chestnut glory! She put up her regal curly crest in black and
white and hopped back down to join three more underneath in the company of a
whole boisterous troop of Coatis. Grey
Headed Chachalacas, Crested Guans, greedy Collared Aracaris, a posse of Brown
Jays and acrobatic Montezuma Oropendolas clambered around the branches of the
high fruit feeder. Quite how the branches took all this big bird mass I do not
know.
 |
| Great Curassow |
 |
| Great Curassow - shaking her head in disbelief that the 'nanas had run out |
 |
| Great Curassow with Coati buddy |
 |
| Crested Guan |
 |
| Crested Guan - Steve Cullum |
|
| Grey
Headed Chachalaca - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Collared Aracari |
 |
| Collared Aracari |
 |
| Brown Jay - youngster I think |
 |
| Brown Jay |
 |
| Montezuma Oropendola |
 |
| Montezuma Oropendola - building up to display |
 |
| and over he goes in full other wordly blowing bubbles mode |
 |
| down and under then back up again |
 |
| Montezuma Oropendola - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Montezuma Oropendola - Steve Cullum |
The
male Great Curassow now strutted in with his oily black plumage and even
curlier head plumes that gleamed like he had applied a surfeit of old style
pomade (like my Grandad Stan used to) to a 1980’s Lionel Ritchie perm. To be
honest I reckon that his harem had better looks.
 |
| Great Curassow- 'Hello, is it me you're looking for?' |
 |
| Great Curassow - like a Black Scoter jammed into a Wild Turkey |
It
feels bad to say ‘the usual Tanagers’ but you know which ones were all in
attendance but amongst them were several smart Golden Hooded and a pair of
gleaming Emeralds. It was now raining
lightly but it did not deter the birds with Black-cheeked Woodpeckers,
Yellow-throated Euphonias, Red-legged and Green Honeycreepers and Baltimore
Orioles dropping in to feed.
 |
| Golden Hooded Tanager |
 |
| Golden Hooded Tanager - love this against the coroded copper feeder baffle |
 |
| Golden Hooded Tanager - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Emerald Tanager - Steve Cullum |
 |
| Emerald Tanager |
 |
| Emerald Tanager |
 |
| Black Cheeked Woodpecker |
 |
| Black Cheeked Woodpecker |
 |
| Yellow-throated Euphonia |
Red-lored
Parrots flew over and a Masked Tityra sat high in a tree top while below us in
the flower beds were Rufous tailed, Green and Stripe-throated Hermits and
several Bananaquits foraged and House Wrens were singing. A big sparrow hopped out – olive with a black
and grey stripy head – Black Striped – the twin of Olive Sparrow that we saw on
the first full day.
 |
| Red-lored
Parrot |
 |
| Red-lored
Parrot |
 |
| Black Striped Sparrow |
 |
| Black Striped Sparrow |
 |
| A local craft beer moment.. |
 |
| And a quite large and well jawed metallic Wasp sp |
 |
| A splendid little Dolichopodidae sp |
There
was time for a pre-dinner walk around the gardens and in between showers we did
very well with Summer and our first Hepatic Tanager around the Reception area
and a selection of Hummers feeding on the Verbena beds with the gleaming Violet Headed and an immature male Black Crested Coquette with a white bum band as
well as more Rufous-taileds. Scaly
Breasted Hummers were picked up singing from little bare twigs and I do not
think that I saw one feeding for more than a few seconds at any stage during
the trip.
 |
| Black Crested Coquette |
 |
| Black Crested Coquette |
 |
| Violet Headed HB - nice post ocular spot |
 |
| Scaly
Breasted HB after a rain shower |
Red-billed Pigeons were seen well at last although yellow-billed
would be more apt and Melodious Blackbirds poked about the lawns. This is a fast colonising species in Costa
Rica and it was the first time Steve and Gina had seen them up here.
Social
and Grey Capped Flycatchers hunted from the wires and a Black-cowled Oriole put
in an appearance before it was time to head back for dinner. I can't say that I remember the log - again. Quite a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment