Blue Eyed Birder: April 2022

Up before dawn at Celeste Mountain Lodge as usual and a stealthy walk down to the Heliconias gave the briefest of views of the White-tipped Sicklebill HB before it zipped off once again but at least I had connected at last. The Snowcap was decidedly absent but there were Stripe-throated and Green Hermits, Violet Headed, Rufous tailed, Brown Violetear and Blue-throated Sapphire (that's the one that used to be Goldentail) in attendance. Four Red-rumped Caciques flew down the road which was a pleasant addition and a Spotted Antbird was singing off in the forest and I was pleased that I remembered the song. The Bay Wrens were being noisy and showing very well and Guans, both Toucans and four Collared Aracaris were part of the dawn chorus along with a couple of late calls from the Crested Owl. Angie and I walked back with Orange-billed Sparrows in the verges and Tanagers, Saltators and Orioles moving through the trees to find a smiling Jim who had had the Sicklebill collecting rain drops from the side of a car!

Singing Crested Guan at dawn

Groove-billed Ani

Red-billed Pigeon

Collared Aracari

Cinnamon Bellied Saltator

Brown Hooded Parrot

Common Tody-Flycatcher

Our Eyelash Viper had barely moved

Hawkmoth - the only moth overnight!

Yellow-throated Euphonia

It was soon time for breakfast and then packing time (aka birding time) and Julie joined me back at the Heliconias where miraculously the Sicklebill reappeared and thankfully in the minutes before we departed everyone got onto this chunky but very distinct Hummer as it briefly hung on selected flowers to drink nectar.

White-tipped Sicklebill with some helpful pale Ken background

White-tipped Sicklebill

Onwards with a smile as we followed the road back down the valley and then swung northeast-ish up towards the Nicaraguan border where the marshes of the Cano Negro would be our next base. As usual no journey is complete with out a few impromptu stops which resulted in us seeing White-crowned and Orange Chinned Parrots, typical roadside Flycatchers and Doves, both White-vented and Yellow-crowned Euphonias, Black-headed Tityras and Crested Caracaras, a couple of Roadside Hawks and our first proper pond that held American Purple Gallinules and Green Heron.

Black-headed Tityra

Yellow-crowned Euphonia in the same tree as above - they like bare branches

Cattle Egrets

White-crowned Parrot

A dry roadside pull over for some tumbling raptors saw some mid air tussling between White-tailed and Plumbeous Kites and a good scan around added what would be our only Double Striped Thick-knees in a boulder strewn pasture where Mangrove Swallows and Tropical Kingbirds hawked from the rocks. There were a few butterflies at this stop and a Tody Flycatcher showed very well.

Double Striped Thick-knees

Vigna vexillata - Wild Cowpea

Mimosa pudica - Touch-me-Not

Likewise a swampy lagoon with dead trees, Spanish Moss and Bromeliads was home to a single Anhinga, White-throated Crakes rattled, both Hoffmann’s and Black-cheeked Woodpeckers were nesting and a nice selection of finchy type things were seen with a stonking male Nicaraguan Seedfinch singing in a bare tree as we pulled up, a female Large-billed Seedfinch foraging in the rushes and both Variable and Morelet’s Seedeaters around the edges.

Anhinga - Ken Copleston

Large-billed Seedfinch

Morelet's Seed-eater

The bumpy road seemed to go on forever but by lunchtime we were at the Hotel de Campo once more and with a little time to kill before lunch and checking in we set off for a walk around the ground and down to the shallow lagoon. The first Grey-headed Doves were encountered as we walked down and once at the shore there were quite a few species to be quickly added to the burgeoning list with Tricoloured and Great Blue Herons, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Northern Jacanas, Limpkins and Bare-throated Tiger Heron along with Little Blue Herons, White Ibis, Great Egrets and Anhinga. Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers were in the margins and a flock of Lesser Yellowlegs were a little further back. An Amazon Kingfisher watched us from a perch mid lagoon and up above Olive-throated Parakeets flew over in tight flocks with Bat Falcon and a circling Black-collared Hawk in the mix with the usual Vultures.

Grey-headed Dove

Grey-headed Dove - the females look more like Grey Chested

Grey-headed Dove

White Ibis

Down in the trees there were a few Tennessee and Chestnut-sided Warblers, an Olive-yellow Flatbill, House Wrens and Tody Flycatcher before lunch drew us back in under cover and out of the serious heat. Even lunch was disturbed by watching a Rufous-tailed HB build a nest.

Common Tody-Flycatcher

Common Tody-Flycatcher - good to see them so well that day

Olive-yellow Flatbill

Guarianthe skinneri

Dimerandra emarginata

Averrhoa bilimbi - from Malaysia

A gap before going out gave others the chance of some quality pool time and me the opportunity to stand quietly amongst the trees and see what was moving through the gardens. It was incredibly rewarding with spellbinding views of a couple of Black and White Warblers spiralling around trunks and some quality ‘pishing’ brought in the usual warblers along with a delightful female Golden Winged and even a Lesser Greenlet that came to say hello.

Black and White Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Golden Winged Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

I was hoping to find the Spot Breasted Wrens (as usual this was our only real chance of this species) and they appeared where I was standing and proceeded to fossick around the bromeliads. Dusky Capped Flycatchers hunted from the border fences, Northern Waterthrushes bobbed across the lawn and both Northern and Black-cowled Orioles were stealing nectar from blooms while Streak-headed Woodcreepers seemed unconcerned by my presence.

Black-cowled Oriole

Dusky Capped Flycatcher

Spot Breasted Wren

Streak-headed Woodcreeper

Green Iguana

The gardens also gave me my second new bird of the day with a female Shining Cowbird that appeared briefly on our way to the bus prior to departure for our next adventure.

Medio Queso was the destination and hopefully a repeat run of the breath taking boat excursion of 2020. The bumpy ride right up to the Border did not give us the Jabiru this time but there were lots of Blue-black Grassquits and Morelet’s Seedeaters alongside the road as well as a Blue Ground Dove, Bronzed Cowbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds and our first couple of Yellow-headed Vultures. A near emergency stop was because Steve had seen a near mythical Black Crake quite literally tumble across the road just in front of the bus and despite the fact that none of us saw it we were pleased that he had just accidentally added a new species to his own impressive Costa Rica list.

We parked up at the end of the road by the chain bridge and boarded a small boat for the afternoon. What followed was as spectacular as last time as we first traversed one way and then the other from the ferry.

Mangrove Swallow - the books make them look greener

Two ferries - one for bikes and one for cars

Although the marshes alongside were drier than in 2020 and there were far fewer herons and duck they were all still represented in all their glorious shapes and sizes. Green Herons called ‘rack rack rack’ as they frequently exploded from alongside the boat and occasionally perched long enough for a good look while we encountered at least 13 ‘elusive’ Pinnated Bitterns with stripy necks often pointed skywards. Five Least Bitterns were seen along with the expected suite of other herons and egrets and tucked into the riverside trees were all three Night Herons with Black-crowned, Yellow-crowned and the enigmatic Boat-billed with those huge limpid eyes.

Green Herons

Least Bittern

Pinnated Bitterns in a myriad of poses - suspect the last is a juvenile

Black-crowned Night Heron - Andy Reid

Black-crowned Night Heron

Boat-billed Night Heron

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron - Andy Reid

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron - Ken Copleston

Great White Egret

Little Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Tricoloured Heron

Tricoloured Heron - Ken Copleston

Roseate Spoonbill - Andy Reid

Roseate Spoonbill

Wood Stork - Ken Copleston

Northern Jacanas and American Purple Gallinules were in the margins along with several Common Gallinule (which basically looks just like our European Moorhen). I paid them quite a bit of attention (not because I hope to find one here!) and reckon that they are a different shape to our own species with a heftier body and more at the back end if that makes sense that then makes the head and neck feel smaller and a little out of proportion. There also appeared to be less white on the flank margins and tail sides.

American Purple Gallinule & Black-necked Stilt

American Purple Gallinule

Common Gallinule

Common Gallinule

Northern Jacana

Northern Jacana

Northern Jacana

Northern Jacana

Northern Jacana

We heard two White-throated Crakes and were once again incredibly fortunate with Yellow-breasted Crake with three seen and one in particular showing amazingly well. I still think Orange-legged Crake would be a better name. Another crake popped its head out of the reed edge and Sora became a new CR addition for me although I have seen one in the UK way back in 2000. It was a smart bird with a bold face pattern and showed very well and looked like a giant against the CR species seen.

Sora

Yellow-breasted Crake - Andy Reid

Yellow-breasted Crake

Yellow-breasted Crake - bit of wind noise so turn volume off

Southern Lapwings and Black-necked Stilts were seen in small parties with the odd Spotted and Solitary Sandpiper and a couple of diminutive Least Sandpipers too while Neotropic Cormorants and Anhingas watched from overhead snags where the hoped for variety of Kingfishers were also found with hulking Ringed leading the size range down through Amazon then Green to the dinky American Pygmy.

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt & Southern Lapwing

Solitary Sandpiper

Southern Lapwing

Neotropic Cormorant

Ringed Kingfisher

Ringed Kingfisher - Ken Copleston

Amazon Kingfisher

Green Kingfisher

American Pygmy Kingfisher

Great Tailed and smaller Nicaraguan Grackles sang from the long reed stems and Red-winged and Red-chested Blackbirds dotted the marsh. Flocks of the latter started to move through as the day waned and you could easily see the size difference between the sexes.

Nicaraguan Grackle

Red-chested Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbirds

Red-winged Blackbird

Pale Vented Pigeon

They were not the only species using the reeds and twigs as look outs with Kiskadee, Social, Boat-billed and several delightfully elegant Fork-tailed Flycatchers with floaty tail streamers dashing out after prey.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher - Andy Reid

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Great trains of migrating Turkey Vultures drifted north with scarcely a wingbeat and both Swainson’s and Broad-winged Hawks amongst them before they would catch the next rising thermal and spiral up in swirling kettles to cruising height once again.

Turkey Vultures

White-tailed Kite and a couple of low flying Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures made for exciting viewing and Pale-vented Pigeons surveyed us from snags.

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture - Andy Reid

White-tailed Kite

There were plenty of small birds too with a single Nicaraguan Seedfinch and a late evening party of smart little Ruddy-breasted Seedeaters which I must admit I could never even remember seeing before in the book. They were gathering in the reeds, presumably to roost and a group of larger birds a little further back turned out to be a flock of Dickcissels.

Nicaraguan Seedfinch

Groove-billed Ani - Andy Reid

Groove-billed Ani

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater

Mangrove Swallows followed the boat continuously and small groups of Barn and our first Cliff Swallows (another UK only species for me) moved low and north with occasional dips down for a river bathe and amongst them was a shiny blue green and white Tree Swallow.

Mangrove Swallow - Andy Reid

Cinnamon-bellied Saltators, two Orchard Orioles and Green Mango HB were seen well and while watching them we also managed to connect with a male Olive-naped Yellowthroat, Canebrake Wrens and surprisingly another species I could not ever remember reading about – the Slaty Spinetail. Trying to find a bird moving around in the reeds and bushes when you have no idea what it looks like or even how big it is, is challenging but thankfully it was quite obvious when I found them!

Canebrake Wren

Cinnamon-bellied Saltator

Olive-naped Yellowthroat - Andy Reid

Olive-naped Yellowthroat

Orchard Oriole!

Spectacled Caiman

We all returned to shore with beaming smiles as the sun started to quickly dip below the horizon. As last time this was not the end of our day and as we hit the rough road back to the Hotel we set about sweeping the landscape for eyeshine that would give away the presence of nocturnal life forms.

Spectacled Caiman, a multitude of spiders and even the odd bovine distracted us initially before Ramon and Steve heard a high whistle a bit like the creaky gate sound of a young Long-eared Owl. We stopped and quietly got out as a huge moon rose behind us and sure enough there was a young Striped Owl perched up on top of a bare tree out in a field. At least three more could be heard around us and a few hundred yards up the road we got better views of two closer youngsters in another tree suggesting that five may have been out there.

Striped Owllets

We moved on with Fireflies dancing across the fields and more glowing spiders before picking up a couple of Pauraque on the road in front and then both Great and Common Potoos as hoped. They look so different in the dark when they are active and alert. There was one more treat before we got back to base with a fine Black & White Owl ignoring us as it scanned the roadside verges from the wires.