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| Our guide Diego and our new best friend Johnny |
Today we had the simple yet cunning plan of birding before breakfast, breakfast and then a day trip to the flanks of nearby volcanoes for a bit of birding.
And that is how it worked out.
We met Diego, our guide, in the grounds of our hotel at 6 am for a two hour stroll around the gardens. We started well with a few migrants; Yellow and Tennessee Warblers, Philadelphia and Yellow throated Vireos plus more and more Baltimore Orioles. Red billed Pigeons were a stand out high in the trees above and we enjoyed a fly over by a flock of Vaux's Swifts. A single solitary sandpiper flew over which we suspect must have been a Solitary Sandpiper.
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Red billed Pigeon
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| Great Kiskadee |
Strolling through we re-met many of the suspects from yesterday but added a few new ones; Cabani's Wren, Brown Jay, Grey headed Chachalaca, Collared Swifts, Bronzed Cowbirds and, least impressively of all, a large flock of Rock Pigeons.
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| Bronzed Cowbird |
Soon after breakfast we drove out of town with our 'best new friend' Johnny at the wheel, enroute to the volcanoes near San Jose. The National Park proper was and still is closed due to volcanic activity so we made other arrangements.
Enroute to Fraijanes we got good views of dark phase of Short tailed Hawk plus multiple Black and Turkey Vultures.
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Violet Sabrewing
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First stop was a small park where many Hummingbird feeders had been positioned. Needless to say but I will say it; these feeders attracted a bewildering number of Hummers which will take us a while to sort....
The park, too, was thoughtfully positioned across the road from a cafe that prepared us Strawberry Smoothies. Bloody yum.
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| Costa Rica's National bird - The Clay coloured Thrush |
A little further up the road we stopped at an ancient and wild Avocado tree, rich in fruit unlike any avocado I have had experience with, that was also rich with birds. Mountain thrushes and a few of the ubiquitous Clay coloured Thrush dominated however there was a few Emerald Toucanets, which were ultimately voted Bird of the Day!! A couple of Euphonias were also briefly seen but not identified before they flew off; using the distribution maps it seems likely they were White crowned Euphonias.
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| BIRD OF THE DAY!! EMERALD TOUCANET |
Soon we stopped at an impressive waterfall where we had an impressive flock of Collared Swifts and a couple of Black Phoebe at a nearby River crossing. Here we also posed for the mandatory group photo.
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| L to R - Jan, Helen, Me, Kathy, Cathryn, Ray, John, Karen, Russ, Pam, Glenis and Vince [formerly of the Namib] |
We stopped soon after for our lunch stop Chinchona - where they had kindly set up an awesome feeding station for both hummers and fruit eaters. Hummingbirds included Violet Sabrewing, Rufous tailed Hummingbird, White bellied Mountain Gem, Purple throated Mountain Gem, Green crowned Brilliant and the endemic Coppery headed Emerald.
Other fantastic species included Bananaquit, Silver throated, Palm, Blue Grey and Passerini's and the migrant Summer Tanager. The Bird of the Day the Emerald Toucanets showed wonderfully.
Another more discrete lifer was the Buff-fronted Quail dove which was skulking around on the forest floor. We also saw the Common Chlorospingus plus the similar sounding Golden browed Chlorophonia.
Red tailed Squirrel was added to our mammal list as it fed on fruit - especially bananas. Outside the cafe, after an excellent lunch of local foods, we were treated to some astonishing views of an astonishing bird; the Swallow tailed Kite.
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| Double toothed Kite |
We soon drove down a dirt track which took us towards a bridge crossing the river on the valley floor. The first bird we saw, albeit in silhouette, was a Crested Guan. Soon we encountered the Crowned Woodnymph [another Hummer] before good views fo the Slate throated Redstart [a warbler] and the Tufted flycatcher. We then heard and tried unsuccessfully to call out the Thicket Antpitta. I found a Red faced Spinetail high in the trees but it did not show particularly well in the light. We had repeat Common Chlorospingus, Bananaquit and Squirrel Cuckoo. Broad winged Kites, plus a few more Swallow tails flew by as did more Vultures of both sorts.
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| Costa Rican Tufted Flycatcher |
On the way back we stopped for good views of a mammal - one Long nosed Coatimundi!
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