We returned to La Selva first thing in the
morning to try and clean up on a couple of things we had missed previously. It
is difficult to keep track of a list during the intensity of the birding day,
but every evening in the manner of most bird tours we went through the
systematic day list, and it is doing this that allows the guide to formulate
the plan for the following day. Leo must have realized that there had been a
couple of easy misses the previous day and that we had time before we set off
for the Highlands to snaffle a couple of them. Within about five minutes of
pulling up at the entrance barrier that is exactly what had happened, with
great views of both Cinnamon Woodpecker and Chestnut-coloured Woodpecker. These are pretty
similar, especially 30m up a tree, but the views were such that it was easy. We also managed great views of a pair of highly elusive Black-throated Wrens and a much easier Fasciated Ant-Shrike.
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| Cinnamon Woodpecker |
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| Chestnut-coloured Woodpecker |
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| Black-throated Wren |
With these early scores under our belts we
drove the fairly short distance to Cope’s Place at Guapiles, stopping briefly at a river for some great views of Fasciated Tiger Heron and a tiny Strawberry Poison Frog. This is literally a man called
Cope’s (pronounced Co-pay) house – he has turned his garden into a feeding station and also has some
stake-outs nearby. Extremely enterprising, and he had a stream of visitors. Too
many visitors! Soon after we arrived a minibus full of Japanese photographers
turned up and started papping anything and everything that moved, and this
included me! Or rather my photography gear. This is perhaps a clash of cultures
but I confess to being a little surprised to find a lady buzzing round me with
her phone trying to take a photo of my home made camera strap whilst I stood
there wondering what on earth was happening. I am very proud of this creation
as it happens, it allows me to bird with a 500mm lens in an very comfortable
and trouble-free way. Not that this would have helped my newfound Japanese
friends, as they were not exactly travelling light. Tripods, crazy pan heads,
all manner of crap clipped to them and seemingly not the faintest clue about
what makes a pleasing bird photograph. It was ridiculously comic, at one point
somebody on the road spotted a Parrot in a tree, and this caused some of the
group who were at the garden feeders to take the direct route and charge
straight across the feeding station to the road where their compatriots were
taking photographs of an empty tree which until recently had had a Parrot in
it…..because they had also run directly under
the tree. Their arrival caused chaos, and for a while we were all stood around
wasting time whilst Cope worked out who was going to do what and when – during
which a Russet-naped Wood-Rail ran across the road. Presumably they leave good tips
as if I were a guide I would have driven the minibus into a lake at the
earliest opportunity.
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| Not my idea of fun! |
In the end we left and went to the Crested Owl stakeout.
Whilst Cope searched for the Owl in the forest we discovered it was in a tree
above our car, so that was all pretty easy. When Cope returned part two of the
stakeout was to take a quick look at the Honduran White Bats that make tent shelters under large leaves of Heliconias. Very cool, but even better was that on the route in I had noticed a
small corrugated-leaf Zamia. At the bats I asked Cope about this plant and he
knew exactly what I was talking about, and so on the way back to the road he
took me down a different path and showed me a huge adult Zamia neurophyllidia
(as I discovered when I consulted the literature at home). How cool to know your
land so intimately that you know where certain plants grow?
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| Crested Owls |
We returned to Cope’s garden, passing the
minibus of photographers on the way to where we had just been. To be honest I
felt for the bats…. At the feeding station we passed a happy half hour watching
the various comings and goings. These included many Clay-coloured Thrushes,
Pale-vented Pigeon, Palm Tanager, Chestnut-headed Orependola, Great-tailed Grackles and a Wood Thrush all feasting on fruit. There were also sugar-water feeders for the
hummingbirds, which included White-necked Jacobin, Long-billed Hermit, Stripe-throated Hermit and Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. I could have
stayed for a long time but we had a long journey ahead of us with further stops
so reluctantly left.
The next stop was very close by on the main
road back up the Carribbean slope. This is known as the Old Butterfly Garden
which had a new suite of hummers including Snowcap. The parking area borders a
large planting of Porterweed and this was buzzing – literally! We saw both male
and female Snowcap, the former displaying to the latter whilst she sat on a
stem, as well as Black-crested Coquette, Green Thorntail and Violet-headed Hummingbird. Again somewhere I could have spent the whole
day, waiting for white cloud to hide the sun and then trying for hummingbirds
in flight. Of course that wasn’t possible so we went into the cool of the
forest to try for new birds. Of all the areas that we visited over the course
of the week this was probably the least productive, but clearly it had massive
potential. I’ve seen it mentioned elsewhere that birding this slope a few km up
the road was one of a particular birder’s most memorable birding moments. The
best bird here was probably an Ashy-throated Chlorospingus.
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| Green Thorntail |
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| Snowcap, female |
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| Snowcap, male |
Now the real driving began – we had to go
all the way back to San José on Route 36, through the city without getting stuck
in any traffic, and then back up the other side of the central valley into the Highlands
on the 2. The traffic was not too bad and during a quick stop for a fruit juice we added Cattle Egret to the day list, and a Cicada
was seen well – huge insects! Mid afternoon we had ascended into the Parque
Nacional Los Quetzales, and took a side road towards Paradaiso Lodge. This was a fairly rough track but very good
birding, and the important bird that we needed to see we got almost immediately
– Black-and-Yellow Silky-Flycatcher. We spent the rest of the afternoon birding
along this track in the warm sunshine. No Quetzals, but being new habitat lots
of new birds for the list. These included Yellow-winged Vireo, Timberline Wren, Flame-throated
Warbler, Sooty Thrush, Black-cheeked Warbler and Mountain Elaenia.
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| Yellow-winged Vireo |
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| Black-and-Yellow Silky Flycatcher |
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| Flame-throated Warbler |
With darkness falling we retraced our steps
to the main road and took the next turning to San Gerardo de Dota. In the
gathering dusk we managed excellent views of Dusky Nightjar, and heard Unspotted Saw-whet Owl
calling. The road descended into the Savegre Valley, and we followed it almost
to the end where our lodgings for the next two nights were – the Savegre
Mountain Lodge. Although we had spent much of the day in
the car, our trip list now stood at 246.
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