Costa Rica, Day 4- The Hummingbird Gallery

After we finished our walk in Monteverde, we headed up to the Hummingbird Gallery, at the entrance to the park. We had incredible looks at the hummingbirds, some as close as 6 inches away. There was literally no break in the activity- there were at least 12 feeders, and between them there was never less than 20 hummingbirds in view. Adrian said that we could see up to 8 species, and we saw all 8, so that was good. I also photographed all of them, some (Green Violetear, Violet Sabrewing) better than others (Magenta-throated Woodstar). In decending size order they were:


The incredible Violet Sabrewing, 

The more common but still really cool Green-crowned Brilliant, which dwarf all but the hermits and the sabrewing:

The Green Hermit was the least common, and the last one we found. There were 2-4 individuals:

A male (with 1/3rd of a GC Brilliant):

And a female (with a Coppery-headed Emerald):

The Green Violetear, the current banner of my blog:

The Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, common but brilliant and also endemic (to CR and Nicaragua):

This photo is pretty bad (taken from a video) but it shows the iridescent color a bit better:

The females look entirely different (the other bird in this shot is a Coppery-headed Emerald):

Another mid-sized hummingbird was the Stripe-tailed Hummingbird, all green with distinctive rufous wing feathers and white tail feathers:

The Coppery-headed Emerald has, for me, two claims to fame- It was my 300th bird, and the only bird endemic solely to Costa Rica that we saw. 

And last, and actually least (size-wise), the Magenta-throated Woodstar, a tiny, bee-like hummingbird that moved to quickly to get good photos:

There were also Bananaquits, another Incertae Sedis bird related to the tanagers. Like hummingbirds, they drink nectar, so they visit the feeders as well:

Many of these photos were actually taken with the macro/close-up mode on my camera, because otherwise they were too close to focus on. 

After a while at the Hummingbird Gallery, we said goodbye to Adrian, and had lunch. A quick walk to a waterfall produced a Smoky-brown Woodpecker and a Black Guan, and there was a Silvery-throated Tanager with the Common Bush-Tanagers in the parking lot. This Coatimundi joined us for lunch:

We left Monteverde, and stopped at a spot Adrian had recommended. It was supposed to be a good spot for Golden-browed Chlorophonia, a brightly colored highland endemic. 

My dad and I walked a little ways down the road- my mom and sister stayed back with the car. I spotted a Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and we found a really cool bird that had eluded us in Monteverde- a pair of Emerald Toucanets. There were also a Plain Wren and a Lesser Greenlet. 4 lifers in 10 minutes, but no Chlorophonia. When we were just about back at the car, my dad spotted a Blue Morpho butterfly, which was very large, and, as the name would imply, very blue. My mom and sister came out of the car to look, and while this was going on, someone was hit by a falling berry or fruit. I looked up, and there were 15-20 birds in the huge tree above us. They were the chlorophonias, and I got okay looks, though the birds were distant and only their undersides were visible (Think warbler neck, then make the tree 50 feet taller and you have chlorophonia-neck)

Back at the hotel, I took a walk around the grounds, finding a mixed flock of White-eared Ground-Sparrows, House Wrens, a Plain Wren, and a Rufous-and-white Wren, the latter being a life bird. However, the highlight was when I got lost and found myself off the trail in the orchard with a pair of green, yellow, and blue Chlorophonia 10 feet away at eye level. Unlike the other looks I had, these could not have been better. A Yellow-throated Euphonia was a nice bird, and an Elaenia species a frustrating ID challenge. 

At dusk, we went on a guided night walk. The highlights of that were lots of coatis, a few agoutis, a porcupine, a glimpse of an olingo, some leafcutter ants, and a red-kneed tarantula. Birds were scarce (it was dark), but I did hear a Mottled Owl and saw a sleeping Black-and-White Warbler on a twig. 

Later, I tallied off the day's birds, and found that I had seen 32 lifers, and with such amazing ones as Violet Sabrewing, Emerald Toucanet, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, and Replendant Quetzal, and can say that it was easily the best birding of my life, at least so far. 

Costa Rica, Day 4- Quetzals in Monteverde

This was expected to be the best birding day of the trip. We hired a guide for a 4 hour hike in Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. On the way to breakfast, in a clump of trees with berries that had been good for tanagers and Clay-colored Robins, I spotted a Masked Tityra, a pale gray bird with a black tail, wing patch, and black surrounding bright red facial skin. It is also a taxonomically interesting bird, in a group of birds, along with other Tityras and Becards, that have been placed with Cotingas, Flycatchers, and in their own family at different times. Now they are placed as Incertae Sedis, Latin for "we have no idea where to put them." It would be the first of many cool life birds that day.

At breakfast we met our guide, Adrian, who outlined his plans for the morning. We left our hotel and the paved roads of Santa Elena, us in our car an Adrian on his motorbike, which seemed to be the preferred mode of transportation for most people living there. It did better on the dirt roads than us, though it would probably be tricky to drive 2 hours on mostly unpaved roads while carrying a spotting scope and tripod, which he was going to do the next day. 

After pulling into the parking lot, Adrian quickly found two good birds, Golden-bellied Flycatcher, an endemic that looks like a Kiskadee with a malar stripe, and Mountain Robin, a slightly darker version of the Clay-colored Robins, with a diagnostic black, not yellow, bill. Those two demonstrated how useful it was to have a good guide along. Without Adrian, I could have overlooked the flycatchers and passed the Mountain Robins off as Clay-colored Robins. 

We started down one of the trails, and quickly found birds. Adrian would hear a bird ahead of us on the trail, then find it as we got to that spot. In this was we quickly picked up Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Plain Antvireo, Yellowish Flycatcher, Common Bush-Tanager, and Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, a tiny flycatcher with a long name that Adrian was very happy about seeing- apparently it is uncommon in Monteverde. 

The Gray-brested Wood-Wrens were the loudest and had the most distinctive songs. Adrian said that they were often called "R2D2 birds," and hearing them, we could tell why. They sound exactly like the droid from Star Wars. See if you agree: http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/GPVWJPVGVN/2174/08b.mp3.

I spotted a Slate-throated Redstart, and Adrian heard and then found a Black-faced Solitaire. Adrian had a good description for its song too- It sounds like the sound made when you run your finger along the edge of a wineglass. For the whole time we were in the cloud forest, you could almost always hear them or the wood-wren, and often both. Two more birds that we heard, but did not see, were the Silvery-fronted Tapaculo and Prong-billed Barbet.

A little futher along the trail, we came to a group of people, with a guide, looking at something to the left of the trail. We soon saw what- a male Resplendent Quetzal at a nest hole in a dead tree. After a couple minutes of watching in awe, it flew closer so that it was facing us. A female flew to where the male had been, then joined him on the branch nearer to us. It was incredible. We took a ton of photos, some digiscoped and some not, and, though it was very foggy, some came out pretty well. Us and 30 other people all were watching the quetzals, and when we left, they were still perched there. 

Adrian and I looking at the quetzals (Note the huge crowd of birders on the right side of the photo):

After the quetzals, we contined birding, obviously. A Black-and-White Warbler, which would be up in NY in the summer, was spending its winter with the quetzals. Soon we found what looked like a black turkey, but high in a tree. It was the endemic Black Guan, all black with blue facial skin, red legs, and a loud, "machine gun" wing  rattle when it flapped. Mammal-wise, we found a Three-toed Sloth and a Mexican Porcupine. 

Adrian found a mixed flock composed primarily of Three-striped Warblers and Common Bush-Tanager, which also contained a Golden-crowned Warbler and an endemic Ruddy Treerunner. From a suspension bridge high in the forest, we could see epiphytes, a Yellowish Flycatcher, and Collared (endemic) and Slate-throated Redstarts. A Stripe-tailed Hummingbird buzzed by, and a secreative Ochraceous Wren (also endemic) was seen. A vocalizing Spotted Woodcreeper was my first woodcreeper, and my 350th bird. 

Another really cool bird was a Violet Sabrewing, a giant, brilliant purple hummingbird. Though we would see many at close range later, this one seemed like more of a wild bird than the ones at the hummingbird feeders. 

Another flock of Three-striped Warblers was accompanied this time by a Red-faced Spinetail. There was also a Slate-throated Redstart foraging a couple feet above the ground, giving great looks. 

After that we returned to the parking lot, got great looks at Yellowish Flycatcher,  and went up to the Hummingbird Gallery, an incredible collection of hummingbird feeders that produced 8 species and the best photos of the trip. That will get its own post later, but here's one shot for now- Purple-throated Mountain-Gem:

Costa Rica, Day 4- Some Cloud Forest Shots

 To give you an idea of what I'm talking about when I say "cloud forest," here are some photos from Monteverde, before I start the narrative of what would be the best day of birding of the trip, and therefore, I guess, my whole life (so far). Click on the photos to enlarge.

        

Costa Rica- Day 3- Volcano to the Cloud Forest

Since I was up fairly early, our hotel had a balcony, and I had seen very few "caribbean slope" birds so far, I was able to see 7 lifers before breakfast- Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Black-striped Sparrow, the tiny Bananaquit, the really cool black-and-red Passerini's Tanager, Buff-throated Saltator, Ruddy-ground Dove, and a female Green Honeycreeper (nowhere new as colorful as the male, which I didn't see, but still green- sort of like seeing a female painted bunting without the male). Not a bad list, but unfortunately it was even rainier and foggier, so I did not see my life volcano.

After breakfast we decided to go to the Silencio Reserve, a private reserve that is about as close to the volcano as it is safe to get. Notice anything unusual about this sign?:

Just in case, they have you park facing the exit. That's how close the volcano is. Notice the fog, rather than spectacular volcano view, in the background. 

Still, the birds were good. On the way there, I saw what I was fairly sure was a crow flying away. Then I realized that there are no crows in Costa Rica. Hmmmm. 

When we pulled into the parking lot, my mom solved the mystery by spotting a large black bird with a yellow tail, orange-tipped bill, and some bare facial skin. Montezuma Oropendola. I had underestimated the size of these blackbird relatives. Instead of being grackle-sized, as I was assuming, they were easily crow-sized. The bright yellow tail contrasts with the overall black plumage, especially in flight. 

In the parking lot I also found Bananaquits, an unidentified Pewee, and a lifer, Yellow-faced Grassquit. 

We drove up to the parking lot where the photo above was taken, and started to walk down a trail. There were a pair of Chestnut-manibled Toucans in one tree, and Red-lored Parrots in another. Both lifers. Toucans and Parrots!!

Then, when I looked back, the Chestnut-manibled Toucans had been replaced with a Keel-billed Toucan, with an even more brightly colored bill. The birds on this particular walk tended towards the large and impressive- Oropendola, Parrots, Two Toucans. It turned out to be a great stop, even without a volcano.

Back at the hotel, when we were checking out, I still managed to get a few more birds, one of which I would have no chance at for the rest of the trip. In the parking lot I found a Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Palm Tanager, and Black-cowled Oriole (a Caribbean slope specialty). Toucans were trash birds by now- there were 4 chestnut-manibled and one fly-by keel-billed. 

Palm Tanager camouflage:

Black-cowled Oriole:

We departed for what would be our best birding spot of the trip, the famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. On the way, my mom pointed out a Crested Guan- an arboreal turkey-like (though unrelated) bird. At one point we ran into a roadblock of White-nosed Coatis (Also called Coatimundis), which apparently really like cookies. 

Of course, feeding wild animals, even cute ones like coatis, is a bad idea, but we got good looks because of it. 

By this time, we were skirting Lake Arenal, the largest lake in the country. We stopped for a couple minutes for the view at a restaurant. I stayed in the car at first, but then we switched off. I asked my mom and sister if I should bring binoculars. They said probably not. So I didn't. When I went across the street, it turned out that there were 4 Collared Aracaris (toucans) and 6-7 Gray-headed Chachalacas. I went back to the car to get my binoculars ("Sure, Mom, no need for me to bring my binoculars. It's not like anyone would want to look at toucans through them.") I got great looks at both. The Chachalacas were a lifer, and with the Creasted Guan my 2nd Cracid (Currasows, Guans, and Chachalacas) of the trip.

We stopped for lunch at the Lucky Bug cafe/art gallery/gift shop. The food was good, and the fresh fruit drinks were really good. So were the birds. Keel-billed Toucan, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Palm Tanager, Montezuma Oropendola, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, and two lifers, White-necked Jacobin and Yellow-throated Euphonia, were all present. 

Black-cheeked Woodpecker:

Female and Male Yellow-throated Euphonia, A curious Palm Tanager:

White-necked Jacobin

We left Lake Arenal for the dry mountain regions on the way to Monteverde. (The 2nd photo is panorama. Click on it to see the whole thing)

The road up to Monteverde is known for being one of the country's worst. It is not paved, and has enough bumps so that we were very glad to have 4-wheel drive. The road was also not very crowded, which was good, because it was not very wide. Another good thing about that was that we could stop if I saw a bird. That would be useful on two occasions. 

Because we were now in more of an open, cattle-pasture habitat, I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when a Crested Caracara flew by. Great bird, easily one of my top 5 favorite birds. The next bird we saw was quite a bit smaller, but far more vibrant. I was looking out the window, and spotted two brilliant blue birds. They were really blue. Not like the blue-gray tanagers, which are, well, blue-gray. These birds recalled indigo buntings, but they had a decurved bill, red legs, and bright yellow underwings. Red-legged Honeycreepers. Awesome. And unlike the Green Honeycreeper earlier, both were males. 

        

See the yellow underwing on the left-hand bird in the last photo?

We drove higher, entered the cloud forest, finally reached a paved road, got to the town of Santa Elena, and found our hotel, the Arco Iris, which was really nice. A little birding around the hotel grounds got me 2 lifers- Blue-and-White Swallow and Wilson's Warbler, plus another spectacular Blue-crowned Motmot.

Good Birding!