Part one of my Costa Rica birding travelogue- San Jose to the Pacific and down to the Osa- can be found here Dawn Chorus- Costa Rica- Part One
After spending the better part of a week birding along the Pacifc coast and Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica, our next destination was the mountainous region of Central Costa Rica. The best route took us back up the Pacific coast to Dominical, then up the Pacific slope through the small town of San Isidro. As we gained altitude, the countryside and the climate changed drastically. Some of the vistas along the highway looked like they could have been straight out of hilly Pennsylvania, except for the lichen covered trees and frequent bromeliads.
Eventually, though, we gained some serious altitude, topping out at about 11,300 feet. We made a lunch stop at La Georgina, a high altitude restaurant reknown for its hummingbird feeders and hot chocolate. After having left the hot, steamy lowlands earlier in the day, we were now in a 50 degree rainsquall on a mountaintop!
While we fed on one side of the glass, many hummingbirds of several species sipped at the nectar feeders on the other side. Beside the traditional meals of rice and black beans, known throughout Costa Rica as “Casada” (married, in Spanish), the restaurants in this area pride themselves on serving trout- caught locally in the cold mountain streams nearby. The standard table condiment is a sort of Worcestershire or A-1 type sauce called Lisano- sometimes bottled, sometimes home made.
After lunch we continued on to our destination for the next couple of days- La Sevegre Lodge in San Gerardo de Dota.
Getting to Savegre involved a forty minute detour off the main road, down a long, bumpy track into the valley, but what a great spot! The contrast from our previous headquarters in the steamy Pacific lowlands was drastic- lots of electric lights (!) and space heaters and blankets to keep away the chill. Actually, we used the space heaters more to dry our clothes and shoes, which had never been able to properly dry out in the jungle.
The grounds around the Savegre cabins were well manicured and planted with attractive vegation. Trails led off in different directions into the cloud forest, and in no time at all we were racking up a completely new set of sightings. Right on the property we found Black Guan- a black, turkey-sized bird, perched 40 feet above the ground, a Scaled Antipitta and several Buff-fronted Quail Doves.
Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers perched in the trees right outside the cabins, while SIlver-throated and Flame-colored Tanagers and various hummingbirds used the feeders and platforms.
One of the choices I started running into was whether or not to stick with my biridng buddies on the the trails into deeper forest. The forest trails tended to yielded fewer species and, because of the dense foliage, poor views, while the areas closer to the lodges and near the trail heads had more avian activity and more open viewing areas. It became apparent that there was a much greater return on effort for skipping some of the longer slogs. My companions, who had already seen a lot of the “low-hanging fruit” were more likely to see new species by penetrating the deeper areas. Poking into the forest trails turned up some real gems, like Silvery-fronted Tapaculo and Zeledonia, or Wren-Thrush, but they were tough to see. So a couple of times I lingered behind along the trails when there was more activity, or just sat on a log to observe and photograph.
It wasn’t until I sat still for a while that I started getting better looks at birds like this Collared Redstart,
and this adult male Flame-colored Tanager.
One of the birds that I really wanted to see on this trip, the Resplendant Quetzal, occurs in these mountainous regions, and it turned out that there was a spot near Savegre where it would be possible to see them. So one afternoon we trekked up a steep path, which soon turned into a very steep, muddy, rainy path to try to track down this god-bird of the Aztecs. At the top of the high bluff we soon spotted a tree with at least five Quetzals in it. At this time of year the males do not have the long streamer tails of their high breeding plumage, but they were still pretty spectacular.
The following day we went up to visit one of the most unique habitats we had visited so far. At 11,300 feet, Cerro de la Muerte is the highest peak in CR. The vegetation is stunted- no trees, just scattered bushes and heavy ground cover. This region, the paramo, is home to several high altitude specialists, including Volcano Hummingbird and Volcano Junco
One of these, the Volcano Junco, proved easy to find,
but our search for Peg-billed Finch and Timberline Wren was unsuccesful. The junco is kind of an oddity. Although it has yellow eyes reminiscent of the Yellow-eyed Junco of the southwestern US, it seemed to lack the white outer tail feathers and the distinctive white belly characteristic of other juncos.
Soon we had to move on to our next destination, the lodge at the Paraiso Quetzal, also located in the misty highlands.
Everywhere you turn, scenic panoramas fill the camera lens.
The restaurant and sitting areas, with their incredible views of the valley and crackling fireplaces weren’t too shabby, either.
Paraiso is another nature-oriented lodge, with beautifully manicured grounds and feeders that provide fantastic views of many incredibly beautiful species. Yellow-thighed finches are abundant, along with Large-footed Finches and Spangle-cheekedd Tanagers.
It was hard to enjoy all that mountain scenery, because to get to it you had to look past the hummingbird feeders hanging on the back deck. White-throated Mountain Gems, Magnificent and Fiery-throated Hummingbirds dominated the feeders,
but they had to share the railings with Yellow-thighed Finches and Rufous-collared Sparrows.
As is the case with many of these lodges, the property borders wild areas with extensive trails into the forest. While we were there, the hotel staff located this Green and Black Palm Viper, and we spent some time studying and photographing this very cooperative specimen.
The wooded trails turned up new species every time we walked them. Black-cheeked Warblers and Black and Yellow Silky Flycatchers were nice additions at Paraiso.
One of the lodge owners invited us to walk around his private residence one night in search of owls- in particular the near mythical Unspotted Saw-whet Owl, which he had seen and photographed a few nights before. We made the effort the following morning, starting out about 3:30 AM, and although we managed a Dusky Nightjar (sort of like a Whip-poor-will) and a Bare-legged Screech Owl, the special one eluded us.
After Paraiso, we headed on towards the Tapanti National Park, our only location on the Caribbean slope of the internal mountain range. Our base was in the town of Orosi in a small lodge located in the town, but just a short drive away from some nice birding areas.
The front porch of the lodge looked out onto two volcanos- Turrialba, which had just erupted the previous week, and Irazu, which has been quiet lately.
After checking in we birded the nearby Rio Macho area, and found some nice Caribbean slope birds like this Gartered Trogon
And the somewhat similar Collared Trogon
The next day it was off to Tapanti National Park. Tapanti is a short drive from San Jose, so its a popular day trip for weekenders. We arranged to get there on a Monday, but as it turned out, that Monday was Mother’s Day, so we didn’t actually have the park to ourselves.
We got in early, though, and managed to find some mixed flocks. These mixed flocks are a sort of tropical bird meetup, where 50 or more individual birds of 10 or more species forage along through the trees. The trick for birders is to become aware of the flock as soon as they move by, and just jump from one bird to another to try to get an eyeball on as many birds as possible.
In Tapanti, the flocks were often lead by Common or Sooty-capped Chlorospingus, and included foliage gleaners, teerunners, woodcreepers and others.
This was our last full day in Costa Rica, and fortunately we managed to save one of our best birds for the end. As we hiked a trail down to the Tapanti RIver, one of my companions noticed a large bird in a very distant tree. Luckily, I had my spotting scope in my backpack, and we were able to identify and digiscope this Ornate Hawk Eagle from about a half mile away!
That night we headed up to San Jose, within striking distance of the airport for the return flight. It turned out, though, that the hotel we booked in San Jose was run by a birder/ bird guide, and he offered to show us around the grounds and to take us on an early morning birding trip to a nearby farm. By the time we left the Hotel Robledal, we had added Cinnamon Hummingbird, Lesser Ground Cuckoo and a family of Rufous-naped Wrens- all part of this unexpected birding bonus on our last day!
After our return, I spent the next couple of weeks weeding through 2745 photos and videos, reviewing our daily checklists and reliving moments from our memorable trip! Next up, we may return to cover the Carribean and northern areas of CR, or maybe Panama or Peru. But that’s a year or so off. For now, I have to get back to work and relax a little!