We just had another great target birding trip with our friend Bart Brown or should I say Uncle Bart, ha, ha...
We began our trip on the 29th of August with a stop at Punta Morales to look for any unusual shorebirds. We soon found 3 Surfbirds, which was #750 in Costa Rica for Bart, Congratulations Mate!!! Other birds of interest found in this area were: Wilson's Phalarope - Least Tern - Elegant Tern and Common Tern.
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| Surfbird (from my archives) |
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| Elegant Tern (from my archives) |
Next, we drove to Ciudad Neilly, after some Gallo Pinto of course!!! We saw 3 different Pearl Kites on the drive between Quepos and Rio Claro.
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| Saphire-throated Hummingbird (from my archives) |
In the afternoon, we drove south from Neilly to search for the Saphire-throated Hummingbird and to try for Rufous Nightjar in a recently found site. It didn't take us long to locate the Saphire-throated Hummingbird. We found a male in the same exact place I had seen it back in January with another client. While watching this little stunner, we witnessed a flock of +150 Spot-fronted Swifts flying overhead. This seems like a good place to see the Spot-fronted Swift, especially on overcast afternoons. I have seen this normally difficult swift in this area regularly over the last few years. We also saw a male Veraguan Mango in the same area. Other birds of note seen along the road were: Southern Lapwing - Brown-throated Parakeet - Blue-headed Parrot - Plain-breasted Ground-Dove - Fork-tailed Flycatcher (including many juveniles) - Rusty-margined Flycatcher and several Thick-billed Euphonias.
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| Striped Owl (from my archives) |
After officially arriving in the middle of nowhere, we waited until dusk to try for the Rufous Nightjar. Just as the sun was setting it began to rain and we were all thinking that this could be a huge waste of time. But we were quickly shocked, when a nightjar species appeared in front of us and began hunting insects above the road. We studied it as best we could and determined that it had to be a Rufous Nightjar based on size - color - and tail markings. It never vocalized and it only stayed around for about a minute before taking off due to the increasing rainfall. I still don't have 100% proof that this is a Rufous Nightjar, but it certainly looks that way! As we were leaving, we found a Striped Owl perched on a roadside wire about 20 ft. from the car.
What a magnificent owl species!!!
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| Long-tailed Woodcreeper (from my archives) |
The next morning, we explored an area near Las Esquinas Lodge. Our target here was Long-tailed Woodcreeper, which had become a bogey bird for Bart over the years. While in route to our site, we heard a Slate-colored Seedeater singing from a nearby thicket. We stopped the car and within seconds Magdalena had spotted a breeding plumage male Slate-colored Seedeater singing his guts out. There were at least 2 birds singing in this area, hopefully they will stick around awhile. After wading across 2 small streams, we finally arrived at the best site for the Long-tailed Woodcreeper. We could hear a mixed species flock ahead, which is always a good sign!!! White-throated Shrike-Tanager was singing away and we soon found: Striped Woodhaunter - Brown-billed Scythebill - Black-striped Woodcreeper and then, at long last, the uncommon Long-tailed Woodcreeper!!! The Long-tailed put on a show for us and we even got a few pictures and video! A Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet was also heard calling in this area.
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| Lance-tailed Manakin (from my archives) |
Next up, we drove to San Vito to search for a few more birds on Bart's Target List. Lance-tailed Manakin was the the first to bite the dust, near the small town of Rio Negro. Within minutes we were admiring this localized species. The road from Sabalito to La Lucha has now been paved and it is super fast to drive out and see this little jewel. Other notable birds seen while searching for the manakin were: Crested Guan - Bicolored Hawk (juvenile) - Barred Forest-Falcon - Bicolored Antbird - Three-wattled Bellbird - Ruddy Woodcreeper - White-throated Spadebill - American Redstart and Gray-headed Tanager.
The next day, we struggled and were unable to locate any of the species needed. We must have walked for more than 10 miles and we got completely skunked. Those kind of days SUCK!!!
On our last morning however, we were finally able to track down the very secretive Ruddy Foliage-Gleaner on a tip from Jim Zook - Thank God for the Zookmeister!!!
Now that we had our luck back, the Mouse-colored Tyrannulet became easy to find in a coffee field near Sabalito. I don't think there are many sites for this drab, yet intersting species. A few other note worthy species seen while searching for the tyrannulet were : Great Antshrike -Tropical Mockingbird - Lesser Elaenia - Bran-colored Flycatcher -Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet - Crested Oropendola and Yellow-bellied Seedeater.
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| Mouse-colored Tyrannulet (from my archives) |
Our last target species never did show - the Sepia-capped Flycatcher. We tried for more than 8 hours, but never did track it down. We did however, find fresh footprints of a Puma and we saw several amazing butterlfly species. Blue-and-orange Eighty-Eight and Dark Purplewing were just 2 of the more colorful butterflies seen.
After the dust had settled, Bart was able to add 7 more species to his Costa Rica List, and we were finally able to rest our legs...
Good birding - STEVEN EASLEY
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