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Jan 2nd - 5th - Somerset Levels

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Red-throated Bee-eater

Red-throated Bee-eater
join us for a fantastic tour of The Gambia this November

Monday, February 10, 2014

COSTA RICA - DAY 2 - FEBRUARY 9TH 2014


 EARLY MORNING WALK AT VISTA DE VALLE – TRANSFER TO SELVA VERDE WITH STOPS AT BRAULIO CARRILLO AND LA SELVA

BREAKFAST THE FIRST MORNING
Our group was finally fully assembled after last night’s arrival of the last 6 members. We all met up at 5:45am at the reception area for our first official birding trip of the tour. We walked the grounds again and found many of the same species that we recorded yesterday with the addition and omission of a few. The Hoffman’s Woodpecker showed well again as did the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl and the beautiful Baltimore Orioles. We added Boat-billed Flycatcher, Greyish Saltator, White Hawk, Groove-billed Ani and Rose-throated Becard to name but a few.
ferruginous pigmy OWL
During breakfast we also found Keel-billed Toucan, what stunner that bird is. At 9am we packed our cases onto the bus in readiness for our trip to the Caribbean slopes. About 1 ½ hours into the journey we stopped at the roadside to look at a Bat Falcon which was perched in its regular roost, nice bird. Then we drove a short way to the entrance of Braulio Carrillo reserve. We had climbed up from the Central valley heading eastward and were a few hundred meters above sea level, Braulio is a National Park of some 50,000 hectares (118,000 acres) and consists of mainly primary forest.
We spent 3 ½ hours on one single trail which loops around one small section and it was full of birds, we were luckily enough to bump into 2 or 3 feeding flocks that held lots of species. We soon got overwhelmed with new birds flitting past at a fast rate of knots but we several accomplished birders in the group and soon many species were pointed out. Black-faced Grosbeak, fed with a number of tanagers, the Blue and Gold was one of prizes. A couple of Euphonias were found with the next group, we saw the Olive-backed and Tawny-capped varieties.

RUFOUS-NAPED WREN
One super bird and a lifer for most of us was the Brown-billed Sythebill, It is a woodcreeper with the most curved bill you may ever see. Other flocks held, Lesser Greenlet, Plain Xenops, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Black and White Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Olive Tanager, White-shouldered Tanager and a couple of good finds the Black and Yellow tanager and the Tawny-crested Tanager. We also found Trogons, Motmots, more woodcreepers and warblers, it was a superb walk and we really had to drag ourselves away for lunch.

It was quite late in the afternoon when we finished lunch so we had to press on to our next lodge but we did make a couple of short stops before we arrived there. The first stop was at the roadside where we look over a large expanse of grassland, we were hoping for Nicaraguian Seedeater, but found only Passerini’s tanager, Blue-black Grassquit and Variable Seedeater. In the distance we saw a very large mixed flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, Groove-billed Anis, Grackles and Cpwbirds.

Next we pulled onto a track which led us near to the reserve at La Selva, we stood watching several large fruiting trees in search of Great Green Macaws. It wasn’t long before one turned up, calling loudly, it was huge. Whilst there we also found another Bat Falcon, a Laughing Falcon and to our great surprise and delight five Scarlet Macaws flew in, they looked fantastic in the afternoon sunlight, we also found several parakeets,  a couple of parrots and at least 5 Chestnut –mandibled Toucans.

Our last stop was an impromptu one to look at more grassquits seen at the side of the track,  but the stop it soon developed into much more as new birds appeared in all directions! We watched from the bus as a heavy downpour began, but we had fabulous views of a Hooded Warbler bathing on a large leaf just after the rain-shower. We also saw another species of woodcreeper, our first Social Flycatcher, a Black-striped Sparrow which was tracked down as we followed its wonderful melodic song, did I really say that about a sparrow!

The light began to fade, and fast, so we jumped back onto the bus and drove the few kilometres to the Salva Verde Lodge.  After settling in we drove into the local town to sample local food in a lovely restaurant.

To date we had seen 114 species with some very special sightings in the bag.

 

 

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