FEB 10TH - COSTA RICA DAY 10

Sevegre Hotel grounds and private nature reserve

We spent all day at this superb hotel discovering its grounds and nature trails but first we drove a kilometer along the track to look for the Quetzal. After piling out of the van at 7am we could see a group of people looking into a wood and sure enough they were watching a pair of Quetzals. Fantastic a beautiful and a must-see species. We also saw a group of 3 Acorn Woodpeckers before we got back into the bus and drove to the hotel. Once at the reception area we transferred into a 4*4 land rover which took the entire group up the mountain track, climbing about a 1,000ft before dropping us off near a clearing in the forest.

We made several good sightings in the first few minutes, the best was a Costa Rican Pygmy Owl which sat out in full view near its nest hole. Then a group of Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers flew in before a couple of acorn Woodpeckers showed up. An Ornate Hawk-Eagle circled above us which again was well appreciated by the group.

The next exciting find was a Stripe-breasted Treehunter, this thrush sized bird showed very well before our attention was diverted elsewhere. Many flycatchers were seen but none of them were new for us, however the beautiful Collared Redstart was.

We walked onto to a circular side trail, the path was narrow but gave us a good vantage point to look down into the forest. We found Ochraceous Wren and Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush and many species seen before. The trail eventually rejoined the main track and we walked back down to the hotel. Along the main track we found Sulphur-winged Parakeets in the distance and we got very close to a Silvery-fronted Tapaculo but again it never showed.

We went to the restaurant at 12 noon for lunch and there can't be too many places in the world where you can watch Emerald Toucanets through the window whilst you are eating your lunch. Two of these very hard to find beauties appeared near the window of the restaurant to the amazement of everyone in there, fantastic.

After lunch we spent time on lower tracks where we were thwarted in our efforts to get good views of Black-faced Solitaire yet again. But we did see many warblers and 3 different vireos. Above us a pair of Swallow-tailed Kites circled and a Red-tailed hawk swooped on its display flight. Many swifts hawked very high up mostly White-collared Swifts but also Vaux’s Swift.

We watched Grey-breasted Wood-Wren which showed extremely well and several migrant warblers appeared in the bushes: Black & White Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Townsend Warbler and lots of tanagers flitted around in the trees.

As we got back to the hotel our sighting of the day was a Black Guan, a great find and a great end to a superb day’s birding.

ADDITIONS TO THE COSTA RICAN LIST AND TO MY 2013 YEAR LIST

400. Mallard

401. Swallow-tailed Kite

402. Ornate Hawk-Eagle

403. Costa Rican Pygmy Owl

404. Stripe-tailed Hummingbird

405. Respendent Quetzal

406. Sulphur-winged Parakeet

407. Stripe-breasted Treehunter

408. Ochraceous Wren

409. Ruddy-capped Nightingale Thrush

410. Collared Redstart

411. Emerald Toucanet