CARARA NATIONAL PARK
We assembled at the car park at 6am for a stroll
before breakfast. A calling owl got our attention before we set off anywhere.
The Ferruginous Pygmy Owl was sitting in the tree above us, very nice too. Then
we found a pair of Torquoise-browed Motmots, they posed for the cameras for a
while. Several Scarlet Macaws flew over and two of them landed in a small tree
right next to the Car park, click-click went the cameras. A couple of
White-fronted Parakeets flew over and they were new for our list.
The only other new birds for the trip were a flock of
Costa Rican Swifts flying high over the lodge complex. We settled down for
breakfast at 7am before setting off at 8am for our morning birding session at
Carara forest.
Carara is one of the Costa Rica’s most famous birding
sites and the most northerly site found on the South Pacific slopes. It
preserves some 5000 hectares of primary forest and offers two well maintained
trails both of which are easily accessible. We took the ‘river trail’ and spent
3 hours walking through dense forest with open areas and finally wet sat by a
large overgrown pool. It took a while to find any birds but eventually we
caught up with a prized species in the shape of the Royal Flycatcher, it was
found near it’s hanging nest just a meter or so off the trial, a great bird but
you never see it with its crest erected.
A Common Potoo was another super find and our second
one of the trip, this one was much nearer and it opened it eyes to look down at
us. Boat-billed Herons showed well at the pool, they sat in their usual roost.
The ant-birds and ant-shrikes took up most of our time and attention on the
trail, they were hard to see and took some finding at times. But it was the
Orange-collared Manakin that got most of the praise and applause. These little
gems were coming down to a ‘lek’ area (a small area where they had cleared the
leaf –litter) and where the males performed their courtship dances and
displays, fantastic little birds.
At Lunchtime we drove towards Tarcoles and took a
delicious lunch at a beach-side restaurant whilst watching many sea-birds. At
one stage we counted 82 Magnificent Frigatebirds whilst many Brown Pelicans sat
on the water.
After lunch we took as second trail into the Carara
forest, it was now very hot and after 30 minutes of walking we hadn’t seen a
single bird. So we decided to return to the lodge and use the swimming pool and
relax for the rest of the day.
At dusk the sky filled with Scarlet Macaws flying off
to roost and many Lesser Nighthawks came out hawking insects, the sky turned
red as we watched a beautiful sun set over the pacific ocean. The end of our 13th
day, just two more to go and we still need 40 new birds in order to reach our
400 target.
ADDITIONS TO THE COSTA RICA LIST AND TO MY 2013 YEAR
LIST
455. Double-toothed Kite
456. Mangrove Cuckoo
457. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
458. Costa Rica Swift
459. Long-billed Hermit
460. Ruby Throated hummingbird
461. Charming Hummingbird
462. Cinnamon Hummingbird
463. White-fronted Parrot
464. Yellow-naped Parrot
465. Black-hooded Antshrike
466. Dot-winged Antwren
467. Dusky Antbird
468. Royal Flycatcher
469. Rufous and White Wren
470. Turquoise Browed Motmot
471. Bairds Trogon
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