TRANSFER TO LA SELVA - BIRDING LA SELVA ALL DAY
Well it poured down all night with some really heavy downpours, that's what everyone told me because I slept through it!!
We got up to a dull, drab morning, our meeting time was 7am so we had an hours daylight before then. Some of the group went for a walk others had a lie-in. A couple of good birds were recorded during that time: Great Tinamou and a Ruddy Quail-Dove. Others went looking for poison-dart frogs and found 3 species.
We set off at 7:45am and took a short detour before heading off to La Silva, the detour was to see a Great Potoo news of which had come our way at breakfast, it was an opportunity not to be missed. The bird was magnificent, although it was fast asleep we appreciate it's size and significance of it's rarity value in Costa Rica.
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| GREAT POTOO |
So we finally set for La Selva and arrived at 8:45am when we met our guide for the day. We spent 30 minutes or so listing the species in and around the visitor's centre where a host of species was seen.
We then set off for our morning walk and one of the first birds that we found was a Snowy Cotinga, what a fantastic, beautiful bird and well named too! We also found a Plain -coloured Tanager on the nest and a small flock of Dusky-faced Tanagers.
Further into the walk we bumped into a small flurry of activity, first we found a Rufous-tailed Jacamar, then a Red-throated Ant Tanager and that was followed by Dusky Antbird, Rufous Mourner, and a Fasciated Antshrike. We then tried to track down a Long-billed Gnatwren but only got brief glimpses of it.
Next we found a Yellow-olive Flycatcher followed by a Slaty-tailed Trogon.. Birds just kept on coming and back at the visitor's centre just before lunch we added Common Tody Flycatcher, Black-thighed Grosbeak, Blue Dacnis, Green Honeycreeper and Black-cowled Oriole.
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| IF YOU LOOK CAREFULLY YOU CAN JUST ABOUT MAKE OUT ITS EYE AND MOUTH |
After lunch we continued to add new birds to our list, however the clouds thickened and the rain returned to spoil the afternoon somewhat. Two Motmots were seen, first the Rufous variety and then Broad-billed, both showed extremely well. A Kentucky Warbler was a nice find as was a Cinnamon and then a Chestnut-coloured Woodpecker. Two more Flycatcher went onto the expanding Flycatcher-list, Dusky-capped and Great-crested were both seen well.
We then took another pathway and saw a lovely Black Currasow in the lower branches of a tree. A few Collared Pecary were walking about and we did find a very interesting and poisonous snake, the Eye-lashed Pit-Viper as well as Long-nosed bats, Strawberry Poison Dart Frog, Black River- Turtle, Variegated Squirrel, Two-toed Sloth, Spiny-tailed Iguana and lots of unnamed butterflies, moths and other insects.
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| THE BEAUTIFUL SNOWY COTINGA |
In the main compound of the field study centre we stood and watched the tall trees all around the perimeter, many birds were feeding there: Golden-hooded Tanagers joined lots of Baltimore Orioles, Yellow-crowned and Olive-backed Euphonias, Masked Tityras, Buff-throated Saltators and several other species. One nice species was a Lesser Swallow-tail Swift which flew over and one of the group happened to look up at the right time, well done Patrick.
On the way back we stopped on the 'rope-bridge' and found White-ringed Flycatcher, Great Blue Heron, Green Kingfisher and White-crowned Parrots.
We returned at 5pm to end the day's birding but we got carried away chasing more species with the Band-backed Wren finally being added to the day's tally.
Finally as we ate dinner we could hear a Common Paraque calling so we went out to see it. This nightjar was very confiding and let approach quite close, smashing!! Good night.
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| just after an all night down pour |
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| RED-THROATED ANT TANAGER |
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| GREATER KISKADEE |
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| COLLARED PECARY |
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| EYE-LASHED PIT-VIPER |
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| BROAD-BILLED MOTMOT |
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| SLATY-TAILED TROGON |
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| GREEN AND BLACK POISON-DART-FROG |
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