COSTA ROCA - DAY 13 - FEBRUARY 20TH 2014

CARARA NATIONAL PARK - TARCOLES MANGROVE WALK

A FANTASTIC DAY - WITH SOME GREAT SIGHTINGS - 28 NEW SPECIES FOR THE TRIP

Breakfast was taken at 6am. We then spent a while watching the feeders from the restaurant veranda. One great sighting was of a distant Yellow-billed Cotinga, we were told that this bird often made a short stay in its usual tree and we were lucky enough to see it. Several Scarlet Macaws flew over, as did Crested Caracara and Montezuma Oropendola.

the Owl Butterfly is massive, I am sure 4 of these beasts could carry you off!!

 

So at 7am we all set off for a day visit to the famous Carara National Park, it was a beautiful day with wall to wall sunshine and a nice temperature. We set off on foot along the ‘river’ trail, it was a wide track that ran through the forest in a nice straight, flat line. It wasn’t long before the birds started to appear and Roy our excellent guide was calling them left, right and centre. A Black-hooded Antshrike came first followed quickly by a Dot-winged Antwren. Then we waited patiently near a known nest-site of a Royal Flycatcher, within a few minutes a lovely male showed well, it’s crest wasn’t erect but it was still a special find for us. Turquoise-browed Motmot, Violaceous Trogon, White-whiskered Puffbird came one after another. We visited a lekking-site of the Orange-collared Manakin and saw  three individuals but not displaying, just ‘clicking’ and flitting about.

Next we located a Northern Bentbill, super little beast, it was well liked by the group, this little tyke liked our attention and showed well for a few minutes. A Slaty-headed Tody Flycatcher called from trees nearby but only Roy our guide saw it. However our next bird was seen very well by all of us. A male Barred Antshrike sat out in the morning sun anodised for us, what a superb looking bird, even its crest is barred, wonderful another great species to find.

Barred Antshrike another stunning species for our list

 

Next came some real excitement as we came across a swarm of soldier ants crossing our path, Roy knew this would be good and led us around the swarm to a nice vantage position and we waited. First a few Grey-headed Tanagers appeared, then. Bicoloured Antbird, Followed by a Chestnut-backed Antbird. These are typical birds that follow ant swarms, they do not eat the ants but take anything that flies up or runs out of the path of the ants, very clever, let the ants do their work.

Other birds joined the flock, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Buff-throated Saltator and even Clay-coloured Thrushes were at it.

 

 



Turquoise-browed Motmot



 

Well what next? We walked further along the trail and turned off to the Meanders River where a small section of an ox-bow lake is visible, it was now very overgrown with reeds and shrubs but we did manage to see a few species. Black-necked Stilts, Northern Jacana, Tricoloured Heron and a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher were seen. Then we approached some tall trees that grew alongside the ‘lake’ and we found a small colony of roosting Boat-billed Herons, this bizarre looking creature was a most wanted species by the group, off went the cameras, click, click, click.

 

 



the odd looking Boat-billed Heron



 

It was now approaching 11am and some of the group had pre-arranged to return to the lodge for an afternoon of leisure, so they departed and walked back to the bus whilst we journeyed on. Within a few minutes we found a Black-faced Antthrush which was quickly followed by a Ruddy Quail-Dove, both of these are hard to find species. Then we had a quiet spell as we made our way back to the entrance, we then jumped back onto the bus which had returned and were driven to the main visitor’s centre where we sat at shaded picnic tables and ate an excellent packed lunch.

The afternoon started slowly, it was very hot and humid even in shade of the forest trees. We watched a Apia of Scarlet Macaws at their nest hole and photographed a few lizards before moving deeper into the forest. Birds started to call, a Rufous Piha called but we couldn’t find it and so did a number of other species including a Scaly-breasted Wren.

 



Grey-headed Tanager



 

Then we hit a good patch where birds began to show, first a Tawny-crowned Greenlet then a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, but the best of the three, by far, was a Golden-crowned Spadebill, what a little beauty and so hard to see, we even got it in the scope, fantastic bird. We continued along the track adding species at regular intervals, Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner, Plain Xenops and Northern-barred Woodcreeper to name but a few.

 

A calling Streaked Antpitta was next to be found, it was very close to the side of the track and with a little patience we located it and got great views. It doesn’t get much better than this. After that superb addition to our list everything else seemed anti-climatic, even a party of beautiful Bay-headed Tanagers didn’t draw much attention.

Tawny-winged Woodcreeper

 

Our last birds seen on the trail were, Great Tinamou and then Black-hooded Antbird and Dot-winged Antwren, both of the latter two species showed very well at eye level and much better views than they did earlier.

Well it was now 4pm, the park was closing so we jumped onto the bus and drove the short distance into Tarcoles, we parked down by the river in preparation for a short walk near the mangrove swamp.

The area where we walked had mature trees adjacent to the mangroves, it was full of birds, we never walked far before listing 4 of our 5 target species. A Prothonotary Warbler was first in the bag, we saw two or three of them. A Northern Waterthrush then showed well before we found a Mangrove Warbler (this is a sub-species of Yellow Warbler, the male has a completely red-brown head - they were split at one stage but have been lumped back together as one species) regardless it was nice to several of them. Next we turned our attention to the many Flycatcher buzzing about, we took time on one particular bird and finally identified it as a Tropical Peewee, we then saw a nice Streaked Flycatcher before finding the. Panama Flycatcher. Lastly we were looking for the endemic Mangrove Hummingbird, this is a prize indeed, and before long our excellent guide Roy found, first a female then a male, we were over the moon!

Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan

That concluded our birding for the day, we drove back to the lodge noting 20-30 Lesser Nighthawks, they were hawking insects in the late afternoon sky. Back at the lodge the rest of the group had had a relaxing time but still managed to see a couple of new species, the Stripe-headed Sparrow was one of them.