Bougainvillea Gardens – La Paz Falls - Cinchona Hummingbird Platform – Cope’s House and local woodland – Transfer to our Sarapiqui Lodge.
Weather: cloudy and windy to start then rain for most of the day, thick cloud, misty and foggy conditions all day.
Despite the strong winds we had a terrific start to our second day. We met at 6am in the gardens of the hotel and started listing species straight away. Nothing new arrived until Jason pointed out our first Lesson’s Motmot, he then found a Chestnut-sided Warbler and just afterwards he got us all onto the most-wanted White-eared Ground-Sparrow, we saw two of them and they appeared several times, showing very well too. As we watched the Ground-Sparrows we also saw the beautiful Rufous-capped Warbler, this bird was very mobile and I had little chance of digi-scoping it.
poor light - bad picture of the White-eared Ground-Sparrow
Our walk took us to the Bamboo clump where the Mottle Owls roost, we had excellent views of one of them. We then watched a second Momot as a Brown Jay flew across the gardens calling loudly. Soon our hour was up so we strolled back to the hotel for breakfast.
Mottled Owl - roosting in the Bamboo
We departed the hotel at 8am and set off for the highlands before dropping down to the Caribbean slopes. We added a few species along the way, such as Cattle Egret, White-collared Swifts, Great Blue Heron and Roadside Hawk.
We stopped at the La Paz falls which were quite spectacular after all the rain we have had. We also had a short but very productive birding session. We found Common Chlorospingus around the falls and just up from there Jason found a mixed feeding flock. He called out several species, most of which were seen by the group. Yellow-thighed Brushfinch, Red-faced Spinetail, Purple-throated Mountain-gem, Crimson Collared and Scarlet-rumped Tanagers were some of the flock.
The rain intensified as we drove higher, the thick cloud mist made visibility difficult. We eventually arrived at Cinchona Hummingbird Platform where we were in for a treat. The platform is now a huge concreted area, about 4 times bigger than the old wooden balcony.
The feeders were so busy too, dozens of birds were present most of the time. My group were blown away by the spectacle presented before them, it was just as fascinating to watch my group’s reaction as it was seeing the array of birds in front of us.
Some of the star birds on show included: Prong-billed and Red-headed Barbets, Northern Emerald Toucanet, Violet Sabrewing, Green-crowned Brilliant, Red-legged Honeycreeper and a nice array of tanagers.
We were dragged away by Jason around 12 noon, we had a fairly long drive to our next destination and we needed to stop for lunch. We dined in a large roadside cantina near Sarapiqui.
The rain never stopped but it did ease off, we managed some birding around the car park during lunchtime but didn’t find much.
The afternoon was spent at the, now famous, Copé’s House. Everyone goes there, in fact you have to book your slot. Copé, a local artist and naturalist, build a small bird hide in his garden about 20 years ago, he soon realised that he was attracting some great birds to his feeders and invited friends and visiting birders to look. Soon his small hide grew bigger, and now! He has a huge construction, about forty people can sit in a line watching his feeders and birds along a stream, he has special lighting and feeders, it is an amazing place.
Orange-chinned Parrot
two species of Oropendolas - left the smaller Chestnut-headed with a Montezuma's Oropendola.
We listed an impressive amount of species, not so many hummers as in the past, but some good ones. It poured with rain the whole time we were there but the birds just kept coming. Two species of Oropendola (Montezuma and Chestnut-headed), Collared Aracari, Yellow-throated Toucan, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Orange-chinned Parrot, Green Kingfisher, Russet-naped Wood-Rail, Scarlet-rumped Cacique, several species of Tanagers, Honeycreepers, Hummers and plenty more.
Collared Aracari
Mid-afternoon, the rain eased a little, most of group were taken to a local woodland in the bus, we donned wellington boots, supplied by Copé, along the way we saw four Green Ibis in a field. We marched through the muddy, squelchy track in the wood, we crossed a stream on stepping stones, it rained on us. But, we were shown two special Owls, the Spectacled and the Crested Owls, wow, it was amazing! We also saw our first Poison Dart Frog, the tiny ‘Blue Jeans’ variety.
Back at Copé’s house we were shown a Three-toed Sloth, we also saw a White-crowned Parrot and another Collared Aracari. We were then served coffee, and home-made cheese rolls, yum, yum!
three species of Tanager here - Crimson-collared, Scarlet-rumped and Blue-gray. Theother two green ones are female Scarlet-rumped.
It got darker and darker in the hide, but still the birds came, however, we had to leave it was approaching 5pm. We made a short drive to our hotel, checked in and met up for dinner at 7pm. The food was excellent and whilst eating we could hear Red-eyed Tree Frogs, a short walk along a covered walk-way produced sightings of the Red-eyed Tree Frog and a Common Rain Frog.
Red-eyed Tree-Frog
the tiny Common Rain Frog
The rain poured down all evening it’s a good job that we had covered walk-ways to all of our rooms.