LA SELVA ALL MORNING – LUNCH IN TOWN – AFTERNOON WALKING THE TRACKS AROUND THE PERIMETER OF LA SELVA.
WEATHER: dreadful!! It rained for most the day and its still raining as I am typing this at 6pm.
We met before breakfast at 6am outside the main reception at the hotel. It was raining and so we stayed under the canopy of the building for the hour-long birding ‘walk’. It was quite busy in the trees and bushes and we listed a fair few species. I don’t think there were too many new species for the list, but we enjoyed what we saw.
The Golden-hooded Tanager was new as well as Piratic Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, White-collared Manakin, Black-cowled Oriole and our first Gray-headed Chachalacas. During breakfast we watched a Yellow-throated Euphonia with other species visiting the bird table which was laden with bananas.
Grey-headed Chachalaca
After a lovely breakfast we boarded the bus and headed into La Selva Biological Station to meet our guide at 8am. The weather was abysmal, it was dull and it rained the whole time we were there except for a 30 minute period towards the end. I felt sorry for the guide who tried his best to find us birds in these adverse conditions.
Yellow-throated Euphonia at the feeder table in the hotel
We spent time around the main visitor’s centre, finding shelter beneath the covered canteen area, we then walked across the suspension bridge, the river below us was almost bursting its banks. In the main open compound on the other side of the river we spent an hour or so, finding very little.
This Green Ibis sat in a tree above the river looking miserable
A Squirrel Cuckoo appeared very briefly, Orange-chinned Parrots and Red-lored Parrots flew over, as did Grey-rumped Swifts. Olive-backed Euphonia, Golden-winged Warbler, Lesser Greenlet, Grey-capped Flycatcher, White-lored Gnatcatcher were the main species new for our list, but there wasn’t many more, such a shame, I have never been to La Selva in such bad weather. The local guide told us that since the new year they had had only three days of sunshine.
The Iguanas sitting in the tops of the trees were looking woeful, they lacked colour, this was their peak breeding time and males were in a dreadful condition due to a lack of sunshine! So was I!!
Back over the bridge we went, we took a track into the forest trying to get shelter, my god it was grim in their, the photographers in the group were very miserable. We heard a Rufous-tailed Jacamar calling but we could not track it down. I think we saw only three species during this section of the walk, they were; Black-throated Trogon, a wet and miserable looking individual. Jason found us a Plain-brown Woodcreeper and I can’t remember the third species.
The Blue-chested Hummingbird was one of just a few hummingbirds seen today, found by our guide
We made our way back to the main compound area, most of the group sat in the canteen drinking hot drinks whilst scanning the trees. The rain eased off and eventually stopped for a while, hooray! Over the next hour or so we had our most productive period of the day. Birds began to appear!
Both Scarlet-thighed and Blue Dacnis went onto the list, as did Shiny Cowbird, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Mistletoe Tyrannulet ( a tiny flycatcher), Black-faced Grosbeak, Shining Honeycreeper, Common Tody Flycatcher and several more. The place became alive with birds, as it should have been all morning!
a record shot of the Semi-plumbeous Hawk, it was dark and distant
A beautiful Semi-plumbeous Hawk flew into a tree not too far away, that cheered a lot of the group, we searched for Snowy Cotinga in the tallest trees but dipped on it.
We drove into town to a restaurant for lunch and then return to the hotel for a break, the rain had recommenced.
At 3pm we met up again and had the best, dry period of the day, it even got warm!! Before our walk we stopped to look at a nest site of the Green Macaw, but nobody was at home. The sky cleared and it got quite warm and humid. All of the sudden the sky began to fill with Vultures, hundreds of them. I guess they were happy that the rain had stopped and need to stretch thier wings.
just a small section of the vultures, it was just like a migration passage.
Jason took us to a track outside of the La Selva Reserve where we searched for Macaws. Within 30 minutes we had seen both species, Scarlet and Green Macaws. The latter was the most-wanted and all we got was a fly-over, the Scarlets posed nicely for us. We also found a couple of Bat Falcons, Olive-throated Parakeets and more Red-lored Parrots.
two of the Scarlet Macaws seen this afternoon
Bat Falcon, this was a long way off and in very bad light
Our walk in this period of nice weather produced sightings of a lot of species, some of the new species included Thick-billed Seed-Finch, Black-striped Sparrow, Barred Antshrike, Laughing Falcon, Purple-crowned Fairy (a hummingbird), Black-cheeked Woodpecker and Yellow-throated Toucans.
Barred Antshrike, in the thickest part of the a tree right above us.
It started to get dark and rain threatened once again so we left and returned to the hotel, It had been the wettest day of the trip so far and the least productive!!