This is the second of five blogs covering a trip to Costa Rica with Nick Preston and Paul Noakes. Paul was the instigator and to all intents and purposes Nick and I went long for the ride. And a very good ride it was too. Photos are mine (normal size) and Paul's (bigger & better).
Sunday 24 April. After a short night we left Las
Brumas at 05:00 and arrived back at Nochebuena Museo Volcanes at 05:30. We headed for the
potato fields above and disturbed a pair of Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridges
with chicks in a rough weedy field on the way. We birded the potato fields and
forest edge to 08:50 seeing Volcano Hummingbird, Maroon-breasted
Ground Dove and male and female Resplendent Quetzal (in flight). We
returned to the hotel at 09:15 for breakfast then drove to Casa Tangara dowii
arriving at 11:30 to find the gate locked. Paul went up the road to the nearest
neighbour to ask if they knew if anyone was around and they phoned the owner to
say there were some birders asking for access. Soon after Paul returned the
owner appeared, he’d locked the gate as his wife was away and he wasn’t
expecting anyone – we’d failed to ‘book’ in advance not knowing his number
although he said it was widely available on WhatsApp. We followed him to his
house and were surprised to find Graham and Richard there, friends of Nick’s
from the NE. While we watched the feeders we chatted and had an excellent meal
although the gourmet aspects of the local produce were rather lost on me.
Highlights at the feeders were a pair of Buffy-crowned Wood Partridges
with 3 chicks, 2 Buff-fronted Quail-Doves, Chestnut-capped Brush
Finch and obviously the Spangle-cheeked Tanagers after which the
property was named. We stayed watching the feeders until 16:00 enjoying the
activity there and in the hope that the Scintillant Hummingbird seen by Nick’s
friends before we arrived might reappear. It didn’t and with the rain
increasing we left for the Cerro de la Muerte area. It was a 25 minute drive to
Iyok Ami, a very basic hostel which was to be our base for the next three days.
Having booked a single and a twin room we were disappointed to be given a dorm
in an outbuilding, more akin to something I might have expected while trekking in
Nepal in the late 1970s, although we had t to ourselves. We spent half an hour
on the veranda as the light started to go. The rain eased off but the clouds
rolled in. Nothing was heard calling during an evening owling session below the
lodge and soon after we returned the rain became really heavy. The temperature
dropped and we added layers of clothing and bedding, distributing all the dorms
blankets and quilts between us.
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| Black-capped Flycatcher at Nochebuena (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Volcano Hummingbird above Nochebuena |
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| Volcano Hummingbird above Nochebuena (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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Maroon-chested Ground-Dove above Nochebuena (photo: Paul Noakes)
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| passing the Lady of the Angels in Cartago |
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| Silver-throated Tanager at Casa Tangara dowii |
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| Buff-fronted Quail-Dove at Casa Tangara dowii (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridge (and chicks) at Casa Tangara dowii |
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| Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridge at Casa Tangara dowii (photo: Paul Noakes) |
Monday 25 April. The rain had stopped and we were
up at 04:00 and owling around the lodge but with no success. We drove two kms
down the Providencia Road arriving at 05:00 just as it was getting light. No
owl response here either and a very poor flyover view of a Dusky Nightjar
was little compensation although an Ochraceous Pewee soon after dawn was
welcome. We continued birding for a couple of kms down the road. A superb Wrenthrush
at one of the bends was an immediate candidate for bird of the trip even though
Nick and I had seen them on our previous visit. Otherwise, it was disappointingly
quiet although perhaps not surprising with the sun taking a long time to reach
our side of the valley. We returned to the car at 08:30 and drove to the top of
the antenna road where we looked unsuccessfully for Peg-billed Finch but did
see Timberline Wren, although not brilliantly in my case. With the
clouds rolling in at 10:45 we left, stopping for a final look for Peg-billed
Finch nearer the main road. No finch but an Upland Sandpiper by the car
was more of a surprise! Back to the main road we returned to the main road and
turned off to San Gerardo stopping at Miriam’s Quetzals feeders. Graham and
Richard had beaten us again and we had a brief chat with them while looking at
the feeders. It was quiet and after 20 minutes we decided to visit another time
for a meal and instead we went on Savegre Hotel Natural Reserve & Spa,
stopping to bird along the way and seeing a pair of Resplendent Quetzals
then further down the road another male visiting a nest hole with what looked
like a juvenile (but might have been a female) inside. There we enquired about
a permit for visiting their trails the flowing day and were told we could from
06:00. We were told we could also use the trails that day if we stayed for
lunch. It was a very posh place but finding the menu nothing like as expensive
as we feared we did, choosing a table with a view of hummingbird feeders. We
stayed from 13:30-15:00 walking a forest trail which was very quiet in
increasing rain but the hummingbird feeders had been good. We drove to Pareso Quetzal
Lodge but it was still raining and we sat in the car for half an hour before
giving up on another owling session. It was 10 minutes back to Iyok Ami where a
better room in the main building was available (and well worth the effort of moving all our stuff into).
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| Collared Whitestart on the Providencia Road (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| the incomparable Wrenthrush on the Providencia Road (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher on the Providencia Road |
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| Black & Yellow Silky-Flycatcher on the Providencia Road |
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| Sooty-headed Chlorospingus on the Telecom Road |
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Sooty-headed Chlorospingus on the Telecom Road (photo: Paul Noakes)
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| Volcano Junco on the Telecom Road |
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Volcano Junco on the Telecom Road (photo: Paul Noakes)
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| Sooty Thrush on the Telecom Road |
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| Upland Sandpiper on the Telecom Road as the cloud rolled in ... |
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| ... and out again |
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| Upland Sandpiper on the Telecom Road (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Grey-tailed Mountaingem at Savegre (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Volcano Hummingbird at Savegre in very poor light (photo: Paul Noakes) |
Tuesday 26 April. We were up at 03:30 and on the road
above Pareso Quetzal Lodge at 04:00 owling. We heard a distant Bare-shanked
Screech-Owl responding to tape. After 3-4 minutes it, or another, came
closer and was spotlighted in a tree beside the road. Graham and Richard were
staying in the lodge and fortuitously arrived while it was in view. A brilliant
start, we left at 04:30. Hoping we might be on a roll we birded the first few
kms of the Providencia Road trying for Unspotted Saw-Whet Owl but nothing, not
even the Dusky Nightjar we’d heard there the previous morning. We arrived at Savegre
at 06:15, paid $10 each for trail access and after a quick look at the feeders
drove up to just below the viewpoint on the road to the Los Robles trail. We
birded along the trail from 06:30-13:45. We had an excellent morning but the
weather deteriorated in the afternoon with some rain and low cloud. The
highlights were 3 small groups of Spotted Wood-Quail (totaling 7 individuals),
a Costa Rican Pygmy Owl that took a while to give itself up, 6 obliging Sulphur-winged
Parakeets and 6 Ruddy-capped Nightingale Thrushes. Paul also had
good views of Silvery-fronted Tapaculo which we all heard while Nick saw a
female Peg-billed Finch in a bird flock. We called in again at Miriam’s
Quetzals for a late lunch and another look at her feeders but the species there
were much as previously and didn’t include the hoped for Scintillant Hummingbird
which I was getting quite concerned about. While at Miriam’s the weather
deteriorated further with persistent rain which continued into the evening.
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| Bare-shanked Screech-Owl at Pareso Quetzal Lodge (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| Spotted Wood-Quail at Savegre (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| Black-faced Solitaire at Savegre (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Sulphur-winged Parakeet at Savegre |
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| Sulphur-winged Parakeet at Savegre (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| forest giant at Savegre |
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| fungi at Savegre |
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Collared Whitestart at Savegre (photos: Paul Noakes)
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| Flame-throated Warbler at Savegre (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| Ruddy Treerunner at Savegre (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl at Savegre |
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| Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl at Savegre (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Black-cheeked Warbler at Savegre (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| Nick outside the restaurant at Savegre |
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| Flame-coloured Tanager at Miriam's Quetzals |
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| Spot-crowned Woodcreeper at Miriam's Quetzals |
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| Fiery-throated Hummingbird at Miriam's Quetzals |
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Talamanca Hummingbirds at Miriam's Quetzals
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Talamanca Hummingbird at Miriam's Quetzals (photo: Paul Noakes)
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| Acorn Woodpecker at Miriam's Quetzals |
Wednesday 27 April. We were up at 03:30 and drove to
Pareso Quetzal Lodge trying to find where Graham and Richard had seen Dusky
Nightjar well the previous morning. We couldn’t find the area in the dark and
it being obviously private with a few barking dogs
put us off so we drove to the Providencia Road (2km) site. There after some
effort we had decent views of Dusky Nightjar. We returned to the car and
drove another 2km down the road before realizing we had a flat tyre. We soon
discovered the spare wheel was under the chassis held in place by a chain. Accessing
it wasn’t so obvious and the car had no instruction manual. We found an opening
from which the chain was presumably accessed and amongst the tools two rods
which when fitted together could be inserted to reach it but to no effect. It
was 4km back to the main road where there had been a few buildings and we
decided the best thing was to bird our way back and seek assistance. I was
fairly confident a vehicle would pass us and we could flag them down so as not
to have to walk it all but none did in the 90 minutes or so we were walking
(and birding, seeing another Costa Rican Pygmy Owl). At the shop/restaurant
on the main road Nick found a helpful local involved with a Tapir project and
we explained our problem. He had a set of tools in his pickup but none seemed
likely to fit. One of the few cars parked there was a Toyota but not our model.
We’d hoped to speak to them about how to change a wheel but they were in the restaurant
and in a rush to get to San Jose, the only unhelpful people we met in the whole
of Costa Rica. The Tapir guy took Paul and me back to our car in his pickup but despite
his help we were making no progress on releasing the spare wheel when a Toyota Hi-Lux
approached. We flagged it down and explained the problem. The driver got out
looked through our tools, attached a hook to one of our rods and showed how the
wheel was wound down. He made us feel pretty silly as the answer had been
staring us in the face all along – we’d rather overlooked the hook but why have
two rods when only one was needed? Our problems weren’t quite over as the jack
wouldn’t raise the car enough to change the wheel. Being on a slope wasn’t
helping but our helper had a better jack. His enabled us to remove the
punctured tyre but the car still wasn’t high enough to fit the replacement. He
had a mattock and dug out a section of earth road under the wheel arch until it
was. Tyre changed we thanked our helper, gave him a donation to his project and
returned for Nick who was pleased/relieved to see us mobile again. We returned
to Iyok Ami to collect our stuff and settle up with them and drove to the
Transmitter Road for a final look for Peg-billed Finch. I thought I saw
a female briefly then Nick found a male nearby which gave good views. An
unexpected success with a tricky species. A male Black-throated Green
Warbler was pretty stunning and presumably a recently arrived migrant. We
stopped at La Georgina where I’d stayed with Nick and Colin for three nights in
1985 and just about recognized it. Nick and Paul had a meal there. Still very
much the Arroz con Carne con Frijoles that I remembered but rather greasier
which didn’t appeal. I looked around outside seeing little and wondering where
we might have gone birding while there, nowhere looked obvious. We left La
Georgina at 14:20 and dropped into low cloud, poor visibility causing us to
miss the entrance to Bosque del Tolomuco. In trying to turn around we ended up on a
steep gravel track it was impossible to reverse up, not helped by the car being
rear-wheel drive and our spare tyre not getting much purchase. We continued
down the track, did a several point turn and managed to get back up onto the
main road. We arrived at Bosque del Tolomuco in the rain at 15:05 and were welcomed by the owners who were in the process of selling up and moving to the coast. It was only due to delays with their sale that we'd been able to visit, the last to do so, at least under their regime. They were very friendly and helpful, if a little too eager to collect payment. It was a fantastic
place for hummingbirds with feeders and Verbena everywhere. We saw Brown
and Lesser Violetears, 15+ Green-crowned Brilliants, 6 each of Talamanca
and Fiery-throated Hummingbirds, 3 Grey-tailed Mountaingems, 2 Volcano
Hummingbird, 2 Violet Sabrewing and 4 Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds.
I failed to see a Scintillant Hummingbird that Paul found and shot off before I
could get onto it (my eyesight letting me down in poor light again). Seeing a White-tailed
Emerald with Nick didn’t seem like much compensation at the time. My mood
wasn’t improved by receiving an unhelpful email about a dispute I was having
with VISA about a crashed airline booking.
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| Dusky Nightjar at the Providencia Road (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl along the Providencia Road |
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| Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl along the Providencia Road (photos: Paul Noakes) |
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| Yellow-thighed Brushfinch along the Providencia Road (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Black and Yellow Silky-Flycatcher along the Providencia Road (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| Paul changing the punctured wheel with our helper looking on |
spare wheel fitted
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| male Peg-billed Finch on the Telecom Road (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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| La Georgina April 2022 |
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| La Georgina August 1985 |
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| Nick and Colin birding the road at La Georgina August 1985 |
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| Silver-throated Jay La Georgina August 1985 (we failed to see this tricky species this time) |
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| Grey-tailed Mountaingem at Bosque del Tolomuco (photo: Paul Noakes) |
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