Fiery-billed Aracari. Best I got! |
Our destination this morning was the dry forest along the Guacalillo Road, as well as some better mangrove habitat on the other side of the Tarcoles. Carara is in what is called the transitional zone, where Pacific slope rainforest gives way to a dryer habitat. This results in a lot of different species in a small area, and it really was not a long time before we turned off the main roads and were in a totally different kind of place. Dry and dusty, and bakingly hot.
Our Trip List started advancing almost immediately by virtue of a few
opportune spots along the road. Leo seemed to be targeting open areas with
larger trees. Over the course of perhaps three stops we picked up Common Ground Dove, Nutting's Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Yellow-green Vireo, Stripe-headed Sparrow, Scrub Euphonia, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Tropical Pewee, and three new hummingbirds - Plain-capped Starthroat, Charming Hummingbird, and Steely-vented Hummingbird. It was a bit like a route march
though, we could not linger anywhere, and I think I disappointed him by running
away from the car to try and photograph the White-throated Magpie-Jays.
The road turned towards the coast and we were soon seeing the Pacific
again. Our one and only Pearl Kite of the trip was on wires just adjacent to
the beach here. Towards the end of the road we parked up and walked into the mangroves.
Excellent views here of Mangrove Wabler again, and at the river we got
Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Scrub Flycatcher, Amazon Kingfisher, and best of all American Pygmy Kingfisher.
All too soon we were meandering back through the dry forest – a couple
more stops got us Olive Sparrow, Long-tailed Manakin, and some roadside Double-striped Thick-knee.
And then it was time to hit the road unfortunately. San José is not too
far away at this point, but there is only one road and if there is a problem on
it then you are stuck and Leo wanted to get past that section towards the
outskirts of the city where we would have options. Once there there was some
last minute birding which got us American Kestrel, but another small
side-excursion did not pull in anything new.
We had lunch at the Denny’s opposite the airport and then bade farewell
to Leo to catch our flight back to London. The lounge made excellent gin and
tonics with lashings of Tanqueray, much needed. Our final total was 412 birds,
of which 396 were seen and the rest heard. I think that is an astonishing total
– most of the 396 were seen very well thanks to the laser pen trick.
Next up - that astonishing list.
Next up - that astonishing list.
Oh yes, great write-up. Black-faced Antthrush at last.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures
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