Costa Rica 2020 Part I: La Cinchona

Wow, we made it back just in time! Greetings from San Jose, California, which is now deep in the shadow of coronavirus. While things are increasingly tense here - and just now my daughter is screaming about a squirrel in the living room, which for some reason there actually is - I can at least say that the Costa Rica 2020 tour is in the bag, and it was brilliant. Joining me this time was the controversial Jacob Durrent, attention-seeking Flycatcher Jen, and the surprisingly dry-eyed but armadillo-adverse Stilt. I planned our route to visit some of the best inland areas north of San Jose (Costa Rica), and although we did not have time to get to all of them by any means it was GREAT SUCCESS. It's kind of daunting to think I have a duty to blog all of it but I can try!

We flew in to San Jose and immediately experienced our first logistical obstacle of the trip (the first actual obstacle was large and dumb pile of Envision Festival goers doing unnecessary yoga at our feet in LAX), which was getting our rental car from Hertz. The 4x4 I had reserved was not available and they tried to give me a sedan, which I napesed. After much waiting we were informed a 4x4 SUV was available and would be ready soon...then we were informed that it kept slipping into neutral by itself while in gear so that one was off the table. Finally we accepted an SUV that did not have 4x4 as I figured we would at least have good clearance to deal with shitty roads...this did work out fine, though it would not have if we had met with real rainy season weather. It was also a surprise to get in the car and find out it was a manual transmission, which I had not driven in about seven years. Luckily Jacob helped out with a lot of the driving and all the stalling I did when I drove was just funny for everybody (how embarrassing) instead of being catastrophic. The car was weak and grossly underpowered BUT our little Chery (that's right, not Chevy) did succeed in getting us everywhere we wanted to go.

Why did I tell you this rambling story of inconvenience that you almost surely don't care about? Because that is Geri's way, and we did our share of GERI BIRDING. In fact, almost this entire post is about Geri Birding!

Finally underway, we got to our first stop, the soda/mirador at La Cinchona. We had a great time here back in 2012 and it has only gotten better! Oh, I don't want that Silver-throated Tanager photo up at the top of this post to fool you...that photo was made possible by fruit. La Cinchona is all about GERI BIRDING (though the human food ain't bad either), and the geri was indeed top notch. Here is a Prong-billed Barbet/Black-headed Saltator combo.

Prong-billed Barbet is a weird bird. When you are the object of the barbet's smile, you aren't quite sure what to do with yourself.

Buff-throated Saltator, old friend. Trusty BTSA turned out to be the most common saltator of the trip.

And Scarlet-rumped Tanager was by far the most abundant tanager of the trip. Better post an obligatory photo now!

This bird, on the other hand, was gripping. My first lifer of the trip was this plump little crippler, Buff-fronted Quail-Dove. They have become very reliable at La Cinchona and did not disappoint during our visit. They weren't exactly confiding but we got some great looks. I needed some more quail-doves in my life and now I should be set for a while. As expected, these were the only ones of the trip and (sadly) the only quail-doves of any species we actually laid eyes on. Much unfinished quail-dove business have I.

Another crucial target bird here was the facemelting/ridiculous Red-headed Barbet, which we also did not see anywhere else. This is the first male I have ever seen and it was absolutely stunning. The Geri Gods smiled upon us that afternoon.

I think the first time I saw Violet Sabrewings was here in 2012. As it was back then, having these giant glowing hummingbirds whiz by inches away is great but not exactly comforting.

Black-bellied Hummingbird was lifer #2 for yours truly. These are only really reliable at a handful of sites so it was a pleasant surprise to have this single bird at our very first stop. Neither drab nor flamboyantly crippling, it's just a very nice hummingbird. Pura vida.

Both the bane and the bedrock of many cloud forest mixed flocks, Common Chlorospingus dropped in for some of the delicious Geri action.

The Northern Emerald Toucanets here are probably some of the most photographed birds south of the Rio Grande. Why? Because they get their geri on within a few feet of you and they are crushable by cell phone, if that's what one wished to do. They also happen to be terrific.

Crimson-collared Tanager is an arresting bird.

And the same case could be made for Blue-gray Tanager, but they are so freaking common it can be difficult to give them the credit they deserve.

Like the Blue-gray Tanager, Palm Tanagers struggle to be looked at. Whenever a Palm Tanager is in sight, there is invariably something more interesting to look at as well. Such is life for the Palm Tanager.

As expected in February, we also had a pleasant mix of neotropic migrants mixing in with the resident locals. Summer Tanager wishes it could participate in more geri birding on its migration routes.

This gluttonous Baltimore Oriole is acting like its never had a banana before. It's practically mantling the poor defenseless fruit.

I call this portrait "Tennessee Warbler With Banana".

Yes, I will even post a photo of the dreaded Clay-colored Thrush. They are brown. And very common. But not only is this a picture of a Clay-colored Thrush, it is a picture of a banana. This one is titled "Banana with Clay-colored Thrush".

Foreboding Black Guans were getting in on the feeder action too. You would think that such a large bird would not be attempting to feed on the same thing as a diminutive Tennessee Warbler, but you would be wrong.

Some other roadside stops on the way to Hotel Gavilan produced birds like Bat Falcon (above), Double-toothed Kite and Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift.

That will do it for the first post! Much more to come. And if you are wondering, no, the squirrel is not still in the house.

Dipped and Gripped, A New Hope

The Common Ringed Plover liked to associate with this group of Snowy Plovers during its stay at Abbotts Lagoon, but not while I was there. This flock is acclimated to people but a beach person (as opposed to a bird person with a camera) still managed to walk right through them and put them in the air.

By now many of you have heard about the Common Ringed Plover at Abbotts Lagoon in Marin County, or have seen it for yourselves. This is a MEGUH bird and only the 2nd ever properly identified and documented in California. I was out of state when California's first was found, so this would not only be a savory state bird, it would be a lifer. When the so-so photos first came out of the bird as a candidate Common Ringed Plover I thought it was fully legit (The Global Birder Ranking System's #7 U.S. birder is usually right about these things), but not living anywhere nearby had to pray someone would be wise enough to follow up on it and be able to confirm if it was refound - which is exactly what happened. Loads of birders then saw it Thursday and Friday and I resolved to make the pilgrimage to Abbotts on Saturday...but by Friday night I was feeling QUITE shitty due to a cold and wondered if I could even make it out of the house.

Long story short, I felt well enough for the chase on Saturday and chase I did. I managed to feel something approximating normal until noon. However, on this day, unlike the previous AND following days, it went missing for most of the day. By 1PM I was really going down the tubes and couldn't maintain the vigil for much longer. Of course, after I left (and got cell phone reception again) is when I found out it was seen right around sunrise that morning....and oh big surprise it ended up being seen later that day as well. I finished the day feeling physically like ass, and emotionally like ass as well. Though some other heartwarming birds (Red Knot, Pectoral Sandpipers, Burrowing Owl, Red-throated Pipit) did their best to blunt the piercing impact of the missed plover, it was nonetheless a resounding birding defeat, my worst of the year.

My heart was filled with hate.

My body had betrayed me, but other factors were in play....no reason to go into that now though. In the end, it doesn't matter. A bunch of woulda coulda shouldas do not a life bird make...they make for an ugly, shameful DIP.

This one cuts deep. Myopathy of the soul has set in, not to mention a weird rash. Spirit? Broken. Talk about getting gripped off. I love seeing life birds. I love seeing Old World birds in the New World, especially here in my home state. This dip ranks right up there with Citrine Wagtail (who knows when there will be another, if ever) and Greater Sand-Plover (ugh what a bird to dip on - still only one record on the continent). Another life bird down the tubes.

In times like this, it is best to reminisce on the Ross's Gull. That was a fucking bird.

But I need not just pathetically cling to the dearly departed Ross's Gull. In these dark times, that is not my only source of light...of hope.

No.

There is another.

I may very well finish 2018 with all of one (!) life bird for the year for the first time ever, (that would be Swainson's Warbler), but I am going to start 2019 by getting the hell out of here and going to Belize! I love birding the Neotropics, and I think almost everyone who has had the pleasure feels the same way. Once immersed, no matter the country, you are drawn back to it. This will be my first time going to the country, and from what I gather, the birds of Belize can vaguely be generalized as a mix of Yucatan Peninsula and what I have previously experienced on Atlantic slope of Costa Rica. This won't be guiding for Max Rebo Birding Tours (though maybe Max could be convinced to run a Belize trip afterward), but my first international trip with both Billy and Annabelle. Anything can happen! Disaster could strike! But no matter what there will be birding.

The list of raptors one can find in Belize is long and mouth-watering. There is a good chance I will get to reconnect with White Hawks, which I've only seen a couple times before in Costa Rica. This cooperative juvenile was at Virgen del Socorro, a great spot for raptors itself.

Why Belize? Belize is the size of New Jersey - it's a small country, and getting around to different birding hotspots is alleged to not be very time consuming; long days on the road are easy to avoid. There are lodges galore, and as Billy likes to say (she has been there already), it is just set up for a birding trip. Three of the four places we will be staying are known for the quality of birding on or within walking distance of the property. I have even scheduled a transfer for our first destination, which is a lifer experience (TREATYOSELF); I've always just rented a car for the entirety of dedicated birding trips before. Kind of stoked that we will just be immediately whisked away to life birds (we will pick up a rental a few days later) after we land. Also, since Annie is coming with us we aren't exactly planning on being immersed in the jungle every day, so having amenities available (like the English language!) to help keep her happy (and thus all of us) will be croosh.

It goes without saying that there are a number of extremely desirable birds that one can find in Belize, and since there are dozens of species I still haven't seen (including many of the "Yucatan specialties") that make their bird homes there, that leaves me with a lot of juicy target birds of many flavors. There are wetland flavors (Pinnated Bittern, Ruddy Crake, American Pygmy Kingfisher), taloned flavors (Black-collared Hawk, Bicolored Hawk, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Orange-breasted Falcon), bland flavors (Plain-breasted Ground-Dove, Yucatan Flycatcher, Northern Schiffornis), cataclysmic birdgasm flavors (Jabiru, Agami Heron, Ocellated Turkey, Tody Motmot), etc. You get the idea.

I almost forgot...for all of you wringing your hands and grinding your teeth in suspense...YES! THERE WILL BE GERI BIRDING!!!! Can't wait. Belize is not filthy rich in tanager diversity, but it is home to the crippling Crimson-collared Tanager, and we should run into them. This unabashed banana lover was photographed at Sarapiqui Eco-Resort in Costa Rica, a Geri Birding mecca, though I think it is now called Dave and Dave's Nature Park or something like that.

So there you have it. The plover cuts deep, but with some luck in a few months I'll be bagging a bunch of lifers without this even being a fully committed all-hands-on-deck birding trip. Should be pretty sick. Wounds heal with time...and a steady diet of lifers.

Sarapiqui Eco-Observatory Part II: More Crushing

Mexico has Crimson-collared Grosbeak; Costa Rica has Crimson-collared Tanager. The Observatory was the best place to see this crippling bird up close; I would highly recommend visiting this spot if you are trying for bird photos down there, and the birding was very good as well. I would definitely go back again...in case you missed it, more gnarly birds from the observatory are posted here.

As you may have noticed, we had no sun the whole time we were there, but that didn't stop us from crushing on birds pretty hard. The Crimson-collareds were excruciatingly hard to turn away from though, they were the fan favorite.

Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer was one of the first hummingbird species we could find that wasn't a Rufous-tailed. This was the only one I got a good look at, and I was lucky enough to completely crush it to bits. I think the exact halfway shade between green and blue lies somewhere on the bird.

While Costa Rica is blessed/cursed with a plethora of green hummingbirds, the plumeleteer is easy to identify; it's bright pink feet are a total giveaway.

Not gonna lie, this is one of my favorite bird pictures I've taken. Once you are swarmed by Golden-hooded Tanagers, things will never be the same.

LOOK AT THIS THING!!! DO IT! KEEP LOOKING! DON'T TURN AWAY! NOT EVER!

Now that I've put up some quality facemelt, I have an excuse to put up a bird so dull it could turn your face to stone...behold the dreaded Palm Tanager.

It's worth mentioning that Palm Tanagers are incredibly difficult to photograph...not because they are rare or anything, but because they are usually surrounded by birds so colorful that you can't possibly choose to watch a Palm Tanager instead.

The humble Bananaquit.

Black-cheeked Woodpecker. They look somewhere between an Acorn and a Hairy Woodpecker, but are probably more closely related to Gila and Red-bellied...they certainly sound more like them.

Black-cheeked Woodpecker is probably a bit more common than it's Pacific Slope counterpart. On the Pacific side, we had the similar Golden-naped Woodpecker at some sort of weird bog (its all about random roadside stops) south of Dominical, but no where else.

A pair of Yellow Tyrannulets. This isn't a hard crush, but I thought it was a cool to get this pair sitting together. It took us quite a while to identify these birds (although they were not even brainbirds) because we are very bad at Costa Rican birdwatching.

We only found Yellow Tyrannulets at one other site on the whole trip...although this implies that they are rare (not true), the truth is there are so many goddamn birds everywhere that even relatively common birds can be easily missed. That, and we are very bad at Costa Rican birdwatching.

It probably doesn't hurt to throw up another Collared Aracari shot...I'll let the bird speak for itself.