Costa Rica Part III: Catarata Del Toro and Braulio Carrillo National Park

Ok! Well, like usual, I'm doing an awful job at blogging this bird trip...but we all knew that's what would happen. You would think that being sequestered at home all the time now that I would be churning out posts at a rapid clip, but no! It turns having a pandemic unfold around me, while being trapped with a toddler who badly wants breaks from her parents and has practically ceased napping (which, for you nonbreeders out there, is a very bad thing) is not at all conducive to bird blogging. What have I been doing in my free moments while not parenting super hard, or, alternatively, in a catatonic state of despair? Well, among some of the more typical nonbirder things (catching up on stuff like Picard and Tiger King) I've been birding the shit out of my yard, which has been a good respite from world collapse. More on that another time.

To pick up back where we left off in the last post, in the afternoon we took a trip to Catarata Del Toro to see...well, what there was to see. I used the maps.me app to navigate for the entire trip, and while it was usually solid, it took us a very weird way up to the waterfall from Hotel Gavilan. Fortunately, this route took us to our only Red-breasted Meadowlarks of the trip and allowed for a Groove-billed Ani crush.

This private reserve offers some GERI BIRDING, and also a very large garden loaded with porterweed that you have to walk a ways to get to (porterweed is manna for a multitude of hummingbird species). The feeders here had Green-crowned Brilliants, a geri standard. This one, with the extensive white on the throat and underparts, is a female.

Facemelting Violet Sabrewings were present in good numbers.

Green Hermit is the other enormous hummingbird you can expect to find frequenting feeders at certain places.

The main target bird here was Sooty-faced Finch, a Costa Rica-Panama endemic. They are not reliable at many places in Costa Rica, but they are a known commodity here. I was STOKED to find one on a path after a relatively short time looking, and then confused to watch it fly up to a cluster of nanners/platanos and just go to town on fruit. The bird wasn't exactly confiding but we got some nice long looks at the sooty-faced fiend all the same. Another target bird people come here for is Black-bellied Hummingbird, which we saw as well, though we got better looks previously at the one at La Cinchona.

Bananaquit is another common geri bird, or Geri Bird if you prefer.

An Olive-striped Flycatcher dropped down for some nice eye-level looks for a moment. What can I tell you about Olive-striped Flycatchers? Pretty much nothing, though their name is helpfully descriptive at least.

We did not do the main waterfall trail, as it is steep and loud and presumably the most peopled, but there are some really good views of it elsewhere. It's a really good waterfall, highly recommended, it's not why we were there but it did not disappoint. The birding here was not fantastic for us but I'm sure it could have been if we were there in the morning instead of the afternoon, or if the weather hadn't been so dreary.

The next morning it was off to the Braulio Carrillo National Park area. The El Tapir garden, famous for its Snowcaps (but less so for potentially good birding trails also present), has had only intermittent access since last year and now has a huge metal gate in front of it and highway construction going on directly in front of that while we were there, so no joy on getting in that day and it was yet another Snowcapless trip to Costa Rica. Ouch though. Next time...I will not fail, and go look for them at Rancho Naturalista where they are notoriously easy.

But no worries, we went just another minute down the highway to the Braulio Carrillo trails. The Quebrada Gonzales ranger station was still closed but we had no problem getting onto the El Ceibo Trail, (on the west side of the highway) before paying our entrance fees and doing the other loop by the ranger station.

We had some flocks but none of the insane megaflocks or crazy tanager diversity that we experienced in 2012. As is common here, there were some slow stretches and a number of intriguing but extremely uncooperative birds. There were multiple Buff-throated Foliage-Gleaners though, even a couple cooperative ones like this one.

These swifts blew by at one point and I fired off a clip of docu-crushes...they were gone in just a few seconds and I pretty much forgot about these photos until recently. Now I know they were either White-chinned or Spot-fronted (hat tip to Pat for ID consultation)...both of which would be LIFE BIRDS. My money is heavily on White-chinned but I will let them remain a "slash"...life is truly pain. We did really poorly with swift viewing on this trip in general because we are bad at stuff apparently.

The coolest thing we found (Jen found), if you ask me, was this thing labelled an "oriole snake" on Jen's hilarious (but surprisingly useful) laminated Costa Rica wildlife foldout pamphlet thing that she always had on her. It was long as fuck! We were trying to get a look at some distant, aggravating antwren thing and Jen noticed this snake dripping down a tree trunk in the foreground.

Very good snake. Much length. Quite friendly. Photos don't do it justice. 

You can count on cheerful Buff-rumped Warblers to provide company on trails at many places in Costa Rica. If you are creeping along a trail hoping and praying to see an antpitta or tinamou or quail dove on the trail ahead of you, you will instead see tons of these.

Spider monkey was a lifer mammal. I have no idea how that is possible, because we saw them seemingly everywhere and didn't see a single one on the previous trip. They are good at climbing and stuff. They really do use their tails like another appendage, pretty cool to see in action.

I am not as enamored with monkeys as some people but their facial expressions are undeniably humanish and regularly hilarious.

It was so good to be in the warm embrace of manakins again. This is a male White-ruffed, looking snazzy.

I think that's it for this post. I did get Slaty Antwren and Plain Antvireos as lifers, though with disappointing looks at each. The birding was not as raging as it could be and being locked out of potential Snowcap was a kick in the nuts, but you can't win 'em every time can you? Fortunately we would get a huge birding win later that day, I'll get to that next time.

Winter Mexican Tour Y2K16, Day 6: Chacalilla and Chenchoing Part I

On the morning of Day 6, we returned to Chacalilla, parking at a random spot near the north end of town and birding our way out along the main road that leads directly north (out of town) until we ran out of decent habitat. We did pretty well, and I got a life bird (Elegant Quail), though that is definitely going on the "better views desired" list. We had also seen them them on the east side of town a couple days earlier, but I got shit looks. I suspect there might be better roads to bird in the area than the northern one but we did end up with a pretty impressive species list that morning. Along with some big mixed flocks in town, there were also a number of grackle-esque Sinaloa Crows, which never failed to hold my interest despite being crows.

Great-tailed Grackle on the left, grackleesque Sinaloa Crow on the right.

Along with Sinaloa Crows, one of the most abundant local specialties in the area is Golden-cheeked Woodpecker. They are loud, conspicuous, and seemingly everywhere.

Our first Bare-throated Tiger-Heron of the trip was perched on a snag in a dry field, scanning/lording over its domain.

Weird birds. Such thick necks. We got to hear them doing their low grunting sounds at Lower Singayta, which was a nice lifer vocalization.

Cinnamon Hummingbirds are very common in the lowlands of Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima. Go there and you will see many, and inevitably begin cursing their abundance when you begin struggling with finding other hummingbird species.

Cursed abundance aside, it is a very attractive bird with an attractive tongue.

I find Groove-billed Anis to be fascinating. Anyone else feel this way? I can always stop and look at anis, even when there is more facemelting stuff available.

There were a good number of raptors in the area...here is an immature Zone-tailed Hawk, which were a fairly common bird to find during the trip. You can view our heavy eBird checklist from the morning here. Definitely consider birding around Chacalilla if you ever bird San Blas, it has hella species and is a quick drive from San Blas.

Here is Flycatcher Jen, gently caressing the love of her life, Campana. Campana lives, more or less, at the Bucanero (our motel in San Blas). Campana is one of the perks.

As we finished up our morning of birding at Chacalilla, we weren't sure how the rest of the day would play out. What we wanted to do was go on a boat trip with Chencho, the now world-famous guide who is notoriously good at showing birders waterbirds, which he knows the names of in English. Chencho could get us Northern Potoo. Chencho could get us Rufous-necked Wood-Rail. Chencho was a birding god as far as we were concerned. We did not want to go with anyone but Chencho...however, we made no prior arrangements with him. I was told he could be reached through Hotel Canela Garza, so we went there, but the lady working the desk did not acknowledge knowing of his existence. Then we went to the spot next to the bridge where a lot of tours leave from...but we were told that Chencho launches from the other side of the bridge. So we went over there, and of course Chencho wasn't there. Then we got Chencho's cell number from Mark Stackhouse, but our motel didn't have a phone we could use. This all happened over several days. Chencho was becoming a mythical figure. Finally, on the way back to town from Chacalilla, we went back to Chencho's launch. Dipper Dan talked to a guide there who knew Chencho, who then drove away on a bike to get Chencho, who then returned with Chencho's son (also named Chencho, I believe), who then told us that Chencho Sr. would meet us later in the afternoon for a bird trip. It was a Mexican Miracle.

If any of you want to try a similarly unplanned, haphazard way of finding Chencho, he launches from a spot on the west side of the river next to San Blas, just south of the bridge into town, at the end of the only paved street that gets anywhere near the base of the bridge. Its easy to find. Chencho said he works in a cooperativo, and that there are only two other bird guides who do river trips, I think they were Oscar and "Huevos"? Why "Huevos", I don't know. Anyways, if Chencho can't take you I guess look for them.

Chencho did show up that afternoon, giant spotlight in hand, and it was all smooth sailing from there.

Great Blue Herons hunted in the shadows of the mangroves.

Ospreys soared with the frigatebirds above the river.

Anhingas offered some more exotic flavor.

Anhinga feet. I don't think I've really looked closely at Anhinga feet before...they're yellow, weird and muscular. What cankles.

Very early on in the boat tour, we were dealt one of the highlights of the trip, in the form of Rufous-necked Wood-Rail. Astonishingly, we saw two different Rufous-necked Wood-Rails on opposite sides of the river. It was astounding. I couldn't fucking believe we got to see two of these things, let alone one, and no playback was required. I really didn't think we would see one, and this was one of the top target birds of the entire trip. Dipper Dan spotted both of them, and he all got extra sloppy HJs from us that night. I'm no wood-rail expert, but I'm pretty sure the only reason we saw them is because we were looking for them at a lowish tide; if the tide was too high the birds would be back in the dense mangroves and thus not visible.

Although this photo is absolutely not worth bragging about (though seeing this species is), I'm amazed I even have an image that is recognizable; I managed one frame, focused on nothing but pitch black shadows, and somehow got something. They look much, much better than this in real life, I assure you.

More birds provided by Chencho coming soon.

Pooped Out of Texas...Catharus PTSD...The Imminent Hangover

Sabal Palm Sanctuary is the place to go in the valley for Least Grebe this summer. They are easy to see at close/crushable range, and word has it they are nesting as well. The only other places I picked up this ghastly grayling on this trip were Pollywog Pond (Corpus Christi) and Ester Llano Grande (Pharr).

Hello admirers, friends, frenemies, and lurking trolls...I thought it would be prudent to give a quick update from The Road. Suddenly I find myself at the ass end of another field season. I have been pooped out of the bowels of the Lower Rio Grande Valley into the great big toilet of the American West. My exit featured a bird-heavy (and occasionally whiskey-soaked) route from Austin through southeast Arizona, and now I find myself with old friends in Flagstaff. Good birds have abounded this spring, and I am lucky to have survived another productive season without slipping rank in Global Birder Ranking System. I bask in the light of the smiling gods of birding...there is nothing like it.

Except, perhaps, good whiskey.

It was great to see so many Stilt Sandpiper this spring. Crisp breeding plumage birds lie somewhere on the spectrum between Economy of Style and Facemelt. Their appeal does exactly rip your eyes out, but you don't have to look very hard to see it either. They are captivating, in fact. I must find a name for this zone of appearance/appeal. Oh, that's a Lesser Yellowlegs on the right, if you were wondering. Estero Llano Grande WBC, TX.

How about another "Valley Specialty"? Here is a White-tailed Hawk. I had a lot of fun trying to separate these from Swainson's Hawks at great distance, while soaring. My findings? It's not always easy, but at least GBRS gave me some points for the effort. Hidalgo County, TX.

Warblers, like this confiding Blackpoll, really stole the show for me this spring. I never did get the Swainson's I was looking for, but I don't mind needing an excuse to get back to the Gulf Coast in spring! Fuck! South Padre Island, TX.

Gray-cheeked Thrush was a bird I was happy to get to see more of in April and May. Catharus are a bitch, huh? For weeks I had to sit back and watch birders absolutely slaughter the identification of thrushes, left and right. I think having to see so many blown calls gave me some kind of PTSD. South Padre Island, TX.

This Groove-billed Ani was an ABA bird for me. In fact, it was the only one I recorded while I was down there, which is unusual because they are actually fairly common by now. Birding is weird. The ani was sunning itself, shortly after sunrise, in a roadside mesquite. Hidalgo County, TX.

Let's tie it all up with a Least Tern, a bird of Texas and a bird of California, which is where I will be seeing my next one. More coverage from Texas (and southeast Arizona) coming up soon. Such good birding the past few months! A birding hangover is imminent. Photographed at South Padre Island, TX.

La Selva II: Seeing More Crazy Shit I Never Thought I'd See

One of the first birds we got upon arriving at La Selva was Great Curassow. Crap, talk about an awesome tropical bird. The female is in the front, the male is in the back. All photos from today's post are from La Selva Biological Station; the first La Selva intallment can be found right here.

Although they put off a guanish vibe, they were not so promiscuous (unfortunately) in their abundance or attitude towards people. They also had better crests.

Gartered Trogon, formerly known as Violacious Trogon. They have melted more than a face or two in their time...I reckon they are the easiest trogon to cross paths with in the country.

This is probably my best trogon shot of the trip, even though the bird is sitting on a powerline. The trogon is not holding back, just really bringing the facemelt I think.

I just like the pose in this shot.

For a bird, motmots have it all. They have color. They make funny sounds. They have a weird tail, which they swing sharply from side to side. They are large and sit fairly still, which any birder can appreciate. This is a Broad-billed Motmot, only one of the trip. We saw lots of Blue-crowned (Blue-diademed) and Turqoiuse-browed Motmots, but only single Broad-billed and Rufous...I will have to spend more time on the Carribean Slope next I go back. Anyone know what diademed means without googling it?

Groove-billed Ani is a strange bird, even approaching gross, but I find them...compelling.

The big and muddy Sarapiqui River, viewed from the suspension bridge.

A female Western Slaty-Antshrike, not quite a skulker, but definitely a sort of lurker. We saw one pair at La Selva, and that was it for the trip. This was also a brainbird.

I don't have a tropical field guide with me, but I'm pretty sure this is a Streak-headed Woodcreeper. Costa Rica has many woodcreeper species, most of which are unpleasantly difficult to identify and even harder to get good pictures of. And I thought they were bad in Mexico...

We were told this is a Monstera vine...its very common in forests and grows pressed against branches and tree trunks. One of my favorite plants we saw.

Books call this bird a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, new Science calls it a Black-mandibled Toucan. Either way, they are very common and visible in much of Costa Rica. Big groups of them would congregate at fruiting trees; in fact, its all about finding fruiting trees, because that's where the birds are.