Rod's Birding: A Birding Holiday in Costa Rica - February 4 to 18, 2016 (14th)

We were up before dawn on the 14^th for coffee and biscuits as we needed to aboard the boat by 06:00 for our trip into the mangroves. After boarding the boat we stopped before we actually departed to view a Brown Pelican and several waders that included Grey Plover and Surfbird. After a few minutes we were heading quite quickly towards the mangroves but stopped on a couple of occasions to get superb views of Magnificent Frigatebirds and Brown Pelicans and we also had a Great Blue Heron and our first Osprey. During the boat trip we must have seen at least a dozen Ospreys that included some really nice views.

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Female Magnificent Frigatebird

Male Magnificent Frigatebird

Female Magnificent Frigatebird

Osprey

After travelling alongside the land in the Gulf of Nicoya we headed into the mangroves where we cruised along the channels, which were still mainly quiet wide. As the tide was still high it was surprising to see Grey Plover, Hudsonian Whimbrel and Willets and perhaps most surprising a Short-billed Dowitcher perched on the branches of mangroves. As we entered a narrower channel numerous Spotted Sandpipers started to flush and we must have seen at least thirty as we cruised through the channel. Whilst in this narrow channel we had our only Boat-billed Heron and the boatman found a Lesser Nighthawk roosting on a branch, which was an excellent find.

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Willet

Lesser Nighthawk

A Plumbeous Kite was observed perched on top of a dead tree and whilst watching two others were located soaring high above the same area and a little further on, a Roseate Spoonbill provided some excellent views. As we started to head back out to the Gulf of Nicoya an adult Common Black Hawk provided some excellent views and a couple of Mangrove Swallows circled around the boat. When we arrived back at the lodge the wooden jetty was covered in Royal Terns with a few Sandwich Terns and Laughing Gulls.

Plumbeous Kite

Roseate Spoonbill

Common Black Hawk

American White Ibis

Anhinga

Royal Terns

Royal Tern

Sandwich Tern

Surfbird

Other birds seen during the boat trip were White Ibis, Black-crowned Night Heron, Tricoloured Heron, Neotropical Cormorant, Anhinga, Ruddy Turnstone and Great-tailed Grackle.

The plan for this afternoon was to leave just after lunch for the Solimar Ranch but as it was just after 08:00 a small group of went out to explore the area around the site. We didn’t walk too far from the lodge but were rewarded with some good birds. A Crested Caracara flew over whilst we were observed the edges of a field following the potential sighting of a motmot, which we didn’t see but we did find a Green-breasted Mango, a Common Squirrel Cuckoo, White-necked Puffbird, a Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, several Yellow-naped Amazons and a Yellow-margined Flycatcher.

Crested Caracara

As we moved into the corner of the field there was a pair of Rose-throated Becard and a Tropical Gnatcatcher, which I had missed yesterday. A Ferruginous Pygmy-owl was then heard calling and it wasn’t too long before it was located and we had some nice views.

Ferruginous Pygmy-owl

Most of the group then called it a day but Richard, David and I decided to stay out.

We walked a little further down the road and had been observing Common Ground Dove and Inca Dove when I turned and then there right in front of us was Turquoise-browed Motmot, which allowed us to get quite close and photograph.

Turquoise-browed Motmot

The motmot eventually flew off and we walked down the edge of a field to reach a stand of trees. Initially it appeared very quiet but we did eventually find several birds, one of which, a flycatcher remained unidentified, but we did have a Yellow-margined Flycatcher, a Rufous-naped Wren, a Yellow Warbler and an American Redstart. As we made our way back to the lodge we had another Yellow Warbler just at the back of the accommodation.

Inca Dove

White-throated Blue-Jay

We were soon on our way to the ranch after lunch and after picking up a few supplies we continued but stopped to observe some Double-stripped Thick-knees that were quite close to the road.

Double-striped Thick-knee

Another stop produced a Canivet’s Emerald and a pair of Scub Euphonia in the same tree and at a final stop before reaching the ranch we had our first Northern Jacana as well as a Greta Blue Heron in the same pond and an Osprey sitting in a more distant tree with numerous American Black Vultures on the ground around the area. As we were about to leave I saw a bird fly into a tree, which turned out to be a Blue Grosbeak and so we got off the bus to get a better look.

Canivet's Emerald

Scrub Euphonia

On reaching the ranch we took a brief comfort break and our local guide pointed out a Pacific Screech-owl and a Ferruginous Pygmy-owl quite close to the buildings.

Pacific Screech-owl

Ferruginous Pygmy-owl

Having had enough of the two owls, we set off in the bus to tour the ranch. Our local guide unlocked a gate and we set off down a track off the entrance road and we were heading for a piece of woodland for a short walk. As we approached the entrance to the wood there was a Jabiru feeding amongst a flock of Great and Snowy Egrets.

We followed Yehudi and our local guide into the wood and after a short distance they told us to stand and wait while they went off in different directions to search for something. Yehudi returned a few minutes later and told us to follow him and he then pointed out two roosting Spectacled Owls. They were partially hidden but he wouldn’t let us go any closer and explained that they had already been flushed by a group led by someone who didn’t really consider the welfare of the birds. He suspected that if we got any closer having been flushed once already they might go a considerable distance and wouldn’t be so easy to find in the future. The views were however perfectly acceptable and even good through a scope but were not easy to photograph because of the distance, cover and light. However I was highly delighted as this was one of the birds I really wanted to see.

Spectacled Owl

We returned to the bus and retraced our steps before heading off down another roadway. Ramon then found our third Ferruginous Pygmy-owl of the day and we then had nice views of an Orange-fronted Parakeet that was looking on rather anxiously at an iguana that was perhaps getting a little too close to its nest hole. We stopped a little further along this road to view a group of Killdeer that were quite close to the road but they all flew further away as we got out of the bus. We had further views of Northern Jacana with young and also found our only Solitary Sandpiper of the trip. Whilst out of the bus I found an Eastern Meadowlark and the number of Barn Swallows around was over a hundred and we also had rather poor views of a Harris’s Hawk. We eventually got back on to the bus and continued along the network of roads seeing several Bare-throated Tiger-herons, a Green-backed Heron, two Wood Storks, a couple of Little Blue Herons, several White-tailed Kites and a Northern Harrier.

Ferruginous Pygmy-owl

eastern Meadowlark

Northern Jacana

Orange-fronted Parakeet

Solitary Sandpiper

Wood Stork

Bare-throated Tiger-heron

At our final stop we had c.200 Black-bellied Whistling Duck, c.100 Blue-winged Teal, a Limpkin, a Jabiru flying over, ten Least Sandpipers, two Snail Kites, a couple of Crested Caracara, a Peregrine Falcon and a Red-winged Blackbird. We continued along the road a little further when we found a couple of Southern Lapwings at the side of the road.

Jabiru

Crested Caracara

Other birds we had seen during our excursion to the ranch were White-winged Dove, Inca Dove, Common Ground-dove, Groove-billed Ani, Spotted Sandpiper, Turkey Vulture. American Black Vulture, Grey Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, White-fronted Amazon, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, White-throated Magpie-Jay, Montezuma Oropendola and Great-tailed Grackle.

It had been an excellent days birding and with eight-four species recorded and all in great conditions and without a drop of rain.