There had been some very heavy
rain during the night of the 7th and 8th and it was still
raining heavily early morning. After
breakfast the plan was to head off south east for a morning birding but it was
still raining as we left the lodge. We
made a stop for Chestnut-headed Opropendola but they were nowhere to be found
but we did have four Black-mandibled Toucans, some Variable Seedeaters and
several Black-crowned Tityra. Two Green
Ibis had been spotted in a tree back from the road but after stopping and
walking back to view them they were nowhere to be seen. Our next stop was after a party of
White-crowned Parrots had flown over the road and we found these perched in a
roadside tree.
White-crowned Parrots
Great Kiskadee
Whilst at this stop we also
saw Grey-capped Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Blue-grey Tanager, Golden-hooded
Tanager, Buff-throated Saltator and two Melodious Blackbirds.
The rain had almost stopped as
we continued and we saw a couple of Crested Guan perched in trees before our
next stop. The sun was shining at our
next stop and it was becoming rather warm and the stop was very productive with
six Keel-billed Toucans, four Brown-hooded Parrots, two Red-lored Parrots, a
Yellow-throated Vireo, a Tropical Parula and Black-and-white Warbler being
seen.
Keel-billed Toucan
The next stop was at the side
of a river and one of the first sightings was a couple of Buff-rumped Warblers
but they disappeared before I got into position. Overhead there were numerous swifts that
included White-collared, Grey-rumped and Vaux’s and a Barred Hawk passed
over. A Bay Wren was then located but it
proved difficult to see well but with patience it did eventually provided some
nice views. A Black Phoebe was observed
at the edge of the stream and whilst looking at this I found a Buff-rumped
Warbler, although it was rather distant.
A little further along the road we found a Short-tailed Hawk perched at
the roadside. We stopped and I got some
excellent shots of it and there were several Masked Tityras in a bush just
beyond the hawk.
Short-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
We hadn’t gone too far when a
possible Great Black Hawk was observed as everyone was getting out of the bus
Yehudi confirmed its identity. By the
time I had got out of the bus it had drifted out of sight behind the bank
alongside the road. I crossed the road
in an attempt to find it but could only find American Black and Turkey Vultures
and began to think I had missed it, however persistence paid off when I
suddenly re-found it and was then able to watch it for some time before it
drifted off. We also had a couple of
White-fronted Amazons before we reached our final destination.
We arrived at the cafe at
Cinchona where there are feeders at the rear and spent a good ninety minutes
there, having a coffee whilst we watched the constant activity around the
feeders. There was good range of
hummingbirds around the feeders, which included a Green Hermit, several Green
Thorntails, numerous Green-crowned Brilliants, two Violet Sabrewings, at least
three Coppery-headed Emeralds and a few White-bellied Mountain-gems, all of
which were new and there was also several Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds.
Green Hermit
Female Green Thorntail
Female Green Thorntail
Green-crowned Brilliant
Green-crowned Brilliant
Female Green-crowned Brilliant
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Violet Sabrewing
White-bellied Mountain-gem
There was also a feeding table
with bananas on it that attracted two Emerald Toucanets, a Red-headed Barbet,
two Pong-billed Barbets, a Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, several Clay-coloured
Thrushes, a Tennessee Warbler, numerous Passerini’s Tanagers, Palm Tanager, four
Silver-throated Tanagers and several Baltimore Orioles and overhead there were
American Black and Turkey Vultures and a single Red-tailed Hawk.
Baltimore Oriole
Blue-grey Tanager
Emerald Toucanet
Hoffmann's Woodpecker
Palm Tanager
Male Passerini's Tanager
Female Passerini's Tanager
Prong-billed Barbet
Red-headed Barbet
Red-headed Barbet
Red-tailed Hawk
Silver-throated Tanager
On leaving Cinchona we headed
back to Salva Verde Lodge but we stopped on route when several White-nosed
Coatis were observed on the side of the road.
Whist observing the coatis two Bat Falcons were found on the opposite
side of the road and then Yehudi found a very distant White Hawk perched in a
tree.
White-nosed Coati
White-nosed Coati
White-nosed Coati
We stopped again further on
when a Laughing Falcon was observed perched on post in a field and it provided
some excellent views. We then made a
final stop to view a lake at the side of the road and saw Great Blue Heron and
a Great Egret.
Laughing Falcon
On reaching the lodge we
viewed the feeding area before lunch and found a Pale-billed Woodpecker in the
trees close by. After some lunch Richard
and I were sitting observing the river and we saw an Anhinga and two King Vultures
amongst the more numerous American Black and Turkey Vultures.
We then met again in the
grounds and after observing another Pale-billed Woodpecker we went to observe
the trees where we had seen a good variety of birds yesterday. Whilst we observing the trees we were joined
by David and John and again the area proved very fruitful. We had the Red-capped Manakin and the
Olive-backed Euphonia again but three different woodpcreepers were also seen,
Wedge-billed, Northern Barred and a Streak-headed and we also had a pairs of
Shinning and Green Honeycreepers.
Red-capped Manakin
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
After what had been a very
successful hour we joined the rest of the group and headed off to some farmland
to the east seeing a Bare-throated Tiger-heron as we did so. After parking we walked down a track and
initially found another two Bat Falcons and a Summer Tanager and shortly
afterwards we had views of two Great Green Macaws both perched and in flight,
although they were a little distant.
Great Egret with a frog
With the target bird in the
bag we headed back towards the lodge but before reaching there we took a
turning down to the river. There was an
Amazon Kingfisher perched on a wire that stretched across the river and several
Neotropical Cormorants on the river. We
then crossed the bridge and spent the rest of the time observing an area just
the other side. This proved to be quite
productive as there were a few Cattle Egrets in the field along with several
Golden-hooded Tanagers and Variable Seedeaters feeding amongst some scrub. I picked up a larger bird, which Yehudi
confirmed was a female Thick-billed Seed-finch.
A Lineated Woodpecker then flew into a tree above the path and provided
some excellent views. Whilst watching
some Red-billed Pigeons in some more distant trees we also found two
Plain-coloured Tanagers, a Yellow-crowned Euphonia and a Black-headed
Saltator. I then recognised that a
flycatcher sitting on the wires was something I thought was different and it
was identified as a Dusky-capped Flycatcher and finally our forth Crested
Caracara of the day flew over. As we
returned to the bus we had a final scan of the river and found a Fasciated
Tiger-heron along with a Little Blue Heron.
Amazon Kingfisher
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Lineated Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Other birds seen during the
day were Ruddy Ground Dove, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Snowy Egret, Grey hawk, Broad-winged
Hawk, Collared Aracari, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Social Flycatcher, Boat-billed
Flycatcher, Mangrove Swallow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Chestnut-sided
Warbler, Montezuma Oropendola and Bronzed Cowbird.
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