We up and out just before dawn
on the 6th as the plan was to drive back up the valley a short
distance to hopefully locate a Resplendent Quetzal. As we approached the area there was quite a
crowd overlooking a clearing and the cry went up Black Guan in the field. I had a quick look but didn’t see it and
expected the bus to stop but it didn’t and we went on another mile to different
location.
When we got out of the bus it
was pretty cold and we spent quite some time searching unsuccessfully for the
quetzal but we did see our only Black-cheeked Warbler of the trip. There were also several Spotted Wood-quails
calling but we couldn’t locate them and the only other birds we saw was a Sooty
Thrush and a Common Bush Tanager.
Sooty Thrush
We eventually called it a day
and headed back towards where we had seen the crowd of birders earlier. As we approached the area there was a
Large-footed Finch on the road and on reaching the clearing there were just a
few birders left. They had apparently
had views of quetzals and most had now left.
However the sun was now shinning on the area and it was much warmer and
before everyone was out of the bus a cry of quetzal was heard and we all had
views of male perched in a small tree.
We spent quite some time overlooking the area and saw at least two more
Resplendent Quetzals with one male flying right over our heads, which was
absolutely stunning. Other birds we
added at this site were Band-tailed Pigeon, Ruddy Pigeon, Hairy Woodpecker,
Black-capped Flycatcher, American Mountain Thrush, Yellow-bellied Siskin and
Yellow-faced Grassquit and there was also a hummingbird nest at the roadside
with two Volcano Hummingbirds in it.
Black-capped Flycatcher
Volcano Hummingbirds
Yellow-bellied Siskin
Yellow-bellied Siskin
Needless to say there was no
sign of the Black Guan before we went back to the lodge for breakfast and it was
a bird we didn’t catch up with later in the trip.
After breakfast we went, in
the coach, down the road alongside the stream and then walked over the stream
as we had done yesterday afternoon but continued much further along the
track. There was an Immature
Broad-winged Hawk perched just before we set off down the track that presented
a good photo opportunity. As we moved
down the track a Louisiana Waterthrush performed well on the stream and whilst
observing a Black-and-white Warbler we found two more Resplendent
Quetzals. A little further along there
was a Ruddy Treerunner that initial proved difficult but eventually everyone
saw it quite well. Shortly afterwards a
Flame-throated Warbler was found, which was a bird I had hoped to see, although
it did prove rather elusive as it fed in the dense foliage and I was also
distracted by trying to, successfully, see an Ochraceous Wren at the same
time. Our next birds were a pair of
Barred Becards that Yehudi got quite excited about as they appeared to be nest
building. Apparently it had been quite
some time since he had last seen one and it was a good bird to get. Shortly afterwards we entered and area of open
woodland where we added Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, Tufted Flycatcher Long-tailed
Silky-flycatcher. On reaching the stream
again there was a Torrent Tyrannulet that provided good if distant views. As we were almost back at the bus we had
excellent views of a Yellowish Flycatcher and had also seen our first
Black-throated Green Warbler and several Collared Whitestarts.
American Black Vulture
American Black Vulture
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Collared Whitestart
Collared Whitestart
Collared Whitestart
Flame-throated Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Yellowish Flycatcher
After lunch I walked around
the grounds, particularly the orchard as I was hoping to see a Sulphur-winged
Parakeet as they apparently feed there quite often. It wasn’t too long before I saw a couple in
flight but I didn’t manage to catch any of them actually perched. There were also quite a few Blue-and-white
Swallows around today that were not present yesterday.
Green Violet-ear
Magnificent Hummingbird
Magnificent Hummingbird
Scintillant Hummingbird
Scintillant Hummingbird
Scintillant Hummingbird
Silver-throated Tanager
Silver-throated Tanager
Stripe-tailed Hummingbird
At 14:00 the plan was take a
jeep to the top of the forest and then bird our way down. The jeep could only take six and so two trips
were needed to get everyone to the top.
I was in the first group and the journey took twenty minutes along a
rough track but we did have brief views of a White-faced Capuchin about half
way up. Once at the top the jeep went
back down to bring the rest of the party to the top, which took about forty
minutes. Whilst we were waiting we
didn’t see too much but I located a Ruddy-capped Nightingale-thrush, which was
singing from a bare branch in the undergrowth and the only bird noted was an
Acorn Woodpecker.
When the rest of the group
arrived we made a brief walk along one of the trails at the top but other than
a Wilson’s Warbler and a Collared Whitestart it was pretty quiet and so we
started walking back down the track.
It took the best part of the
afternoon to reach the bottom with some of the group opting to take the jeep
down some of the way down. The walked
proved to be quite productive but initially it was quite difficult to get good
views of birds as they were feeding at the tops of the trees. I had brief views of a Blackburnian Warbler
and managed to miss a Red-throated Warbler.
Yehudi and Ramon were searching for something they could hear and had
mentioned Golden-browed Chlorophonia but were getting quite frustrated in not
being able to find it. I happened to
look in a different direction and focused on a bright green passerine quite
high up and so I alerted everyone.
Yehudi got on it almost immediately and was ecstatic as it was a
Golden-browed Chlorophonia and there were two together that performed well for
the group with everyone getting good scope views of the birds. We hadn’t gone much further when a cry of
Short-tailed Hawk was called and I and some others got the briefest of views as
it circled over the trees and out of site.
As we continued down the path
more birds were occasionally found and one group appeared to be following us
down the track. Another good find was a Buffy
Tuftedcheek but not everyone got on it, including myself, but fortunately Ramon
re-found it and I then had some excellent views. Another good bird was Spangle-cheeked Tanager
that I had missed this morning. At
another stop we had to work quite hard to get some decent views of
Rufous-browed Peppershrike and whilst doing so Yehudi called a Yellow-winged
Vireo but unfortunately it disappeared almost staright away, with only one of
the group getting on it.
Other birds seen during the
day were White-collared Swift; Green Violet-ear; Stripe-tailed Hummingbird;
Magnificent Hummingbird; Grey-tailed Mountain-gem; Scintillant Hummingbird;
Great White Egret; Turkey Vulture; American Black Vulture; Mountain Elaenia;
Tropical Kingbird; Grey-breasted Wood-wren; Clay-colored Thrush; Tennessee
Warbler; Blue-grey Tanager; Silver-throated Tanager; Slaty Flowerpiecer; Common
Bush-tanager; Sooty-capped Bush-tanager; Flame-colored Tanager; Rufous-collared
Sparrow and Yellow-thighed Finch.
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