We were planned to visit La
Selva Biological Station on the 9th, which is apparently one of the
premier birding sites in Costa Rica and perhaps one of the highlights of the
trip. However it had been raining heavy
again all night and was still doing so as we were having breakfast. It is only a few miles drive from the lodge
and when we arrived the rain was easing and we began birding along the road to
the centre. We had a pretty good forty
minutes or so on the road before it began to rain heavy again.
Whilst the rain never actually
stopped as we birded the road we did see two Grey Chested Doves, a White-necked
Jacobin, a Long-billed Hermit, a Rufous-tailed Jacamar, a Chestnut-coloured Woodpecker, a Northern
Mealy Amazon, two Plain Xenops, three Cocoa Woodcreepers, two Long-tailed Tyrants,
six Masked Tityra, a Golden-winged Warbler, a Black-and-white Warbler, three
Red-throated Ant-tanagers and a Black-cowled Oriole, which went some way to
showing how rich and area it was.
Has the rain increased we
headed for the reception centre, seeing our first Great Curassow as we did
so. On reaching the centre we completed
a registration form to allow access to the area.
Great Curassow
We were joined by a site guide
and went out of the back to view an area of forest whilst sheltering under the
eaves of the buildings. The guide spent
quite some time trying to locate a Snowy Cotinga but without success and we
went back into the restaurant area again.
The rain appeared to be easing again and so we went over the bridge to
other side of the river where we saw a Double-toothed Kite, three Slaty-tailed
Trogons and at least six Black-faced Grosbeaks and all within a few
minutes. The rain again increased and we
walked further along the path having brief views of a Crowned Woodnymph and
several female White-collared Manakins.
With the rain showing no sign of abating we took shelter in a covered
area for quite some time and saw very little before we made our way back to the
restaurant area seeing a male White-collared Manakin and numerous Passerini’s
Tanagers.
Once back at the restaurant we
had another coffee and viewed the area surrounding the rest area. Over time we managed to see a Blue-chested
Hummingbird, a Green Ibis, a White-ringed Flycatcher, Cinnamon Becard,
Stripe-breasted Wren, several Chestnut-sided Warblers and a Bananaquit.
Chestnut-sided Warbler
With the rain still falling
rather heavily we made our way back to the lodge for lunch with the intention
of coming back this afternoon when hopefully the rain would have stopped.
It was raining heavily when we
got back to the La Selva but miraculously after a short wait it stopped and we
set off down one of the trails. Our
first birds were a pair of Fasciated Antshrike that were quite vocal and
eventually gave good if brief views.
There was also a Common Squirrel Cuckoo that gave good view but was
rather difficult to see and whilst helping some others to get on to this bird,
some others who had wandered on saw a pair of Slaty-breasted Tinamou walk
across the path with two young. By the
time I and some others had caught up with the leading group they were
disappearing into the forest and I failed to connect. Shortly after this the local guide and Yehudi
heard an owl calling and after some persistent searching located two
Vermiculated Pygmy Owls, which were then all able to see quite well. We also saw two Black-throated Trogons, a
Broad-billed Motmot, a Band-backed Wren and an Orange-billed Sparrow whilst in
the same area but unfortunately it started to rain heavy again and so we headed
back to the restaurant and eventually called it quits after seeing at least six
Chestnut-headed Oropendolas feeding in a tall tree.
We had also seen Crested Guan,
White-tipped Dove, Grey-rumped Swift, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Fasciated
Tiger-Heron, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Blue Heron,
Neotropical Cormorant, Spotted Sandpiper, Turkey Vulture, Black-mandibled
Toucan, Keel-billed Toucan, Collared Aracari, Pale-billed Woodpecker,
Black-cheeked Woodpecker, White-crowned Parrot, Red-lored Amazon, Wedge-billed
Woodcreeper, Northern Barred Woodcreeper, Red-capped Manakin, Social
Flycatcher, Grey-capped Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Mangrove
Swallow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Clay-coloured Thrush, Blue-grey
Tanager, Golden-hooded Tanager, Olive-backed Euphonia, Summer Tanager,
Montezuma Oropendola and Great-tailed Grackle.
This gave a daily species list
of seventy-two birds and I just wonder how many more we might have seen in the
weather had been more favourable.
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