I was out early again in the
lodge grounds on the 13th with Richard, David and John and whist it
wasn’t actually raining it was still very windy. We entered the same piece of woodland but
there was no sign of any of the birds we saw yesterday and so we continued
along the track and on reaching the edge of the wood we were able to look down
on some trees. Initially appeared rather
quiet but we then noticed a bird on the fence a little further down, which we
identified as a Yellowish Flycatcher and whilst watching this we noticed a second
bird that turned out to be a Slate-throated Whitestart. A Hoffmann’s Woodpecker was noticed in a more
prominent tree and whilst observing this we also had a Brown jay,
Yellow-throated Euphonia, a Buff-throated Saltator and a Baltimore Oriole along
with a second Hoffmann’s Woodpecker.
I returned to my room to put
my case out and then went and paid my bar bill before breakfast, whilst the
other remained out but didn’t see anything new.
From the lodge I also saw Great Kiskadee Tropical Kingbird,
Rufous-collared Sparrow and Great Tailed Grackle.
After breakfast we left
straight away and headed for the coast and it wasn’t too long before we were in
bright sunshine and heading for hopefully better weather.
The journey took over four
hours although we did make a several stops on route. The first stop was to see a Long-billed
Starthroat that was feeding on some flowers at the side of the road. It wasn’t on view for too long, which on
getting out of the bus wasn’t surprising as it was blowing an absolute gale and
it was actually difficult to stand up.
Our next stop was at a cafe
for a comfort break. There was some
scrub at the rear of the cafe and the first bird we saw was a Rufous-naped
Wren, which was rather large and stunning that provided some excellent views.
Rufous-naped Wren
A Turquoise-browed Motmot was
then found and again some stunning views were had.
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Another bird seen at the stop
was a Steely-vented Hummingbird.
The next stop was alongside a
stream that the road crossed, where we birded for about forty-five minutes. Initially we looked around some trees and
scrub near the river and saw Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, Common Tody-flycatcher,
Tennessee Warbler, Stripe-headed Sparrow, White-collared Seedeater and
Yellow-faced Grassquit. There was a
Northern Waterthrush on the river and circa twenty Melodious Blackbirds were on
the other side of the bridge. There
White-collared Swifts over the area and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird was found
along with a Spot-breasted Oriole.
It was difficult with good
birds being seen but we finally dragged ourselves away and moved on.
Just after leaving we stopped
again to observe a Black Iguana and also had some nice views of a
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and brief views of a Northern Rough-winged Swallow.
Black Iguana
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
We made on final stop for a
pair of Double-stripped Thick-knees and saw a Panama Flycatcher from the bus
before reaching our destination La Ensenada Wildlife Reserve.
Other birds seen on the
journey were Groove-billed Ani, Turkey Vulture, American Black Vulture, Great
Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Collared Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Clay-coloured
Thrush, White-throated Magpie-Jay, Yellow Warbler and Great-tailed Grackle.
On arrival at our next lodge
we found it in a beautiful setting but it was the most basic of all the
accommodation we stayed in but it was clean and even better, it was sunny and
hot.
After checking into our rooms
we had some lunch and arranged to go out at 15:00 but just before lunch Yehudi
found a White-necked Puffbird, which, along with a Lineated Woodpecker,
provided some nice views. There was
quite some time before 15:00 so I took a stroll down to the water front, where
I saw a distant Wood Stork, several Magnificent Frigatebirds, a Whimbrel, Ruddy
Turnstone and Royal Terns. I then made a
second visit before we departed to see a Surfbird, which had been found by
Richard and David.
White-necked Puffbird
The plan was to visit some
salt pans for waders but before we got there we stopped just a short distance
from the lodge and had a terrific forty minutes or so working the trees
alongside the road. Birds were
everywhere and it was difficult keeping abreast of what was being called. There was a male Green-breasted Mango, a
Cinnamon Hummingbird, two Streak-headed Woodcreepers, a Yellow-bellied Elaenia,
a Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet, a Yellow-marginged Flycatcher, White-lored
Gnatcatcher and a Yellow-throated Vireo.
Male Green-breasted Mango
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
From the road we continued on
towards the salt pans but made a brief stop by a marshy area. We didn’t see too much here but a Green Heron
provided some nice views and there was also a Clay-coloured Thrush and at
several Blue-black Grassquits.
When we arrived at the salt
pans the light wasn’t brilliant in terms of viewing but we were able to view
comfortable in a shaded area where at least half the area was in decent
light. There were plenty of waders
including Black-necked Stilts, Grey Plovers, a few Semipalmated Plovers,
Wilson’s Plovers, Hudsonian Whimbrels, a Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstones,
Surfbirds, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, three Short-billed
Dowitchers, a Spotted Sandpiper, ten Willet and five Lesser Yellowlegs. There was also a large flock of Royal Terns
and a few Sandwich Tern and Laughing Gull amongst them and there was also a
single Yellow-crowned Night-heron, a Great Blue Heron and a Tricoloured Heron.
As we started to leave a Black
Hawk was observed and we got out of the bus but it flew off. Whilst out of the bus we had a Prothonotary
Warbler and three Spot-crowned Euphonia and a party of Howler Monkey provided
some entertainment.
We were pretty much winding
down at the lodge when news came from Yehudi that he had found a Pacific
Screech-owl and so we joined him near the shoreline where we had excellent
views of the bird as it started to become alert as the light was fading.
Sunset at La Ensenada
Sunset at La Ensenada
During the day we had also
recorded Inca Dove, Common Ground Dove, Ruddy Ground Dove, Groove-billed Ani,
White Ibis, Turkey Vulture, American Black Vulture, Crested Caracara, Great
Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole and Great-tailed
Grackle.
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