Gosh only one day left and we have seen so much and so many birds, I hope I remember some of them when I get back home.
We were up at 5:30 am and at 6 am we all left to catch the early light and hopefully a sighting of the Resplendent Quetzal! This was a spot on the Savegra road about 15 minutes away. There was quite a group of birders and tourists already there. No bird yet. Apparently the numbers used to be even greater but one of the large lodges "have their own Quetzal now", so they don't show up on the road anymore. We watched it get lighter and within 15 minutes a Quetzal flew into the thick high trees. Another followed, a female. They fly around a bit and finally land in good spots in the trees where it is generally a clear sight line to see them. The scopes and cameras are set up. It gets confusing as I almost went to scope that was not ours to take a look! The day got brighter and the colours of the Quetzal became brighter. These are big gorgeous clown-type looking birds. The pair generally stuck together and it was wonderful to see them. Since it was dark in the trees I did not get a great shot but our guide Steve took a photo with my iphone through the spotting scope. It is tricky to get the camera to look through the scope but Steve does it all the time and he took the photo below. It shows the beauty and magic of this bird in the wild.
We returned to the lodge for breakfast, each of us with smiles and some with photos. This one is Emily's
After breakfast we walked down along the creek of the property and beyond and the array of different birds and bird song was amazing. We are at about 7,000 feet here so there are birds that are found only at this high elevation. This very pretty Spangled-cheek Tanager showed up and we had great looks at.
We saw dozens of birds: flycatchers, vireos, warblers, thrushes. It was a crisp clear morning of about 15 degrees which is perfect weather for walking around. As it got warmer here, another layer of clothes came off. I kept on checking the creek we were walking along for Dippers. The conditions are perfect: fast running water and a high elevation. But not one was found. According to Steve our guide, he has seen Dippers in this creek in the past but not often.
We also viewed a pair of Golden-browed Chlorophonias and to me the female looks even more spectacular than the mail. They pair were flying around together and looked so sweet. I think this bird is my favourite of the trip. They are stunning birds.
We returned to the lodge for a quick break and then we met up again to look for some birds that we did not get yet. But before we headed out we met up on a verandah overlooking an orchard (apples, etc on the lodge property. They are an eco lodge so they clean the septic water, grow their own vegetables and conserve what they can. While we were on the veradah, two Sulphur-winged parakeets flew in and landed about 20 feet away from us onto an apple tree and daintily start eating apples without making a squawk. They were quiet the whole time while they were eating. Usually one can see parrots and parakeets flying high making a huge racket but not while they are eating. We watched the parakeets as they were so interesting. They were taking bites of apple and not necessarily eating everything. Here is a photo of one of them.
We continued to see birds but one of them, a wood quail, has eluded us to-date. We are going to try for it tomorrow morning.
After lunch and a bit of a break some of us headed up the mountain to the top where all the antennas are located on the top of Cerro do la Morte in our minibus. This is an elevation of 11,000 feet and some of the group including Sami and Lynne wisely stayed back at the lodge.
It rained on the way up and at the top were literally in the clouds. It was cold up there and most of us had gloves on and windbreakers and fleeces. The rain stopped and we went looking for the Volcano Junco who lives only at high elevations in only a couple of spots in the world. We looked for quite a while and found a handsome huge fellow.
We continued to look for the high elevation birds and saw a Timberline Wren, Black and Yellow Silky Flycatcher and other birds. We were wet and most of us were chilled from being in the clouds/mist. The sun tried to come out and we could hear thunder in the far distance. Steve said that the thunder was from the coast many miles away. It was getting towards dusk.
We came down the mountain about 2,000 feet and at dusk we stopped and we tried for and saw the Dusky Nightjar when it flew over us and sat in the tree for a bit. Just a perfect way to end the day. We were tired, and wet and hungry but we had seen some beautiful birds.
Barb, Emily, Sami & Lynne
We were up at 5:30 am and at 6 am we all left to catch the early light and hopefully a sighting of the Resplendent Quetzal! This was a spot on the Savegra road about 15 minutes away. There was quite a group of birders and tourists already there. No bird yet. Apparently the numbers used to be even greater but one of the large lodges "have their own Quetzal now", so they don't show up on the road anymore. We watched it get lighter and within 15 minutes a Quetzal flew into the thick high trees. Another followed, a female. They fly around a bit and finally land in good spots in the trees where it is generally a clear sight line to see them. The scopes and cameras are set up. It gets confusing as I almost went to scope that was not ours to take a look! The day got brighter and the colours of the Quetzal became brighter. These are big gorgeous clown-type looking birds. The pair generally stuck together and it was wonderful to see them. Since it was dark in the trees I did not get a great shot but our guide Steve took a photo with my iphone through the spotting scope. It is tricky to get the camera to look through the scope but Steve does it all the time and he took the photo below. It shows the beauty and magic of this bird in the wild.
We also viewed a pair of Golden-browed Chlorophonias and to me the female looks even more spectacular than the mail. They pair were flying around together and looked so sweet. I think this bird is my favourite of the trip. They are stunning birds.
We returned to the lodge for a quick break and then we met up again to look for some birds that we did not get yet. But before we headed out we met up on a verandah overlooking an orchard (apples, etc on the lodge property. They are an eco lodge so they clean the septic water, grow their own vegetables and conserve what they can. While we were on the veradah, two Sulphur-winged parakeets flew in and landed about 20 feet away from us onto an apple tree and daintily start eating apples without making a squawk. They were quiet the whole time while they were eating. Usually one can see parrots and parakeets flying high making a huge racket but not while they are eating. We watched the parakeets as they were so interesting. They were taking bites of apple and not necessarily eating everything. Here is a photo of one of them.
After lunch and a bit of a break some of us headed up the mountain to the top where all the antennas are located on the top of Cerro do la Morte in our minibus. This is an elevation of 11,000 feet and some of the group including Sami and Lynne wisely stayed back at the lodge.
It rained on the way up and at the top were literally in the clouds. It was cold up there and most of us had gloves on and windbreakers and fleeces. The rain stopped and we went looking for the Volcano Junco who lives only at high elevations in only a couple of spots in the world. We looked for quite a while and found a handsome huge fellow.
We came down the mountain about 2,000 feet and at dusk we stopped and we tried for and saw the Dusky Nightjar when it flew over us and sat in the tree for a bit. Just a perfect way to end the day. We were tired, and wet and hungry but we had seen some beautiful birds.
Barb, Emily, Sami & Lynne
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