Bucks Birders in Costa Rica 2018: Other Sites

The following relate to sites that are some distance from the lodges we were staying at, so typically places we stopped at while moving between sites.

14th Feb - We left Wilson Lodge after breakfast and headed towards Miriam Lodge but stopped off at a couple of places along the way :-

Mid morning we stopped along the way and saw the following birds :-

Lesser Elaenia -At the north of it's range but fairly widespread in South America.

Black and White Warbler - A wintering bird from N America

Masked Tityra - This species was seen on four days during the trip.

Tiny Hummingbird nest!!!

14th Feb - Paraiso Encantado

We then continued on our journey to Miriam Lodge but decided to visit a Boat-billed Heron roost site which was on route but unknown to Carlos. Dave had discovered the site on the internet. So following Dave's instructions we ventured down a steep rough track for quite a distance and eventually came to Paraiso Encantado......

This was in a delightful setting. A lake surrounded by trees in a valley with a bar at one end!! We stayed for lunch and a walk around the lake.

The hide at the lake with beer laid on.

Neil and Dave at the bar (as usual). Note the tiny black dots high in the wooden roof. These at Bats.

Fourteen Greater White-lined Bat Saccopteryx bilineata

Liniated Woodpecker - A large impressive woodpecker. Widespread from much of Central to the northern half of South America.

Boat-billed Heron - A widespread but local species to Central and South America, Our only sighting.

Green Heron - Breeds in N America, but also present year round in Costa Rica.

Purple Gallinule - A widespread species. Seen on four days.

After walking around the lake to get better views of the Boat-billed Herons, we left mid afternoon for the remainder of the journey to Miriam Lodge.

17th Feb

The long journey from Wilson Lodge to Sueño Azul Lodge in the Caribbean lowlands. On the way we stopped at the Waterfall gardens in order to view the Hummingbird feeders. Despite the steady rain we managed to see most of our target birds.

Photos taken at the Waterfall Gardens, appropriately in steady rain! Not great for photography!

Waterfall Gardens - the Hummingbird garden

The potential species available!

Green-crowned Brilliant - A male.
This species has a patchy mountainous distribution from Costa Rica, through Panama and into Columbia and Ecuador.

Purple-throated Mountain-gem - Only seen on one day.
Range through the mountainous parts of Central America to Columbia and Ecuador.

Green Thorntail - We were fortunate to see during both of our visit to the Waterfall Gardens.
An uncommon hummingbird that occurs from Costa Rica south to western Ecuador.

Coppery-headed Emerald - An important bird to see as it is a Costa Rican endemic!

Coppery-headed Emerald

We also stopped at a small cafe??? at Mirador Cinchora which had a wonderful view over a deep valley. The feeders here attracted many species.

The view from the mirador in very dull conditions

Easy birding at the feeders

Townsend's Warbler - Breeds in North America. Costs Rica is about the furthest south they spend the winter.

Buff-throated Saltator - A widespread species in Central and South America.

Northern Emerald Toucanet - We saw this species on two days.
It ranges from Mexico to N Panama.

Prong-billed Barbet - A near endemic, restricted to the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and western Panama.

Common Choropingus - We had two sightings of this species.
It has a restricted distribution from Mexico to Argentina.

Clay-coloured Thrush - Fairly widespread from N Mexico to Columbia and N Venezuela

Summer Tanager

Blue-grey Tanager - A widespread species seen daily.

Violet Sabrewing - A male. We saw on three days but two of those were at the Waterfall Gardens.

After leaving Mirador Cinchora we made the rest of the journey to Sueño Azul Lodge where we arrived at late in the day.

21st Feb. Aeroporto Hotel
We had travelled from Tram Lodge during the middle part of the day. Alfredo dropped us off at the Aeroporto Hotel and he went home to visit his family before our final days birding. We had an hour or so spare before dark so we did some birding in the hotel grounds. There were a number of nice birds to be seen but top marks to Neil who managed to find a rather nice Ovenbird. Many of the birds seen are shown below.

Lesson's Motmot - Quite easy to find in the hotel grounds.

Rufous-naped Wren - The only sighting of this species as most of the trip was out of it's range.

White-winged Dove - Found from the most southern US states to the northern part of Costa Rica, so the only chance of this species on our trip was in the San Jose area.

Ovenbird - A smart bird and somewhat unexpected in the hotel grounds.
Breeds in the eastern half of the USA and winters down to the most northerly parts of S America.

22nd Feb. Our last day

We had most of the day available for birding and firstly Alfredo took us first to a coffee plantation where we picked up a few new species. Then as we travelled back to the Waterfall Gardens on a road along the top edge of a deep valley, we saw the birds pictured below. Impressive scenery!

Barred Hawk - Just seen on this occasion.
Ranges from Costa Rica through Panama and in the Andes.

Black Vulture - Seen daily. A very widespread species!

Broad-winged Hawk - We saw on just two days.
Breeds in the eastern half of the USA and winters through Central America and the N part of South America.

22nd Feb - Waterfall Gardens

Having missed several nice birds during our first, rather wet visit to the gardens, we decided to revisit and have a longer look around. We picked up Green Thorntail, Black-bellied Hummingbird, Black-chested Hummingbird, Costa Rica Warbler, Barred Becard and well as several other nice birds.

Waterfall Gardens - One of the trails

Green Thorntail - We only saw this species at the Waterfall Gardens.
An uncommon species that occurs from Costa Rica south to western Ecuador.

Hummingbird sp

Black-bellied Hummingbird - One of our last trip ticks and an important one.
Restricted to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama, primarily on the Caribbean slope