Costa Rica Birding Trip Report
July 2-12, 2016
Day 6: Thursday, July 7
This morning, we bid goodbye to the Savegre Valley and headed back up to the Pan American Highway. Our next destination: the Pacific lowlands. We made a brief stop at another lodge in the valley and scanned the river one last time for American Dipper, but instead found the tour’s only Torrent Tyrannulet. Once on the highway, our journey took us above 11,000 feet elevation at Cerra de la Muerta, the legendary Mountain of Death and the literal high point of our tour. Early morning temperatures in this landscape of stunted trees are typically near freezing, with foggy conditions often reducing visibility to a few feet. In the early 1900s, unprepared travelers passing through this area sometimes became lost in the fog and succumbed to the frigid conditions. Fortunately for us, the weather during our short visit was comfortably cool with excellent visibility. A side road leading to a number of radio towers took us into good habitat away from the highway. Andrew called in a very cooperative Volcano Junco, but photographs taken suggest that it wasn’t particularly happy to see us. Timberline Wrens were found nearby, providing significantly better views than yesterday.
Volcano Junco, photo courtesy of Ted Center
The group at Cerra de la Muerta, photo courtesy of Nancy Freedman
Back on the highway, our next stop was La Georgina, a restaurant surrounded by excellent high elevation habitat. While some in the group stayed at the restaurant and watched Fiery-throated and Volcano Hummingbirds coming to their feeders, the rest of us explored a steep trail leading down slope at the back of the property. The very rare Silvery-throated Jay is sometimes seen here, but not today. We heard another Wrenthrush and Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, had much better looks at Buffy Tuftedcheek than yesterday and had our only Hairy Woodpecker and Yellow-billed Cacique of the trip. It was nearly lunchtime by the time we trudged back to the restaurant, so we did the sensible thing and had lunch.
Leaving the mountains behind, we continued our journey towards the coast, stopping at a spot in the town of San Isidro where Luis had seen Turquoise Cotinga in the past. After waiting out a brief thunderstorm, we scanned the surrounding trees, eventually locating a beautiful male. Yellow-crowned and Thick-billed Euphonia were also present. Our first Costa Rican Swifts were spotted overhead and Variable Seedeaters of the Pacific race were perched on surrounding fences. It was here where we encountered our first Red-crowned x Hoffmann’s Woodpecker hybrids, though one had only a hint of yellow on the nape, probably as close to pure Red-crowned Woodpecker as we would see on the tour. Luis then took us next to nearby pastureland where we quickly found his target bird for this spot, a Red-breasted Blackbird. Other good birds seen here included White-tailed, Swallow-tailed and Pearl Kite, Southern Lapwing, our only Smooth-billed Anis for the tour and as a bonus, another male Turquoise Cotinga. Outside of town, Luis hit the brakes when he spotted three Fiery-billed Aracaris on a roadside tree. We also drove by several Cherrie’s Tanagers perched on wires along the road. We wouldn’t see either of these species again; the San Isidro area was also the only location on the tour where we saw Tropical Mockingbird. Our only Yellow-headed Caracara of the tour flew over the road as we headed north up the coast to our next birding destination, Carara National Park and Hotel Villa Lapas, our lodging for the next two nights.