Sunday, January 15, 2023
The standard second planned activity at Casa Corcovado was a snorkeling trip out to Caño Island, about 20 miles offshore. We had decided early in our trip planning to skip this activity and have another day of birding on the mainland.
We started birding around the lodge with Johan at 5:45. After walking around a bit Teri decided to go back to the room and rest as she was still a little tired from yesterday.
Johan and I continued on, going to the upper public trail that leads into the National Park. Some parts were very steep and muddy, but we made it fine. We saw some good birds including Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager (endemic to this tiny area), Gray-chested Dove, Lesson’s Motmot, and White-whiskered Puffbird.
We met Teri for breakfast around 8:00. She had seen a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron by the pool and a Common Black-Hawk on the satellite dish! Some good birds in the busiest area of the lodge.
After breakfast we all headed out for some easy birding around the property. I tried the sound identification app Merlin and it indicated a Green Shrike-Vireo immediately. Johan was a little surprised but also heard it and off we went. He mentioned that it was a small green bird, typically high in the canopy so very difficult to see. He played the bird's call and it seemed to come closer, but then went back. We heard another not far away, and went after that one. Luckily it was in a sparsely leafed tree and I spotted it, and then it flew a little closer. Very pretty lime green with yellow belly and throat. Short but satisfying looks. I never did get a picture of it! Here is an image off of the internet.
We then birded down some flat easy roads and trails, and got into a couple of great mixed flocks. With White-throated Shrike-Tanagers leading the way, the flocks included the large Black-striped Woodcreeper, the medium-sized Tawny-winged and the tiny Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, along with a Chiriqui foliage-gleaner.
Towards the end of our walk we found a group of Trogans chasing each other around. These are normally very sedate birds, so the activity was puzzling. It turned out to be three Slaty-tailed Trogans and a pair of Baird’s Trogans apparently working out some territorial issues. They gave us great looks.
We also saw another White-throated Shrike-Tanager, a Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher and a beautiful male Velvety Mankin. This bird was previously named the Blue-crowned Manakin which seems to fit very well.
By 11:00 it was hot and very sunny, and the birds were quieting down. We headed back to our room, showered and relaxed until lunch. During lunch Johan saw a Common Black-Hawk swoop down to the ground and grab something. It turned out that it was eating one of the many Cicadas.
On our way back to our room after lunch we saw a Yellow-headed Caracara on the ground eating something. Another cicada perhaps?
After a relaxing afternoon we met up at 4:00 for a bit more birding around the grounds. It was clouding up at this point so we took umbrellas along just in case! We saw a few more good birds and mammals. It was interesting how productive this day had been staying around the lodge, compared to our much slower previous day in the National Park. Trail birding is much tougher than birding in more open areas for sure.
About the time we got down to the Sunset Overlook, it started to sprinkle. Teri and I decided to head back to the room and we got there just in time. It started really pouring down rain as we arrived and it continued through much of the night. It was the only significant rain that we saw our entire trip.
Next - Moving Day
There seems to be an app for everything! We were at a park once that had coati (s) but we never saw any. Having most of the group gone doing something else probably helped with bird availability.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very nice relaxing birding day. We were pretty much the only guests around the lodge grounds and trails.
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