Saturday, January 20, 2024 continued
After lunch we headed to nearby Sendero Bogarin. This was a location that offered a variety of “eco-activities” like hiking and horseback riding, but most folks visited to take a short nature hike and hopefully see a sloth.
We started in a wet area next to the parking lot, where we heard a White-throated Crake. This is my “nemesis” bird, as I missed seeing it almost 20 years ago in Panama, where Teri first saw it. It is a difficult bird to find anywhere, and we've missed it over and over again over the subsequent years. So I was thrilled to get a brief look at it moving through the flooded grass in this spot, but wasn’t able to get a photo. Oh well.
We then paid our entrance fee and watched some very nice feeders with loads of tanagers, honeycreepers, toucans, etc. In addition to adult male Red-legged Honeycreepers, we saw a "teenager" who was just molting into his adult plumage. Like many birds, the young male honeycreepers are colored like females to give them better camouflage. They get their full adult color after about a year.
We then hiked out onto the forest trails, looking first for a Uniform Crake which called consistently for a while but never revealed itself. The rain was more consistent now so we birded much of the time under our umbrellas, which can be awkward. We found a pair of Black-and-white Owls on their day roosts, which were fun to see.
We saw a few new species out on the trail, including another hummingbird with an odd name, the Blue-throated Goldentail. The tail doesn't really show up in the picture, but the bright red bill certainly does!
We got our only look of the trip at the gorgeous Crimson-collared Tanager.
When folks on the trails saw us staring up into trees they usually ask if we had a sloth. When we replied no, we were looking at a bird, they'd shake their heads and walk away. Crazy birders... But we did see one Three-toed Sloth, which we always enjoy. Much easier to get a picture of than birds as they hardly move!
After birding the trails we sat and watched the feeding area for a bit. In addition to the fruit feeders there was a small pond that attracted some interesting birds.
As we were leaving I spotted the White-throated Crake in the wet area next to the parking area, and was able to get excellent shots. It turned out to be a pair with both visible at some times.
We returned to Arenal in the now constant rain, so instead of attempting any more birding we headed to our rooms to dry out a bit.
Next - More trails at Arenal, and Papa's Place
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