Marian and I spent our first day ever in a cloud forsts yesterday, using a guide Carlos Urena, located in San Isidro. We met him at 6 AM and headed straight for the highest road you can reach by SUV in Costa Rica, about 11,000 feet! On the ride up to elevation we started weeing many Sooty Thrushes, an all dark Turdus with an orange bill. We arrived at the eBird hotspot Parque Nacional los Quetzales- Cerro Buenavista communication towers. Here is our eBird list if you want to see the location. It was a perfectly clear cool (about 52F) morning when we started birding about 6:54 AM. Almost immediately we heard and located Timberline Wren skulking in the low brush, and soon added Volcano Hummingbirds which were all over the place.
Other specialties were Black-capped Flycatcher, Black-billed Nightingale Thrush, Volcano Junco, and Large-footed Wren. We stayed up high there for just under an hour and a half, and were feeling pretty good about getting on birds, the nice break with coolness, and a perfect weather day.
From there we headed to and spent the rest of the day on a road adjacent to the National Park, San Gerado de Dota – Quetzal Valley. Part way up the road we stopped at a delightful little restaurant, with feeders and for the price of buying a very nice fruit drink we got to use the clean, outdoor flush toilets and watch the birds.
From here we headed to the main resort which is a spectacular place, with great birding, trails we could manage, and a lodge where we parked and took a birding hike from and had lunch by the hummingbird feeders. The plan was to drive to a mid-trail location, use a lodge truck to take us up to the highest part of the trail, and hike down for birding. On the ride up Carlos spotted a Respendant Quetzal perched over the road just as I drove under it. We backed up to get a look, and just as I spotted the bird through the very top of the windshield it flew away. I got a very brief look at it perched and in flight. It was an immature male, and Marian got a look at its landing perch from the back seat, but it again flew and was not relocated.
Áfter parking we too the loop trail, hiking slowly and birding for maybe 4-5 hours, seeing lots of birds, and loving the experience. Highlights were a large flock that came in to Carlo’s Costa Rican Pygmy Owl recording. One of the highlights of my birding here so far was this group of Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers that perched on a nearby tree to watch us and the show.
Here are a few of the other species in this flock.
The hike was about 4-5 hours long as we stopped lots to look for birds and moved slowly. All along the walk Black-faced Solitaires were singing, and near the end we saw a pair briefly on the trail. Just as we got back to the car, this one bird popped out of a nest cavity in a dirt bank, with two chicks on the nest. That likely explains why it sat there as I walked close for nice photos.
For the rest of the afternoon, after a nice lunch at the lodge watching their hummingbird feeders Marian rested while I walked along a trail looking for a better view of the quetzel, and instead found these Torrent Tyranulets, and saw this incredibly beautiful stream.
Overall a great first day of guided birding, with lots of lifers and first Costa Rica birds.
So far so good on this trip.
Good birding. Ed