Costa Rica Day 14

January 18th 2022

There are maybe 3-4 Golden-winged Warbler on the patch and at last, one of the individuals decided to come down from the canopy and show off at close range and it was a stunning male!

At 07.00 this morning, I was having breakfast at Claudio’s garden with him and feeding on the bananas, he puts out in a hedge only meters away from us, was alive with birds. All the Tanagers and Euphonias were there but I spotted a tanager that I not seen before. With the small flock of Red-winged Blackbird on the lawn was a male White-lined Tanager. Also feasting were Black-cheeked and Hoffmann’s Woodpecker and Green Honeycreeper and Blue Dacnis. The latter two species I had already seen elsewhere on the reserve with Shinning Honeycreeper. There were also Great Curassow and Grey-headed Chachalaca in the garden.

This male White-lined Tanager only came into the garden very briefly

Male Green Honeycreeper

Up to 4 Black-headed Saltator made a visit to the garden

It had gone eight and it started off well with not one but two new yank warbler on the patch. Feeding with Chestnut-sided and Golden-winged was a Bay-breasted Warbler and did it show well at head hight most of the time. I would of stayed with it if it was not for a movement in the long grass just to my right. Creeping low down, I could see my first Hooded Warbler but no chance of getting not even a record shot. I returned to the warbler but was distracted again. There’s maybe 3-4 Golden-winged Warbler on the patch but non of them have showed well. That was until today when a male was just above my head and I took full advantage of it.

My first Bay-breasted Warbler giving me crippling views.

I see Golden-winged Warbler everyday but not like this. Normally they are high up in the canopy

Mid-afternoon and for the rest of the day, it was dull with heavy showers. Out in the open next to the river, after yesterdays show of flycatcher, there was Ochre-bellied Flycatcher. On the river itself was the Louisiana Waterthrush and the pools produced all three kingfishers. Amazon, 2 Ringed and Green Kingfisher. The latter species I’ve seen flash by many times over the ponds. On the west side, the male Painted Bunting popped up again where there was also a Streaked Woodcreeper. Deeper into the middle of the reserve, I was standing still on the path, when a Keel-billed Motmot gently enlightened on a bare branch only meters away from me! Light was fading fast and with the now 5 sleeping Boat-billed Night Heron, was the ibis I very briefly observed deep in cover on day one in observing the patch. This time it was out in the open and I could now clearly see that it was a Green Ibis in very bad condition. It was time to start searching for wood rail and I was thinking that I’m probably just wasting my time. How wrong was I. I had only left the ibis and there at the waters edge was a Russet-napped Water Rail at close range. It had no idea that I was there and for the next twenty minutes it wondered into cover but always giving itself away by calling a kind of very quiet Bittern every now and then making it easy for me to track it down. It even kicked a Common Pauraque onto the path directly in front of me. On another pond, it’s was taking a bath when it was joined by what I presume was a female and they both bathed together before disappearing into the wood. I was just to make a move myself, when out of nowhere, a Common Apossum walked across the path I was standing on, climbed up a tree and licked it for a brief second, before coming back down and I kid you not, walked over my foot!! What away to end the day and as I walked out, Common Pauraque were vocal with maybe three or four individuals.

This Keel-billed Motmot appeared from nowhere and perched on a bare branch only meters away from me and stayed there for a good twenty minutes!

The mystery ibis that I observed almost in the dark on my first visit on the patch, as reappeared and turns out to be a Green Ibis in very bad condition. The lack of feathers on the face causing the problem of identification at the time when I first saw it

After seeing a Russet-napped Wood Rail very briefly, I made the effort just before dark in trying to relocate it againonly to come across a pair instead!

This Common Opossum walked over my foot as it left this tree! I looked after one of these mamals on my second visit to Costa Rica while working at a animal hospital and it was like a pet dog.

Tomorrow I leave La Fortuna and make my way SE in a four hour bus ride to La Virgen for less than £5! Here I’ll team up with Graham Gordon who has been in Costa Rica for nearly a month already. There I’ll be hanging out with him for maybe a week and then I’ll return to La Fortuna to continue watching the patch that I’ve discovered. Hopefully get better pics of the wood rails than the ones I took almost in the dark this evening.

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