Smokin attilas

Our first morning in the Caribbean lowlands was spent at La Selva Research Station.  Mike predicted in the trip outline that we could see 100 species here and he was right.  Birds came fast and furious after our 4:30 wake-up call to put us at the entrance to the reserve at daybreak.  Passarini's tanager was joined by Crimson-collared.  Golden-hooded tanager was joined by a couple different Euphonias.  Honeycreepers and Dacni bounced about.  The first bird to get Steven excited though was this Chestnut-colored Woodpecker that appeared over the top of a Black-striped Sparrow.

Flycatchers abounded along the edge and scrubby habitat.  Social and Kiskadee were the most common, but Gray-capped and Piratic also perched prominently calling, clearly starting their breeding cycle.  These two are Piratic Flycatchers.

Joining the breeding group was this pair of Ruddy Ground-doves.

I'd heard somewhere that they'd be the size of sparrows.

Rufous-winged Woodpecker didn't help my confusion on Woodpecker ID.

Later on in the trip we saw a couple of similar birds to the two woodpeckers here, I'm not sure I realized either one was new.

Steven and Mindy saw a Great Green Macaw go by.  I was certainly glad we'd seen it well the day before.  Red-lored Parrots would not have made up for missing that bird.

We heard then saw a Collared Forest-falcon, another bird I didn't expect at all to see, and then heard then saw Bright-rumped Attila giving its climactic call.  Google that bird's voice, some of the recordings are well worth your time (though maybe not at work if you have close working co-workers).

A White-necked Puffbird, apparently fairly uncommon in CR, teed up followed by the first White-naped Jacobin of the trip (though we couldn't actually see the white neck).  Black-faced Grosbeak made up somewhat for missing Black-thighed in the highlands (I didn't count a Rose-breasted like PEEK call that was apparently the latter species).

Dusky-capped Flycatcher (I think the only myarchid of the trip though someone may have seen a Great-crested) showed in nice light, a bird that previously I had only heard in Arizona.

There were numerous other birds, Pied Puffbird, White-ringed and Boat-billed Flycatcher, a few wrens, Dusky Antbird, Long-tailed Tyrant, Great Antshrike, our only male manakin (White-collared),and many more.  I'm going to leave off for now with a Collared Aracari seen from a hanging suspension-type foot-bridge on our way into La Selva proper.