Savegre Hummingbirds

In case you haven't noticed, I like to take pictures of hummingbirds.  The Savegre lodge had 2 clusters of feeders which attracted a continuous stream of hummers (as well as birders and photographers often watching the well-conditioned birds from only a few feet away).  I think a lot of people got good pics with smart phones.  White-throated Mountain-gem is common but not as abundant as the others.

 It used to be called (and is still in some of the books)  Gray-tailed Mountain-gem

I tried to mostly stay away from the feeders though, going for more natural backgrounds (and flight shots).  Green Violet-ears were abundant.

Any bush with flowers to attract hummingbirds would usually have a Slaty Flowerpiercer or two as well.  The females would defend some of their favored bushes from males.  Only the males are slaty.

I think this Stripe-tailed Hummingbird is nectaring from holes that the flowerpiercer left.





The other common hummer at Savegre (aside from Magnificent) was Scintillant Hummingbird

This tiny Selasphorus's rufous tail helps separate it from the somewhat less common Volcano Hummingbird



Highlands Owling

Vernon led us on a very successful night of owling in the highlands as well.  Last year we found Costa Rican Pygmy-owl on the Los Robles trail, we dipped on it there this year.  Vernon, however, had a back-up spot that we went to at dusk.  The owl came in almost immediately, much closer than we saw them last year.

 It's entire breast would puff in and out with each toot, I took a video as well.

We waited for dusk to fall and Vernon went to the Bare-shanked Screech-owl spot, I'm pretty sure we were no more than a hundred yards from where we had it last year.

The Dusky Nightjar was much more cooperative this year, I think Vernon spotted it with his flashlight; it was silent this year

We mostly jokingly called for an encore.  Vernon thought for a minute, and then stopped the bus after a few miles and after a few minutes signaled us to come out of the bus ... Mottled Owl, a lifer

Four nightbirds seen, all were impressed.

Savegre River trail

In the evening of our full highland day we walked the River Trail downstream of the cabins.  The evening before most of us walked just along the river at last light finding a couple Black Guan which came all the way down to the river to drink.

Last year we got off the bus and saw a Torrent Tyrannulet, this year we had to walk all of about 400 yards.

The trail itself was fairly active in the evening light.  The highlight was a Collared Trogon that started out fairly distant but worked its way closer.  I'm not sure I've seen ever seen the dorsal side of a trogon's tail

Last year this was the spot where we had Chestnut-capped Brush-finch.  This year the pair was behind the cabins

The un-aptly named Yellow-winged Vireo was easier to find this year among the cabins' landscaping

Finally an Acorn Woodpecker, one of the most common birds in the highlands on the feeder after the sun had gone behind the ridge which really allowed the glossy blue Melanerpes tones to come out.

Tanager framefill for lunch

An obvious advantage of birding with a group is that more eyes spot more birds (with diminishing returns certainly).  The advantage of birding by yourself is the birds have a harder time spotting you.  When I'm birding by myself I tend to move fairly slowly (which used to drive Ginger nuts when she would walk trails with me), but it paid off at lunchtime in Savegre when I found a feeding flock, worked my way in front of it, and let the birds come to me.

As per usual, Sooty-capped Bush-tanagers dominated the flock

Their cousin the (at least in the highlands somewhat less-) Common Bush-tanager joined them

As did two of the showier highland birds, Silver-throated and Spangle-cheeked Tanager

No mixed flock at this elevation would lack a Collared Redstart

A Flame-throated Warbler tried to slip by at a higher level ...

and a Mountain Elaenia somewhat lower, though I'm not totally sure it was part of the group.

This Ruddy-capped Nightengale-thrush was on the way back to the cabins, appearing at my feet

The Los Robles trail

We started our full day in the highlands by heading up into the climax oak forest along the Los Robles trail though the first good bird of the day was a female Long-tailed Silky from the back deck of the lodge

 They were easier to find this year than last.

 We took a small 4x4 truck-like vehicle up the steep ridge to get to the trail.  We started finding birds basically as soon as we got out, first a collared trogon (better pics later though) and a couple Golden-bellied Flycatchers up in the canopy.  At one point I was lying on my back shooting so I wouldn't be trying to crane the camera straight up.

A lot of the tropical birds can be found in mixed feeding flocks, find a flock, find the birds.  The dominant species in the high-oak forest in the mixed flocks were Ruddy Treerunners and the surprisingly difficult to photograph Black-cheeked Warbler

A Streak-breasted Treehunter worked about the edges of one little group, a bird we heard last year but that I'd never seen.  Of course it stayed tucked in pretty well and when it came out it was directly backlit in a strong sunbeam

It was the size of a small jay but fed like a chickadee (and was nearly as vocal as either).

Other birds were more soliatary (like an aptly named Black-faced Solitaire).  The Solitaire's song is well worth pulling up in xeno-cantu, it sings a series of harmonics somewhat on the pitch of the climactic note of a Hermit Thrush song

Other flycatchers included Dark Pewee, Black-capped Flycatcher, and this Yellowish Flycatcher, a bright empid with a Cordy Fly eye teardrop.

We heard a chlorophonia up high but couldn't locate it.  We worked pretty hard for Flame-throated Warbler, settling for more warbler-neck views looking more or less straight up.

Butterflies were coming out as we were on our way down, Gulf Fritillaries were pretty common

 I'm not quite sure what this one is though.

Flame-colored Photoshoot

The feeders at Miriam's Restaurante would be famous if they were in SE Arizona, in CR they're relatively more anonymous.  The birds are very habituated to people on the sidewalk just feet away from the feeder which leads to some fun photo-ops.  Flame-colored Tanagers are common.

It says something about Costa Rican birds that when you think of the 10 (or 20? more?) most impressive species this one doesn't even come to mind.

It should though.  They're so bright that the camera sensor has trouble dealing with them in full sun.  It's one thing to blow the whites out and overexpose a small area of the bird that's white, but when you're blowing vermillion out that's something else entirely...

Exposure's a little easier in the shade

Mrs. Flame always reminds me of pics of Yellow Grosbeaks

 You can see the two notches on the side of the bill, the trigger for its Latin specific name of bidentata if you look carefully.

What's the opposite of a Flame-colored Tanager?  Definitely not a Rufous-browed Peppershrike which teased us for a while by singing constantly (and invisibly) downslope before coming briefly into view.

Large-footed Finch gets us a little closer (this one is doing some Valentine's advertising to a mate)

Sooty thrush gets us closer, but is still an attractive bird.

The opposite of a Flame-colored Tanager?  I'd say, drumroll please, the Mountain Robin

Take it in, in all of its mud-brown hook-billed glory.