Costa Rica 2013
Fifteen Years Later

January 13, 2013 - San Jose, La Esperanza at Tapanti Nat'l Park, Providencia Road at Los Quetzales Nat'l Park, Savegre Valley

We started by birding around the Holiday Inn Express where we stayed last night and the nearby Hampton Inn at the San Jose airport. We didn't find the target bird, Prevost's Ground-Sparrow, but found some other good species. Then we drove out and up CR 2 to La Esperanza at Tapanti National Park. It was a steep climb from park gate but good birds, including very good views, but mediocre photos, of Resplendant Quetzals and a Collared Trogon. Then lunch at an amazing cafe-style place.

Then we drove up Providencia Road to the corner of the new Los Quetzales NP. Finally, we walked and birded a long ways down the steep, switch-backed road into the Savegre Valley, ending at Trogon Lodge. Slight drizzle walking along the trail at Providencia; otherwise excellent, shirtsleeve temperatures with an intermittent light breeze. For once, in the late afternoon the cloud forest mostly clear of fog.

I struggled mightily with the tripod first three hours. The ball clamp had locked up and flatly refused to turn, leaving the tripod head floppily loose the whole time I was around the Quetzal. I successfully repaired it by hammering the knob with a rock, probably voiding any remaining warranty, but it works now. But not in time to use it with the Quetzals.

Trogon Lodge is lovely, as advertised, "a mountain lodge in the cloud forest of Savegre."

Birds
Cattle Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Red-billed Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl
White-collared Swift
Vaux's Swift
Green Violetear
Green-breasted Mango
Magnificent Hummingbird
Fiery-throated Hummingbird
White-throated Mountain-gem
Volcano Hummingbird
Resplendent Quetzal
Collared Trogon
Acorn Woodpecker
Hoffmann's Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Crimson-fronted Parakeet
Spot-crowned Woodcreeper
Buffy Tuftedcheek
Ruddy Treerunner
Mountain Elaenia
Paltry Tyrannulet
Black-capped Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Barred Becard
Yellow-winged Vireo
Blue-and-white Swallow
Ochraceous Wren
Plain Wren
Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Sooty Thrush
Mountain Thrush
Clay-colored Thrush
Black-and-yellow Silky-flycatcher
Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher
Black-and-white Warbler
Flame-throated Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Blue-gray Tanager
Palm Tanager
Spangle-cheeked Tanager
Slaty Flowerpiercer
Peg-billed Finch
Yellow-thighed Finch
Large-footed Finch
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager
Flame-colored Tanager
Melodious Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Yellow-bellied Siskin

Resplendant Quetzal Male

Collared Trogon Male

Male Long-tailed silky-Flycatcher
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