Costa Rica 2013
Fifteen Years Later

January 14, 2013 - Savegre Valley

For any readers who aren't birders, one of the best times to bird is right around dawn. So we were out in the pre-dawn, at 6:00 AM, pre-breakfast and pre-coffee, for a bird walk. That's 2:00 AM Fairbanks time. Still, some cool stuff, including a Black Guan. After breakfast, a longer walk, steeply up and then steeply down a ridge from a tributary creek to the Savegre River. Some quite good birds, including Silvery-throated Jay and Black-faced Solitaire. The altitude and steepness of the trail made it a workout.

After lunch and a short siesta, we headed further down the Savegre River valley, birding a couple of different spots. Just the few hundred feet in elevation change resulted in dramatically different birds.

Before supper, we followed with a trip up valley where in darkness we got both the Bare-shanked Screech-Owl (a lifer for our guide) and a Dusky Nightjar.

Very nice weather until sunset, when we had some wind and light mist. The breeze and mist made waiting for the owl a bit cold. small price to pay.

Birds
Black Guan
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Broad-winged Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bare-shanked Screech-Owl
Dusky Nightjar
White-collared Swift
Green Violetear
Magnificent Hummingbird
White-throated Mountain-gem
Volcano Hummingbird
Scintillant Hummingbird
Stripe-tailed Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Sulphur-winged Parakeet
Spot-crowned Woodcreeper
Ruddy Treerunner
Mountain Elaenia
Torrent Tyrannulet
Tufted Flycatcher
Dark Pewee
Black-capped Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Tropical Kingbird
Yellow-winged Vireo
Brown-capped Vireo
Silvery-throated Jay
Blue-and-white Swallow
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren
American Dipper
Black-faced Solitaire
Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Sooty Thrush
Mountain Thrush
Clay-colored Thrush
Flame-throated Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-cheeked Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Collared Redstart
Blue-gray Tanager
Slaty Flowerpiercer
Yellow-thighed Finch
Large-footed Finch
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager
Flame-colored Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole
Elegant Euphonia
Golden-browed Chlorophonia
Yellow-bellied Siskin

Tufted Flycatcher in the Nest

Broad-winged Hawk

Slaty Flower-piercer Piercing a Flower Stem
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