Photos with this report (click to enlarge) | |||
 Great Curassow |
 Bare-throated tiger heron |
 Grey-lined hawk |
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We spent 3 nights at the Esquinas Rainforest Lodge in February 2015. Esquinas is on the edge of the Piedras Blancas National Park on the South Pacific coast of Costa Rica, opposite the Osa Peninsula. The lodge grounds are gardens with streams surrounded by about 50 HA of mixed forest. There are several trails differing in terrain, the approach road runs through open country with rice paddies and fields. Fernando Barrantes the co-manager is an excellent bird guide who knew well where to find our target species.
On both mornings we started on the road/track through the gardens before taking a couple of the forest trails and finishing up driving to the rice paddies on the approach road. We had several encounters with a group of 5 Great Curassows which wandered through the gardens. In the trees along the track we had slaty-headed Tody flycatcher, mourning warbler, yellow tyrannulet, blue-headed parrot, crested guan. In the forest streak-headed, black-streaked, cocoa and wedge billed woodcreepers, black-cheeked ant tanager, white-throated shrike tanager, chestnut-backed antbird, black-faced ant thrush, orange collared and red-capped manakins were all seen well. Eye-ringed flatbill, golden-crowned spadebill, tawny-crowned greenlet and ruddy quail dove all showed well. At the small reedy lagoon a pair of white-throated crakes required some persuasion but then gave good views.
On the road brown-throated parakeets, brown-hooded and blue-headed parrots sat in the tree tops. Swallow-tailed kites, a pair of white hawks, a grey-lined hawk and a black hawk eagle circled above the road giving excellent views. In the rice paddies 5 species of seedater were seen: blue-black grassquit, variable, yellow-bellied, slate-coloured and ruddy-breasted seedeaters. In addition, pale-breasted spinetail and bare-throated tiger heron gave excellent views.
Esquinas lodge is an excellent place for birders, accommodation is pleasant, food good and the management team of husband and wife are developing the site very thoughtfully.
Grey-headed Chachalaca
Crested Guan [sp]
Great Curassow [sp]
White Ibis
Bare-throated Tiger Heron
Green Heron [sp]
Cattle Egret [sp]
Great Egret [sp]
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret [sp]
Turkey Vulture [sp]
American Black Vulture
Yellow-headed Caracara [sp]
Swallow-tailed Kite [sp]
White Hawk [sp]
White-shouldered Hawk
Grey-lined Hawk [group]
Roadside Hawk [sp]
Black Hawk-eagle [sp]
White-throated Crake [sp]
Northern Jacana [sp]
Short-billed Pigeon
Ruddy Ground Dove [sp]
Blue Ground Dove
White-tipped Dove [sp]
Ruddy Quail-dove [sp]
Brown-throated Parakeet [sp]
Brown-hooded Parrot [sp]
Blue-headed Parrot [sp]
White-crowned Parrot
Smooth-billed Ani
White-collared Swift [sp]
Western Long-tailed Hermit [sp]
Stripe-throated Hermit [sp]
Violet Sabrewing [sp]
White-necked Jacobin [sp]
Blue-throated Goldentail [sp]
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird [sp]
Charming Hummingbird
Blue-crowned Motmot [sp]
Fiery-billed Aracari
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
Golden-naped Woodpecker [sp]
Red-crowned Woodpecker [sp]
Lineated Woodpecker [sp]
Rufous-tailed Jacamar [sp]
Orange-collared Manakin
Red-capped Manakin [sp]
Rose-throated Becard [sp]
Yellow-bellied Elaenia [sp]
Southern Beardless Tyrannulet [sp]
Yellow Tyrannulet [sp]
Paltry Tyrannulet [sp]
Slate-headed Tody-flycatcher [sp]
Common Tody-flycatcher [sp]
Eye-ringed Flatbill [sp]
Grey-headed Flycatcher
Golden-crowned Spadebill [sp]
Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher [group]
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Social Flycatcher [sp]
Great Kiskadee [sp]
Streaked Flycatcher [sp]
Tropical Kingbird [sp]
Fork-tailed Flycatcher [sp]
Dusky-capped Flycatcher [sp]
Bright-rumped Attila [sp]
Black-hooded Antshrike
Dot-winged Antwren [sp]
Chestnut-backed Antbird [sp]
Black-faced Antthrush [sp]
Pale-breasted Spinetail [sp]
Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner [sp]
Plain Xenops [sp]
Tawny-winged Woodcreeper [sp]
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper [sp]
Cocoa Woodcreeper [sp]
Black-striped Woodcreeper [sp]
Streak-headed Woodcreeper [sp]
Tawny-crowned Greenlet [sp]
Grey-breasted Martin [sp]
Black-bellied Wren [sp]
Riverside Wren
House Wren [sp]
Clay-coloured Robin [sp]
Tennessee Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Mourning Warbler
Buff-rumped Warbler [sp]
Scarlet-rumped Cacique [sp]
Baltimore Oriole
Bronzed Cowbird [sp]
Great-tailed Grackle [sp]
Red-breasted Blackbird
Bananaquit [sp]
Stripe-headed Sparrow [sp]
Blue-black Grassquit [sp]
Slate-coloured Seedeater [sp]
Variable Seedeater [sp]
Yellow-bellied Seedeater [sp]
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater [sp]
Thick-billed Seed Finch [sp]
Orange-billed Sparrow [sp]
White-throated Shrike-tanager [sp]
Cherrie's Tanager
Blue-grey Tanager [sp]
Palm Tanager [sp]
Golden-hooded Tanager [sp]
Green Honeycreeper [sp]
Summer Tanager [sp]
Black-cheeked Ant Tanager
Buff-throated Saltator [sp]