Costa Rica- Reserva Santa Elena and Green Paradise Ecological Preserve (Day 10)

This was the roughest day of the trip for me.  For the life of me I could not see half the birds people were calling out.  It was very frustrating and I definitely gave up for awhile and just looked at insects.  Even still, I did see a few birds.

Streak-breasted Treehunter



 Gray-breasted Wood-Wren


Black-faced Solitaire


Ruddy Treerunner


Buffy Tuftedcheek, a bird I had been very excited to see

We checked out the viewing tower where Jacob posed for more of the series, Jacob vs. the volcano.


 Here we got views of a Golden-bellied Flycatcher.




 Spotted Barbtail... I think?

Things I looked at instead of birds:



One section of trail had all these signs that made Caroline furious:


Towards the end of the trail we heard the sound of a Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, a difficult bird to see.


We were all standing on the edge of this patch of low vegetation when the dang bird walked right across a little clearing in front of me.  I failed to see a lot of visible birds that morning yet I saw this silly thing.  It made me feel a little better.  Complete checklist from our morning here.

Back at the Airbnb we explored some of the trails around which are all part of Green Paradise Ecological Preserve.

Lesson's Motmot

 Squirrel Cuckoo

 Coppery-headed Emerald

 Central American red brocket deer (lifer!)

 Brown-hooded Parrots

 White-eared Ground-Sparrow (typical view)


Northern Emerald-Toucanet

At dusk we went looking for the Mottled Owls that were calling.  We did see one fly but never found where it perched.  There were lots of fireflies and these weird insects on the ground with light-up spots on their head:


 The video shows it better:


iNaturalist suggests the genus Pyrophorus, or Peeny Wallys.  Peeny Wallys??

I will leave you to ponder that name now.  Two more days to go!  Checklist from the afternoon/evening here.

Comments

  1. Wow!Those "Peeny Wallys" are bizarrely cool!

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  2. I think you did a fab job of finding and photo'in the birds...Its been amazing. Some other interesting things I've never heard of Peeny Wallys..really bright!

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    Replies
    1. I had never heard of them either- a hilarious name for such a strange insect.

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