Tuesday, May 29

Damn me! Damn me straight to hell! My stupidity never ceases to amaze, but we will get to that eventually.

Today started even earlier than yesterday. The alarm went off at 4:30 for 5am breakfast. We were on the road to Milpe by 5:30 and birding not too soon after the sun came up. We started in the parking lot as flock after flock came through. I was again overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of tanagers in the tree tops, unable to really focus on one bird for fear of missing others. This is a frustrating issue for which I have yet to find a solution. Nevertheless, I did get a decent view of a Swallow Tanager, followed by a Choco Tyrannulet (split from Golden-faced Tyrannulet). I also added a Blue-necked Tanager.

The hummingbird feeders were active all day, allowing for Green Thorntail, Green-crowned Woodnyph, White-whiskered  Hermit, White-necked Jacobin, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Green-crowned Brilliant, and Andean Emerald. While watching the feeders, a group of Maroon-tailed Parakeet landed in nearby trees and an Ornate Flycatcher landed nearby. Next, a male Collared Trogon appeared, then a pair of Pale-mandibled Aracari.

When then moved to a field across the street where White-thighed Swallow were swooping about. Thankfully, some were also resting on a wire. A  Ruddy Pigeon was perched high in a tree across the field, but I did not get a chance to see the Rufous-necked Tanager near it. A flock of Bronze-winged Parrots passed overhead, as did a single Mealy Parrot. Orange-bellied Euphonia, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, Rusty-margined Flycatcher and Tropical Flycatcher also presented themselves, along with a Fawn-breasted Tanager. A pair of Guayaquil Woodpeckers were busy tapping away on a dead tree on the other side of the field, but they eventually passed quite close to us, allowing for excellent views, if only mediocre photos. Around this time, I noticed my camera battery went from full (3 bars) to not full (2 bars).

Returning to the trails, we quickly found a Pale-vented Thrush, Slaty-capped Tyrannulet, and Golden-naped Tanager. Moving deeper, a Buff-fronted Foliagegleaner moved up a tree with a Spotted Woodcreeper, Choco Warbler, Ornate Flycatcher, Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, and Dusky Bush-tanager in the same mixed flock. We then grabbed a fabulous male Golden-winged Manakin, who perched nicely for an extended period. He held my attention for a good while, but we eventually moved on to locating a pair of Club-winged Manakin. We also came across a Stripe-throated Hermit

The next section of trail offered another large mixed-flock including: Yellow-throated Bush-tanager, Scaled Pygmy-Tyrant, Choco Toucan, Black-crowned Tityra, Golden-hooded Tanager, Choco Warbler, Golden Tanager, Spotted Woodcreeper, White-shouldered Tanager, and Ornate Flycatcher. Sometime during this segment, my battery went from two bars to one bar and I knew I was in trouble.

Lunch was spent watching the activity at the hummingbird feeders, but largely avoiding photographs except to capture the Hermit. After, we headed a short distance to Milpe Gardens. It started to rain, so we camped out under pavilion and looked down on the hummingbird feeders, which had great action. A cute, but damp puppy sauntered over to make friends.

Eventually, we hit the trails, which did not disappoint. Our first hit was Guira Tanager, followed by Wedge-billed Woodcreeper. At this point, I believed I was up to 998 bird species photographed since I started with a Hairy Woodpecker in Lodi, Wisconsin. As it would turn out, I did not yet know that I had managed to photograph Yellow-throated Bush-tanager earlier in the day. Thus, number 1000 would turn out to be the beautiful Spotted Nightengale-Wren.  Not a bad milestone. Of course, at the time, I believe this was number 999 and that Slaty Antwren was the special bird.

A good flock kicked up that included all three foliagegleaners: Lineated, Buff-fronted and Scaly-throated. A Russet Antshrike was also active and the female Collared Trogon made an appearance. Moving on, we found the White-bearded Manakin. Another healthy flock produced Rufous-rumped Antwren and Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner. I knew my battery was dangerously low, but an Ornate Flycatcher was sitting up in a perfect position, so I snapped away. Then, coming around a corner, a Scaly-throated Foliagegleaner confronted us to defend its nest. This was too good to pass up and I let it rip…until the battery died—why does the camera need to rub this in by using red text? A pretty good way to go, but there was still lots of birding left (it was 2:50), and no way to take a picture.

Well, the battery died until we found a Pacific Flatbill. I took the battery out, shook it, licked the contact, threw her back in, focused the bird manually, turned on the camera and somehow managed to get more shots until getting it died again. I repeated the exercise and was able to steal one manually focused shot of a Plain-brown Woodcreeper.

I used up most of the remaining juice on a White-whiskered Puffbird. Had I paid attention, I would have ignored this one, which I had previously seen in Panama, but I thought I was shooting a White-faced Nunbird. This left me only a few shots of a Crimson-Rumped Toucanet before the battery died for good. This was unfortunate, since the toucanet eventually moved into an open patch to feed. Good locks, but awful pictures.

The final indignity was coming around the corner to see a Choco Trogon. As a last resort, I pulled out my cell-phone to grab a picture and some shaky video. Still counts, right?

Lifers: 31