Wednesday, May 30

Today started even earlier than yesterday: in the car and on the road at 5 to get to Rio Silanche. I tried to sleep by largely failed. Why don’t back seats recline? I mean, they can go forward to lay flat, so why don’t they angle in the opposite direction?

We birded a long section of road. The birding was high quality. The road, however, was not. The combination of rain and traffic left it a soupy red clay. Ironically, this road led to a clay quarry that I can only presume provided the raw material to make other roads. Needless to say, I was glad I decided to come with a full pair of boots.

We quickly added Little Cuckoo and Lesser Greenlet along with Lemon-rumped Tanager, Scrub Blackbird, Shiny Cowbird (photographed later) and Variable Seedeater. A reclusive, but noisy Brown Wood-rail was our next big find. In a far tree, we located Red-rumped Woodpecker, but the area where we were standing also provided Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo, Sooty-headed Tyrannulet, Dull-colored Grassquit, Violet-bellied Hummingbird, and Yellow-tailed Oriole. Only a little farther on, a Crimson-backed Woodpecker hammered away, while Bay-headed Tanager and Yellow-tufted Dacnis also arrived. Our final big find along the road was a Western Woodhaunter, who allowed excellent views as he actively sang.

We continued to the preserve by car, but passed a farm field that had Masked Water-tyrant, Shiny Cowbird and Pacific Hornero. I also noticed a bird with long, thin wings that Jose identified as a White-collared Swift (photographed later). I could not believe that a swift could be that large.

At the reserve, the big attraction is a canopy watchtower where you can enjoy passing flocks at eye-level. Just sitting there produced White-vented Euphonia, Orange-bellied Euphonia, Bay-headed Tanager, Yellow-thighed Dacnis, Scarlet-browed Tanager, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Purple Honeycreeper, Ruddy Dove, Dusky Pigeon, Masked Tityra, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Choco Toucan and Pale-billed Aracari.

It is worth mentioning two things. First, there were again several tanagers I missed, including Grey-and-gold and Tawny-capped. Second, a Choco Trogon arrived to relieve me from relying on cell phone pictures. Crimson-rumped Toucanet provided a similar service.

We moved to the trails, picking up a Purple-chested Hummingbird at the start. I missed getting a photo of the Sicklebill and a mixed group of antbirds (Pacific Antwren, Checker-throated Antwren and Western Slaty Antshrike) refused to descend into visibility. In general, the day was dead from here out, though we did find Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher, Plain Xenops and Slaty-capped Flycatcher along the road.

After lunch, we climbed the tower again. While the number of birds was limited, we did get good views of Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Masked Tityra, and Western White-tailed Trogon. Another go at the trails with just myself and Jose was again frustratingly bare.

23 Lifers