The area up to Poas is completely unaffected by the earthquake, I was up there a month ago and access is not a problem. Travelling north of the volcano takes you into the areas devastated by the earthquake and the road to where the hummingbird cafes used to be is totally gone, along with the cafes.
This is my account of my day on Volcano Poas...
1 September. Volcano Poas.
Slept in cabins just below the volcano summit, but how drab a start - only bird seen from my cabin window was a Rufous-collared Sparrow, not a good enough excuse for a sneaky lie-in. So it was, 5.20 a.m. again, out into the morning chills for an exploration of the forests towards the lip of Volcano Poas. A national park, the gates don't open till 8 a.m. but I was not too worried as (a) an excellent side track winds up through forest just before the park entrance and (b) feeling a right stooge that morning, I had no real desire to enter the actual park anyhow. So off I went, up the five kilometres of exceptional scenic road that separated my cabin and the summit. Sooty Robins on the slopes, Rufous-collared Sparrows hopping here and there and then a big thing swooped across the road and flopped into a tree. 'Hmm, what was that?' thought I, reversing back. Out of the car, strolled a few metres more and there sat my first Resplendent Quetzal of the trip, what a little corker, a male with half-length tail. Still too dark for any meaningful photographs, so remembered the spot and continued upward.
Parked near the entrance and began my walk in the cloud forests, a mean wind whipping round the top of this exposed peak, whisps of mist and cloud licking the tree tops, occasionally submerging all into a spooky gloom. Black-faced Solitaires popped up, feeding on berry bushes, plus many of the birds familiar from Cerro de la Muerte the day before - Black-billed Nightingale-Thrushes, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers, both Large-footed and Yellow-thighed Finches. Occasional flocks flitted through - Black-cheeked Warblers again, Collared Redstarts and Flame-throated Warbler. As the sun struggled to subdue swirling mists, new birds began to appear - right nice Purple-throated Mountain-Gems, a Mountain Elaenia and then a Brown-capped Vireo. A Black Guan cast a beady eye from aloft, splendid Black-and-Yellow Silky-Flycatchers sat upon overhead wires, yet more Black-faced Solitaires appeared. As 8.00 a.m. approached, I feared I may have actually ventured into the national park, so before I got nabbed, I beat a hasty retreat - back to the small parking area. A Purple-throated Mountain-Gem sunbathed in a low bush, a Golden-belied Flycatcher flitted out.
Unfortunately, time today was not on my side - 1 p.m. would see me waiting an incoming flight at the international airport, traveller number two arriving. Before that I did however have a few hours, so I decided to see how far I could go on the road up to Cinchona - a year previous, this would have taken you to a couple of superb cafes sporting some of the best hummingbird feeders in the country. An huge earthquake on the 9th January put an end to all that - the cafes are no more, destroyed along with hummingbird feeders and the entire road leading to them. Twenty kilometres I got, then the road came to an end, massive diggers and excavators clawing their way north, cutting a new path through the precipitous mountain slopes, currently a scene of devastation. Where patches of habitat remained, did a little birding along here - one absolutely stunning male Blackburnian Warbler, the only one I would see on the trip, plus both a Violet Sabrewing and a Scintillant Hummingbird.
Time to leave the slope and head for the airport, one Red-tailed Hawk on route, two Squirrel Cuckoos too. At the Resplendent Quetzal spot, I was pleased to find the single bird had morphed into a pair, two stunners for the price of one! Down at the airport, however, I was not so lucky - the incoming plane had been cancelled! Oops.
