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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Birdingcraft" data-source="post: 1628152" data-attributes="member: 55810">Yesterday, I visited Quebrada Gonzalez as part of a long day of guiding/birding that also included the pleasant Xandari spa near Alajuela, remnant cloud forests at Zurqui, and lunch in the humid Caribbean lowlands. The whole story for that long, wonderful day of birding with very cooperative weather needs to be told elsewhere so I will just sum up the day's experiences at "the patch".  Because of other birding stops, we got to Quebrada Gonzalez at 8:45- just in time for the quietest part of the day. The sunny weather, though, also made it high time for raptors. After seeing a flyover White Hawk from the parking lot, we hadn't gone but 50 meters into the forest when we just about ran back out into the open to look for a calling Black Hawk Eagle. We spotted it immediately and watched for several minutes as it soared and fluttered its wings in display high above. It was joined by another hawk-eagle, then Turkey and Black Vultures using the same thermals. As is typical in Costa Rica, a Short-tailed Hawk also joined their airspace on the rising, hot air and demonstrated its need for elbow room by diving at one of the vultures. Ornate Hawk-Eagle is actually more regular at this site so it was nice to get looks at Black Hawk-Eagle. Hopefully the hawk-eagle trend will continue and on the next visit I will see a Black and White Hawk-Eagle- a very infrequently seen bird in Costa Rica.Also in the parking lot were a few Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, Swainson's Thrush and Chestnut-sided Warbler foraging on small fruits, the usual pair of invisible, skulking Bay Wrens, Lesser Greenlet, and Violet-headed Hummingbird buzzing around the sole Verbenia bush (they need to plant more!).  Venturing back into the forest, it was predictably quiet but we still managed looks at Stripe-breasted Wren, Orange-billed Sparrow, Checker-throated Antwren, Buff-throated foliage-gleaner, Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Violet-crowned Woodnymph, and White-ruffed Manakin. We reached the back part of the trail around 10:30 and figuring that we would be more likely to hit a mixed flock along the rest of the trail between 11 and 12, I attempted in vain to tape birds in for 30 minutes before continuing on.Despite broadcasting the sounds of antpittas, a few flycatchers, woodcreepers, and even Sharpbill, either nothing was around or they didn't care because I got nary a peep in reponse. After our quiet (yet pleasant) stop back in that beautiful forest, we walked up onto the ridge section of the trail and carefully peered into the luxuriant, mossy vegetation as we made our way through the woods. Despite all the careful looking and listening into the dim understory and the backlit canopy, there were absolutely no birds until Scarlet-rumped Caciques called from hidden perches near the treefall gap towards the end of the trail. Still needing to see a mixed flock and believing that one might pass through that area, we waited in the gap and watched the treetops with anticipation. Although the caciques didn't show themselves, more Black-cheked Woodpeckers made an appearance, Cinnamon Woodpecker gave its piping call twice from the canopy, and we scoped a Masked Tityra. After about 15 minutes, the calls of Olive Tanagers got my attention and upon backtracking 50 meters to their location, we finally found our mixed flock! Unfortunately, we missed much of it because the birds were passing through a very thick area of vegetation and were for the most part foraging too far off of the trail to see. Although we couldn't see the calling White-throated Shrike-Tanager because of those conditions, we still managed to get our bins on some good birds, the best being Brown-billed Scythebill and Green Shrike Vireo. The Scythebill was wonderfully cooperative and showed us its long, downcurved bill for a few minutes as it rested close to the trail, and we got lucky with the Shrike Vireo because it obligingly flew into a short tree in the treefall gap. This tree also hosted Black and white, Blackburnian and Chestnut-sided Warblers, and Speckled, White-shouldered, Emerald, Bay-headed, Black and Yellow, and Olive Tanagers. Other birds we saw with the flock were Tawny-crested and Dusky-faced tanagers, Tawny-capped and Olive-backed Euphonias, Russet Antshrike, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet-rumped Cacique, Red-headed Barbet, and Spotted and Wedge-billed Woodcreepers. After the flock moved off, we were greeted by a flyover King Vulture upon exiting the forest, and then took off for lunch. Instead of eating at "El Fogon de Lola" which is situated at the nearby junction to Sarapiqui, we drove 20 minutes to a restaurant at the turn-off to Las Horquetas that puts out fruit for the birds. The service and food was good, prices very nice ($12 for all 3 of us), and upon seeing our binoculars, the friendly family who runs the place put out fruit for the birds. Being the middle of the day, not too much showed up but we still enjoyed watching Clay-colored Robins, Palm Tanagers, and a pair of spectacular Green Honeycreepers almost too close for photos.  Lunch was followed up by scoping nearby Social and Boat-billed Flycatchers and picking up distant Lesser-swallow-tailed Swift before making a short stop back at the junction where we picked up hoped for Pale-vented Pigeon, seedeaters, and a few other second growth birds. Then it was back up to Quebrada Gonzalez to see what else the forest had to offer. I like to walk this trail twice in the same day because I always see some birds that I missed the first time around. October 25th was no exception with better views of the nightingale thrush, wrens, scoped White-whiskered Puffbird, Tawny-faced Gnatwren, Spotted Antbird, and amazing looks at Streak-chested Antpitta! This is the second time in a row that I have seen this shy species at Quebrada Gonzalez after nary sight or sound of the thing since 1992! This past Sunday, I happened to see it because I put my bins on a bit of movement in the dark understory. The movement turned out to be the antpitta puffing the feathers of its breast in and out as it watched us from only 10 meters away. Nice one! Our next major event (and the one for the day, week, and probably the month) was not a bird but a snake. Ironically, I recently posted in this thread, and have been communicating with others, about how one rarely sees snakes, etc. and so of course had a close encounter with what else but a 5 foot Fer-de-Lance right on the trail of my patch. Earlier in the day, one of the rangers had told me that he had to remove a large Fer-de-Lance from the trail. Despite knowing where he did this and watching where I was walking, I nearly stepped on it. Although the ranger had moved it from the trail, the Fer-de-Lance came back and I didn't see it until it slithered away almost from underfoot. At least my instincts to react were quick because when I saw the snake move, I jumped so fast up the trail that I don't even recall doing it. I found myself several feet away from the snake and exclaiming "Snake! Stop! Don't move! (then some other choice words)" before calming myself down and directing the two participants safely around the dangerous creature. To my extreme good fortune, I did not directly step on it and the Fer-de-Lance did not become aggresive; it merely moved off the trail and took up a defensive posture. Although it sounds like this behavior is typical for a Fer-de-Lance because of what others have told me, I consider myself very lucky and from now on will always scan the trail ahead with binoculars to specifically check for snakes in addition to more thoroughly checking the ground at least a meter ahead of where I am walking. That said, considering that I have only seen Fer-de-Lance on 3 occasions (twice on the trail) at Quebrada Gonzalez over the course of dozens of visits, I still think you have to be pretty "lucky" to see that or any snake and this by no means scares me away from the place. Nevertheless, you have got to always be very careful about where you walk!See if you can find the Fer-de-Lance!</blockquote>

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