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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hamhed" data-source="post: 1723319" data-attributes="member: 70825">12-25-09    Another clear dawn, enhanced by two and threes of passing parrots.  A pair of  White-crowned Parrots paused in the morning sun long enough for pictures.  We stayed close to camp until we ate breakfast with the group that was leaving that morning only to be replaced by a larger group that was due in the afternoon.  After watching the coatimundis rummage through the garbage that was tossed into a ditch, Liz and I hiked towards the edge of the Rara Avis property, lured by promise of a remote catarata.  The trail was long and had 5 stream crossings with no bridges, according to the map we were given.  Birding was slow again, the forest thick and quiet.  We lost ourselves in plants, insects and just walking in a real jungle.    Four hours later, at the 8th stream crossing, where the other side was not visible and we would have to wade a considerable distance, we stopped for lunch.  It was a shallow but beautiful stream.  The curved trunk, large-leafed plants growing out of the current were flowering and the sandy bottom was visible as far as we could see.  This was as far from the outside world as we'd ever been, a Christmas present to us.  It was, however, time to turn around.  As we did, somewhere across that stream, the first howler monkeys we'd heard at Rara Avis said goodbye and didn't stop until we were far away.  We did finally hit a mixed flock of birds traveling at all levels through the forest.  The thick vegetation made it difficult to follow any bird for any length of time.  We needed Patrick O'Donnell with us more than any other time.  We did manage a Scarlet-rumped Cacique, initially mistaking it for something commoner.  Also, Black-faced Grosbeak and Black and Yellow Tanager.  There were so many others, high and moving constantly -  Woodcreepers in the shadows, tiny birds with splashes of yellow (Euphonias?) high in the canopy, female tanagers colored shades of green.  Not long after, Liz, walking ahead, saw a cat cross the trail.  Our only evidence was a fresh cat print.  Back at Rara Avis camp, we found a lone Emerald Tanager in tree next to the restaurant.  The sky had become darkly cloudy and a few drops had fallen.  We showered off the trail sweat while there was daylight.  Diego came back from leading a nature walk with my hat that I had lost on the previous night's walk.  Either a horse or the tractor had made its acquaintance but the mud scrubbed off easily in the outdoor wash basin.  With Diego, we walked the short distance to the waterfall, where it was rumored that Black Swifts would return at dusk to their cave night roost.  I caught a glimpse of a familiar bird on the top of the lower falls, an American Dipper, and handed my binoculars to Diego, who clambered across the rocks in time to see two of the birds in the stream below.  Liz left for camp while Diego and I stuck it out for the Swifts only to end our vigil in frantic retreat as heavy rain was suddenly on us.  Liz and I did some limited packing that evening and then spent some time watching Orange Nectar bats coming to the hummingbird feeders.  We were to leave early in the morning and were due for breakfast at 6:15am so we tried for sleep at 9.  The new Gap Adventures group was of the partying variety however; just before midnight, not having gotten any sleep,  I had to go down and request that the music be turned off.  Hoping the singers and loud talkers would also move along, I was mistaken.  At 1:30am, they were still going.</blockquote>

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