Birder of the Year 2010: Costa Rica Adventure
WildBird readers give a Mississippi birder her first experiences in Central America.
by Dianne Patterson -
September 1, 2010
In each November/December issue, WildBird subscribers get to crown one of their peers as Birder of the Year. The candidates appear as Forum Birders and Backyard Birders in each issue throughout the year. The contest is open to everyone who responds to the questions in the Birder’s Back Yard and Lister’s Forum departments.
As 2009 Birder of the Year, Dianne Patterson of Columbus, Miss., received a Swarovski 8x32 EL binocular and an expenses-paid five-day trip for two to Costa Rica with Swarovski Optik and WildBird hosts. Here is Dianne’s account of the May 2010 trip. -Ed.
Dianne and Jim Patterson visited Costa Rica during the trip that she won in recognition for the 40 to 50 sugar-water feeders maintained at their home.
When Jim and I arrived in San Jose around midnight, Amy Hooper of WildBird and Clay Taylor of Swarovski Optik picked us up at the airport and delivered us to the hotel for a nap. A few hours later, we met in the parking lot to start our birding adventure with Alex Villegas, our native guide, and Raphael Arguedas, our driver.
I felt so excited to explore a country that I had only read about. I tried to absorb the scenery of the city while keeping my eyes out for birds.
Our destination for Thursday was Savegre Mountain Hotel in the heart of the Costa Rican cloud forest. A photo stop of the active Turrialba volcano yielded Slaty Flowerpiercer, Mountain Elaenia and Rufous-collared Sparrow.
After a few more miles, our next stop and a short hike up a rocky mountain road gave us great looks at Mountain Robin, Volcano Junco and Highland Wren. What a morning -- and it was not lunchtime yet!
As our group loaded up, Alex and Raphael calculated the next stop: La Georgina Restaurant. Inside the site, the new windows across the back wall were perfect for viewing the busy hummingbirds feeding and chasing in hummer fashion.
Our group kept finding birds in the flower gardens and treeline, but my eyes were fixed on the hummingbird action. The Fiery-throated Hummingbirds’ colors appeared bright in the light as they decorated the bushes like lights on a Christmas tree. Other hummers in the chase were Volcano, Magnificent and Scintillant.
Savegre Mountain Hotel has everything that a birder longs for -- beautiful trees, orchards, a flowing river and comfortable accommodations. While birding the gardens, I found a kiosk with a thought-provoking statement: “Do you know who is mainly responsible for preserving our planet?” When you open the door, you find the answer: a mirror with a familiar face looking at you.
Located at their lodge were sugar-water feeders with lots of busy hummers. The Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds and White-throated Mountain-gems chased each other in the tall bottlebrush bushes. Other birds of interest were Sulphur-winged Parakeets, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers, Black-thighed Grosbeaks, more flycatchers, woodcreepers, vireos, tanagers, and Black-billed and Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrushes singing their flutelike serenades.
Our last bird to observe as we departed on Friday was a beautiful Resplendent Quetzal. The male was feeding young in a tree cavity, and he gave us great looks and plenty of time to study his colors.
I hated to leave the area, but we had another great birding location about two hours through the valley and over the mountains. Rancho Naturalista has upstairs and downstairs balconies that will amaze you with the variety of birds coming to the feeders. We enjoyed Gray-headed Chachalacas, Collared Aracaris, Passerini’s Tanagers, and Golden-hooded and White-lined Tanagers. The Montezuma Oropendolas provided us quite a show with their upside-down calls.
The hummers visiting the balcony feeders were fast and very colorful. The names were as big as the birds: Green Thorntails, White-necked Jacobins, Green-breasted Mangos and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds.
Early Saturday morning, we hiked and birded a trail, finding a variety of flycatchers, tanagers, wrens and a knock-out look at a White-collared Manakin. When Alex found a forest tree with figs, I could not figure out which bird to focus on. There were so many and all different!
The lodge also maintains forest hummingbird feeders. We identified Violet-crowned Woodnymph, Green Hermit, Violet Sabrewing, Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer and more Green Thorntails. What a show! The big surprise of the hike was seeing two Crested Owls as they dozed and woke up to preen.
We had checked off so many hummingbirds, but the Snowcap was avoiding our binoculars. We aimed to see the endemic hummingbird. After watching the hedgerow of purple porterweed for about 30 minutes, out came a small hummer feeding on every bloom. Clay said, “That’s our Snowcap.” She was small and delicate compared to all the large hummers seen earlier.
We had so much fun birding and getting great looks at the birds. Thanks to WildBird readers and Swarovski! It was truly a birding experience of a lifetime. --Dianne Patterson