The final flip of the calendar discovered me in Costa Rica being hosted on the legendary Rancho Naturalista. I stumbled into the lodge about forty minutes shy of midnight, however there was a scorching meal ready for me. Stir fried greens and hefty, stuffed portobello mushrooms satiated elements of me I didn’t know existed. The next morning I hadn’t but discovered my footing, and simply because it unfolded the earlier evening, I stumbled into the primary space of the lodge to seek out breakfast ready on me. Brown Jays and Montezuma Oropendolas peered at this interloper struggling to regulate, eyes squinting to understand Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and Violet-headed Hummingbird at a close-by verbena bush. A sigh escaped, I used to be proper at residence.
Over the following ten days, I used to be subjected to a choice of birding excursions out of Rancho Naturalista – which certainly will probably be shared right here. The primary of those was to find a chook that I solely simply realized is named “garza del sol” domestically because of this text by Stephen Moss – who coincidentally shared that breakfast desk on that first shaky morning. I have to guarantee you, expensive reader, that every one instability was immediately cured by a single cup of fabulously robust espresso. So efficient was the espresso at Rancho Naturalista that they graciously geared up me with 1kg of the elixir to return to T&T with. Which is precisely why I’m nonetheless alive at this level.
Anyway, again to this mission. It being the primary journey out of the property, we started shortly after breakfast. On paper, it was meant to be a comparatively easy process. Drive down the hill, verify the river, verify the opposite river, repeat advert infinitum till eyes fall on the article of our need for the day: a Sunbittern. My solely earlier expertise with this chook was a fleeting one, on that event it wafted away on cosmic wings earlier than I had an opportunity to shut my mouth that had unconsciously fallen agape upon seeing the creature.
Our information, Harry, checked that first river on the backside of the hill however got here up empty. The second river curled round a soccer discipline, traversing the perimeter of which introduced up distant reminiscences of once I used to maneuver at a barely faster tempo. However, we stayed single-minded and trodded confidently over the fallen leaves because the river was livid and roaring. Should create fairly the atmosphere for the soccer video games; not less than till the ball falls into the river. In the meantime, a Social Flycatcher sallied for bugs over our heads and a Black Phoebe stored an eye fixed nearer to the bottom. A Summer time Tanager emerged over the embankment whereas Pink-eyed Vireos hopped from department to department. As we broke into an unobstructed view of the river, a Fasciated Tiger-Heron flushed and flew downriver. No signal of a Sunbittern, nonetheless.
Black Phoebe
A close to micro-movement alongside the river turned out to be a Buff-rumped Warbler.
A rise in altitude of a pair hundred metres took us to our subsequent vacation spot which sadly additionally yielded birds however not the chook. Whereas slowly driving again to the primary highway Harry’s eagle eyes caught the ft of a Sunbittern transferring round inside a cowshed. Slowly, we obtained out, and gingerly walked among the many cows to some extent the place we might doubtlessly get a view of the chook. I climbed onto a less-than-sturdy bale of grass to strive my luck – and luckily the cube rolled in my favour. Along with not falling off, I additionally lastly had a correct, unhindered view of a Sunbittern.
Sunbittern
One of many caveats about having fun with a chook akin to that is the truth that its most defining function can solely be seen if its wings are unfold. Amongst cows, regardless of the prying eyes of excited people, this Sunbittern was content material to amble round.
We watched this Sunbittern for appreciable time. Finally it drifted down the steep slope to the river, taking to the wing simply on the limits of the place we might see.
Not completely satiated, we continued on. Our ultimate cease entailed a brief perambulation on a hillside path overlooking a sheer drop to a crystal clear river about twenty metres beneath. Absolutely there have been different birds however we quickly noticed a quite skittish Sunbittern within the river and immediately grew to become dialled in. This variation in persona from one chook to a different was fascinating to say the least: what stage of individualism exists in nature, and to what extent can we actually understand it? Both approach, the wariness of this particular person performed in our favour, as as soon as we’d method inside a line of sight it’d develop into uncomfortable and relocate.
From a distance, it was simple to comply with the Sunbittern because it flew from one rock to a different.
With all this stress lastly lifted, we had been in a position to let our eyes wander to different creatures. Boat-billed Flycatchers and Golden-hooded Tanagers grew to become obvious, whereas a younger Brown Basilisk camouflaged itself among the many particles within the river. Pleasure actually ramped up after we started listening to an approaching group of Dusky-faced Tanagers, as they had been not often seen within the space.
Dusky-faced Tanager
A Gartered Trogon gave me a very good look simply as we had been returning to the car. Previously a part of the Violaceous Trogon advanced, I pardoned myself for constantly making an attempt to say “Guianan” as an alternative of the suitable “Gartered“.
As soon as I obtained within the car I realized that whereas I used to be in any other case occupied, a Black Hawk-Eagle cruised overhead. Most likely chuckling because it observed my digital camera pointed at one thing else. Get pleasure from a live-action model of those occasions right here.