After a few days sweating it out in the jungle, it was time to ascend to the Cordillera Talamanca to new habitat, new birds, and hopefully lower temperatures. The cloud forest would have few, if any birds that I saw at La Selva. I stayed at the Savegre Hotel towards the bottom of the Savegre Valley in a town called San Gerardo de Dota, which is a tiny mountain town. The main draw is the Resplendent Quetzal, a revered bird in both current and past Latin American cultures. It is associated with the snake god, Quetzalcoatl, in Mesoamerican mythology and it is very easy to see why with its iridescent green back and up to 20 foot long tail feathers. But there are other draws to the area, both avian and non-avian. There are hikes to waterfalls, a flowing river, and world class trout fishing. Cramming everything into 2.5 days would be tough.
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| Female Resplendent Quetzal |
I got a tip to stop at Miriam's feeders higher up in the valley. This restaurant had both amazing food and a great feeder setup. Sitting outside I quickly got Rufous-collared Sparrow, Flame-colored Tanager, and Acorn Woodpeckers. Talamanca Hummingbirds buzzed everywhere, and in my red shirt I even had a few get inches from my face. A flash of green revealed another sought after species: Northern Emerald Toucanet, causing my jaw to nearly hit the floor. But it somehow was not the star of the show. There was only one bird that could top that, and it made the whole trip worth it. Quetzal. That's right, I had a quetzal fly by just long enough for me to get a view of it. It was gone in an exhilarating flash, but I could not get over it. I was very lucky, of course I wanted to see more and get longer looks, but now I didn't have to worry about missing it and I could focus on seeing the other species in the area. Here's something crazy: Flame-colored Tanager is one of my most sought after ABA birds and I had been dying to see one. It's insane to think that I saw one and it was nothing more than a mention.
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| Flame-colored Tanager |
Flame-coloreds were all over Savegre, which didn't make them any less stunning. Upon arriving at the hotel I walked past a hummingbird feeder full of a smattering of species. Talamanacas dominated, but there were also White-throated Mountain-gems, Lesser Violetears, and Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds. It was the perfect setup for the next few days.
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| Lesser Violetear (L) and Talamanca Hummingbird (R) |
I had a guide for the next two days, Raul Fernandez, who worked for the Savegre Hotel. I can't recommend him enough. He knew the area really well and taught me a ton, but he made me identify everything and only pointed things out that I was going to miss. Fortunately I pretty much self found everything that we saw together so I don't feel like I cheated. There are fewer bird species in this area of the country, but I think I have to give it the edge over Savegre.
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| Collared Redstart |
We were out at sunrise as a flock of Sulphur-winged Parakeets flew over, being our good omen for the day. The hotel maintains a garden that is very good for hummingbirds, and as Slaty Flowerpiercers worked the flowers we got on of my goal birds for the stay: Fiery-throated Hummingbird.
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| Silver-throated Tanager |
The steepness of the terrain means there is a variety of species as you reach different elevations, and the trails at the hotel ascended enough for us to get a taste of everything. We found another mixed flock of what seemed like just Sooty-capped Chlorospringus, but it turned into much more. First it was Large-footed Finch. Then it was a Flame-throated Warbler, and it just kept getting better. Collared Redstarts reinforced my love of Redstarts as a group. Then we had a Spangle-cheeked Tanager! This was my #2 behind the quetzal. The tanagers in the tropics destroy even the Scarlet-tanagers of the ABA, and this is a prime example.
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| Spangle-cheeked Tanager |
As we climbed we got Black-cheeked Warbler and Spotted Woodcreeper, and on the trail to the mirador we hunted for Spotted Wood-quail and Silvery-fronted Tapaculo. Both would be tough to get. We got a flock of the former, which was very cooperative, but only heard the latter. At this point it started raining, as it does in the cloud forest during the rainy season so we had to head in.
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| Spotted Wood-quail |
I had the rest of the day to explore the town, so I did the 2 mile hike through PN Los Quetzales to the waterfalls that Raul advised against. I stupidly didn't listen. The trail is in rough shape past the first waterfall and I should not have hiked it, but I did. There were beautiful scenes and I'm glad I did, but there was a rickety bridge and steep stairs that were partially washed out. On the bright side, I did get Torrent Tyrannulet. There were some serene moments along the stunning river, but you don't care about those, you care about the birds.
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| Savegre River |
After a delicious trout burger and an early bed time I got up even earlier to go higher up the mountains with Raul. Our quarry was Wrenthrush and more looks at quetzals. Wrenthrush is super hard to see, they dart around dense foliage, but we were able to get amazing looks at a few of them. Then we dropped down a little bit to distant looks at female quetzals, eventually getting one within 30 feet of us! Quetzals aren't an uncommon bird in Savegre, so we expected to see more, but that doesn't make it any less special to get to experience one.
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| Immature male Resplendent Quetzal |
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| Another male. They are starting to grow their tails that can get to 21 feet long! |
We reached a clearing that ended up giving even better looks at quetzals darting between the trees, and these were males with longer tails! We spent an extra hour looking at them they were so stunning. But that's every bird in Savegre. I tend to blow by certain birds at home like cardinals and mockingbirds because they're so common, but even the common, or less visually appealing birds like Tufted Flycatcher, and birds that are so awesome you have to stop for them.
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| Tufted Flycatcher |
We stopped a curve in the road at a higher altitude and were able to get Black Guan, another sought after bird, as well as Mountain Elaenia, Sooty Thrush, Barred Becard, and Collared Trogon. On our way back down we stopped for Yellow-bellied Siskin, a subspecies of American Dipper, and Blue-and-white Swallow. The rest of the day and final morning was spent walking the trails at Savegre by myself. I was able to self find more quetzals and Green-crowned Brilliant, as well soaking up the cloud forest in the morning sunlight.
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| Collared Trogon |
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| Black Guan |
Leaving Savegre was really hard. This was a packed week of birding, but it was a blast. Costa Rica is a gorgeous country and super easy to get around in. I heard coming into it that the food was lackluster, which is one of the biggest lies I've ever been told. Usually at the end of trips I am ready to get home, but I could really go for a trout burger or a Tico breakfast right now. My life list got a lot longer as well, I had 140 species while I was down there, 121 of which were lifers. I only scratched the surface of the country, and I will be going back as soon as I can.
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| The cloud forest |
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