The thrill of seeing the Quetzal hasn’t worn off yet. My partner in warbler data collection Chris and I had another good day in the field, saw some cool birds and really enjoyed the forest. This is the first day I’ve noticed an improvement in my performance at altitude – the amount of puffing and rapid heartbeat I’m experiencing now when I try to walk up tiny slopes seems more in line with everyone else. In the afternoon I finished my post-course proposal and the paper that was due at this site; that means tomorrow is free for birding!
This is my favorite site so far. Good food, comfortable beds, great weather. The first part of every day is sunny, blue skies. Great for appreciating the beautiful views into the lowlands all around. Then sometime in the morning the clouds roll in, cool and refreshing, and mist blows all around us. It makes the most familiar views mysterious and romantic. Sometimes it retreats and returns a couple of times during the day.
The best part of the day was the walk Becky, Neil and I took off through the blackberry fields. We had a spare hour, so we walked a tiny path along a steep hill with mora bushes and cows, each field separated by barbed wire fences with tiny gates made of wired-together sticks stuck into loops on fence posts. We must have walked through 4 or 5 of them. There were great views down into the valleys, tops of trees, farmsteads. Of course there were excellent birds, too.
Yesterday and today’s list: RESPLENDENT QUETZAL! Black guan, emerald toucanet, spot-crowned woodcreeper, mountain elaenia, flame-colored tanager, hairy woodpecker, ruddy treerunner, ochraceous wren, gray-breasted wood-wren, long-tailed silky-flycatcher, Tennessee warbler, flame-throated warbler, yellow-bellied siskin. Plus that dot-winged ant-wren I saw in La Selva and just remember to add.
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