Peralta – great lowland location close to Turrialba

John and Milena Beer keep coming up with some really exciting finds in the Turrialba area. Back in March they did it again when they found Snowy Cotinga (Carpodectes nitidus) on a visit to the hamlet of Peralta (elevation 383 m) on the Río Reventazón and only a short drive from Turrialba. I finally got to see Peralta, escorted by John last week, and I now take the opportunity to introduce one of the photos he took in March of a beautiful male Snowy Cotinga, one of several individuals he and Milena found on that occasion.

Male Snowy Cotinga. Note the beautiful grey tones on the head.

Unfortunately, we could not find the cotingas this time, but the Peralta area is of great interest not only to all birders but also to all potential visitors and foreign tourists. From Turrialba at maybe 600-700 m elevation the road drops to a little below 400 m, giving access to lowland birds that may not be so easy to find at other area locations. Four-wheel drive is best but an ordinary car can get there (and back) in all but the worst weather.

Prior to this, I knew only three things about Peralta: it had formerly been a stop on the Turrialba-Limón railway line, before the famous earthquake; it had formerly been on one of the wild white-water rafting stretches of the Reventazón, before the river was dammed at La Angostura; and in addition it had the reputation of being the haunt of multiple varieties of butterflies.

Tunel Camp

The Camp Tunnel, perhaps named for a camp for railway workers (?), is to be found after a walk of perhaps 30-40 minutes from the abandoned railway station at Peralta along the also abandoned single-track railway line. It is now home to several thousand bats, though of what species we do not know. Any bat connoisseurs out there?

The bats clinging to the tunnel ceiling seemed a bit annoyed at our intrusion.

The terrain at Peralta is not particularly heavily forested, but the climate is very humid, and to the right the Reventazón, with aquatic species such as kingfishers, herons and cormorants, is very accessible. The track, now an increasingly rough path, crosses several streams that tumble down from the forested hills to the left and provide good birding habitat for species such as Wood-Rail (more on this in my next post) and Northern Jaçana.

Sandpiper, Spotted, breeding plumage Peralta

Spotted Sandpiper in mid-stream on the Reventazón

A sighting of a Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularis) in breeding plumage made us wonder if this was one of Costa Rica’s rare summer residents rather than an early migrant from North America. Back in Peralta a large footbridge spans the river, affording majestic views both upstream and downstream, and it allows access to a footpath that leads steeply uphill to the villages of La Flor and Tres Equis on the Turrialba-Siquirres road.

Even before Peralta we found a tall vine-covered tree full of screeching Orange-chinned Parakeets (Brotogeris jugularis), a species that I simply do not see in my patch on the Turrialba Volcano slope.

One pair of the many Orange-chinned Parakeets with their distinctive brown shoulder

Another species that I never see here at home, despite its reputed distribution up to 1400 m elevation, is the Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus), perhaps the commonest of the antbirds. The plumage of the brown females is quite different from that of the males, one of which we found along the path to the Camp Tunnel.

Male Barred Antshrike, sitting rather higher in the tree than usual

We did not stop to study the many butterflies in the area, but we were much taken with a tiny Blue Jeans Frog, otherwise known as a Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog that was hopping among the ground litter on the path.