Want to see middle-elevation cloud-forest species? You really can’t beat the eastern slopes of the Turrialba Volcano. Friend John Beer took me in his trusty Landcruiser back to , a tiny cheese-producing hamlet located not far from my home here in San Antonio de Santa Cruz. John had scouted the area several times previously but this was just my second visit. The elevation is between 1400-1500 m.

I well remembered our previous trip to Bonilla Arriba, a highly enjoyable outing. My post on that occasion (https://wordpress.com/post/birdsforbeer.com/49482) ended with the promise to explore further the road/path from Bonilla that eventually leads downhill to Ojo de Agua in the Caribbean province of Limón. We actually did not get a great deal further, though we crossed two arms of the Rio Roca, but we were absolutely delighted with the forest environment and with the abundant bird life.

On this second excursion, we missed the White-faced Monkeys but heard and saw the much larger Howler Monkeys for the first time in our area. I say ‘our area’ despite the fact that shortly after leaving the farms at Bonilla Arriba we were actually no longer in Cartago Province and had passed into that of Limón. It is worth mentioning that it is also not uncommon to find the tracks of the endangered danta, Baird’s Tapir, in this area. On today’s excursion the final river that we reached actually bears the name Río Danta.

Point of interest: a centipede imitating a leaf:

And now the birds! There were many highlights and one new species for me, the Tawny-throated Leaftosser (Sclerurus mexicanus), which popped out briefly at the side of the path giving me an excellent view. This species is a skulker that is very hard both to see and of course to photograph. Friends at the Asociación Ornitológica are working on it!

We found four different species of hummingbirds, the most abundant of which was the Black-bellied Hummingbird (Eupherusa nigriventris). Both males (below, left) and females posed nicely for John:

Several flycatchers were of particular interest, chief among them a supposedly common species, the Tufted Flycatcher (Mitrephanes phaeocercus), which I have seen only very infrequently:

By contrast, I hear the loud-voiced Bright-rumped Attila (Attila spadiceus) daily at home but it’s hard to get a good look because it usually sings from a high, concealed perch. This time, however, we found a nesting pair in an open location. They sang a truncated version of their song, perhaps simply an alarm, but were down low so that John was able to get very nice photos:

Another fairly common forest bird that is difficult to see clearly is the Spotted Barbtail (Premnoplex brunnescens), a medium-elevation furnarid. Great luck again as this one popped into full view! Woodcreepers and such were otherwise surprisingly scarce on this forest hike.

On the other hand, the Prong-billed Barbet (Semnornis frantzii), a member of the toucan family, was fairly easy to find. Its Spanish name of cocora tells rather precisely what it sounds like! Its voice carries a great distance. We located a nest in a tall tree stump and found this youngster peeking out:

The handsome Black-thighed Grosbeak (Pheucticus tibialis) is found at higher elevations also. Like the Prong-billed Barbet, it can be seen only in Costa Rica and the adjacent mountains of Panama. We saw only one and John was lucky to be able to get the following photograph:

The last two of John Beer’s bird photos show common but alluring species:

 

Finally, here is one of the happy birdwatchers in this magical environment:

The day’s list of some 50 species can be found on eBird at the following link:

http://ebird.org/ebird/camerica/view/checklist/S37440162