Having failed to see the owl at Bosque Shollet during the previous evening, we decided to set off early and visit the site in the morning before first light, in the hope that the bright moon of the early night had passed over. It had indeed, but we still received no response from any owls at any point during the hour we had before first light. Alas, the search for Cloud Forest Screech Owl goes on.
What this did mean however was that we were already in the
woods at Bosque Shollet as the sun rose, meaning we had the full morning to try
and find our targets here. Although I had high expectations for the site here,
it was ultimately disappointing with limited numbers of flocks, and even those
that we found had only a small range of diversity within them. Even in the
first hour, many birds were quiet and there was much less activity that I had
anticipated.
That said, we still managed to find most of our target
species for the site. Both White-eared Solitaire and Masked Fruiteater were
found on the road, although the former showed much better than the latter.
There was also a nice bonus tick for me with Highland Elaenia, and a chance
encounter following the song of what I thought was an Antpitta, led me to a
very responsive Western Fire-Eye.
This site had two new tapaculos for me, but they both played
extremely difficult to get, at least at first. Trilling Tapaculo could be heard
near constantly throughout the morning, but few seemed to respond to playback
and none showed, even when they were just a few feet away in the vegetation. In
the end, it was a chance encounter that finally got eyes on this species, as
one happened to scuttle past within the vegetation, while I was waiting for the
Fire-Eye. It showed quite nicely as it clambered through the undergrowth, and
even gave a few short bursts of call, which are always helpful when dealing
with Tapaculos.
The second Tapaculo is Rufous-vented Tapaculo. This species
seemed to occur at a much lower density, but did respond much better to
playback. Fortunately while I was away with the Trilling Tapaculo, the other
guys found and saw a Rufous-vented, so I was able to save myself trying to find
a responsive territory. The bird did show well, but always mobile and I failed
to get a picture despite the bird sitting out in the open at one point.
Fortunately, my efforts alerted another individual on the other side of the
road, and this bird responded well and put on a real performance, sitting out
in the open on a bracken branch and singing for a good minute before scampering
off.
We left the site at around 11:30, with a few Saturday
tourists moving through and the bird activity not particularly improving.
Since we had started our morning at 04:00, we headed back to our lodgings for a
nap and a shower to refresh ourselves for the afternoon. After our siesta we
headed off to a large lake near the town called Laguna El Oconal where we added
many common wetland species to our trip lists. There were also a couple of
ticks for me with both Plain-crowned and Ash-browed Spinetail, the former was a
pain in the arse, the latter showed quite nicely in the canopy.
We lingered in this area after dark in order to try and find Band-bellied Owl. It did not take long for one to start calling, and it soon came in to investigate us. This initial bird was then joined by a second, and we were treated to a phenomenal performance of the two birds dueting directly above our heads. Compared to last time I saw this bird when the pair was distant, this was miles better.
Bosque Shollet: Brown Tinamou, Speckled Hummingbird, Collared Inca, Turkey Vulture, Swallow-tailed Kite, Andean Motmot, Creamy-bellied Antwren, Western Fire-eye, Bay Antpitta, Trilling Tapaculo, Rufous-vented Tapaculo, Montane Woodcreeper, Azara's Spinetail, Masked Fruiteater, Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulet, Cinnamon Flycatcher, Highland Elaenia, Blue-and-white Swallow, Mountain Wren, Grey-breasted Wood Wren, White-eared Solitaire, Glossy-black Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Tricolored Brushfinch, Spectacled Whitestart, Blue-capped Tanager, Yellow-throated Tanager, Yellow-scarfed Tanager, Blue-and-black Tanager, Flame-faced Tanager, Bluish Flowerpiercer, Masked Flowerpiercer,
Laguna El Oconal: Muscovy Duck, Least Grebe, Smooth-billed Ani, Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Grey-cowled Wood Rail, Common Gallinule, Purple Gallinule, Rufous-sided Crake, Limpkin, Black-necked Stilt, Southern Lapwing, Wattled Jacana, Neotropic Cormorant, Cocoi Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Striated Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Puna Ibis, Swallow-tailed Kite, Roadside Hawk, Yellow-headed Caracara, Ash-browed Spinetail, Plain-crowned Spinetail, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, House Wren, Black-billed Thrush, Yellow-browed Sparrow, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Silver-beaked Tanager, Blue-grey Tanager, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, Bananaquit,
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