THINGS AT ARENAL BEGAN WITH A BANG — and not from the volcano. It was actively erupting when we were last here but it has been silent for several years. Today it was a bang of birds. As we gathered (5:30 AM) on the deck a great curacao landed on the feeder. Other early risers included a pair of red-legged honey-creepers, various colorful tanagers, a gray-headed chachalaca and a very enterprising coati. And at the SkyTrek Tram we saw two keel-billed toucans and a very rare ornate hawk eagle — all before breakfast!
Keel-billed toucan
Birding seldom goes smoothly and things slowed appreciatively once we were on the trail. We spent much time peering into bushes, down gulleys and up into the trees while Forest and Robert played all sorts of recordings on their mobile phones and iPods in a vain attempt to attract a nightingale wren, a quail dove or a thicket ant pita. Birding is a 4-dimensional game. They may be near or far, left or right, high or low. And they may be earlier or later, yesterday or tomorrow.
Ornate hawk-eagle
The afternoon was as rewarding and as frustrating as the morning. We immediately called in a keel-billed motmot and a dull-mantled ant bird but were stymied by the blue-crowned antbird. So it goes. Twelve hours netted 132 species, 19 lifers for Connie.
