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| Canopy Lodge to La Mesa |
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| Golden-hooded tanager |
After a fine breakfast at the Lodge, we embark on the first of the day's destinations, La Mesa Road. Although the cloud forest is living up to its name and the visibility is less than ideal, we still manage to find new exquisite tropical birds such as the Golden-hooded tanager. The bird is a study in intricate patterning in plumage with golden head, black on the back and chest, and brilliant blue on its face, wings and rump. Even in the subdued light of the early morning fog, the bird's colors were nicely captured by the digital media of my Nikon. You can only imagine the striking view presented by this bird in clear early morning sunshine!
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| Piratic flycatcher |
Flycatchers are a omnipresent family in the forest of La Mesa. The Piratic flycatcher gets its name from its habit of taking over the nests of other birds rather than building its own. Note that the bill of this flycatcher is shorter than that of most of its flycatcher "cousins", as well as exhibiting slightly more subtle coloration.
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| Rusty-margined flycatcher |
The Rusty-margined flycatcher is a more brightly adorned with cinnamon edges to its secondary and proximal primaries. The bright white supercilium (aka "eyebrow") on its brown sooty head and its yellow crown set it apart from the other large bodies neotropical tyrant flycatchers which all look quite similar.
These larger bodies flycatchers were not the only game in town as evidenced by the much small and aptly named Paltry tyrannulet. At 4" in length, it is among the smallest of flycatchers but is easily distinguished from the other diminutive family members by its distinctive yellowish hue along the edges of its wing feathers.
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| Paltry tyrannulet |
This morning also afforded us with our best view thus far of a bird we would run into on many future occasions throughout the area. The Black-chested jay is large and bright and would be easily identified by even the most novice birder. While it is primarily black with white underparts, it also sports radiant blue accents above and below its bright yellow eyes. The bird was often seen in communal flocks of 6 to 8 birds.
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| Black-chested jay |
Of course no trip to Central America would be complete without sightings of the iconic toucan! Our first sighting of this incredibly patterned bird was the Keel-billed toucan. While feeding mostly on fruit, it will on occasion take small invertebrates. Even at a distance and in the overcast foggy skies, the bird is so large and colourful that it was easy to spot. We appreciated the fact that it remained in place for quite a while as we observed and photographed what had to be our "bird-of-the -day".
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| Keel-billed toucan |
Upon our return to the Lodge for an afternoon break, we could not tear ourselves away from the feeders. Once again, they provided endless entertainment as we welcomed back old "friends" and found new ones such as this Green honeycreeper. While it is wonderful and productive to venture out from the Lodge (and highly recommended!), those whose mobility is limited for whatever reason could easily spend the entire week in the comfort of the Lodge grounds. The feeders, forest habitat, and local pond offer a seemingly endless pageant of some of the most beautiful and entertaining birds and mammals on the planet. A virtual paradise to be sure!
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| Green honeycreeper |
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