A full-day trip to the pacific

Wednesday January 7

We left before dawn today on a full day excursion down to the pacific coast. The goal was less about the ocean than about getting to lower elevation and a drier hotter climate to see different birds.  The actual drive would take about 2 hours without stops, but we stopped frequently (and in some cases for an extended period of time) to search for particular bird species. 

Driving up out of the caldera and then down the other side was impressive. The pitch of the roads would never work in a snowy climate, and the hairpin turns made for some exciting maneuvering when a car was coming the other way. The road itself (not the main road to Panama City that we had used on Sunday) was initially a walking path, and then the road was built by the local residents about 60 years ago. It wasn’t paved until about 2010. 

It was certainly warmer and drier once we got down to the lowlands. 

Similar to yesterday, in some cases we were able to find and view the target species for an area, but we were not always successful.  For example, the Crested Bobwhite (quail) largely eluded us, but the Brown-throated Parakeets pranced and spooned on an open branch for us. And so it went all day. We were pleasantly surprised to see three Prothonotary warblers, a species that is fairly common in the US but that we have failed to see on several occasions. 

We had lunch at a house on Santa Clara beach owned by the lodge. It was fun to watch Magnificent Frigatebirds, gulls, terns, and pelicans soar above our heads and fight over fish. 

We learned that another group had found the Spectacled Owls that hid from us yesterday, so we stopped to look again on our way back in the late afternoon. The other group had marked the location of the adult owl— but it was no longer there. Our wonderful guide heard two juvenile owls calling, and we stayed until nearly dark watching them. 

Pictured: Brown-throated parakeets, juvenile Spectacled Owls, juvenile Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, juvenile Magnificent Frigatebird, Prothonotary Warbler