Down the Mountain to Cerro Largo

We started out yesterday birding around the hotel at 8000 feet.  It was a balmy warm morning and plenty of birds were in the trees and underbrush.  Of the 18 species we saw in less than an hour, warblers, tanangers and orioles were the most common.  The last place Mark took us was the Monkey Hand Tree.  I called it “Bird Candy Tree” because the large cup of the flowers was full of nectar, at least 1/2 inch deep.  We tasted it and it was sweet, tasting of brown sugar.  The tree makes fresh flowers and nectar every morning.  Warblers, tanangers, orioles, hummingbirds plus American robin and a hairy woodpecker were flitting in and out, sipping the free nectar and pollinating the flowers in the process.  After we left the hotel, we stopped next on a dirt road at about 7500 feet where there were hummngbirds to see.  We watched bumblebee and blue capped hummingbirds doing their thing, feeding, singing and defending territory.  The birding wasn’t hard because the area had been selectively logged, so there were open spaces.  The forest was full of flowers and birds.  We watched a boring brown flower piercer stealing nectar from the base of red salvia flowers, a nectar parasite.  Further along at our lunch stop, we saw several different hummingbirds.  Our last stop was along a dirt road in a broadleaf forest around 4000 feet elevation.  In shady areas, there were elements of a cloud forest, with large philadendron and gigantic tree ferns.  We began looking for green toucanettes.  Looking for these green birds among the tall densely packed dark green trees was truly like looking for a needle in a haystack.  It was pleasant walking in the shade, but one really had to crane one’s neck looking up where the birds might be.  It was hard going.  I enjoyed the little waterfall and the mossy green banks covered with ferns and little begonias, lichens and liverworts, looking like a natural plant wall at SFMOMA.  We spotted the “bird of the day” last—a flame colored tananger.  It was fairly large, bright orangey red and very beautiful, especially against the green of the trees.  We continued down the mountain.  The forest changed to dry temperate deciduous forest that went all the way to the sea.  It was a hard day with windy bumpy roads and hard birding in the forest.  We arrived at our hotel, on a bluff overlooking the Pacific and got out of the van.  A wall of hot humid air hit us.  My instinct was to freeze and not move at all.  I think I was in shock.  It is an interesting hotel, the dream of its owner to be sustainable and easy on the environment.  What that means is that the cabanas have no plumbing at all.  There are compostable toilets, really a pit toilet with sawdust we throw in the pit after each use.  The “showers” consist of a large garbage can full of water and a half a gourd dipper to pour water over oneself.  It sounds awful but is really really good in the hot humid weather.  Our cabana is totally open, with a thatched roof and a view to the east.  The food is vegetarian and really fresh and delicious.  This morning in the early morning light we walked along the road for an hour seeing some good views of birds.  But the best was after our breakfast around 10 o’clock.  We went back to the compost pile and right there 10 feet in front of us were 5 very beautiful birds - a Citrylline Trogan,  a rusty mot-mot, white throated magpie jay, orange breasted bunting and the Colima Pygmy owl.  Now we have 4 free hours to relax, go to beach to explore and swim and let the magic of this special place does its work.