While we had spent three nights at each of the previous two locations, we were only booked for two nights at the Savegre Mountain Hotel. Even though we spent a little less time there we had some spectacular birding, especially with the help of the guides that we were able to hire. If we were to do this again, I would certainly consider spending an extra night here.
For our first morning at Savegre, our guide was Melvin, who (and I haven't the slightest hesitation in saying this) was certainly the best guide we had in all of our time in Costa Rica. He was so friendly, patient, funny and talented - you could not help but like the guy. Of course, the first birds we went to see were another nesting pair of Resplendant Quetzals - after all, they are the stars of the area. This particular pair were in a darker area, and although we did have stunning looks at both the male and female, photos were a lot more difficult. One thing I did find very amusing is that you can always tell when the male has gone into the nest cavity...
In no time at all, we were seeing an array of other beautiful and interesting birds:
Spot-crowned Woodcreeper - there are quite a few woodcreepers in Costa Rica. It seems like every new place you visit, they have one that seems to be special to that area. I have a very difficult time in photographing these guys as they seem to always be in the shadows.
Ruddy-capped Nightingale Thrushes were pretty common, but always welcome with their sweet song.
Black-capped Flycatchers were nesting in the area, and we watched one adding nesting material to a construction site. (No hard hats needed for this construction)
Collared Redstart is listed as a common bird for the area, but I actually had a bit of a difficult time finding many, and even harder time trying to get a photo!
Spangle-cheeked Tanager - it was hard not to get caught up in Melvin's enthusiasm for this bird - one of his favorite tanagers, and understandably so.
We encountered a lot of nesting birds while there - it seems like the breeding season was well underway in March. Just across the path from where we watch quetzals changing place at the nest cavity, there was a Black-faced Solitaire nest in the hollow part of an old tree, just a few feet off the ground, with two tiny naked chicks in it:
If it wasn't for the adult coming in to land so close to us, we might not have seen this at all - and once I got a shot off, we backed away. Down by the stream, Melvin as able to point out another nest - dead center over the water, a pair of Tufted Flycatchers had built a nest in the bend of a broken branch.
Other birds seen, but not photographed (or not photographed well enough to share) included Mountain Elania, Flame-colored Tanager, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Ochraceous Wren, Mountain Robin, and both Flame-throated and Black-cheeked Warblers - all before a 10:00 breakfast. We made arrangements for a guide again for the next morning to take us up to higher elevation where there were known nesting Costa Rican Pygmy Owls and Emerald Toucanettes, and then spent the rest of the day birding on our own, walking and hiking a bit, and trying to get some of the photos that were included above. (Oh, and while trying to get our life-look at an Emerald Toucanette, I managed to stumble too close to a hive of bees - which had in fact been pointed out to me just a few minutes earlier - and get stung just a few cm from my right eye. Thankfully we were not too far from the room and I was able to clean it and wipe with some Witch Hazel, and never even developed a bump from it!)
Our last new bird of the day was one that I'd really had my eye out for all day, and though I'd seen it very briefly, I was very happy to spot one on a nest in a tree that Melvin had casually mentioned that they nested in. Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers had caught my interest in both the field guides and in photography of those who had been to CR before and posted their trip reports and pics. I knew that this was a bird I not only wanted to see but to see well (and hopefully photograph)
Now that I had a sense of where to look for them, I hoped that with a little effort, some patience, and some good light, that I might get that 'crippling' look that I wanted before we left Savegre the next day.
