The final flip of the calendar discovered me in Costa Rica being hosted on the legendary Rancho Naturalista. I stumbled into the lodge about forty minutes shy of midnight, however there was a sizzling meal ready for me. Stir fried greens and hefty, stuffed portobello mushrooms satiated components of me I didn’t know existed. The next morning I hadn’t but discovered my footing, and simply because it unfolded the earlier night time, I stumbled into the primary space of the lodge to search out breakfast ready on me. Brown Jays and Montezuma Oropendolas peered at this interloper struggling to regulate, eyes squinting to understand Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and Violet-headed Hummingbird at a close-by verbena bush. A sigh escaped, I used to be proper at dwelling.
Over the following ten days, I used to be subjected to a number of birding excursions out of Rancho Naturalista – which certainly shall be shared right here. The primary of those was to find a fowl that I solely simply discovered is known as “garza del sol” domestically due to this text by Stephen Moss – who coincidentally shared that breakfast desk on that first shaky morning. I need to guarantee you, expensive reader, that each one instability was immediately cured by a single cup of fabulously sturdy espresso. So efficient was the espresso at Rancho Naturalista that they graciously outfitted me with 1kg of the elixir to return to T&T with. Which is precisely why I’m nonetheless alive at this level.
Anyway, again to this mission. It being the primary journey out of the property, we started shortly after breakfast. On paper, it was meant to be a comparatively easy job. Drive down the hill, examine the river, examine the opposite river, repeat advert infinitum till eyes fall on the item of our need for the day: a Sunbittern. My solely earlier expertise with this fowl was a fleeting one, on that event it wafted away on cosmic wings earlier than I had an opportunity to shut my mouth that had unconsciously fallen agape upon seeing the creature.
Our information, Harry, checked that first river on the backside of the hill however got here up empty. The second river curled round a soccer area, traversing the perimeter of which introduced up distant recollections of once I used to maneuver at a barely faster tempo. Nonetheless, we stayed single-minded and trodded confidently over the fallen leaves because the river was livid and roaring. Should create fairly the atmosphere for the soccer video games; not less than till the ball falls into the river. In the meantime, a Social Flycatcher sallied for bugs over our heads and a Black Phoebe stored an eye fixed nearer to the bottom. A Summer time Tanager emerged over the embankment whereas Purple-eyed Vireos hopped from department to department. As we broke into an unobstructed view of the river, a Fasciated Tiger-Heron flushed and flew downriver. No signal of a Sunbittern, nonetheless.
Black Phoebe
A close to micro-movement alongside the river turned out to be a Buff-rumped Warbler.
A rise in altitude of a pair hundred metres took us to our subsequent vacation spot which sadly additionally yielded birds however not the fowl. Whereas slowly driving again to the primary street Harry’s eagle eyes caught the toes of a Sunbittern transferring round inside a cowshed. Slowly, we acquired out, and gingerly walked among the many cows to a degree the place we may doubtlessly get a view of the fowl. I climbed onto a less-than-sturdy bale of grass to attempt my luck – and thankfully the cube rolled in my favour. Along with not falling off, I additionally lastly had a correct, unhindered view of a Sunbittern.
Sunbittern
One of many caveats about having fun with a fowl corresponding to that is the truth that its most defining function can solely be seen if its wings are unfold. Amongst cows, regardless of the prying eyes of excited people, this Sunbittern was content material to amble round.
We watched this Sunbittern for appreciable time. Ultimately it drifted down the steep slope to the river, taking to the wing simply on the limits of the place we may see.
Not solely satiated, we continued on. Our closing cease entailed a brief perambulation on a hillside path overlooking a sheer drop to a crystal clear river about twenty metres under. Certainly there have been different birds however we quickly noticed a reasonably skittish Sunbittern within the river and immediately turned dialled in. This variation in persona from one fowl to a different was attention-grabbing to say the least: what degree of individualism exists in nature, and to what extent can we actually understand it? Both approach, the wariness of this particular person performed in our favour, as as soon as we’d strategy inside a line of sight it’d turn out to be uncomfortable and relocate.
From a distance, it was simple to observe the Sunbittern because it flew from one rock to a different.
With all this stress lastly lifted, we have been in a position to let our eyes wander to different creatures. Boat-billed Flycatchers and Golden-hooded Tanagers turned obvious, whereas a younger Brown Basilisk camouflaged itself among the many particles within the river. Pleasure actually ramped up once we started listening to an approaching group of Dusky-faced Tanagers, as they have been hardly ever seen within the space.
Dusky-faced Tanager
A Gartered Trogon gave me an excellent look simply as we have been returning to the automobile. Previously a part of the Violaceous Trogon complicated, I pardoned myself for persistently attempting to say “Guianan” as a substitute of the suitable “Gartered“.
As soon as I acquired within the automobile I discovered that whereas I used to be in any other case occupied, a Black Hawk-Eagle cruised overhead. In all probability chuckling because it observed my digital camera pointed at one thing else. Get pleasure from a live-action model of those occasions right here.
Autor Faraaz Abdool
