Costa Rica Day 11

Our second full day in the Talamanca Highlands was pretty special too. We spent most of the day moving around birding forested roads which was pretty epic. I think this was the day with the fewest lifers, *only* nine, but man, they were 9 high quality birds. We kickstarted the day with a large flock of Sulphur-winged Parakeets zipping around the lodge, and headed out to do some road birding. Early on in the morning we secured Wrenthrush and Black-and-yellow Silky Flycatcher which were both pretty awesome to get. Collared Trogons, Buffy Tuftedcheeks, Timberline Wrens, and more kept us company as we descended in elevation towards a river bottom. 

As we got into the river bottom, we found a pair of American Dippers building a nest on a large boulder in the middle of the river. We spent a good while photographing them in the rapids crashing around the mossy boulder they were building a nest on which was extremely fun. A little ways away in a small town we got good looks at a Snowy-bellied Hummingbird and Golden-bellied Flycatcher. Continuing on through more forest and pastures as we headed back uphill, we got looks at a White-fronted Tyrannulet and more looks at a Golden-browed Chlorophonia. 

Our main target on this road was the rare and illusive Silvery-throated Jay, which we somehow managed to get literally as we stepped out of the car at one of our first stops to look for it. A small group of them appeared out of the canopy and gave us some stunning looks. For being such a locally rare and declining species, we couldn't have asked for a better experience. Our last big target for the day was the Costa Rican Pygmy Owl, and out of the dozens of stops we made, we just could not find one. Every single spot Jorge had seen/heard them, they just were not out on the day we were there sadly. We did manage to snag an Ochraceous Pewee which was nice, and a Streak-breasted Treehunter at another pygmy owl stop. 

This night, again, was windy, so no owling either. We also needed to wake up super early to get to a surprise that Jorge had in mind for us as we really cleaned up in the Talamanca Highlands. 

Trip report for day 11: https://ebird.org/tripreport/351571