Backcountry Birding

Today was a super fun day of birding at Curi-Cancha, a reserve that’s a little lower in elevation than Monteverde and a little closer to Santa Elena. I got there just as the reserve was opening at 7AM, and started seeing birds immediately. While the forest here might not be as pristine as that of the cloud forest reserve, Curi-Cancha was WAY better birding in terms of numbers and ease of finding birds.

The thing that made all the difference, I think, was the mix of habitats, with open fields as well as dense forest throughout the reserve area. The trails were really good here, and it was very cool to see a real range of elevations (the lower portions are a slightly different ecologic zone than the higher parts of the reserve).

I also spent quite some time hanging out at the hummingbird flower garden, which is Curi-Cancha’s strategy for working around the national bird-feeder ban. I think I probably appreciated and enjoyed the hummingbirds way more on actual flowers than I would have if they were visiting artificial feeders. The hummingbirds seemed to be enjoying themselves too.

For the camera nerds like myself who are reading this: hummingbird photography is really tricky. What I did to get most of these shots was aim the camera at a certain flower ahead of the bird as it moved through an area. Pick a flower that has a nice background (avoid contrasty sticks or human-made objects), set the aperture to something like f/8 so that more of the bird will be in focus (at very close range f/5.6 can make the whole bird appear fuzzy because of the extremely shallow depth of field), and wait for the bird to get exactly where you want it to be. I also used extension tubes to allow my 400mm to focus closer than 11ft which is the normal close limit.

The vast majority of ‘professional’ hummingbird pictures are taken at feeder stations where they take the feeders down for a moment and replace them with flowers misted with sugar-water. Many of them also use multiple flashes to create natural-looking and even light. So really, really don’t worry if you’re trying to photograph hummingbirds and the shots are not coming out the way you want; the fact that these came out so well was in no small part just random luck!

Finding a group of army ants is like striking gold if you’re a birder: thousand, if not millions of ants congregate and move like a semi-invisible carpet across the forest floor, carrying bits of food and scaring up other larger insects. There are hundreds of species of birds across Latin America that have evolved (or perhaps simply learned from other species) to find and follow army ant swarms, swooping down to pick up insects and bits of food while the ants go marching on.

I was sorting through the mix of flycatchers, antwrens, warblers and thrushes when I saw a small, dark bird flit in from the side. I lifted my binoculars and stopped breathing for a second:

What a bird! Those lines coming off the back end are two extraordinarily long feathers which it uses in its mating display. Definitely the best bird of my day, so I was very proud to have found it myself.

I ended up with 73 species during my 7 hours at the reserve (eBird checklist here) and walked just over 5 miles. I added two more species (Palm Tanager and Red-legged Honeycreeper) while waiting for the bus at Stella’s Bakery, enjoying an ice-cold Imperial.

For dinner I had some bread I bought yesterday at the bakery here in Santa Elena, and a bag (yes, a bag) of refried beans. That’s how they come here, and they’re really good! Another suggestion from the tourist information attendant.

I met a couple of the workers at the reception desk at Curi-Cancha, and they pointed out a couple more birds I missed while I was there. So tomorrow morning I’ll head back up there in hopes of finding Black Guan, Gray-throated Leaftosser and Ornate Hawk-Eagle. Later in the afternoon I’ll try and catch a ride up to Cafe Monteverde, which is a sustainably-minded coffee plantation that would be super cool to learn about.

I have really been enjoying writing these posts, but please feel free to add any comments letting me know if there’s stuff I should focus on more, or if I should spend less time talking about beans, etc. Thanks for reading!