birding early bird hike - pico...
TRANSCRIPT
Early Morning Birding at The Lodge Birds are one of the Lodge’s greatest attractions. With a species list of over 400 and counting, you can see why experienced birders from around the world have chosen to explore the forests, plantations and observation towers of the Lodge. You’ll have to get up with the birds for the “Early Bird Hike” to take advantage of the early morning’s activity. You will meet your guide on the front deck of the restaurant where the action begins. A selection of fruits, muffins, coffee, and juice will get you going while your binoculars will likely be put to good use before you finish your coffee. For the next 3 hours we will slowly make our way through the main Lodge grounds spotting the numerous bird species that frequent this area in the early hours. A climb to the top of “Toucan Tower” not far away offers a bird’s eye view of the forest canopy and its bountiful variety of bird life, often including the coveted Lovely Cotinga. The abundance of important native tree species and a myriad of fruiting mistletoes and flowering canopy vines make this an extremely productive and satisfying birding route. This tour is great for both the avid ornithologist and the casual birder. An easy pace allows just about anyone to enjoy this wonderful tropical experience with our abundant avian fauna. Accompanied by our guide, we will bird very productive areas of tropical secondary and gallery forest, and plantations areas along the Rio Coloradito. Along this route, diversity is the rule and examples of sightings include: Lovely Cotinga, Masked and Black-‐crowned Tityra, Blue crowned and Turquoise-‐browed Motmot, Tody Motmot, Keel-‐billed Toucan, Collared Aracari, Emerald Toucanet, Great and Common Potoo, Ferruginous Pigmy Owl, Black-‐headed, Violaceous, Collared and Slaty-‐tailed Trogon, Royal Flycatcher, Green, Shining and Red-‐Legged Honeycreeper, and up to 16 species of hummingbirds including Crowned Wood nymph, Blue-‐throated Sapphire, Violet Sabrewing, Purple-‐crowned Fairy, Stripe-‐tailed Hummingbird, Brown Violet-‐Ear, Green Violet-‐Ear, White-‐necked Jacobin and more. Blue-‐crowned Chlorophonias are common here during the winter months as are Olive-‐backed, White-‐vented, Scrub and Yellow-‐throated Euphonias. We begin at 6:00 AM and generally return to The Lodge by 10:00 AM. In addition to superb viewing from Tower 1, this route takes advantage of several overlooks above the Rio Coloradito valley and sightings of many of our raptor species can be made here.