I hired a fantastic local guide for a day, with hopes of getting on some harder to find species, as well as getting to some roadside spots that aren’t easily birded without a car. Marcelo picked me up at 6am, and we headed off to our first stop, the Guacamayos Ridge. Immediately after getting out of the car at the trailhead, we saw swifts passing overhead, in a mysterious daily eastward migration. The spectacle lasted over 15 minutes, and many thousands of White-collared Swifts were accompanied by a few Chestnut-collared and White-chested Swifts.
Starting out down the trail, we quickly came upon the first of many mixed flocks, which kept us busy for a while, picking out tanagers, woodcreepers, and the usual members of such flocks. Some nice lifers included Streak-headed Antbird, Chestnut-bellied Thrush, Rufous-crested Tanager, and Deep-blue Flowerpiercer. In one of the flocks, we found not one, but two Greater Scythebill! These rare woodcreepers were one of the main targets on the ridge, and it was very cool getting them fairly early in the day.
We worked hard and with much patience managed to see both Slate-crowned and Peruvian Antpittas, and a very secretive and shy Chestnut-breasted Wren. And as awesome as that was, it got even better when we tracked down a singing Barred Anthrush, and a perched Olivaceous Piha almost right over the trail!
By late morning the rain had started, and we hiked the long way back up the ridge to the car. From there we drove down slope to get out of the thick fog, and stopped at a variety of roadside places, continuing to pick up nice species including Paradise Tanager, Yellow-bellied Dacnis, Red-crested Finch, Cliff Flycatcher, Channel-billed Toucan, and Coppery-chested Jacamar.
At dusk we made a stop where we got Rufous-bellied Nighthawk, and after a bit of searching, a Swallow-tailed Nightjar! And then back at the Guacamayos ridge to finish the day, we heard and successfully called in a White-throated Screech-owl, which finally broke my curse of never having seen any tropical owls.
