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Tag: Maroon-chested Ground-Dove

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bird finding in Costa Rica high elevations

Birding Day Trips to Irazu- Challenges, Solutions, and Benefits

I am of course talking about the Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridge.

When you arrive in Costa Rica, if there’s enough daylight to check out your surroundings, you’ll see mountains just about every which way you look. They don’t call it the Central Valley for nothing; this well populated and heavily urbanized area of Costa Rica is a draining ground for at least three mountain ranges.

If it’s not too cloudy, look to the north and you’ll see a volcanic range dominated by Poas and Barva Volcanoes. Turn around and the view to the south takes in the steep slopes of the Escazu Mountains. Look to the east and you’ll see the high Talamancas on your right and a big, obvious, towering mountain on the left, Irazu Volcano. On a clear day, take a closer look and you might also spot the antennas that crown it; transmission reaches far at 11,000 feet.

From the airport, optics can’t quite resolve birds foraging near those antennas but, if they could, you would spot European Blackbird looking Sooty Thrushes,

Rufous-collared Sparrows,

Costa Rica birding

and might see a grayish, sparrow-like bird with a fierce gaze.

Volcano Junco

Volcano Juncos have a right to look sparrow-savage; they live in harsh, high mountains conditions where windy, rainy weather is a given. It’s constant March or late October and amazing that insects can live in those conditions but some do and the juncos feed on them. Seeds and berries too but I wonder if the lack of insect prey and competition over them factor into their low density occurrence.

It seems weird that even though the juncos only occur on top of a handful of mountains in Costa Rica and Panama, they are still pretty uncommon but, that’s the way nature rolls. A species doesn’t need to be super common or prolific in its limited habitat. Although that helps, the bird or plant or other life form only has to be able to maintain a sustainable population until it can’t. Volcano Juncos are still present on Irazu Volcano and other paramo sites in Costa Rica but, we really have no idea how many are out there. We have no idea if they are “doing well” or being affected by their October realm shifting to a warmer September.

Since they seem to be harder to find and the fact that the climate is warming at a faster rate than maybe any time ever, I suspect they probably aren’t doing so well. In the meantime though, you can still see them on Irazu Volcano. It took us a little while but we eventually did and our sightings included a pair visiting a nest! We also saw another three birds, one of which was likely a juvenile along with Timberline Wrens and a few other species.

We saw these and other birds on a day trip to Irazu from the San Jose area. Although Irazu seems close, that’s only really true for soaring birds. For people, birding Irazu in a day comes with some challenges.

Traffic Issues

Visiting Irazu for a day from San Jose? You better leave by 5 or earlier. As in 5 in the morning and even then you can expect some trucks and other traffic but, you’ll probably get up there early enough for good birding.

It’s worth restating that traffic has become a significant issue around San Jose. If you aren’t driving on Sunday, expect stressful, time eating traffic jams and related situations, especially during rush hour times of 6 to 8:30 a.m., and 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

These facts make it sort of easy to get there but topped with traffic on the drive back through San Jose to reach your hotel. To deal with this, I have typically done morning visits to Irazu where we start driving back around noon. However, since that’s no longer working out so easy, you may want to try one of the solutions mentioned below.

Rough, Flippant Weather

Visit Irazu and you’ll meet with that junco worthy March/October climate. Hey, it might be sunny but, even then, get busy with the sun block and, you should still expect eventual mist or rain. It can also drop to 9 degrees (48 to 50) or even lower but, at least if you prepare yourself for it, you’ll be alright.

If you don’t see the birds, well, that will truly suck but that’s birding for you. Gotta roll with the punches. Gotta bring some chocolate or other treat to enjoy as the wind and rain blows against the side of the car. If you feel tempted to put on an angry junco face, remember that the junco’s not really mad. The fierce glare is probably an adaptation to protect its pale eyes from high UV rays.

Few Places for Dining

Irazu is patched with a number of farms and there are people who live way up there. Even so, there aren’t a heck of a lot of dining options. Very few actually, especially in the night because heck, sure people live up there but they aren’t stupid- like, who wants to keep a restaurant open in the cold and windy, customer-less dark?

If you want to eat out for dinner, you’ll probably have to descend to Grandpa’s (trust me, you’ll see the sign) or, go to the Bruma’s Hotel restaurant. However, for lunch, you can eat at the Noche Buena or the Suenos de Irazu on the other side of the road.

Some Birds are Always Tough

Irazu has some “good birds” but they aren’t always easy. In fact, some are pretty darn tough. Take the Maroon-chested Ground-Dove for instance. This challenging species occurs on Irazu, especially at the Noche Buena but, if it isn’t calling you’ll probably wonder where the birds are. I was wondering that yesterday as I hiked, (trudgd) up their trails. Have the doves moved to another spot with better foraging (I saw very few Mourning Doves)? Were they just skulking under dense vegetation in the dim forest?

I hoped the latter was the case and, I suppose it was in part because I did glimpse a female. No calling birds and she never responded and scurried off into darkness like a mousy quail-dove but, at least I know one dove was there. I bet more were too, just off skulking or feeding in some part of the property.

Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridges were also tougher than usual but that was probably due to the rough weather. Seeing them varies but, usually, if you spend enough time looking for them, you’ll see them. They aren’t rare up there, they just follow the usual, chicken-like bird scheme.

Other constantly challenging birds up there include Slaty Finch and Blue Seedeater and, Ochraceous Pewee and Silvery-throated Jay son’t seem present in most accessible spots.

However, despite any challenges above, there are solutions to reap the benefits of birding this hotspot.

Stay Until Night

One idea is birding Irazu until night. Yes, it makes for a long day but it’ll be a damn good birding day and, it deals with the traffic issue. Come with dinner, be dressed for the cold, and you can search for Unspotted Saw-whet Owls!

Before you get your hopes too high, know that that species is a tough one too but, at least while looking for it, you’ll have a good chance of seeing Bare-shanked Screech-Owl and Dusky Nightjar too.

You might see a Bare-shanked Screech Owl- a fairly common regional endemic.

Take a Day Trip from the Cartago Area

Another option is visiting Irazu while staying in the general Cartago area. The high elevations are a quick 20-30 minute drive from Cartago and further from birding lodges like Hotel Quelitales or Rancho Naturalista but, at least you”ll be staying in nice, birdy places and won’t have to deal with San Jose traffic.

Visit the Noche Buena Cafe and Trails

One of the main benefits is visiting the Noche Buena. This is the main spot with trails and is the best place to look for the ground-dove. The property also offers chances at lots of other birds even if the trails can be hard to maintain.

This spot is also an excellent place to have lunch and, who knows, you might also be able to coordinate having dinner there. The owners are wonderful people who support birding and are aware of and proud of the rare species on their property. It just costs 2,000 colones to bird the property, stay and have a coffee with home made pecan or lemon merengue pie.

High Quality Birds

Best of all, Irazu hosts several high quality species. In addition to the tough ones mentioned above (dove, owl, finch, and seedeater), we’re also talking Wrenthrush, quetzal, Buffy Tufted cheek, Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl, White-fronted Tyrannulet, the wood-partridge, and other birds! It’s worth a visit, just make sure you’re prepared and don’t get stuck in traffic.

Wrenthrush.

To learn more about birding Irazu, hundreds of other sites (including many “hotspots” not mentioned in eBird), and how to make the most of your birding trip to Costa Rica, support this blog by purchasing “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. I hope to see you here!

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bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica high elevations

Quality Costa Rica Birding at Irazu Volcano

Costa Rica birding covers a wide range of avian experiences. There are dry lowlands with Turquoise-browed Motmots and Double-striped Thick-Knees, backyard Blue-gray Tanagers, and toucans yelping from the tree tops.

This is a thick-knee. I know, what an odd, orthopedic sounding name for a bird!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s a whole lot of birds up in here, even uncommon species or ones that are hard to find no matter where you bring the binos. That’s what this post is about and although I’ve written a similar thing or two about birding on Irazu Volcano, here we go again.

Irazu is the name of this 11,000 foot volcano that rocks its way up the east side of the Central Valley. If you find yourself looking over that way while watching Crimson-fronted Parakeets, notice the big hulking mountain with distant antennas on top.

That’s Irazu and way up there on that natural behemoth, you can bet there are some quality birds. Here’s how things went on a recent Sunday morning of birding on Irazu.

Maroon-chested Ground-Doves

Irazu continues to be a reliable spot for this little mega dove. You will probably have to trudge uphill for it but don’t be fooled, the birds are there.

Often, I hear them as soon as I arrive at the Nochebuena but not this past Sunday. Things were actually a bit quiet for morning birding. Maybe the birds were feeling cold too? Could be, once the mist burned off and the sun came out, they eventually started calling.

Two, maybe three ground-doves hooted or cooed from the dense foliage. That’s par for the course for this pretty little dove. It vocalizes from a tree and if it thinks you see it, the bird pulls a shy woodpecker and moves to the other side of the trunk!

We kept watching and eventually got some brief looks of a perched male. Better views were had of two males in flight, one of which zipped low over the ground. I can still picture its dark, wine-colored chest contrasting with the dove’s ghost-pale head.

Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl and Buff-crowned Wood-Partridge

While we looked for the doves, another Irazu specialty called; the Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl. They are up there and it’s a good spot for them! However, they don’t always come out to play.

Sometimes, like this past Sunday, you only hear them from a distance.

What the Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl looks like when you see it.

Quiet often, that’s also the case for the wood-partridge. However, on Sunday, after hearing their hoarse calls echoing around us, we got brief but nice views of a couple creeping through the undergrowth!

Resplendent Quetzals

What do you know, Irazu is also good for quetzals. Seriously, I see Resplendent Quetzal on pretty much every visit. On this recent trip, I wasn’t hearing them, I wondered if I would finally miss the spectacular birds while birding Irazu.

But nope, they still showed up, at least four different birds including one wildly displaying male and another male that perched and called between bouts of feeding on avocados.

Long-tailed Weasel!

No, not a bird but Mustelids are mega too! Irazu seems to be a good place for wildlife, and I mean even on the side of the road. I have seen Coyotes several times, Gray Fox, and, on Sunday, we had perfect looks at a Long-tailed Weasel.

The elusive mammal bounded across the road in front of us, it was a treat!

Peg-billed Finch and Timberline Wren

After an early morning at the Nochebuena, we drove up to the paramo area just next to the national park. It was sunny, it was a bit windy, and it was bird quiet.

However, we still saw a pair of Timberline Wrens, one Peg-billed Finch, and other species easier to see. We did not see the junco but we weren’t really looking for it. They are around, hang out long enough up that way and you’ll probably see them.

Lots of Hummingbirds at the Nochebuena

Back at the Nochebuena, we stopped for lunch and enjoyed close views of the four expected hummingbird species. These are Volcano Hummingbird, Talamanca Hummingbird, Lesser Violetear, and Fiery-throated Hummingbird.

Lesser Violetears are never lesser.

We had also see them on the trails but close, leisurely looks were even nicer!

An Irazu Sunday also Means People

Oh yeah, and we saw a lot of humans. Irazu is a big Sunday destination for locals. The Tierra de Suenos restaurant and other places were jam packed. That didn’t affect us because I’m partial to the Nochebuena anyways. Good food, nice people who support birds and birders…yeah, I’ll be dining at the Nochebuena.

Other people sightings included roadside picnics and selfie shots against spectacular above-cloud backdrops, a line of determined hikers walking up a high-elevation hill, a few cyclists, and too many motorcycles, a few of which were pulling wheelies while riding uphill.

If you aren’t into watching people, you might opt for another day to visit Irazu. However, if you gotta do the trip on Sunday, you’ll still see birds!

Birding in Costa Rica on Irazu is pretty easy but it’s still worth knowing where to go. If you’d like more details on where to go birding in Costa Rica on Irazu and pretty much anywhere else in this small birdy nation, get “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”.

You’ll also be supporting this blog while learning how to see tinamous, more trogons, and all the other birds in Costa Rica. I hope to see you here!

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bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica high elevations

Volcan Irazu- Easy High Elevation Birding in Costa Rica

Volcano Junco

Birding opens the door to an endlessly interesting range of experiences. When you go birding, by definition, the focus is on the birds but since watching birds always involves much more than seeing them, the experience of birding entails far more than birdwatching.

For example, birding can be as mundane as meditating on the goldfinches that come to the feeder out back or as vigorous as making an Olympic grade sprint for a better view of a rare seabird. It can be rocking trips on the rolling blue waters of the open ocean, sharing priceless times with favorite peeps, and exploring new places and countries where you end up eating a Cavy (Guinea Pig) in the Andes.

When you find yourself chewing on that tough rodent meat in Cuzco, you may wonder how on Earth you got there, how on Earth did you end up eating the same species of animal as your eighth grade pet. “Birding” is the simple answer and it will also be the same answer when, after partaking in that meal of rodent, you wonder why you traveled to a place where climbing the stairs makes you feel around 20 or 30 years older. But if you wonder why you are short of breath, your answer won’t exactly be “birding”, it will be “where the heck is the oxygen?” or “high elevation”.

Since birds live almost everywhere, in Costa Rica, we don’t just find birds in the hot, humid rainforests of the lowlands. We also find them at the very tops of the mountains that form the country’s backbone and as one might expect, some of the ones that live way up there, only live way up there. This of course means that if you want to see them (and of course we all do!), you gotta head way up into the mountains.

Mountains, with the slopes of scree, sheer cliffs, ice, and other generally inhospitable facets, aren’t always the easiest of places to visit. I guess it’s why some people feel the need to climb them (a friend of mine does that, I bet he has trudged past vivid blue Grandalas in the Himalayas). In Costa Rica, much to the fortune of birders who would rather not do the climbing thing, we have a nice high mountain (technically a volcano) where you can drive right on up to 11,000 feet! That accessible high elevation birdy spot is Volcan Irazu, here are some expectations and highlights:

Fine High Elevation Birding

Get up above 2,000 meters and roadside birding offers a fine range of montane species. Check out the weirdly wonderful Long-tailed and Black-and-Yellow Silky-Flycatchers, the easily identifiable Black-capped Flycatcher, clown antics of Acorn Woodpeckers, and views of many a Band-tailed Pigeon in flight.

Spot-crowned Woodcreepers and Collared Redstarts sing from the trees, and Sooty-capped Chlorospinguses rustle the leaves with several more highland endemics in tow. Fiery-throated Hummingbirds are the norm and are joined by Talamanca Hummingbird, Lesser Violetear, and Volcano Hummingbird. Keep an eye out for fruiting trees and you might find a quetzal (they are regular up on Irazu), Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridges haunt the brush, and the tooting vocalization of Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl may give away its position.

Keep on birding and you might even get lucky with one of the toughest widespread birds in the Neotropical region, the Maroon-chested Ground-Dove. A fair number seem to live on Irazu but they probably escape detection because they tend to be shy and rarely come into the open.

Potato Fields and Forest Patches

Being a volcano, Irazu has rich dark soils that have been used to grow crops for centuries. As you ascend the volcano, you will drive through several fields of soup ingredients; onions, taters, and carrots. These are dotted here and there with remnants of high elevation oak forest, unsurprisingly, the largest patches tend to have the best birding.

Forest patch birding is generally restricted to the roadside but it’s still good, just be careful how you park your car. For the best forest access, see the Nochebuena bit below.

MODOs in Costa Rica

As in Mourning Doves. I know, not exciting but since this North American suburban standby is very localized in Costa Rica, we get a kick out of seeing and hearing so many of them when ascending Irazu. It’s also a reminder that yes, that bird that sounds like a MODO while you watch a Fiery-throated Hummingbird is definitely a Dove a la Mourning.

The Highest of the High Elevation Birds

In Costa Rica, while more species live in the lower, more tropical elevations, there are a few special birds that managed to become adapted to the highest points in the nation. Two of them even became more or less restricted to the brushy treeline habitats that occur on Irazu, Turrialba, and the high Talamancas. This pair of birds of dramatic surroundings are the Volcano Junco and the Timberline Wren.

On Irazu, the wren can occur down to the Nochebuena area but the junco usually requires a drive right on up to the paramo at the edge of the national park. Once you arrive, don’t expect to see them right away. If it’s sunny, it might take especially long for them to appear. However, if you bird that paramo in the cold early morning, you will have good chance of connecting.

The wrens are fairly common but skulky. In keeping with typical wren fashion, they often give a fastidious call. The juncos aren’t as common as one might expect. They seem to occur in low density populations but unlike the wren, they aren’t the least bit shy about singing from the tops of bushes or hopping next to the car.

The Nochebuena Trails and Restaurant

This classic site is a must for any birding visit to Irazu. Even if you don’t feel like walking their trails (some of them uphill and with less oxygen than you are might be used to), it’s still worth visiting the small and friendly diner for a coffee and pecan pie or some other tasty home-cooked cuisine. While eating, you will probably be entertained by views of 4 species of hummingbirds, flyby Acorn Woodpeckers, Flame-colored Tanagers, and other species.

I hope you do feel like walking the trails though; it’s a beautiful hike. Take your time, be ready for some mud, and explore for wood-partridges, the pygmy-owl, and many other species. Listen carefully and keep a close eye out for the ground-dove, this is the best place to find it! After the trail passes through the fields, it eventually enters forest with a lot of bamboo. Timberline Wren is present along with nice mixed flocks of expected species as well as chances at the rare Slaty Finch and Peg-billed Finches.

The high elevation birding experience also has its other charms, not the least of which are the fantastic views.

A morning of birding Irazu is a good way to get an easy fix of high elevation birds and makes for a good birding day trip from the San Jose area. If you stay until dark, you can also look for nocturnal species including the Unspotted Saw-whet Owl. Whether just birding during the day or into the night, be prepared for very cool and rainy weather. If staying for the night, contact the Nochebuena, they also have a cabin that can be rented.

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biodiversity Birding Costa Rica high elevations

Seeding Bamboo on the Road to Volcan Barva

Bamboo, that massive grass, is a common component of eastern Asian forests. When I was in Thailand in 2007, the huge clumps of bamboo that made up much of the understory in the forests around Doi Chiang Dao gave them an otherworldy, prehistoric appearance. Green Magpies, Lesser Yellownapes, drongos, and a bunch of other super cool birds searched the papery strips of bamboo “bark” for arthropodic goodies. It was impressive how those birds could still hide themselves and be so unobtrusive in such an open understory.

Over on the other side of the world in the American tropics, bamboo is also an important component of many tropical forests. Most of the bamboo isn’t as big as that elephantine stuff in Asia but its easily recognizable as bamboo nonetheless. You do see some tall huge bamboo clumps in Costa Rica but this is introduced Common Bamboo from Asia. The native bamboo species are thinner, daintier plants that mostly occur in highland forests. It’s pretty common but you hardly ever get to see it produce seeds. Unlike many other plants, bamboo doesn’t do the annual seed and fruit thing. It just grows and grows until an entire patch (which can be massive in size) unexpectedly produces seeds. For neotropical birders, this occurrence is somewhat akin to finding an army antswarm except that it’s an even bigger event. There might not be as many bird species as an antswarm, but it’s even more difficult to happen upon and attracts some super sweet rarities.

For example, seeding bamboo is one of your only chances at seeing Maroon-chested Ground-Dove. These birds will sometimes show up at seed spread on the ground near highland forest but what they truly relish are bamboo seeding events. The only time I have ever come across this species in Costa Rica (or anywhere else) was at a seeding event on Chirripo Mountain. Although it happened so long ago that the memory of the event is becoming fuzzy, I recall not just one bird scampering away but several individuals that were singing, feeding, and having themselves nothing short of a ground-dove jamboree.  As this was my second trip to Costa Rica, I had no idea that I had hit one of those avian jackpots we always dream of.

I don’t expect to see those beautiful little pigeons like that again but maybe I’ll get lucky and watch one or two at the seeding bamboo I found this past weekend on the road to Volcan Barva! Yes, a nice sized bamboo patch was seeding on Saturday and it looked like it was just getting started. I didn’t hear or see any ground-doves (did hear one Buff-fronted Quail-Dove) but I did catch up with one female Blue Seedeater! This is another bamboo associated bird that is always so darn uncommon. Although skulking behavior certainly plays a role in their apparent scarcity, they are too infrequently seen to not be genuinely rare. Since they are usually seen in or near bamboo, they might also be tied to seeding events. Other birds in Costa Rica that could show up at seeding events are Barred Parakeet, Slaty Finch, and Peg-billed Finch.

I could definitely use all three for my year list so I hope they show up at that patch somewhere on the mountain that looms near the house. If you take the main road up to Volcan Barva, the bamboo patch is in a riparian zone after where a light green sign points the way to “Volcan Barva”. It starts just past another sign that warns against dumping garbage. None of those special birds are guaranteed to show up but I think there’s a fair chance they will given that the seeding bamboo patch represents such an important and scarce resource.  Although much of the surrounding area is deforested, the connection that the riparian corridor provides to intact forest at higher elevations will hopefully act as a highway those target birds just can’t resist taking.