Explorations of an Ecologist: Lattice-tailed Trogons and Quail-Doves of Braulio Carrillo

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We left Tapantí and the Orosi Valley behind and began making our way west towards San José, arriving by mid-morning. Our final destination would be the town of Guapiles, located within the Caribbean slope lowlands, as it appeared to be a good base to explore the nearby Quebrada Gonzales, a trail at Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. Before turning north and leaving San José to cross the mountains, we made a quick stop in the Barva area, a suburb of San José. The elusive Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow had evaded us during a search in Cartago a few days earlier, but apparently the dry scrubby forest near a rec center had become reliable for this species in recent years.

Red-billed Pigeon - Barva area, Heredia, Costa Rica

Our mid-morning arrival time was not ideal but at least there remained a solid amount of bird activity. We heard the target bird on a couple of occasions, and I'm pretty sure I saw an individual fly across the road in front of me, but that was the extent of our success. These birds can be tricky! At least the Hoffman's Woodpeckers were quite easy to observe well - a species that we had only seen once before, earlier in the trip in Cartago.

Hoffman's Woodpecker - Barva area, Heredia, Costa Rica

We left the hustle and bustle of this area behind and headed into the mountains. Birding a scrubby roadside next to a very busy rec center and surrounded by suburbs is not my ideal place to go birding, that's for sure!

Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo is a large swath of protected foothill and premontane forest located on the eastern slope, north and east of San José. Due to the mountainous terrain there are only a few areas where one can access the forest, and one popular spot among birders is a trail at a ranger station known as Quebrada Gonzales. We hoped to take the afternoon to scout out the place, attempt to arrange early access for the following morning, and also explore a nearby hummingbird garden called Reserva El Tapir.

We initially had a difficult time finding Reserva El Tapir off of the main highway but eventually succeeded. Formerly a hummingbird garden/ecotourism venture, it has been abandoned for several years now but the flourishing porterweed around the property still attracts a number of hummingbirds. El Tapir is not signed from the highway but birders seem to have no problem visiting, so we gave it a shot. We ran into a caretaker for the place and later, a few researchers who were studying thrushes on their wintering grounds. Everyone seemed confused how we heard of the place since it is apparently closed down, but they let us hang around for a while and watch the porterweed. Worked for me!

My main goal was to come across the Black-crested Coquette, a species that is regular here. We did not have to wait long and ended up watching a male buzz around the flowers for quite some time.

Black-crested Coquette - Reserva El Tapir, Limón, Costa Rica

In our short visit we did not detect any Snowcaps (an uncommon hummingbird found in the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama that is supposedly regular here), but we noted several other neat hummingbirds including Green Thorntail and Violet-headed Hummingbird.

Green Thorntail - Reserva El Tapir, Limón, Costa Rica

Violet-headed Hummingbird - Reserva El Tapir, Limón, Costa Rica

Happy with our short visit, we merged onto the freshly paved highway and continued east into the lowlands. Just as the road begins to level off, one reaches the city of Guapiles. This area certainly doesn't feel like it is on the tourist route and Laura and I felt like we were back in Colombia again. It was kind of nice to not see gringos everywhere, and the resulting overpriced restaurants! We checked into our hotel room that was pretty reasonably priced for Costa Rica, and enjoyed the air conditioning in the room.

It is funny how certain things seem like luxuries when one is traveling. Here, having A/C gave us the opportunity to do our laundry and have it dry relatively fast. Ah, what luxury.

That evening we were feeling a bit restless and so we went for a walk down some side roads near the hotel. The walk was quite birdy with many species typical of secondary forest or weedy, disturbed areas appearing in front of us.

Gray-capped Flycatcher - Guapiles, Limón, Costa Rica

Crimson-fronted Parakeets flew over in small flocks, allowing me to take my first ever (crappy) photos of this species.

Crimson-fronted Parakeets - Guapiles, Limón, Costa Rica

Piratic Flycatcher - Guapiles, Limón, Costa Rica

We even added some new birds to our Costa Rica list during this short walk including White-throated Crake, Bay Wren, and House Sparrow.

Yellow Warbler - Guapiles, Limón, Costa Rica

Blue-black Grosbeaks were particularly common in the weedy fields. I was hoping for Gray-crowned Yellowthroat or Black-throated Wren as well, two species I had never seen before, but that was not to be.

Blue-black Grosbeak - Guapiles, Limón, Costa Rica

Scarlet-rumped Tanager - Guapiles, Limón, Costa Rica

Laura has a knack for finding hidden birds, mammals, snakes, etc in trees. This time she casually pointed out a Hoffman's Two-toed Sloth snoozing above a roadside creek.

Hoffman's Two-toed Sloth - Guapiles, Limón, Costa Rica

The next morning we woke early and made the short drive back into the foothills to Quebrada Gonzales. The previous afternoon we had stopped in and inquired with one of the rangers about us visiting earlier, since they had the standard opening time of 8:00 AM. He was ok with opening the gate for us at 6 AM. It is always worth asking!

Quebrada Gonzales - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

An early start is necessary here if one wants to find a lot of bird species, since Quebrada Gonzales is only around 500 meters above sea level. Only one trail has been cut here, a small loop that gains some elevation but is generally very easy to navigate. In some areas there is good visibility into the understorey or midstorey levels.

Birding at Quebrada Gonzales - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

I had a number of bird species on my wish list for the morning, of which Olive-backed Quail-Dove and Lattice-tailed Trogon were top of the list. This would most likely be our only time exploring the Caribbean foothills at this elevation on the trip.

The morning began with calm conditions and a decent amount of birdsong. A Streak-chested Antpitta belted out his song from somewhere unseen, as did a Streak-crowned Antvireo, a new one for us. We rounded a corner and a dark shape furtively moved to the side of the path. Fortunately for us it walked back onto the trail and I quickly realized it was one my main target species - an Olive-backed Quail-Dove! Walking quiet forest tracks early in the morning sure has its perks.

Olive-backed Quail-Dove - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

The great birds continued to appear before us. A male Snowcap perched at the top of a dead snag for a few seconds before flying off. A nice variety of wren species included some relatively tame Stripe-breasted Wrens. And little groups of Tawny-crested Tanagers moved through the low tangles.

Stripe-breasted Wren - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

Tawny-crested Tanagers - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

A little while later we encountered a mixed flock. As is usually the case it starts with one or two birds, which becomes ten birds, and within a few minutes you are surrounded by them! I heard the tell-tale call notes of a White-throated Shrike-Tanager - a species that often leads mixed flocks - and Laura and I enjoyed excellent looks at this unique species. We ended up observing at least three individuals with mixed flocks throughout the morning, and other birders seem to echo that sentiment that the species is quite reliable here.

White-throated Shrike-Tanager - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

While we were watching the flock I noticed two tiny parrotlets fly over, calling. I deduced that they were Red-fronted Parrotlets, a species that I had never seen before. This species is generally quite scarce and difficult to find across its range which includes the mountains of western Panama and Costa Rica so it was a nice surprise to see at Quebrada Gonzales! If only the looks were better than two tiny backlit parrotlets...

We were just past the halfway point of the loop when Laura made an exciting discovery - a small snake at the edge of the trail! This is a Lower-montane Green Racer (Drymobius melanotropis).

Lower-montane Green Racer (Drymobius melanotropus) - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

Lizards began appearing in sunny patches as we completed the loop, now that the sun had crested the mountains.

Holcosus festivus - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

Our quail-dove luck continued a few minutes later when I spotted a dark shape roosting down the slope. I finally managed an angle through the maze of branches and we realized that this was the rarest of the three quail-doves found here - the Chiriqui Quail-Dove.

Chiriqui Quail-Dove - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

The action did not end there! We found another mixed flock which contained many of the same species from earlier in the morning. I moved off the trail after chasing down a weird sounding trogon and stumbled across a small antswarm. I quickly got Laura's attention and we enjoyed watching Bicolored, Spotted and Ocellated Antbirds!

Bicolored Antbird - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

We even heard a Lattice-tailed Trogon singing from here - that was what originally called me off of the trail - but it would not appear for us.

Anolis sp. - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

We finished the loop by hearing and seeing our first Nightingale Wren in a trailside tangle, capping off a very successful loop. My only regret is that we did not see a Lattice-tailed Trogon.

We grabbed food from the car and relaxed for a bit before heading back into the forest for another loop. It was getting close to mid-day and a few other tourists were arriving, eager to enjoy what was turning into a beautiful day.

The warmer temperatures limited bird activity on our second loop and we only added a few new species to the day-list. Butterfly watching remained excellent, however.

Nessaea sp. - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

Only 1/3 of the way around the loop I heard the song of another Lattice-tailed Trogon. I was not about to let this one get away and indeed, a few minutes later we were looking at him, singing from his perch in the middle branches of a large tree.

Lattice-tailed Trogon - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

The Lattice-tailed Trogon is thinly distributed, mainly in the lower foothills on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and western Panama. It isn't easily found in too many locations and Quebrada Gonzales is one of the main areas that visiting birders try for this species. Even still, quite a few birders "dip" on it here as well.

We really enjoyed our time with this Lattice-tailed, studying the intricacies of its plumage and its song.

Lattice-tailed Trogon - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

The rest of the loop was relatively uneventful, though we did walk through one other mixed flock that contained a Cinnamon Woodpecker and a few other new species.

Cinnamon Woodpecker - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

Mostly though, we watched for insects and herps near the end of the hike as the day had really warmed up.

Tybalmia sp. - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

Anolis limifrons - PN Braulio Carrillo, San José, Costa Rica

Quebrada Gonzales was an excellent stop for us, one that we really enjoyed. It is too bad that there is only the one loop trail but in our experience it was largely devoid of other tourists and quite birdy (and herpy!). If you can speak a little Spanish, it is definitely worth it to ask one of the rangers about visiting early the next morning, since it makes all the difference at this elevation.

I will close this post with a few photos that I took the next morning around the hotel in Guapiles. I observed 58 species in an hour the next morning, which is the same total number of species that we found in our entire morning at Quebrada Gonzales. It just goes to show how easy it is to rack up a big list in disturbed habitats in the lowlands, compared to the generally difficult birding deep in the forest (even though, in the long run, there is much more diversity to see in the forest).

I lucked into my first pair of Gray-crowned Yellowthroats in a field beside the hotel; a great start to my walk. I also heard my first Black-throated Wrens in a few locations as well.