Leaving Asa

Well it was another great morning at Asa Wright Nature Centre, but unfortunately the time came to leave after lunch and head down to Pax Guest House. I was up early for coffee on the verandah as usual, and managed to track down the male tufted coquette again. This time got some slightly better photos, but really could do with some more practice and time. They are tricky little suckers, and at one stage we had three females zooming around the place, as well as the more common copper-rumped hummingbirds. It was pretty cool, especially when the male and female were doing some sort of courtship display.

After breakfast I spent quite a bit of time searching the trails for fer-de-lance...but still no joy. There were perfect sunlight spots on the forest floor and I covered a fair bit of ground, but to no avail! I then met up with one of the guides who was showing a couple around, and watched the male bearded bellbirds calling. This time one of the males came down quite low and i managed to get a little better shot, plus so video which I will post at some stage. Very cool. They are so damn loud it is unbelievable.

I ended up heading up the track a wee way, which was a big mistake as the guide and couple headed off in another direction and ended up seeing red-crowned ant-tanager (which I had been searching for) and a white-throated spadebill.....ahhhhhh!!! Just goes to show these local guides really know their stuff, and knowing the calls really makes a massive difference to your chance of finding stuff in these forests. A slight consolation was an awesome full solar halo which made for some nice photos.

It was then lunch time, after which I spent another hour or so searching for the ant-tanager (unsuccessfully), before then being picked up at 1330 hrs by the driver that had dropped me off at Asa Wright. We headed down the mountain, through Arima, and on to Pax Guest House. I was greeted by Gerard, shown around and then I spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the valley from the deck and the feeders along the back of the house. Got my first yellow oriole,and a few other regulars, with nice views of a zone-tailed hawk as well. A nice comfortable place and looking forward to the next few days here.