Hel Hath No Birdies

We were again up at dawn and drove up the private track from Savegre Lodge to the cloud forest trails associated with the lodge, seeing birds such as Black Cheeked Warbler and Silver Throated Tanager as we went.  Black Cheeked Warbler  Silver Throated Tanager  Volcano Hummingbird This stunning adult male Volcano Hummingbird was also present just outside our cabin and was easily the best representative of his species we saw.  Flame Coloured Tanager - Female  Yellow Thighed Finch Up on the trails we began to see birds such as Black Billed Nightingale Thrush, Spotted Woodquail and Flame Throated Warbler.  Black Billed Nightingale Thrush  Spotted Woodquail  Spotted Woodquail  Collared Redstart - A truly stunning warbler We returned to the lodge for breakfast and whilst enjoying the full buffet ticked our first Tropical Mockingbird outside the restaurant  Tropical Mockingbird Checking out of ou

Last weekend , passed in some ways quietly, in others with much activity. I started out on Saturday at Suomenoja, walking with Kuura. Lots of activity here, with plenty of Phyloscs, a couple of Lesser Whitethroat and beautiful 1st winter Red Breasted Flycatcher. From here it was on to Ämmässuo dump. I have a love/hate relationship with this place. At times it has many gulls sitting on the roof of the waste processing building. Unfortunately, only a few birders have access to the dump for counting purposes so others must be content looking from the hillside opposite. Whilst not great for the gulls, the scrub in this area can be productive, having produced Marsh Tit for me in the past. On Saturday, most of the gulls were enjoying the sunshine on the dump mound itself. I managed to find one Caspian Gull on the roof before it too mooched over to the hill. At a distance, several other birds looked interesting, but unidentifiable. It later transpired there were 5 Caspian Gull in there.

The night's sleep was again interrupted by singing Mottled Owls, which, again, remained unseen. Day 8 started out with a romantic trip to the moth light. Specially built, the concept behind these is to leave the light shining on the white surface all night, attracting a multitude of bugs. These bugs then attract in a wide variety of birds first thing in the morning to feast on them. Low light levels made identifying birds tricky and photography was all but pointless. Nonetheless some great birding was had, with species like Red Throated Ant Tanager, Bright Rumped Attilla, Scaly Breasted Leaf Tosser (no you're a scaly breasted leaf tosser) and various wrens, woodcreepers and flycatchers all making appearances. The Moth Light - Romance made manifest Bright Rumped Attila Red Throated Ant Tanager - Demonic. For obvious reasons, didn't nab many shots in the twilight Dusky Capped Flycatcher From the moth light we made our way back to the lodge for