Mottled owls were all I heard that night, though admittedly I'm not at all familiar with bird calls down there. The Mottled owl was obvious enough that I could figure it out from the field guide. I broke camp about 4:30am as the weather was cooler than expected and I was very cold in my hammock since I didn't have room in my pack for a blanket. The moon was still up but it was very dark walking along the road. Nightjars were whizzing by my face so that I could feel the breeze but I couldn't see them. About 45 minutes before sunrise when the sky was just starting to lighten up I heard a couple Mottled Owls calling close by so I tried imitating their call and within 10 seconds one landed on a dead limb about 30 feet away, that was pretty neat.
I think I walked about 15 miles down the road before turning around and heading back to town. That got me to an area that had a large overgrown pasture on one side of the road and jungle on the other. I spent about 1 1/2 hours on that 200 yard stretch at sunrise.
I don't believe I saw anything terribly uncommon but some of the highlights along the road for me, just because they were birds I thought were neat, were long billed gnat-wren, barred ant shrike, all 4 (or was it 5?) wood creepers shown in that range, black headed and violaceous trogons, olive and green backed sparrows (I like sparrows), and lots and lots of hummingbirds (I only saw buff bellied and ruby throated).
Other highlights were getting to see an ant swarm (that's where I picked up 3 of the 4 woodcreepers) and a file of leaf cutting ants.
At first walking down the road I was disappointed when comparing it to Coba. The forest seems much younger with a less dense canopy and a lot more undergrowth. I found Coba much more enjoyable and scenic for walking around and within the forest itself I thought Coba seemed to have more bird activity during all hours of the day. Even at sunrise and sunset Vigia Chico road seemed nearly dead where it was bordering forest on both sides while Coba seemed, even in the middle of the day, to have a fair about of bird activity. And Coba had noticeably more at sunrise and sunset.
But what Vigia Chico road did have going for it was a lot of varied habitat and edges. After the first few hours I didn't think I was going to see many birds along Vigia Chico that I hadn't already seen at Coba, but as the miles rolled by and I walked through areas that went from dense forest to not so dense forest and to fields and pastures the species kept piling up.
Coba was a great place for a nice walk in the woods and the birding wasn't shabby at all (only place I saw a turquoise browed motmot and collared arcari). I got there around noon one day and left at 3pm the next afternoon and had no problem filling the time with exploring. I do like to walk though. Vigia Chico road did offer more birds but it wasn't as scenic or enjoyable to walk.
There are some pictures on my Flickr page. Some birding pics but most of them are just general stuff.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7935459@N05/sets/72157632676314912/
Alan
Alan
