Long hike through the forest 3rd August
Today we birded further away from the lodge hiking up the hill deep into the forest. As is so often the way with forest birding, birds were slow but rewarding. Slaty-backed Forest Falcon, Round-tailed Manakin, Chestnut-winged Hookbill and Horned Screamer were all added to our list. Back at the lodge, a pair of Fine-barred Piculets, tiny woodpecker-like birds just the size of a sparrow, were feeding in a dead tree in the garden. A late afternoon walk beside the creek gave us one of our most-wanted birds, a Sungrebe, and also a nice view of a perched Bat Falcon. But our walk was cut short as the sky blackened and huge raindrops began to fall. We scurried back to the lodge just in time before an enormous cloudburst deluged the area. Dramatic thunder and lightening ensued and continued for hours, lighting up the entire area with the flashes and shaking the buildings as the storm raged directly overhead, knocking out the electricity. So we enjoyed a candlelit dinner and retired early to ride out the storm.