Today is our last festival trip to Rancho Primavera. As an exception we are picked up at the expected time and are some of the first in the shuttle. We then pick up most of the reminder of the group at the festival hotel and on towards Rancho Primavera we go.
On the way we pass almost all locations we stopped already like the Macaw Sanctuary and the Botanical Garden and then from Tuito we go inland to reach the ranch. Only the last part of the road was a bit troublesome as we had to cross a river but it was at a very low level. Rancho Primavera itself is a horse ranch but it also rents cabins out for tourists, in fact we have booked a cabin for two nights starting the next day given the opportunity to see lots of wildlife here.
The owner is a bird lover and she has a large feeding station that attracts quite a few birds. There are lots of scary looking Golden-cheeked Woodpeckers and Yellow Grosbeaks (a first for us) when we take a first look at the feeding area.
Other birds also start coming in, the Cinnamon-bellied Saltators are quite common, and the most special one is a Lilac-crowned parrot which is quite tame, likely it is rescue bird that was released.
Two very special birds here are the Black-throated Magpie Jay, a magnificent bird, and the Blue Mockingbird, a very skulky one. We see neither of them outside of the feeding area, it seems like they simply disappear.
As we start making our way towards the trails we add a few more birds to our list like Elegant Trogons, an old nemesis from Arizona, and Military Macaws.
We then make our way towards the ponds on roads, meadows and jungle paths. In fact the pond is not that far away but we meander through different habitats searching for birds.
We approach the pond from a side so we can climb a dike first and see the birds before they fly away. The Whistling Ducks are not happy when they notice us as evidenced by the many indignant sounds and the fact that they soon fly away. However the big find here is a loud Ringed Kingfisher that decides to perch near us and make his displeasure known.
The pond, which can generously be also called a lake, is quite extensive and the guest cabins are situated on its shore. In fact if you stay here you can take the boat on the lake which was our initial plan for the next day. However the water level is too low to reach the boat so no luck for us.
Here we notice another special bird, the ivory-billed woodcreeper. it is quite non-interested in us and lingers on the same tree for a while allowing for some nice looks and photos.
As we return we also see a few orange-fronted parakeet which makes us quite happy. This is because we have heard them many times and the guides pointed in the general direction but there were no great views. Unfortunately we cannot say the same for the chacalacas, we hear them but we can barely see them through the scope, no luck for any good photos.
Before returning we have a few more minutes at the hummingbird feeders. We count four species of hummingbirds with the largest and most impressive being the Plain-capped Starthroat. And then unfortunately our trip is done and we have to return to the hotel ending the festival part of our trip. Excluding the waiting time for the buses and the uncertainty if they will ever come we think that the festival was a success with some nice areas visited and some beautiful birds seen.
