This is our last day at the hotel and we do some people watching while eating our breakfast. The people that we watch are some interesting ones doing watersports quite far away on the ocean. We are quite surprised at their courage but it seems they know what they are doing as they progress first in one direction and then back.
We also say goodbye to the many birds near the ocean, we are going up in the mountains so we won’t see any grackles anymore but night herons, who knows? There is a lake at Rancho Primavera so with some luck we might be able to see some.
It is about an hour drive to Rancho Primavera on roads we mostly know from the festival tours. Still we now can take a closer look at the hotels along the way, some are quite beautiful with flowers outside or some beautiful decorations.
On the way we stop at a Los Arcos overlook that we passed multiple times with the tours without stopping. This time we stop for a better look at them from the shore, it is a nice view but of course not as impressive as when we approached it via the boat tour.
We pass a few more sights we recognize, the road to Boca de Tomatlan, the Botanical Garden and the Macaw Sanctuary. We even stop for a few photos at the Botanical Garden before moving on.
Many of the restaurants we saw open the day before are closed on Monday but a recommended bakery is open and we buy something to eat as breakfast and for dinner.
And then we arrive at El Tuito, the largest town in the area. We pass through it and on narrow street and near the Central Plaza, our hope is we will have more time to explore the next day.
Some of the weirder sights along the way is a controlled fire for which they are just putting signs to stop and we make it safely through before they close the road. Then closer to the ranch is a farm for raising roosters for cock fighting or at leat that is what we were told. It is a weird place as the roosters have their own little house to hide from the sun and in general seem well fed and cared for.
Soon we are at the entrance of the ranch and we have to cross the creek which luckily is quite small at the moment with very little water flowing on the road. This part was the one we were most afraid off but we knew from the previous day that it isn’t that bad currently.
Our room is not ready when we arrive so we settle in to watch the birds. There are quite a few interesting ones and without that many people around they are easily to photograph.
We also explore the flowers to look for butterflies, there are quite a few of them, and just enjoy the views from the unofficial visitor center where everyone arrives to check in.
We continue stalking the feeders with many of the usual (at least here) birds coming in. We see so many saltators and golden-cheeked woodpeckers that at some point we take photos only of the most striking ones, the ones that are clear visible or the the ones that are doing something interesting.
Some of the rarer, at least based on what we have seen till now, birds are the beautiful Streak-backed Oriole and the very grumpy looking Stripe-headed Sparrow.
Of course there are also many hummingbirds coming to the hummingbirds feeders, and weirdly woodpeckers and other birds also, and we notice the same four species repeatedly from which a few are new to us. The Cinnamon Hummingbird is one of the new ones and is quite beautifully cinnamon colored in the right light. And then as we walk around we almost get a heart attack when we look up and see an Western Spiny-Tailed Iguana in the tree. It looks to be stalking some birds but maybe it is just hiding from us, who knows.
Finally the host announces that the cleaning of our cabin is done and we can make our way to it. The cabin is larger than we expected with an expansive living area and a beautiful balcony as well as a large kitchen.
The beds also look ok however they are quite hard, it feels like we are sleeping on the floor and we are black and blue in the morning on the side that we sleep on.
We are impatient to go out and explore but first we have to eat something. What we got from the bakery fits the bill and we eat a few of the pastries while watching the lake from the patio.
As usual there are lots of whistling ducks with a few ibises and a lonely cormorant hiding between them. The Ringed Kingfisher is also present and quite focal as it overflies the lake multiple times looking for food.
As we start on our exploration along the lake we also see the green heron that lives near the pond and the least grebe which is also a year long resident based on what we discussed with host.
We then start exploring other habitats with a few more birds added to our counts, some new for Rancho Primavera but nothing new for us completely.
This doesn’t make it less exciting though as we see a ferruginous pygmy-owl, an exciting find on any day! It also sits there for what feels hours giving us some great looks and enabling us to take some great photos.
It is late afternoon as we make our way towards the trail that was recommended, the Ridge Trail. Practically we return on the car road on foot towards the visitor center where the trail starts. On the way we see the macaws again that are doing their best to open a door…..to get in a pen with chicken.
As we walk along we take many pictures both of landscapes and wildlife. It is a beautiful ranch and quite safe also with doors being left unlocked and everyone greeting everyone.
Our exploration of the Ridge Trail is a bit unsuccessful from a birding perspective. We cannot find the Citreoline Trogon that we were hoping for nor any other special bird that supposedly enjoys this habitat.
But in the end it was just an exploratory hike the main hike on the trail is tomorrow. We wanted to understand how long it is and if we can find the loop trail and in general to get a feel of the jungle.
From this end of the trail we see the actual ranch house, it is quite impressive and we are not sure how to best pass it without disturbing. Our chosen route is not the best and we get caught in weeds before arriving at the feeders. The next day we ask and the answer is, you can just pass past it, no issues :). But for now we return past the mango trees back to our cabin to wait for the night to come.
One of the hints our guide gave us the previous day was that a specific spot a Northern Potoo was seen multiple times. So at night we make our way there to the sound of owls and lo and behold there it is, a very rare Northern Potoo!!! We stay a short while to not disturb it too much and then return to the house where we do a bit of moth and gecko eating moth watching before it is time to sleep as tomorrow we want to wake up early.
