I'm over half-way through my stay here but things just seem to get better and better. On a free morning, I walked a trail no-one had visited in several months to see if it was accessible. I had a few birds but, close to the end, I heard the distinctive growl of a jaguar right next to the trail! I've been accompanying the annual Wings tour led by Rich Hoyer the past five days. Whilst we had multiple good species, including Fiery-tailed Awlbill, Bare-eyed Antbird, Zigzag Heron, two Great Potoos, and a heard-only Pavonine Cuckoo, my personal highlight was seeing an Ocelot during a spotlighting trip along the river. Then, just as the cats seemed to be getting the upperhand, this morning's birds blew me away. First of all, I found a hummingbird I didn't recognise in the Secret Garden and Rich identified it as a female Blue-chinned Sapphire, a lifer which is not yet on the local list although we are only just outside its normal range. After that, I went to investigate a mixed flock and found a Collared Puffbird looking down at me, only to turn around and see a Grey Tinamou walk slowly away along the trail. That wasn't all though as I then made a fourth attempt at seeing the Black Manakin, a new species for the area found by Rich two years ago and recently seen again by another group along the Manakin trail. After half an hour of watching and imitating displaying Flame-crowned Manakins, an adult male Black Manakin zipped past and sat briefly on a branch in full view, disappearing again before I could get a photo. That's two lifers in one morning!
