A Quick Trip to the North Coast of Honduras

               After the Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz ended, I caught a ride up to Pico Bonito Lodge on the north coast of Honduras with John van Dort, a Dutch ex-pat field ornithologist employed by Zamarano University for studying wildlife impacts at a wind energy project in Honduras, and Mayron Mejía, the president of ASHO (the Honduran Ornithological Association).  They were meeting with others, including representatives of the President, for a final planning meeting for the Honduras Birding for Conservation Tour.  I was tagging along so I see one of the locations where I’ll be staying during the Tour, and so I could later catch a ride with Oliver Komar down to Tegucigalpa. 

               John, Mayron, and I stopped for lunch at Rio Santiago Nature Reserve.  It is world-renowned for its hummingbirds.  About 25 different species of hummingbird have been recorded there.  Many of those birds are easy to see because the reserve has dozens and dozens and dozens of hummingbird feeders.  While eating lunch, we saw 7 species of hummingbird.  After lunch, we took a short hike to see if we could find the Spectacled Owls that nest in the area.  We saw both adults! 

We saw two Spectacled Owls at Rio Santiago Reserve, Honduras.

Photo Credit: Macauley Library photo ML37693411 and John van Dort.  

               We then continued on to the Pico Bonito lodge.  Many of the organizers, birding judges, local guides, and representatives from several governmental departments (including the office of the President) gathered there to plan additional details of the Conservation Tour and to give a press conference about it.  While all of that happened, I got to do some birding around the area.  On Tuesday morning, I birded for a couple hours with John van Dort.  Many of the bird species here are very different from the ones that occur around the Lake Yojoa area.  I also got to see some great Honduran mammals including Agoutis and Spider Monkeys (two adults and a very small juvenile).

               On Wednesday morning most of the assembled group had their main meeting and press conference.  So, I had a chance to go birding into Pico Bonito National Park with Katinka Domen from Beaks and Peaks Adventure and Birding Tours.  Her partner, William Orellana, is one of the Honduran guides for the Conservation Tour (and he was sequestered in the meetings). 

               Katinka and I headed toward the Tango Trail that leaves the Pico Bonito Lodge property and enters a small sliver of Pico Bonito National Park at 5am – well before daylight.  I had a little trepidation about some of the snakes that tend to be more nocturnal, and even about some of the several species of large cat (including Jaguar) occur here.  We managed to get to the start of the Tango Trail at about 5:45am just as it was getting light. 

Pico Bonito National Park encompasses more than 1,000 square kilometers of the high and rugged Cordillera Nombre de Dios mountains just inland from the north, Caribbean coast of Honduras.  Most of the National Park is completely inaccessible, with no roads and very few trails that just nibble at the edges.  The Tango Trail is one of these, climbing up the lower elevations of the slope through pristine wet forest. 

              This trail deserves its own t-shirt: I survived the Tango Trail in Pico Bonito National Park.  It is a tough, rugged hike.  The trail is not well traveled (almost unnoticeable in some places) because very few people make it in here to hike.  It includes steep sections of up and down switch-backs, and it traverses along some steep slopes.  It's the rainy season, and it has rained a lot lately.  The trail was muddy and the rocks slippery.  At one point, I slipped on a rock, and started sliding face-first down the side of a steep slope.  Luckily, I managed to turn around to feet-first in mid slide and only went down the side a few meters.  When I clambered back up to the trail, Katinka said, “hey, didn’t you used to wear glasses?”  So, I had to search around and found my glasses just a little ways down the slope in the thick vegetation. 

Katinka Domen of Beaks and Peaks Adventure and Birding

Tours recording some less familiar bird species on the

Tango Trail in Pico Bonito National Park, Honduras.

Photo credit: Jody Enck.

               We encountered some feeding flocks of birds containing a number of species that do not occur lower down on the Pico Bonito Lodge property and trails.  These included, Ant-Tanagers, Ant-Shrikes, Foliage Gleaners, and others.  We saw two species of Manakins, many Woodcreepers (not related to the Brown Creepers familiar to North Americans), various warblers, and hummingbirds.  We even documented three individual Fan-tailed Warblers, which are not known to occur anywhere near this part of Honduras.

               Another exciting encounter involved a monkey.  He came crashing through the tree crowns growling and beating branches with a stick.  I guess he was trying to chase us away.  We took a few pictures and I got a short video.  Then we left him in peace.

A reminder that we were visiting the habitat of other animals.  Video credit: Jody Enck.

               At another point on the steep trail, a couple of downed trees blocked the way.  Katinka left behind her binoculars, camera, and other gear she was carrying, and crawled through the downfall to try to see if we could get through.  A few minutes later, she returned and said, “follow me, but be careful about which branches you grab onto as some have spines that are nasty.” 

Katinka Domen of Beaks and Peaks Adventure and Birding Tours crawling through

a blowdown on the Tango Trail in Pico Bonito National Park, Honduras.  She is just

left of center in this picture.  Photo credit: Jody Enck.

              

Just downstream from Unbelievable Falls in Pico Bonito

National Park, Honduras.  We had to wade/swim the river

just to the left of this picture to cross to the other side.

Photo credit: Jody Enck.

We had to cross a cold, very swiftly-flowing mountain river twice on this trail.  The first time was just below the beautiful “Unbelievable Falls.”  Because of the exceptional rains in recent days, this crossing was much more treacherous than usual according to Katinka.  It took us some time to find a relatively safe place to try to cross and to slide down 8-10 foot-high rocks to get down to the river from the bank.  The place we chose to cross was just a little below hip deep, but was running very fast.  We put our cameras and other things we didn’t want to get too wet in the little back pack I was carrying, and waded across.  We had to reach under the water to try to grab onto rocks to keep from being swept down the rapids.  Really fun!

               The second river crossing was farther downstream where the river is deeper and wider.  Both crossings were accomplished safely, and they added a lot to the experience of the morning.  For some reason (my tongue is in my cheek here), tourists usually don’t hike this trail.  It was probably the toughest hike I had ever experienced, but it was exhilarating and made me feel alive.  The birds, mammals, frogs, and even one snake we saw in this nearly untouched area made it an experience I will never forget.