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The Best Places to See Toucans in Costa Rica are Also Great Places for Birding

There are 6 species of toucans in Costa Rica and birders visiting Costa Rica will be pleased to learn that most of them are fairly common! Colorful, big, and bold, these fancy birds are larger than life. On account of their fantastic appearance, these big-beaked birds have acted as inspiration for characters on everything from cereal boxes to marketing for a number of tropical destinations (Costa Rica included).

In Costa Rica, these surreal and wonderful birds occur in nearly every type of forested habitat. Three species live in the lowland tropical rainforests on the Caribbean slope. They include the bird with the rainbow-colored bill, the Keel-billed Toucan,

birding Costa Rica Keel-billed Toucan

the Yellow-throated Toucan (formerly known as the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and the Black-mandibled Toucan),

and the Collared Aracari.

This Collared Aracari was at Dave and Dave’s.

Just above the lowlands, the elusive Yellow-eared Toucanet lurks in the foothill and lower middle elevation forests of the Caribbean slope.

Not nearly as common as the other toucan species, pairs of this special bird prefer to forage inside the forest and rarely come into the open. Some of the better spots for them are forests in the Arenal area, Volcan Tenorio, and the foothills of Braulio Carrillo National Park.

Higher still, we have a chance at seeing the beautiful Northern Emerald Toucanet. Smaller than other members of its family, this pint-sized green toucan is a common denizen of highland forests. Listen for its barking call and you might see one.

Birding in Costa Rica

It helps that they also visit fruit feeders!

On the Pacific slope, Collared Aracaris also occur in forests of the Nicoya Peninsula and in some parts of Guanacaste. They share some space with Keel-billed Toucans in areas of moist forest, including sites in the Central Valley.

In the Central Valley and southern Pacific slope, Collared Aracaris are replaced by the flashy Fiery-billed Aracari. This near endemic is especially common in areas with humid forest. It shares such places on the south-Pacific slope with the Yellow-throated Toucan.

birding Costa Rica

Although these toucan species occur at many sites, the places where they are most common are areas with extensive tropical forests replete with large trees used for nesting and as food sources. Since toucans are also omnivorous, their populations fare much better in high quality habitats that can provide them with plenty of fruit and small creatures. In Costa Rica, that would mean larger areas of mature tropical forest.

This is why we tend to find more toucans in Costa Rica in places like the Osa Peninsula, lowland and foothill rainforests in the Sarapiqui region, near Boca Tapada, Rincon de la Vieja, Monteverde, and forests in Limon province. More toucans usually means more of other wildlife because good numbers of these real life cartoony birds are indicative of healthy tropical forest that likewise provides habitat for hundreds of other birds, plants, and animals.

Such sites can be good places to look for manakins, cotingas, tinamous, and many other species that require healthy forest, including two species that prey on toucans; Ornate and Black-and-white Hawk-Eagles.

To find more toucans and the best places to see birds in Costa Rica, use this Costa Rica bird finding guide. I hope you have a wonderful birding trip to Costa Rica and hope to see you here!

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Some Costa Rica Birding News, March 2022

As March comes to an end, so does another high season for birding in Costa Rica. Quite a few trips happen in April and birders will still be visiting in the coming months but most folks are here from January until the end of March. With that in mind, whether headed to Costa Rica soon or at a later date, here’s a bit of birding news to help with your trip.

Turquoise Cotinga at Jaco

Topping this latest bit of Costa Rica birding news is the occurrence of a male Turquoise Cotinga near Jaco. Although this fantastic near endemic does naturally occur in that area, it is much more easily seen in the Osa Peninsula and other sites in southern Costa Rica. The bird has been frequenting a fruiting tree in the rice fields on the road to the Rainforest Aerial Tram (the Teleferico). It’s impossible to say how long it will stick around but who knows, with some birding luck, it will be joined by another male or female. If you go for it but don’t see this feathered beauty, consolation could come in the form of the good birding typically found at that site.

If you aren’t visiting the Jaco area and want to see Turquoise Cotinga (and of course you do) not to worry, there are other, more reliable sites for this mega. A couple of the best are around San Isidro del General, forest in the Osa Peninsula, and, for more adventurous birders, forest in the northern side of Carara near Macaw Lodge.

Other Cotinga News

The equally turquoise, purple, and coveted Lovely Cotinga is still being seen at or near Rancho Naturalista. Other good sites for it include the Tenorio-Bijagua area, El Copal, and other sizeable areas of middle elevation forest on the Caribbean slope. Forest at around 1,000 to 1,400 meters elevation seems to be especially good for this choice species.

Snowy and Yellow-billed Cotingas are also being seen in their usual haunts. If birding the Carara area, the best way to see the few remnant members of the local Yellow-billed Cotinga population is by watching for them from 7 to 8:30 in the morning from the tower at Cerro Lodge, along the Cerro Lodge Road, or from the Crocodile Bridge. Likewise, you may see them in those same areas between 3 and 4:30 p.m. These are the times when this endangered species moves between the Tarcoles mangroves and the rainforests of the national park.

Bare-necked Umbrellabird has been showing at Curi-Cancha, I wonder if a few additional birds might be frequenting the beautiful cloud forests of the Santa Elena Reserve?

Thanks to its frequent seriously loud voice, the Three-wattled Bellbird is much easier to locate and see than the other cotingas. This is also a good time of year to marvel over the male’s bizarre, worm-like wattles. Watch for it in the Monteverde area and sites near San Ramon (contact Ignacio at Nacho Tours!).

How to See More Hawk-Eagles

Hawk-eagles are like big, hefty goshawks with cool plumage patterns and a penchant to give distinctive whistled calls while soaring high above tghe tropical forest. That seems to make sense because if I could fly, I mean, I think I would do the same thing. Can you imagine the view?!?. Knowing about that behavior is one way to see more of them. The other big factor is knowing where they occur. In general, both Black and Ornate Hawk-Eagles live in large areas of rainforest and cloud forest. The Black also occurs in patchy forest and may even prefer this type of habitat.

As for the Black-and-white, based on the decrease in sightings of this species in Costa Rica over the past twenty years, it has certainly declined and disappeared from various areas. Since this species doesn’t seem to vocalize as much as the other hawk-eagles, and tends to hide in plain sight by soaring high overhead, it being somewhat overlooked can’t be entirely discounted. Even so, this large bird and reptile specialist does seem to have declined. Amazingly, it might even be gone from the Osa Peninsula. Given fairly recent declines in populations of medium and large birds that it requires as a food source, populations of this hawk-eagle in Costa Rica aren’t likely to bounce back any time soon.

A Black-and-white Hawk Eagle flying high into the sky.

At present, the best sites to look for it in Costa Rica are in the forests of the Amistad National Park north and west of San Vito, and Veragua and other forested sites near Limon. Other areas to check include the forests of Sarapiqui, northern Costa Rica, and around Braulio Carrillo National Park. As a bonus, there is one bird that has been frequenting the Bosque del Nino area north of Grecia (!). Keep an eye out for it when birding Poas!

Want Hummingbirds? Check Flowering Trees

Brown Violetear

Hummingbirds don’t always visit feeders. Lately, there haven’t been as many hummingbirds at Cinchona but there have been more flowering Ingas and other trees that our favorite little nectivores are probably feeding on. Yesterday, while birding near Albergue del Socorro, the chipping calls of lekking Brown Violetears were a constant, common sound and I heard a few other hummingbird species that have been absent from the feeders at Cinchona. Look for flowering trees and work on your hummingbird identification skills. Keep an eye out for the likes of coquettes, thorntails, goldentails, and other species.

To know where cotingas and other birds have been seen, eBird is a good go to source. Even so, keep in mind that in Costa Rica, there’s a lot of excellent habitat that sees few if any eBird visits. The birds are there too, go there and you will see some of them, maybe a lot of them. However, even then, it helps to know how to look for uncommon birds like cotingas and hawk-eagles. Get ready for your birding trip to Costa Rica and support this blog by purchasing How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica, a 700 plus page ebook with tips and site information to find every species in Costa Rica. I hope to see you here!

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San Luis Adventure Park- Birding In Costa Rica At Its Best

Where’s the best birding in Costa Rica? The answer can be elusive; it depends on the observer, what you want to see and how you want to experience Costa Rica birds.

Sunbittern
Birds like the Sunbittern for example.

Even so, by merit of outstanding habitat or propensity to facilitate seeing lots of cool birds (aren’t they all?), some places stand out . One such place has been making the local birding news for the past few months. It isn’t new and the birds I am about to mention have always been there but because the site is not on the regular birding circuit, it has been very much overlooked.

That place is the San Luis Adventure Park and if you can fit it into your birding trip to Costa Rica, by all means do it. San Luis was started some 15 years ago by four local guys who wanted to start a tourism business in beautiful surroundings. They picked a site with cloud forests located between the city of San Ramon and the tourism hotspot of Fortuna. To make a long story short, this ended up being the perfect choice both for their business venture and for local wildlife. Their business has been successful, and on account of being aware of the importance of protecting biodiveristy and fostering a conservation mindset, the birding in the cloud forests of San Luis is as accessible as it is fantastic.

Some reasons why you might want to include the San Luis Adventure Park on your next trip to Costa Rica:

High Quality Middle Elevation Forest

The better the forest, the better the birding. Another way of saying that is that the more mature and extensive the forest, the more diverse and healthy it is. Mature tropical forest composed of massive trees provides the array of microhabitats and food sources necessary to sustain the full complement of bird species that have evolved to live in such habitats. For the birder visiting San Luis Canopy, this translates to chances at seeing large and speciose mixed flocks, Collared Trogon, Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, Dull-mantled Antbird, and many others (including Sunbittern along the river).

Collared Trogon

Access

San Luis isn’t the only site with high quality forest but it’s one of the few places where such habitat is easily accessible. Located on the main route that links San Ramon to Fortuna, it only takes a bit more than an hour to drive there from the airport, or an hour and 30 or 40 minutes from Fortuna. This also makes it easily accessible by public bus.

Some birding is possible from the parking area but the best birding is along the trail. This is a well maintained trail with some areas of steps and several bridges that allow views into the forest canopy. It starts at a deck that often has tanagers coming in to fruit and shortly after, accesses a hummingbird viewing area. Folks with mobility issues won’t be able to do the trail but they can still see quite a few tanagers and other birds from the viewing deck and even from the parking area.

Photos of Tanagers

Speaking of tanagers, this is one of the best sites to get close looks and shots of Emerald, Bay-headed, and Speckled Tanagers.

Speckled Tanager

Tawny-capped Euphonia is also regular and when nearby trees have fruit, the viewing deck can also be good for Black-and-Yellow and Blue-and-Gold Tanagers! Both of these special species are also regular on the forest trail.

Hummingbirds

The hummingbird viewing area can host Brown Violetear, Green-crowned Brilliant, Violet Sabrewing , Crowned Woodnymph, and other species. Once in a while, Snowcap occurs and Green Hermit, Green Thorntail, White-bellied Mountain-Gem, and Coppery-headed Emerald are regular.

Coppery-headed Emerald
Coppery-headed Emerald is one of several species commonly seen at feeders.

Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo

Whoah! Yes, one of the mega of mega tough birds to see can be encountered at San Luis Canopy! Not every day but often enough to be worth mentioning. Recently, two were seen by many visiting birders as they foraged at an antswarm. Although they didn’t show for Mary and I yesterday (no antswarms were present), I’m sure they will be seen again.

The chances of seeing a ground-cuckoo at San Luis are boosted by local guides who keep an eye out for them on the trails and relay that information back to the front desk. In fact, before we entered the trail, one of the co-owners, Nelson, was very helpful in providing us with information about the latest sightings and told us that if we wanted, we could also wait at the tanager viewing area until their guides could tell us if they were seeing the cuckoos.

Bare-necked Umbrellabird

Whoah! Yes, another major mega occurs at San Luis! Although one or two might be present year round, this very special bird seems to be much more likely and quite reliable from November to January. It can occasionally show near the parking area but is far more likely on the trail. Once again, the local guides let the front desk know where they have been seeing them.

Raptors

As is typical of sites with extensive, quality forest, San Luis can also be very good for rainforest raptors. Over the years, I have seen such species as Barred Forest-Falcon, Bicolored Hawk, White Hawk, Double-toothed Kite, Barred Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, and Black and Ornate Hawk-Eagles. This can be an especially good site for the latter fancy raptor, mostly on sunny days when it calls during soaring flight.

ornate hawk eagle
What an Ornate Hawk-Eagle looks like in high soaring flight.

Given its easy access, the San Luis Adventure Park makes for an excellent day trip from the Central Valley, or as a great way to start or end a birding trip to Costa Rica, especially for birders traveling to and from Fortuna. As a bonus, this excellent site is also near other very good areas for birding including Finca Luna Nueva, the Pocosol Station, cloud forests near San Ramon, and Lands in Love. I hope you visit this special place someday, until then, happy birding from Costa Rica.

To support this blog and prepare for your birding trip to Costa Rica, get “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica” – a 700 plus page ebook that acts as a site guide and birding companion for Costa Rica.