web analytics
Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica Costa Rica bird finding guide

Costa Rica Birding News, October, 2022

October. It’s the threshold of winter, Halloween, and pumpkins (with all of their orange colored spice). By the cool breeze from the north and the slowing down of deciduous trees, the birds know the deal is up. They know it’s past time to have fattened up and made the journey south. Indeed, up north, most of the first migrants have already paid heed to instincts and fled to the tropics. Thrushes, warblers, vireos, flycatchers, and Scarlet Tanagers; most have gone, many have made it to Costa Rica.

A fair number are here on winter territory, searching for insects in tropical trees and avoiding the eyes of Bat Falcons and creeping Vine Snakes. Others are just stopping off to fuel up and continue to the incredible forests of the Amazon, or to find a sweet wintering spot in mossy rainforest of the Andes.

Rainforests at Bosque del Rio Tigre-excellent wintering habitat.

In a few months, a number of birders will also make a temporary migration to Costa Rica. They will visit to delve into tropical birding, watch toucan antics while delighting in the coffee fruits of volcanic soils, and photograph Purple-throated Mountain-gems (like the multicolored bird featured above). The birds are awaiting, I can promise you that! Here’s some other news items from October, 2022, Costa Rica.

Very Heavy Rains=Tragic Flooding and Road Closures

October in Costa Rica is bird migration but it can also be a month of rains. The rains from this past October have gone from being exceptional to extreme. Sadly, in the Central Pacific region, more rain fell in a day or two than typically falls over the course of the entire month. We’re talking about a country where it normally rains every afternoon of every day in October, we’re talking about a horrible deluge.

During the past week, so much rain came slamming down in the central and southern Pacific regions, parts of the town of Jaco flooded. Flooding also occured near Parrita and in some other areas, and landslides affected several roads. Although people weren’t swept away like the terrible climate crisis induced floods in Nigeria, Pakistan, and other places, in Costa Rica, a number of people have lost everything, businesses have been terribly affected, and many roads have been damaged.

Those roads will likely be fixed well before the high season but if visiting Costa Rica over the news few weeks, you will need to pay close attention to information about road closures. Keep an eye on whatever driving app you may use, especially if traveling anywhere on Cerro de la Muerte, Route 32, and other mountain roads, and anywhere from Tarcoles south to Panama.

Arctic Terns near Shore, Fewer Migrants?

Arctic Tern from a few years back.

On the bird migration scene, one of the more interesting sightings has been that of Arctic Terns on the central Pacific Coast. At least a few (and maybe more) were documented by local birders in the Playa Hermosa area, foraging close to shore. Typically, in Cosa Rica, this species is a bird of pelagic waters although perhaps they occur closer to shore more often than expected? Were they overlooked in the less birded past? Who knows but in any case, this us always an uncommon species for Costa Rica.

As far as other migrants go, some local birders have wondered if we are seeing fewer numbers. Although various factors cloud accurate assessment of abundance during migration, given the effects of climate disruption, insect decline, and other nasty factors on breeding grounds and migration routes, yeah, I bet we are seeing fewer birds. That would match the latest State of the Birds Assessment that shows continued declines in many species.

Off hand, I have had a strong impression of far fewer Cliff Swallows than other years and can’t help but wonder if this is related to so much of their western breeding areas being impacted by climate-change induced drought and heat waves. I have seen quite a few vireos and pewees but perhaps less than in previous years, and although there have been many Swainson’s Thrushes, there still doesn’t seem to be as many as in other years.

Hopefully, there will be good numbers of wintering birds; we do have a good amount of habitat for them.

Southern Nicoya Peninsula= Probable Migrant Hotspot

Once again, the southern Nicoya yields a rare for Costa Rica migrant. On October Global Big Day, Wilfreddo Villalobos found a small group of Bobolinks! The smart looking hay meadow birds might be regular up north but in Costa Rica, you would be lucky to add it to your country list. In common with other migrant hotspots, the southern Nicoya Peninsula is bordered on each side by water and thus could possibly act act as a “funnel” for migrants, or at least attract lost birds flying over the Pacific Ocean.

Any migrant effect isn’t as pronounced as that of the famed hotspots but the place certainly does attract rare migrants every year. I wonder what else is hiding in the tropical forests of that fun, underbirded area? What would a birder see while seawatching from the coast near Cabuya? Go and see what you find!

Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo and Other Rare Resident Birds

The ground-cuckoo has been seen again at antswarms at the Pocosol Station. Honestly, this is no surprise, nor would it be surprising to find them at swarms in other suitable areas but given how generally difficult it is to see this species, it’s always good to know where and when they are being seen.

Another rare resident species seeen recently was a Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle at Nectar and Pollen (!). Lucky local birders had excellent looks at one that took to the air right in front of them! This site and other nearby sites are good places to look for this species but you still need a lot of luck to see one.

Newly Updated, Second Edition of Costa Rica Bird Finding Guide Now Available!

On a personal note, it took a while but the second edition of “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica” is finally edited, updated, and available. Since the previous edition was more than 700 pages, one might not expect much more could be said about birding sites in Costa Rica. One could easily be wrong.

This edition includes:

  • Updated information on strategies to find and see tropical birds in Costa Rica, including the best ways to see uncommon and rare species.
  • Updated lists of birds to expect, birds to not expect, birds that could be splits, and more.
  • Updated information for dozens of sites to watch birds in Costa Rica.
  • Several new sites throughout the country.
  • Several updated sample itineraries.
  • Local insider, accurate information about finding birds in Costa Rica.

At more than 900 pages, this book is a tome of birding information meant to enhance every birding trip and birding tour to Costa Rica. One of the benefits of this book is that since it is digital, it doesn’t weigh anything and any subject matter can be easily searched from the table of contents or within the text of the book.

This Costa Rica birding site guide e-book is perfect for birders and bird photographers of all levels planning a birding trip to Costa Rica, wanting to learn more about the birds of Costa Rica, and hoping to see more birds in Costa Rica. Not to mention, every purchase helps keep this blog going. As always, I hope to see you here!

If you purchased the first version in 2022, let me know and I’ll send you the updated version for free. If you bought the book before 2022, this updated, second version is available for $9.00.

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica caribbean slope planning birding trip Costa Rica preparing for your trip where to find birds in Costa Rica Where to see birds in Costa Rica

Birding in Costa Rica on Paradise Road

The concept of paradise may be subjective but most would agree that it encompasses feelings of happiness in absolutely beautiful surroundings. Most would also equate those beautiful surroundings with natural beauty, often, tropical places with textured vegetation that appeases in a dozen shades of jade. However, peaceful green isn’t the only color on the paradise block. It’s a lovely garden au-naturelle highlighted with the purples, yellows, and deep reds of tropical flowers, and the plumages of “exotic” birds.

In Costa Rica, those birds include toucans, parrots, tanagers, and a few dozen hummingbirds, each adorned with their own set of refracted jewels.

Crowned Woodnymph is one of the more common rainforest hummingbirds in Costa Rica.

With so much tropical beauty beaing easily accessible, refering to birding in Costa Rica as a certain type of paradise becomes easy. Perhaps it’s no surprise that some places have “paradise” as part of their name. In celebration of October Global Big Day, 2022, my partner and I birded one such place in southeastern Costa Rica, a site known as “Paradise Road“.

Paradise Road is a rural gravel road that connects the coastal road near Punta Uva with another route that leads to Sixaola and the border with Panama. I’ve done some birding on it in the past but never at dawn and never enough for my liking. I guess I end up feeling that way about most sites that host extensive habitat, and especially when they see very little birding.

On this trip, I was pleased to finally bird this road at dawn. These were some highlights:

Owl Chorus

birding Costa Rica

Most lowland tropical forest sites are good for owls and other nocturnal birds. You can spend hours at night looking for and finding some but the best time to hear them call is just before dawn, say from 4 until 5, maybe most of all from 4:30 to 5:00.

On our morning, shortly after our 4:30 arrival, a Middle American Screech-Owl started trilling close by, a Crested Owl vocalized a couple of times, and the mournful whistles of a Common Potoo sounded off in the humid distance. Closer to dawn, as the decibals of Howler Monkeys filled the air, the screech-owl continued, a Short-tailed Nighthawk called, and we heard Spectacled Owls gruffing from the woods.

If we had arrived earlier and maybe checked a few more sites, I’m sure we would have also heard the two other common owl species of lowland sites in Costa Rica; Mottled and Black-and-White Owls. It was also surprising to not hear Great Potoo, a fairly common bird in that area. However, we couldn’t complain with hearing the voices of four nocturnal species with such little effort.

Constant Birds

As the light grew, as is typical for morning birding in lowland rainforest, things got busy with the calls of forest birds. Woodcreepers sounded off (we eventually got all 6 possible species), a few antbirds sang, and other species revealed themselves, one by one.

There were groups of Tawny-crested Tanagers, a few Dusky-faced Tanagers, various flycatchers, Swainson’s Thrushes hopping in the road, toucans in the treetops, and a Collared Forest-Falcon calling from its hidden foliaged lair.

Dusky-faced Tanager.

From dawn until 8, it was a morning of constant birds, and I’m sure more than we managed to identify.

Migration Happenings

Many of those birds were migrants, species arriving on wintering grounds or stopping to feed before moving to the Andes and the Amazon. As expected, the most common migrants were Red-eyed Vireos and Eastern Wood-Pewees, each flitting through trees and sallying from the tips of dead snags. There were also a few swallows flying ovehead, Broad-winged Hawks taking to the air, a few warblers here and there, Scarlet Tanagers, Great-crested Flycatchers, and a Peregrine Falcon watching and waiting to see what it could catch. My favorites were the Kentucky and Mourning Warblers that skulked in their wintering territories, and, by the grace of its “chip” call, an Alder Flycatcher that made it onto my year list.

Snowy Cotingas

Thanks to good areas of lowland rainforest, the southern Caribbean zone of Costa Rica is also a good place to see Snowy Cotinga. We had wonderful views of a surreal white-plumaged male that foraged in a tree with semi-cotinga tityras and other birds.

We didn’t have anything super rare but more than 120 species in four hours is nothing to complain about. With more effort, I bet we could find uncommon and rare species like Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon, Black-crowned Antpitta, and Spot-crowned Antvireo. Not to mention, birding this road and area also comes with the odd chance of adding a species to the Costa Rica bird list. I look forward to my next visit.

On this trip, we rented a cabin at Olguita’s Place, a friendly, locally owned spot close to the beach at Punta Uva. To learn more about where to watch birds in Costa Rica, including dozens of insider sites off the beaten path, get How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica. Support this blog by buying it in October, 2022 and I’ll also send you the updated version as soon as it becomes available (it’s almost ready).

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica planning birding trip Costa Rica preparing for your trip

Better Birding in Costa Rica: Preparations for 2023

The end of the year and high season for birding in Costa Rica is still a few months away but I’m already getting ready for it. It’s raining a lot and there’s not a whole lot of birders here at the moment but in a way, the high season is already happening. Main birding hotels are filling up for dates from January through March and guides and transportation are getting booked too.

Cope’s Place books up in advance too. If you want to visit, let me know ASAP!

The following are recommendations and things I have been doing to prepare for the main birding season:

Updating a Birding Companion for Costa Rica- “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”

Editing and updating this resource has kept me pretty busy but it will be worth it. The new version will include updates for existing sites and information for many new places. With so many birding-focused sites popping up, I’m sure it won’t cover everything but it’s going to come close.

As always, the goal of this book is to help birders of all levels have a more fulfilling birding experience in Costa Rica.

The new version should be available by the end of October. If you buy the current version of this Costa Rica bird finding guide from now until the new version comes out, I’ll also send you the new version free of charge.

Updating the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide App

I have also been updating the most complete birding app for Costa Rica. Not that long ago, we updated it to include new additions like Spectacled Petrel and Lesser Black-backed Gull. However, recently, a couple of local birders discovered Buff-collared Nightjar in Costa Rica (!) and there were a few other edits to make. With that in mind, we decided to make another update, one that will hopefully be ready by the end of this month.

The new version will have:

  • Images for 941 species on the Costa Rica list.
  • Vocalizations for 870 species on the Costa Rica list.
  • Images, information, and sounds for 64 additional species that may eventually occur in Costa Rica.
Altamira-Oriole-Costa-Rica-birds-app
Altamira Oriole is one of those eventual birds for the Costa Rica list.

Birding in More Places

I have been trying to do more birding in out of the way places as well as easily accessible overlooked sites. Results have included Blue Seedeater, sites for Striped and other owls, and more. As with anywhere, the more you go birding, the more you find.

Make Reservations Now…

Just another reminder to not wait to make reservations. The most popular places are really filling up!

Plan Your Trip Around eBird?

If you still want to plan a trip, what about just planning it around eBird? While that wonderful birding platform can give you some good ideas, I wouldn’t use it as the sole resource to plan a birding route in Costa Rica. EBird is great but in Costa Rica, it’s also naturally biased towards the birding circuit and popular sites, and lists for such sites don’t have all of the birds mentioned (us reviewers are trying but there’s still a lot to do). These are the places birded the most often but other birding spots also exist, many with fantastic birding. Just remember that, as most everywhere, in Costa Rica, the best birding is where the best habitat is.

As always, I hope to see you here in Costa Rica. Hope you see a lot this October 8th on October Big Day!