The perceived scarcity of raptors (non-owl raptors) when birding Costa Rica is a recurring topic of conversation between birders whom I guide and myself. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the following questions and observations: “We haven’t seen many raptors other than Black and Turkey Vultures”. “We have seen motmots, lots [...]
Continue reading about Where are the raptors when birding Costa Rica?
Before going on a birding trip to some far off wonderful place where nearly everything is a lifer, we gaze at our field guides and it’s like a flashback to the Decembers of our childhoods. The bird book is like the front window of a toy store, a catalog showing bicycles, binoculars (I started birding [...]
Continue reading about Birds to know when birding Costa Rica: the Violet-crowned Woodnymph
While I was standing at a bus stop last week and wishing that I could spontaneously fabricate wormholes suitable for quick and easy transport up into the much more birdy mountains, the “seet” call of a migrant warbler caught my attention Like a secret whisper in the darkness, it was saying, “Here I am. Once [...]
Continue reading about Migrants are on their way back to Costa Rica
Oilbirds are one of the strangest species of birds. They look kind of like nightjars (another strange bunch) but instead of zooming around in the darkness in pursuit of moths, the Oilbird ventures into the night to pluck fruits from rainforest trees in hovering flight. Daylight hours are passed away in caves or dark, cave-like [...]
I have been more or less stuck in the not so scenic, urbanized areas of Costa Rica for the past few weeks. Work and family duties (including a children’s birthday party replete with scary clown dancing to reggaeton blasted out of an amplifier) have kept me from birding the beautiful, exciting, rainforests and cloud forests [...]
Continue reading about More great birding near San Ramon, Costa Rica
One of the main reasons birding is more popular than endeavors such as bat watching, beetle spotting, or looking for mollusks is that it’s so much easier to do. Most bird species are diurnal, they are pretty easy to see (except for the ultra sneaky rails), and they come in all sorts of shapes, colors, [...]
Birders from up north who associate falcons with aerodynamically shaped, fast-flying awesome birds of regal appearance and open areas come to the neotropics and wonder, “What exactly is a forest falcon? I mean they don’t have the falcon shape and look more like accipiters (according to their illustrations because they are either extinct or don’t [...]
Continue reading about How to see forest falcons when birding Costa Rica
With so much excellent birding to be had in Costa Rica, it’s always tempting to make statements such as “that site has some of the best birding in Costa Rica”, or “you have got to visit such and such site”! I am careful about giving out those accolades but I can tell you that I [...]
Continue reading about Heliconias Lodge: some of the best birding in Costa Rica
During much of the year in Costa Rica, the song of the Striped Cuckoo is a common part of the auditory scenery. I hear them near my house singing from scrubby fields around the coffee plantations. I hear them call from the tangled second growth of deforested areas in the humid lowlands of the Caribbean [...]
Continue reading about Striped Cuckoos are common in Costa Rica but where’s the Pheasant?
It’s the wet or rainy season now and as I write, the cloudy sky is dumping its daily downpour that soaks the rich volcanic soils of central Costa Rica and turns the rivers into raging muddy torrents. Believe it or not, despite the dire weather description, this is a great time of the year to [...]
Continue reading about Advantages to birding Costa Rica in the wet season (it’s not 100 degrees)
