Birding hotspots don’t just earn that claim to fame for the bird species that show up. While rarities and high quality species are certainly part of the hotspot equation, other factors also determine a site’s eligibility on the hotspot scale. For example, in Costa Rica, we can surmise that birding in the middle of large [...]
Continue reading about VaraBlanca- Overlooked Costa Rican Birding Hotspot
The Northern Saw-whet Owl is a tough bird to see. While growing up in western New York, I was lucky enough to live in an area where, if you were patient enough, they could be readily seen. Finding a Northern Saw-whet involved a careful inspection of every pine and spruce in sites on the southern [...]
Continue reading about The Unspotted Saw-whet Owl becomes Spotted in Costa Rica
Poas Volcano is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Costa Rica. Buses, cars, and even bicycles make the long, uphill trek to Poas National Park every day of the year, weekends being especially popular. Despite the lines of folks who undertake the Poas pilgrimage, very few are birders. They are there for the [...]
Continue reading about An Impressive Day of Birding around Poas
Whether guiding or not, I try to get out birding at least once a week. It provides a much needed escape from the greater San Jose area of Costa Rica (an over-urbanized place with skinny, twisting streets frequented by a plethora of bad drivers). It also gets me up into natural habitats where I can [...]
Continue reading about Birding in Costa Rica on the Providencia Road
I had been looking forward to guiding this past Saturday. My client wanted to see as many birds as possible and a combined trip to Virgen del Socorro and Poas Volcano seemed like the perfect choice for a birdy day. I figured we would see quite a few birds and some good ones at that [...]
Continue reading about How to see 11 Raptors and 16 Hummingbird species when Birding Costa Rica
Poas Volcano is somewhat overlooked as a birding destination. Birders in search of highland specialties head off to the more extensive forests on Cerro de la Muerte and have a grand old time with the R. Quetzal, Collared Redstarts, Zeledonias, and other birds that got an evolutionary foothold in the rising Talamancas. Nevertheless, you can [...]
Continue reading about Check out the Good Birds on Poas when Birding Costa Rica
Costa Rica is definitely a hot, tropical country. At 9 degrees latitude, the sun’s rays can burn with the intensity of some vicious alien device. In the humid lowlands, you sweat but just can’t seem to cool off. 80 degrees is the norm, it feels like summer most of the time, and thank goodness for [...]
Continue reading about Birding in Costa Rica at Paraiso de Quetzales
October is part of the official rainy season in Costa Rica. Each year, low pressure systems get together to stew up a massive dumping of water upon Costa Rica and other parts of Central America. The results often include landslides, flooding (albeit typically in floodplains), and lower temperatures. On a side note, I should add [...]
Continue reading about What to Do When Birding in the Rain in Costa Rica
Bamboo, that massive grass, is a common component of eastern Asian forests. When I was in Thailand in 2007, the huge clumps of bamboo that made up much of the understory in the forests around Doi Chiang Dao gave them an otherworldy, prehistoric appearance. Green Magpies, Lesser Yellownapes, drongos, and a bunch of other super [...]
Continue reading about Seeding Bamboo on the Road to Volcan Barva
All the bird pictures on this blog are digiscoped. What “rig” do I use you ask? Well, my scope is a 65mm Swarovski, I presently use a Sony Cybershot, and my adapter is about as “old skool” as you can get. Instead of some wonderfully designed device that steadfastly cradles and aligns the camera to [...]
Continue reading about Digiscoping Birds When Birding Costa Rica- Always Challenging
