Don’t count on birding the La Selva entrance road (unless you are a guest of the station): The entrance road to La Selva has been one of the most productive birding areas in the Caribbean lowlands. While there are other sites that also combine a healthy mosaic of habitats that can be birded from a road in the Caribbean lowlands, the OTS La Selva entrance road is one of the closest to San Jose. HOWEVER, a guard post has been put into place right at the start of the entrance road and you won’t be allowed to bird the road without permission. Given that one of the guards couldn’t tell me if birders would be allowed to bird there or not and that he would have to ask management about it, don’t count on being able to bird it unless you are staying at La Selva. The guards may very well let you in to bird the road but don’t be surprised if they turn you away. Such control over access to the entrance road has been in the works for some time and you can’t blame them in their attempt to provide more security for the station. Don’t fret about not birding the entrance road though- there are several other options in the Sarapiqui area that can turn up the same suite of species. These include the grounds of various hotels, private reserves, and even some public roads.

This public road near Chilamate has excellent lowland forest birding.

Exciting birding around the northern volcanoes: This has always been the case but I just bring it up because this underbirded area deserves more attention. By northern volcanoes, I mean Rincon de la Vieja, Tenorio, Miravalles, and Cacao. There are many sites up there in the north that offer up fantastic birding and the junction of dry and wet forests makes them biodoversity hotspots. In fact, I am convinced that the Bijagua area is one of the most biodiverse birding sites in Costa Rica and other sites around the northern volcanoes are probably similar. For example, all 6 motmot species, at least 10 owl species, all 5 tinamous, and much, much more have been recorded within a 15 minute drive of Bijagua. With that in mind, maybe I should ask my wife if we can live there? Anyways, go birding up in that area and you won’t regret it!

I think this is Volcan Tenorio beckoning from a distance.

Carara gets a bit drier: I just mention this because that seems to be the case with the lowland areas of the park. Bird species that didn’t occur in the park ten years ago such as Montezuma Oropendola and Keel-billed Toucan are now regularly seen along the River Trail and wet forest species such as Baird’s Trogon, Red-capped Manakin, and Golden-naped Woodpecker don’t seem to be as common as they were during the 90s. All of the wet forest species still occur in Carara but some do seem to be a bit more rare and might be more frequent on the road to Bijagua.

Rufous-crested Coquette and Western White-tailed Trogon are found in the southeast: Ok, so this is a prediction and is dependent upon more birders visiting the area south of Limon but I stand by my claim. If more knowledgeable birders head down that way throughout the year, both of these species should get recorded. Both have been found just 20 or 30 miles away in Panama, the coquette can easily escape detection because it looks and acts like an insect, and I have already heard two believable reports of the trogon (someone saw a “Black-headed Trogon” and the other accurately described the Western White-tailed).

Harpy Eagle will be seen at Tortuguero and around Laguna del Lagarto: Wishful thinking on my part but certainly possible. Harpy was seen at Tortuguero in 2010 and could definitely turn up in the forests around Laguna del Lagarto and Maquenque.

Underbirded lowland forest near Laguna del Lagarto.

Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers continue to be difficult to see during the dry season: Last year was the year without Long-tailed Silkies. At least it seemed that way for many birders visiting the country during February and looking for them at high elevations. They were actually still around but searching for food at lower elevations. It’s looking like this year may be similar since recent visits to Cerro de la Muerte failed to turn up Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers at high elevations although I did hear them around 1,800 meters while driving up the mountain.

A young Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher from Irazu.

Rare hummingbirds show up at Cerro Lodge: The massive Porterweed bushes were teeming with hummingbirds in late December and seem to be destined to turn up a Blue-tailed Hummingbird, White-crested Coquette, or even White-bellied Hummingbird.

One of the massive Porterweed bushes at Cerro Lodge.

Bosque del Rio Tigre continues to be one of the best birding lodges in Costa Rica: In fact, you could easily make a good argument for this place being THE BEST birding lodge in the country although Rancho Naturalista comes in at a close second. It’s hard to beat excellent, comfortable lodging, fantastic food, wonderful service, top-notch guiding, and birds like Turquoise and Yellow-billed Cotingas, many raptors, Marbled Wood-Quail, and feeders with Black-cheeked Ant-Tanagers, Fiery-billed Aracaris, and Spot-crowned Euphonias.

It’s hard to beat Black-cheeked Ant-Tanagers as a feeder bird…

Lovely Cotinga turns up on the San Rafael-Virgen del Socorro Road: I would need luck but the road goes through perfect habitat at the right elevation so careful searches during the breeding season could connect with this rarity!

I finally see a damn Masked Duck: That is my own personal forecast and I am going to make it happen because seeing the “Zorro” of waterfowl is loooooong overdue!

Hope to show you birds in Costa Rica in 2012!

The latter two birds are regular while the first is pretty darn rare. I still need the saw-whet sans spots but plan on getting it this year. Part of that plan will include several layers of warm clothing, the outer shell of which will be impervious to water. I know this is what is needed to wander around high mountain forest while tooting like a tiny owl because I tried it on Saturday night at Paraiso de Quetzales (in retrospect, I think you also need to be willing to temporarily trade in some of your sanity). Although I didn’t connect with the owl, I know they are up there because others have seen them in the past.  Perhaps we would have gotten it too if we had checked more sites for a longer period of time. Although we could have spent most of the night wandering around the cold, dark forest, we didn’t want to lose a morning of birding so our small group of owl searchers opted for blanket-covered beds and traded a chance at the owl for much needed sleep.

There is some really nice high elevation rain forest at Paraiso de Quetzales.

The next morning, I I forced myself to get up at 5 and listen for birds. They weren’t exactly flying around at that unforgiving hour but were definitely making their presence known with song. On my brief, pre-breakfast stroll down the Zeledonia Trail, I heard a flock of Barred Parakeets,  several Large-footed Finches, Zeledonias, the wing rattle of a Black Guan, Black-thighed Grosbeak calling a lot like its northern Rose-breasted relative, and Collared Redstarts singing their cheerful, hurried songs. The most welcome sound of the morning, though, was the calling of Resplendent Quetzals. At least two of these spectacular birds were singing. Here is what some of the morning medley sounded like: Zeledoniaandquetzal

After some of the best coffee in the world (seriously) and a tasty breakfast, our birding club group were led by the Jorge, owner’s son, in our search for quetzals. This involved walking up to an area with a large number of wild avocados in fruit and waiting for the birds to show.  After about ten minutes, someone in our group spotted a female flying through the canopy and we quickly got onto the bird.

A typically dull female Resplendent Quetzal.

Jorge explained that the male was also probably nearby since the birds had probably finished feeding for the morning and were just sitting around, digesting the avocado fruits they had eaten for breakfast. While watching the female and waiting for the male to fly into view, someone in our group spotted the male sitting in the same tree as the female. It was perched up there in the canopy the entire time but despite its brilliant plumage, was obscured enough by a clump of leaves to keep us from noticing him! After some strategic repositioning of the scopes, we got the male into view and everyone enjoyed prolonged, soul satisfying looks at this amazing, iridescent creature.

A bad picture of the fancier male.

Watching quetzals.

As nice as quetzals are, they aren’t the only birds you see at “Quetzal Paradise”. Black-capped Flycatchers were hawking insects from fencepost perches, Large-footed Finches scratched in the leaf litter, Yellow-thighed Finches foraged in the bushes, and mixed flocks of Ruddy Treerunners, Black-cheeked Warblers, Collared Redstarts, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers, and other highland endemics rushed through the vegetation. Our group also had great looks at Buffy Tuftedcheek that came in to playback and some people also had glimpses of Silver-fronted Tapaculos that skulked in the dense undergrowth. The best sighting was arguably that of a Peg-billed Finch spotted by two fortunate individuals as this uncommon finch has been a tough bird to find in recent years.

Of course the hummingbird action at the feeders was pretty darn good too! The lighting was perfect for admiring the jewel-like plumage of multiple Fiery-throated Hummingbirds, Magnificent Hummingbirds vied with the Fiery-throateds for attention, and an occasional Green Violetear zoomed in to the feeders before being chased away. Volcano Hummingbirds were also common at Paraiso de Quetzales but they didn’t dare come to the feeders. I was surprised to not see White-throated Mountain-Gem in the forest as an orange-flowered sage species was blooming throughout the understory.

Green Violetear.

Fiery-throated Hummingbirds look OK from the side,

but turn into living jewels from the front.

Magnificent Hummingbirds look pretty nice too.

Another big miss was Ochraceous Pewee as the area is usually reliable for this uncommon bird. Oh well, that’s yet another reason to head back to Paraiso de Quezales for exciting highland forest birding in Costa Rica.

Oh, and need I forget to mention, you also have to do that all day long. You can’t give up because it is your mission to count those birds until the time is up or until you drop from heat exhaustion. And even if you are lying there in a puddle of sweat with your birding brain frazzled from counting too many gulls or cowbirds while attempting to asses numbers of Great-tailed Grackles by merit of their circus-like madcap vocalizations, it is still your duty to croak out their names and numbers with rasping, over-exhausted breaths. You can’t give up on providing that precious annual data that may or may not be used to asses avian distribution at some later time. You just don’t know what might happen with the data but that’s why it’s so darn valuable (seriously!). Or, if you don’t want to sacrifice yourself in the name of birds, you could always take a nap at some later point in the day. That is a far better alternative than sleeping in because the biggest peak of bird activity happens when the sun begins its long climb into the tropical sky. Miss those golden hours and you forgo making any real assessment of birds in tropical forested habitats.

So, when the clock struck 3:30 a.m., all 60 something participants jumped out of bed, rushed to get ready, and like sleep-depraved robots, walked over to the cafeteria to fuel up with coffee and gallo pinto. This was a very important morning of birding and each of us had a specific route to cover. Bagged lunches were handed out, people met up with route leaders and counters boarded minivans. I found my two fellow counters for the day in one of the minivans. They were Duaro and Einor (spelling might be wrong but the pronunciation isn’t); two guys who lived near and counted raptors at Kekoldi. When the minivan filled up, the driver closed the doors, put the air on full, and we shivered in the Caribbean lowlands (amazingly) as we drove through the dark to our count circle routes. At 4:30 a.m., Duaro, Einor, and I were dropped off at the entrance to the “Brisas de la Jungla“, we wished the other Veragua participants good luck, and officially started the count!

Our ears were eager and attentive as we trudged uphill in the dark. Ignoring the pleas of roosters and dogs to be included on the list, we listened in expectation after belting out the barking call of Mottled Owl and the wail of Black and White Owl.  Nary a response from those nocturnal creatures  but we did pick up the de facto night bird- Common Pauraque. They earned the distinction of being our first species for the day as they called and flew off the road ahead of us.

Common Pauraques live up to their name when birding Costa Rica.

It was still dark when we reached our focal point for the dawn chorus. This auspicious spot was an overlook that took in a vista of forest edge, distant forested hillsides, and farmland; ideal for parrot flybys, raptors, and picking up the sounds of both forested and open habitats. As the sun began to color the sky, the heralds of the dawn chorus made it onto the list by merit of their vocalizations. Two Collared Forest-Falcons called in the distance, a Black and white Owl sounded off to end its “day”, and Woodcreepers sang a few songs. As is typical of tropical latitudes, the sun ran above the horizon and the birds just as quickly jumped out of their roost sites. Gray-capped and Social Flycatchers were more common than Tropical Kingbirds. A few Great Kiskadees and Boat-billed Flycatchers joined in with their dawn songs and a flock of Plain-colored Tanagers and several Blue Dacnis flew into the top of a nearby tree.

The pretty Blue Dacnis is common around Veragua.

Scanning with binoculars turned up a distant flyby flock of Pale-vented Pigeons and Olive-throated Parakeets zoomed on past. As Cattle Egrets started to fly inland from roosting sites near the coast, we were  kept busy counting them while also picking up a sole Black-striped Woodcreeper, two Central American Pygmy-Owls and common birds like Buff-throated Saltator, Blue-gray Tanager, and Passerini’s Tanager. The plaintive calls of Long-tailed Tyrants also made us aware of their presence and two Striped Cuckoos started to sound off but refused to show themselves (cowards!).

Oddly enough, we didn’t see any raptors from the overlook nor did we see as many parrots as expected. Snowy Cotinga was also evasive despite being in a perfect spot to watch for it. Nevertheless, it was a good place to start the count because we racked up around 80 species in two hours (many by sound). Once the dawn chorus calmed down, Duaro, Einor, and I walked uphill through old cocoa plantations and continued to see more birds. We ticked Western Slaty Antshrike, a handsome little Double-toothed Kite, Broad-winged Hawk feeding on a lizard, Plain-brown Woodcreeper, and a short fruiting tree filled with birds. There were at least a dozen Gray-capped and Social Flycatchers, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, saltators, tanagers, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Montezuma Oropendola, Collared Aracaris, and other species feasting on the fruits.

The view from our first overlook.

Yes, it was as exciting as it sounds but even better was an extremely cooperative Central American Pygmy-Owl that came too close for binoculars after imitating its tooting song. Duaro actually took a National Geographicish video of the thing with his phone! I also got some pictures, including this one taken with the small zoom on my handheld point and shoot:

I swear, I felt like this beautiful little owl was going to use me as a perch!

Up on top of the hill, we reached some proper forest and oh did it look good for birds! Too bad we got there around 8:30 though; the requisite quiet time when birding in rainforest. We made our way to another overlook and, like the birds we were counting, rested for the next two hours. No need to walk around the forest between 9 and 11 unless you want to count insects or identify trees. Since that wasn’t part of our mission, we opted for hanging out on benches and scanning the forest canopy with the scope. Black and Turkey Vultures made their way onto the list but other than one, distant, Common Black Hawk, birds were absent from the scene. I bet that second overlook would be even better for starting the count because it overlooks intact forest. Maybe next year!

We figured our resting time was over when Purple-throated Fruitcrows started to call. They are pretty common in southeastern Costa Rica so I expected to get this one for the year on the day of the count. After a failed attempt to check out a lagoon hidden in the forest (due to it being inaccessible), we started walking downhill along one of the well-maintained trails at Brisas de la Jungla. The trail went through nice forest and old cocoa plantations with immense trees. It was pretty quiet during our time there but I bet it could turn up any number of rainforest species if you birded it during the early morning hours.

One of the trails at Brisas de la Jungla.

However, before venturing onto this trail, douse yourself with insect repellent. In fact, take a shower in the stuff until you reek of vicious chemicals. I didn’t and was literally chased out of the forest by a buzzing horde of mosquitoes. I must have gotten bit close to a hundred times and no matter how many I killed, they wouldn’t let up with their attack. Real blood sucking Ghengis Khaners in that place. I would definitely bird that trail again but not without an unhealthy supply of some seriously potent DEET spray.

Back at the safety of our dawn overlook, we continued counting from benches at that spot and this time, the cotingas were in the house! Granted, they were pretty far away, but visible enough to count them. A scan with the scope revealed at least 5 Snowy Cotingas perched in the canopy of forest on distant hillsides. This was around 3 p.m. and I bet you would have a very good chance of seeing them from the same spot at the same time of day. Look for a white speck against the green. Put the scope on it and it will either be a tityra or a Snowy Cotinga. You can also see these peace-doveish birds around Sarapiqui but they seem to be more numerous in southeastern Costa Rica (which makes sense since there is more intact forest).

That white thing is a Snowy Cotinga.

By this time of day, we didn’t get too much else of note other than one flyby Giant Cowbird. The decision was made to bird the road back down to the highway and maybe even check the river. Although we didn’t pick up anything new for the day, the walk back down was busy with common, rainforest edge species. Down by the river, we picked up Northern Waterthrush and got a surprise bird for the day: American Dipper! I didn’t expect this one because in Costa Rica, they typically occur at middle elevations and not at the 150 meters above sea level spot where we saw it.

Down by the river, we also got our last bird for the day, Blue-headed Parrot! I was especially excited about this bird because it also happened to be my 600th species for the year! I guess I was too excited and relieved to take a picture so you will have to take my word for it. Although they are still outnumbered by White-crowned Parrots in southeastern Costa Rica, a few Blue-headeds usually turn up during a day of birding in this area.

Finishing up the count.

Our Brisas de la Jungla count ended when the minivan picked us up at 5 p.m. The other participants told us tales of ticking kingfishers, egrets, Green-breasted Mangos, and other birds along the coast. We also shared and compared stories of our battles with biting bugs and agreed that this was one of the more mosquito-ridden areas of Costa Rica. The total number of species for our count territory was 122 and the number for the entire count was 408! This could make it the highest Costa Rican count for this year if not the highest species total for all 2011 Christmas counts!

The Veragua count  got so many species because the count circle includes habitats such as coastal areas, quality lowland rainforest, edge habitats, and middle elevation forests at 1,200 meters elevation. A few of the highlights from this year’s count include:

Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon: As an indication of the quality lowland forest around Veragua, 6 of this rare species were recorded!

Violaceous Quail-Dove: Although just one was found, the forested habitats in southeastern Costa Rica may be the most reliable area for this bird in the country. It’s still rare but I have also had luck with this bird in the past at the nearby Hitoy Cerere Reserve.

Red-fronted Parrotlet: Ten were recorded as they flew over a route these birds take most days of the year when commuting between highland forests and some unknown lowland site.

Owls: 7 species were recorded including a few Vermiculated Screech Owls, 5 Crested Owls, and 33 Central American Pygmy-Owls! Veragua and surroundings has got to be the easiest place to see this bird in Costa Rica.

Great Potoo: 9 recorded. Yep, this is a good area for this bird.

White-fronted Nunbird: 15 found in the count circle. This species is still regularly encountered in the area.

Spot-crowned Antvireo: 6 of this localized species were found.

Speckled Mourner: 2 found for the count. A rare bird!

Bare-necked Umbrellabird: 2 found, probably more in the area.

Purple-throated Fruitcrow: 83 counted. Like I mentioned, they are fairly common in the area!

Black-chested Jay: Only 3 this year. Last year, 43 were found, mostly at Brisas de la Jungla (we saw none!).

Sulphur-rumped Tanager: Several of these. Veragua is the most reliable site for this species in Costa Rica.

It was quite the count. The area around Veragua is so good for birding simply because it still boasts sizeable areas of lowland forest. Many of the species that have disappeared or become rare around Sarapiqui are still fairly common around Veragua for this reason. It’s a bit off the regular birding circuit but it’s pretty easy to get to (3 and a half hours from San Jose on two-wheel drive roads). Brisas de la Jungla can be visited for birding although they charge $15 to do so and might even charge another $15 to walk their trail. Veragua is still being developed for birding and only offers very basic accommodation but they have fantastic trails, the birds, and excellent bilingual guides who know where to find them. You can only visit by reserving in advance. Their number in San Jose is 2296-5056. You can also write them at  info@veraguarainforest.com

I can’t wait to go back and bird in the area again albeit more prepared with insect repellent!

Although, like many areas of Costa Rica, Montezuma and surroundings can be nice for birding, most people who visit the country have just two or three weeks to work with and feel that their time is better spent in places like Tortuguero, the Osa peninsula, and Cerro de la Muerte. I would have to agree so there’s a fair chance that you won’t make it over to Montezuma. However, if non-birding family or chance brings you to this surf/backpacker touristy village, read on to see what awaits in terms of getting there and birds.

1. Puntarenas: The town of Puntarenas is built on a sandspit so it has a naturally elongated shape. If driving there, be aware that the signs indicating the entrance to Puntarenas can be 100% misleading. Use your GPS and/or common sense and you will eventually arrive but be very wary of the signs or you could start driving back towards San Jose. I speak from recent experience and kid you not! As tempting as it is to speed into town, don’t do it or you will be rewarded with a nasty ticket (and rightly so because there’s a lot of bikes and pedestrians on the streets). As for the birds, you might find a spot or two to check out mudflats and mangroves to the north of town.

2. The Ferry: There’s more ferrys nowadays so if you are driving, you probably won’t have to wait for hours in line like you used to. If using the most mundane of transportation, walk on over to the Musmanni bakery to buy your boarding tickets (less than $2 this past weekend), head to the top of the boat, claim a shady spot,and start scanning the water. Not many people bird this area on a regular basis so who knows what will show up? Although most birds will be expected species don’t discount the possibility of some rare waterbird making an appearance! I have seen some good stuff on each of the few trips I have done from Puntarenas to Paquera (the dock on the other side). Parasitic Jaeger, Least Storm Petrel, and Sooty Shearwater have all made appearances. On the most recent trip, an uncommon young Blue-footed Booby flew into view. We also had Franklin’s Gulls, Royal, Common, Black, and Sandwich Terns, Brown Booby, a sea turtle, and lots of jumping fish. On the way back to Puntarenas, the sea was so calm that it was downright surreal. Scanning with binos revealed patches of jumping fish far out on the water and scattered flocks of Black Terns as far as we could see!

There’s birds out there in them there waters (yee haw!).

Docking at Paquera.

3. Paquera to Tambor: After leaving Paquera, you drive past some promising looking riparian zones with big, old trees. I didn’t have time to bird there but it would be worth a stop. The edges of mangroves would also be worth checking.

4. Tambor: This tiny place is better known for the big Barcelo hotel that destroyed a bunch of mangroves far more valuable than the town itself.  To be fair, though, Barcelo has funded Scarlet Macaw recovery efforts in the area and planted a bunch of trees. The best birding is in the fields and mangroves just east of the village. From a mini-plaza at the east end of the village, walk in along old roads meant for a development that never happened until you reach trails that go near the mangroves. Spish and toot like a pygmy owl and you might see Northern Scrub Flycatcher, Mangrove Cuckoo, and even Mangrove Hummingbird (!). Lots of other cool birds in there too.

5. Curu National Wildlife Refuge: Somewhere along the way, watch for signs that lead to this birding site. Double-striped Thick Knee occurs in fields on the entrance road, there are semi-wild Spider Monkeys that may attack your car (I’m not exaggerating!), and trails that access mangroves and dry forest.

6. Tambor-Montezuma: After Tambor, you will drive into a larger town called, “Cabuya” (I think that’s its name). From there on to Montezuma, the road is dirt and adorned with pot holes. At one point, you will see signs for Montezuma that want you to go to the right. This will take you there but it’s closer and quicker to just go straight ahead. However, no matter which route you take into the village, go to the right, go past the cemetery and start birding. We did that on Saturday and were immediately rewarded with Plain-breasted Ground-Dove! For me, this was quite the serendipitous find because it was new for both the year and my Costa Rica list!  We also had American Kestrel there (uncommon in Costa Rica), and thick-knees called from the field at night. I bet other uncommon stuff could show up. Further on, the road passes by fields, riparian zones, and eventually descends to Montezuma. You might also get Plain Chachalaca in this area and Three-wattled Bellbirds from December to April.

Plain-breasted Ground Dove!

7.Montezuma: While the village isn’t ideal for birding, the coast has lots of rocky outcroppings, tidal pools, and a chance at Wandering Tattler. Although I only saw Ruddy Turnstones, Whimbrel, and Spotted Sandpipers, it does look ideal for the tattler and Surfbirds. Scanning the ocean here might also turn up some wayward pelagic- you never know! Watch for the magpie jays that look for handouts on the streets.

The Ruddy Turnstone looks down at the crab in disdain…

8. Cabo Blanco: I have never gone there so everything I write for this little section is hearsay but I bet it’s pretty good for birding. There is a good amount of forest, it is protected, and it’s pretty darn hot. You can’t really drive there so expect a long, hot trudge to bird Cabo Blanco.

Birds in the areas mentioned: Ok, so now for the most interesting part! While much of the area is deforested, there are patches of habitat, places that are growing back into forest, and riparian zones that support quite a few species. Any remnant wetlands and lagoons should be checked for things like Pinnated Bittern, Masked Duck, and other uncommon species. Not that I have seen those there but there’s a fair chance they occur if you find the right habitat. This part of the Nicoya peninsula is more humid than areas further north and demonstrates it with species such as Collared Aracari and Red-lored Parrot.

We actually did most of our birding around the Finca los Caballos Hotel and this is probably representative of      much of the surrounding area. Long-tailed Manakins were especially common.

Long-tailed Manakin- Costa Rica’s faux Bird of Paradise.

We had 8 species of hummingbirds sans feeders!

Green-breasted Mango is the most common hummingbird species near Montezuma.

Long-billed Starthroat isn’t supposed to be there according to the range maps.

This psycho looking White-fronted Parrot landed right next to the hotel deck.

Brown-crested Flycatcher and Yellow-bellied Elaenia perked up when I called like a pygmy owl.

The Elaenia.

The Myiarchus.

Some other interesting species included Orange-fronted and Orange-chinned Parakeets, Northern barred and Olivaceous Woodcreepers, Peregrine Falcon, Barred Antshrike, Plain Wren, American Coot (sorry, but it’s uncommon in Costa Rica!), Olive Sparrow, Stripe-headed Sparrow, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Blue-throated Goldentail, and Greenish Elaenia. Although many of the species are common and widespread, the open nature of the habitat made for great looks at most and excellent bird photography opportunities. Check out the newly formed birding club Picasa album for more pics! Many thanks to Dewald Reiner for taking great photos and setting that up.

However, not all is easy and wonderful when birding in Costa Rica. Just as with every destination (including your backyard), there are groups of birds that consistently evoke sighs of dismay when we are confronted with their identification. Feel free to admire (or drool) over plates of hawk-eagles and cotingas, but get ready to be challenged (and shocked) when looking at illustrations of the woodcreepers. No, it’s not a practical joke. They really do look that similar and are more or less the Empids (or Phylloscops for Palearctic birders) of the neotropics. There are plenty of other hard to identify groups of birds that lurk in the American tropics, but few others intimidate birders as much as the woodcreepers.

When confronted with a woodcreeper, the typical response by birders new to the neotropics tends to range from that of frustration to discrimination and downright avoidance.

“It was some woodcreeper. I don’t know which, they all look the same anyways!”

“Well, the guide said it was a Streak-headed so I’m happy with that.”

“I don’t even look at them. All I ever see are reddish colored tails while they creep out of sight. I’ll stick with my tanagers thank you very much.”

“Woodcreeper, shmoodcreeper. Look! There’s a Blue-gray Tanager!”

“But we’ve seen lots of those…”

“So what! they look nice and we know what they are.”

These cop-out attitudes need to change! Although woodcreepers can be tough, they are by no means impossible to identify in Costa Rica. However, one thing that is very true about woodcreepers is that they are very difficult to photograph. For that reason, you won’t see many amazing, multi-angled shots of dendrocolaptids from Costa Rica in this post. Nevertheless, you will find information on how to identify them. Here are a few tips:

1. The number one rule for identifying woodcreepers in Costa Rica and probably everywhere is focusing on their heads and bills. That’s right. Don’t be led stray by  the rusty-colored tail and wings. Just about every species shows these characteristics so admire them if you wish but don’t expect to identify the bird. Get a nice look at that noggin and beak though and you should be able to “call” the bird in question.
2. Know where each species is “supposed” to occur. Would you find a Black-streaked Woodcreeper in high elevation forests? Would a Spot-crowned Woodcreeper be investigating tree trunks around Tarcoles? Would you see a Tawny-winged Woodcreeper on the Caribbean slope? That’s a big “nay” for those three questions and knowing just such basics about habitat and elevational ranges of woodcreepers will make their identification that much easier.
3. Know their calls. You can always identify them with a good look at the head and bill but it never hurts to know their vocalizations.
4. Learn them by genus. The shape of Woodcreepers bills is generally associated with their genus. Learning to recognize woodcreepers by their genus goes a long way for their identification.

The above tips should help you ID every woodcreeper in Costa Rica but it’s also nice to have information about each species:

Black-banded Woodcreeper: This is a very rare species in Costa Rica that appears to only occur in old growth middle-elevation forest. The two sites where it is seen the most appear to be Tapanti National Park and the Bosque de Paz area. Watch for the strong, straight, blackish bill and the combination of streaks on the upperparts and banding on the belly. Can show up at antswarms and prefers the understory.

Northern Barred Woodcreeper: Fairly common in low and foothill-elevation forests on both slopes, it also occurs in riparian habitats in Guanacaste. The banding might not be as obvious as expected but is noticeable with a close look. A large, black-billed, unstreaked woodcreeper. Often at antswarms and usually in the understory.

Plain-brown Woodcreeper: Rather uncommon in the understory of lowland and foothill forests of the Caribbean slope, the easiest way to see it is at army antswarms (which it frequently attends). A rather plain, unstreaked woodcreeper with a straight black bill and two dark lines on the face.

Ruddy Woodcreeper: Yet another uncommon species in Costa Rica, it is most frequently encountered in the understory of moist and dry forests on the northern Pacific slope. The overall plain, unstreaked, rufous coloration makes it easy to identify. Look for it at antswarms in any dry forest area and sites such as Rincon de la Vieja and the Bajo del Tigre trail near Monteverde.

Tawny-winged Woodcreeper: This is a fairly common forest understory species on the south Pacific slope and often shows up at antswarms. Look for the contrasting rufous wings, pale throat, and pale eyebrow on this mostly unstreaked species. Carara National Park, the Osa Peninsula, and most lowland and foothill forested sites on the south Pacific slope are good for this species.

Long-tailed Woodcreeper: Uncommon but regular in the understory and middle levels of forest on the south Pacific slope. It’s also a very rare resident in Caribbean-slope foothill forest. This is a tricky one and is best identified by its straight, rather thin and somewhat delicate bill. The bird itself also looks a bit more slender than other woodcreepers. The pale spectacles stand out more compared to Cocoa and Streak-headed Woodcreepers and it has less streaking on the head than those species. I see it quite often in Carara. The forests of the Osa peninsula are also good for it. On a side note, there’s a very good chance that more than one species is involved with the Long-tailed Woodcreeper complex. There are at least two vocal groups (and maybe more) with the birds in Costa Rica separate from Amazonian Long-tailed Woodcreepers.

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper: Ons of the most commonly seen woodcreepers, it’s also easy to identify. Note the small size and short, slightly upturned bill. Find it in the understory of most lowland and foothill rainforest sites.

Olivaceous Woodcreeper: Fairly common at all levels of moist foothill forests and cloud forests. Also uncommon in dry forests. This small woodcreeper is easy to identify in being the only Costa Rican Woodcreeper with a plain, gray head and breast.

Streak-headed Woodcreeper: In many areas, this is the most common woodcreeper species and therefore a good one to learn. Although most frequent in edge habitats of the lowlands and middle elevations, it sometimes turns up inside the forest too (as at Carara). It forages from near the ground to high up in the trees. Look for that thin, slightly downcurved bill.

Spot-crowned Woodcreeper: The most common woodcreeper in high elevation forests, look for the thin, slightly downcurved bill and spots on the head. It forages at all levels of the forest.

Spotted Woodcreeper: Fairly common in humid foothill and cloud forests, the Spotted Woodcreeper usually looks like a rather plain-colored woodcreeper with buff eye rings and diffuse buff spotting. Most often in middle levels and the canopy of the forest.

Cocoa Woodcreeper: Fairly common in forested sites of the humid lowlands. More of a forest species than Streak-headed Woodcreeper but will also turn up at the forest edge. A rather large woodcreeper with a strong, straight bill. Look for this characteristic in conjunction with the buff throat and buff streaks. It forages at all levels of the forest.

Black-striped Woodcreeper: This largish woodcreeper is fairly common in forested areas of the humid lowlands and mostly occurs in the canopy. They also occur in foothill forests but seem to be much less common there than in the lowlands. Watch for the bold, blackish and white scaled appearance. Some good sites for this species are the Laguna del Lagarto area, Carara, the Osa Peninsula, and around Manzanillo.

Ivory-billed Woodcreeper: This largish woodcreeper is much more common north of Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, it’s restricted to dry forests and riparian areas of the Pacific northwest. Look for the strong, straight, pale bill and paler head compared to Cocoa Woodcreeper. Mostly seen high above the ground.

Strong-billed Woodcreeper: Rare in Costa Rica, you could run into it at any heavily forested foothill or middle elevation site. It’s large size and slightly downcurved, massive bill make it pretty much unmistakable. as an example of this species’ rarity in Costa Rica, I saw one on my second visit to Quebrada Gonzalez in 1992 but haven’t seen it there since. I know it still occurs there, though, because friends of mine saw one in the same place just one month ago! Forages from the understory to the subcanopy.

Brown-billed Scythebill: Uncommon but regular in humid middle elevation forests, the downcurved bill makes it unmistakable. It can show up at a number of sites. I regularly hear or see it at Tapanti, Quebrada Gonzalez, and in the Manuel Brenes forests near San Ramon. Forages at any height in the forest.

Don’t be afraid of woodcreepers! Don’t let their field-guide similarity scare you off! Get a good look at their beaks and head and you should be able to identify them. Let me know what you see in the comments.

Renting a vehicle in Costa Rica has its ups and downs. The obvious benefit is that you can go birding in a lot more places at optimal times. Want to leave San Jose at 3 am to look for Unspotted Saw-whet Owl on Irazu? Want to survey the high elevations of the entire Providencia Road? How about exploring unbirded foothill forests near Dominical or checking out Palo Verde? You can do all of this and more with a rental car. It brings you a certain degree of freedom and comfort that public transportation will never provide.

This all comes at a cost though and it’s not just money that I’m referring to. Much of the driving isn’t quite so relaxing as cruising around Main Street back at home or calmly speeding down a well-lit four lane highway with wide shoulders. To give you an idea of what to expect when driving in Costa Rica, read and heed the following tips and advice:

• Central Valley traffic: You may have noticed that I often refer to this part of Costa Rica as being “over-urbanized”. I say this so frequently to give visitors a heads up about the greater San Jose area. Costa Rica’s small size and mountainous topography don’t allow for much elbow room in the Central Valley. This is where at least half of everyone in Costa Rica resides and the result is a veritable labyrinth of asphalt and concrete. If you need to drive through the San Jose area, Heredia, or Alajuela, do so before 5 am or get ready to spend a lot of your precious birding time in traffic. You might see some flocks of Crimson-fronted Parakeets fly over or perched on the buildings but won’t see much more than common, widespread species.
• Navigation: Forget about a map, rent that GPS. You can eventually find your way with a street map but since signs are commonly absent or misleading, it’s easiest to just follow what the GPS device says. Outside of urban areas, it’s pretty easy to get to your destination but if you need to drive through any cities in the Central Valley, a GPS is invaluable.
• Signs (or the absence of): Don’t expect to see big signs like home. There are some, but it’s pretty common to see one sign with an arrow pointing to your destination and then nothing further at forks in the road. There are also signs that are downright misleading (like some entrance and exit signs for highways) so once again, rent that GPS and do what it says. On a side note, the brown signs that point to national parks are pretty accurate.
• Potholes: Costa Rica has seen dramatic improvements in terms of pothole frequency but the heavy rains always give birth to more. They can turn up just about anywhere so your best bet is to always watch out for them. This is what us locals do and we just swerve to avoid them or slow down to carefully cross any craters we are confronted with.
• Pedestrians: Sidewalks are an anomaly in much of Costa Rica but this doesn’t keep people at home. No, they just walk on the roadway. This leaves little room for cars and people so don’t be surprised to see everyone from kids to the elderly just walking along the road as if cars didn’t exist.
• Night driving: If you thought you had to be alert during the day, driving at night is a whole other story! People still walk along the side of the road (even on some highways) and they won’t be wearing anything reflective so watch out for them! Many of the roads also lack lighting so get ready to use your brights and be very, very alert.
• Shoulders: Almost none on most roads means that you can hardly pull off to the side. This seriously limits roadside birding but the birding is usually better in protected areas in any case. On the rare roads that see very few vehicles, you could get away with birding from the car.
• Ditches and drainage: It rains a lot in Costa Rica and we get rid of that excess water by channeling it away with ditches and drainage canals on both sides of the road. Some of these are covered but most aren’t so be careful that you don’t drive into them.
• Road width: 4-lane highways are extremely rare. In most places, roads have the same dimensions as alleyways back at home. This results in some tight squeezes in urban areas but we manage.
• Speed bumps: Common in urban areas and near schools. Sometimes there are signs that provide a warning but for the most part, you need to watch out for them just as you look out for potholes (and some look just like the road!).
• Speed cameras: Costa Rica now has cameras that take pictures of cars going 20 ks over the speed limit. Although there are just a few in the country, they have generated so much income for the government that you can expect to see a lot more. Don’t speed because the fines are outrageous ($600 if going 20ks over the limit)!
• Speed limits: There are signs for these but they aren’t obvious. In many cases, the speed limit is painted on the road so watch for that. In general, it’s 40kph in towns and some intersections, and 80kph on some sections of highways. 60kph is probably the most common speed limit and happens along highways when passing under bridges, on some curves, and in other circumstances. Heed those 60kph zones because this is where traffic cops love to catch you going over the limit.
• Other drivers: Drive defensively because a lot of people are just bad drivers. Many drivers are quite considerate but don’t be surprised to see some people passing 2 or 3 cars where they shouldn’t, or honking at you because you won’t drive through a red light or speed out into traffic and crash. Be very careful and slow down at curves on highways in case another car is using your lane for passing or if a truck just happens to be using both lanes. If you have the right of way and the other car is stopped and flashes their lights, they want you to go ahead. As with other places, other drivers also warn you of speed traps by flashing their lights.
• Bridges: Many bridges are one-lane affairs. If you see a red yield sign, that means that the cars coming from the other direction have the right of way. If you don’t see the yield sign, you have the right of way.
• 4 wheel drive or not?: A lot of people wonder if they need 4 wheel drive and the answer is yes and no. Nowadays, you can get to almost anywhere with a 2-wheel drive so unless you plan on driving up to Volcan Barva, Pocosol, or El Copal, you don’t need a 4-wheel drive.

Although driving in Costa Rica may sound daunting from the information above, much of the challenge is related to driving in the Central Valley. Once you get away from the city, it’s actually quite easy going so if you know how to drive defensively, you should have no problem with driving in Costa Rica.

As far as highland birds to become familiar with before a birding trip to Costa Rica, here are a handful of some common, cool birds that you will probably see. Not all of them are endemics but as one of my high school pals used to say, “That’s the way the ball bounces”:

1. Common Bush Tanager- It’s not exactly exciting but you will surely see them when birding any middle elevation forests in Costa Rica so it’s a good bird to know. This is a widespread bird species but with so many subspecies, who knows, maybe they will all get split some day. Also, unless you are looking at a quetzal or antpitta, don’t just shrug Common Bush-Tanagers off because unlike most other Costa Rican birds, these chunky little dudes respond to spishing. They often come in to check out that odd shushing noise and can attract other birds if they really start to chatter in response. Things like wood-wrens, brush-finches, warblers, thrushes, and even treehunters can suddenly pop into view.

The ever common Common Bush-Tanager.

2. Purple-throated Mountain-Gem- Unlike the bush-tanager, this one is an endemic to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It’s pretty easy to see in any cloud forest and is a smart looking little bird. Like most hummingbirds, they love feeders so you will see them there. You should also see them in most highland forest and edge habitats. Watch for that white line on the face kind of like a White-eared Hummingbird.

A frontal view of a male Purple-throated Mountain Gem.

A side view of a male showing that face stripe.

The females are pretty smart looking too.

3. Ruddy Treerunner- These common, highland birds creep rather than run up trees. They usually go with mixed flocks and are pretty easy to identify with their rufous back and white eyebrow.

Not what you would call a stellar photo of a Ruddy Treerunner but at least it realistically shows how they are often seen.

4. Spot-crowned Woodcreeper- This is the most common woodcreeper of highland forests above 2,000 meters and in many montane sites, is the only woodcreeper. You will see them both with and away from mixed flocks.

Spot-crowned Woodcreeper- the default high elevation woodcreeper when birding Costa Rica.

5. Mountain Elaenia- This is a super common flycatcher anywhere in the mountains that loves edge habitats so be ready to see lots of them. If you spot a confusing, Empid-like flycatcher in the highlands, it’s probably this bird. Note the short bill, eye ring, and whitish edging to the tertials.

A Mountain Elaenia doing its usual thing of pretending to be a flycatcher from another genus.

6. Ochraceous Wren- These tiny Winter-Wrenish birds are super common in montane forests of Costa Rica (and a good thing too because you can only see them there and in western Panama). However, unless you know the vocalizations, they get overlooked due to their canopy skulking prowess. Ok, so maybe they aren’t canopy skulkers on purpose but their tendency to hang out in the mossy, epiphytic realm of highland treetops can make them pretty hard to see.

As you can see from this insipid image, I still haven’t been able to get a good photo of an Ochraceous Wren.

7. Flame-colored Tanager- You may have added this pretty bird to your ABA list in Arizona, or seen lots in the highland conifers of Mexico. Come to Costa Rica and you will also run across them at just about any montane site in the Central and Talamancan Mountains.

8. Spangle-cheeked Tanager- Another common tanager of montane forests, this one is a glittering regional endemic. They sometimes troop around in large flocks, occasional bits of iridescence shining in the misty forest.

A Spangle-cheeked Tanager from Tapanti National Park.

9. Slaty Flowerpiercer- This is another super common small bird of the Costa Rican highlands. It’s hyperactive as a a Kindergarten class let loose in the Wonka factory but you will get looks at them by hanging around flowering bushes. I finally got an Ok shot of a singing male at Volcan Barva.

Check out the crazy bill of this Slaty Flowerpiercer. It looks like a hefty bird in this image but trust me, these things are dainty.

10. Mountain Robin- It’s hard to get duller looking than this but they are really common in the Costa Rican highlands so they are good to know.

The cloudy, humid weather in the already dim understory of the rainforest just couldn’t provide enough light for my digiscoping set-up no matter how much I fiddled with the camera. For unknown disappointing reasons, my camera also demonstrated its propensity to focus on sticks instead of birds even when the bird was smack dab in the center of the screen. I realize that the Sony Cybershot wasn’t developed for getting shots of birds, but it surely wasn’t designed to amass a photographic catalogue of twigs either. Oh well, I’m sure there’s a way to take better bird pictures with it, I just need to figure out how to do it.

Since the park doesn’t open until 8 a.m. during the low, rainy season, I started my birding day along the road to Bijagual. This is the same dirt road that passes in front of Villa Lapas and is always productive for birds. Although you don’t see species of the forest interior such as Great Tinamou and Black-faced Antthrush, views of the forest edge and hillsides are good for mixed flocks and raptors. On Saturday morning, I picked a spot that lacked stream noise and recorded such targets as Rufous and white wren1 and Northern Bentbill. Cocoa Woodcreeper and other species called in the distance as did Marbled Wood-Quail (species 527 for the year). There was also enough light for me to adequately capture Scrub Euphonia and Northern Bentbill.

Scrub Euphonia- these guys are actually related to goldfinches.

Northern Bentbill- Carara is an excellent site for this species.

Once the clock “struck” 8, I headed over to the park entrance, paid my fee, and entered the forest. Shortly after, I realized that I had made a grave error in not bringing along some serious plastic melting DEET as I was assaulted by a healthy population of thirsty mosquitoes. Those little vampires are around during the dry season too but their numbers pale in comparison to what I experienced on Saturday. It’s still not as bad as any wet, summer woodland of the far north but be forewarned that you will need repellent in Carara during the wet season!

To avoid recording cars along with bird sounds, I walked straight back into the forest as far as the figure eight trail would go before setting up my LS10 recorder, Sennheiser microphone, and headphones. I walked through the forest with headphones on and it must have looked a bit strange, but if only those bemused non-birding tourists could hear what I did!  Black-faced Antthrushes were especially vocal, Plain Xenops bickered, Rufous Pihas occasionally called in the distance, and a Black-striped Woodcreeper sang from some canopy tree trunk. Long-tailed Woodcreeper also vocalized once in a while but I wasn’t able to capture its song (unfortunately as there are few recordings of this taxon that almost certainly deserves to be split from Amazonian Long-tailed Woodcreepers because it sounds radically different from them).

The back part of the trail also resulted in a neotropical prize- an army antswarm! I noticed the columns of ants crossing the trail but it wasn’t until I scanned the forest floor in the direction they were heading that I saw some birds. Two Black-faced Antthrushes were running back and forth in the front of the swarm and a handful of Bicolored Antbirds clung to vertical stems as they pumped their tails and quietly “churred” (new word describing the vocalizations that this and other related antbird species give). A pair of Chestnut-backed Antbirds and Riverside Wrens were also taking advantage of the easy pickings but other birds such as woodcreepers, tinamous, Gray-headed Tanager, and Spectacled Antpitta were strangely absent.

So it is with antswarms. You will see some birds with the swarm but you often need to wait around and follow the front until other birds show up. Even if you don’t see much at first, it’s always worth it to follow the swarm if you can because in addition to the expected bunch of ant following birds, things like motmots, foliage-gleaners, and even forest-falcons will suddenly pop into view. Of course, you have to be in a position where you can follow the ants though, and on Saturday, as the nomadic predators marched off into thick second growth, I realized that this wasn’t one of those occasions.

Nevertheless, I still managed to get some grainy shots of:

Black-faced Antthrush,

Bicolored Antbird,

and Riverside Wren.

This was undoubtedly the highlight of the day but as usual when birding Carara, I still identified a bunch of other birds. The tally for the morning in the park and along Bijagual road was 94 species and included:

Great Tinamou

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Laughing Falcon

Gray Hawk

Marbled Wood-Quail

Short-billed Pigeon

Gray-chested Dove

White-tipped Dove

Inca Dove

Scarlet Macaw

Brown-hooded Parrot

Orange-chinned Parakeet

Squirrel Cuckoo

Striped Cuckoo

Groove-billed Ani

Long-billed Hermit

Stripe-throated Hermit

Purple-crowned Fairy

White-necked Jacobin

Charming Hummingbird

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Blue-throated Goldentail

Violaceous (Gartered) Trogon

Blue-crowned Motmot

Turquoise-browed Motmot

White-whiskered Puffbird

Chestnut-mandibled Toucan

Golden-naped Woodpecker

Plain Xenops

Long-tailed Woodcreeper

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

Cocoa Woodcreeper

Streak-headed Woodcreeper

Black-striped Woodcreeper

Black-hooded Antshrike

Barred Antshrike

Slaty Antwren

Dot-winged Antwren

Dusky Antbird

Chestnut-backed Antbird

Bicolored Antbird

Black-faced Anthrush

Greenish Elaenia

Ochre-bellied Flycatcher

Northern Bentbill

Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher

Common Tody-Flyatcher

Yellow-Olive Flycatcher

Golden-crowned Spadebill

Royal Flycatcher

Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Boat-billed Flycatcher

Piratic Flycatcher

Tropcial Kingbird

Rufous Piha

White-winged Becard

Rose-throated Becard

Long-tailed Manakin

Lesser Greenlet

Tawny-crowned Greenlet

Gray-breasted Martin

Southern Rough-winged Swallow

Rufous-naped Wren

Riverside Wren

Rufous and white Wren

Rufous-breasted Wren

Scaly-breasted Wren

Long-billed Gnatwren

Tropical Gnatcatcher

Clay-colored Robin

Rufous-capped Warbler

Tropical Parula

Blue-gray Tanager

White-shouldered Tanager

Bay-headed Tanager

Red-crowned Ant-Tanager

Green Honeycreeper

Variable Seedeater

White-collared Seedeater

Blue-black Grassquit

Blue-Black Grosbeak

Orange-billed Sparrow

Buff-throated Saltator

Bronzed Cowbird

Montezuma Oropendola

Yellow-throated Euphonia

Scrub Euphonia

Yellow-crowned Euphonia

Spot-crowned Euphonia

Unless I am guiding (and I give a thousand thanks to everyone I have guided), my birding in Costa Rica is usually limited to the weekend. This past Monday was the happy exception as I was tasked with delivering binoculars to a young guide who lives just outside of La Fortuna. He had been waiting months for those binoculars because of the difficulties associated with him coming up to the Central Valley and me driving over to the Arenal area. I didn’t want to send them with the local mail service because I frankly didn’t want to risk losing that precious cargo, or having them arrive a month later. I didn’t have to bring Miranda to the babysitter in the morning because she spent the night there on Sunday (and surely enjoyed it because she got to hang out with her Madrina or Godmother), so Monday was the day to drive to La Fortuna AND bird along the way!

I left just before the break of dawn- one of the best times for driving because of the dearth of traffic- and headed west on the highway towards the small city of San Ramon. I drove with the windows down to listen for birds as I coasted down towards the airport but the only things I heard were Great-tailed Grackles, TKs, Grayish Saltators, Rufous-collared Sparrows, and Blue-gray Tanagers. I am always on the listen for Prevost’s Ground-Sparrow to find more sites for this species and make a roughshod attempt at assessing its habitat needs, but no such luck in hearing any on Monday.

The windows went back up once I reached the highway and traffic picked up. Even at five a.m., trucks were barreling along and people were waiting for buses. I passed the sugarcane fields and patchy moist forests around Grecia and Palmares, and took the turn off to San Ramon before the highway starts its descent to Puntarenas and the Pacific lowlands. As I drove through town, overcast skies made me wonder if rain would foil my attempts at getting bird recordings and pictures. Things didn’t look any better as I made my way over the low pass to the Caribbean Slope.

There’s fog in them there hills…

The drive over the pass near San Ramon is typically a misty trip but on Monday the fog was a curtain of damp, dingy cotton. I slowly made my way along the road and wondered where the bottom of the cloud was located. The songs of Eastern Meadowlarks and Bronzed Cowbirds issued from the ether-like surroundings and were testament to the tragic conversion of forest to pasture that occurred decades before any protected areas in Costa Rica even existed as a concept. When I heard the hurried songs of Mountain Robins and cheerful snippets of Slate-throated Redstarts, I knew that I had once again reached forested areas, and not long after, the  fog lifted to reveal dripping cloud forest and light rain near the Nectandra Institute and the San Luis Canopy.

The hurried song of a Mountain Robin

I was tempted to make a stop at the San Luis Canopy to scan a forested hillside for Bare-necked Umbrellabird and Lovely Cotinga, but just drove on past because I wanted to maximize my time along the road to Manuel Brenes Reserve. I reached this excellent middle elevation site 10 minutes later and although it was still raining, the precipitation was exactly how you want it to be- enough to fool the birds into thinking that it’s early morning but not so much that you can’t watch them. I don’t expect that the birds are actually fooled, but when the weather is like this, they sure act as if it’s 7 a.m.  A downside is that it’s not conducive for bird photography so you won’t see many images in this post. I guess you will just have to go there yourself (I can guide you) to see things like Brown-billed Scythebill, Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, Rufous-browed Tyrannulet, some sweet antbirds (aren’t they always?), and a bunch of tanagers.

Fog or light rain in tropical forests = awesome birding!

Upon arrival, I had the usual suite of aquatic and second growth species that I get at this site:

Least Grebe, Northern Jacana, calling White-throated Crakes, Ringed Kingfisher, Red-billed Pigeon, flyovers of White-crowned Parrots, Slaty Spinetail, Tropical Pewee, Cinnamon Becard, and Montezuma Oropendolas to name a few.

Just up the hill, things got exciting as soon as I stepped out of the car when a male Black-crested Coquette buzzed around a low bush with small yellow flowers. He got chased off by a Violet-crowned Woodnymph, and before I knew it, I had a perched Blue-throated Goldentail in my bins. A quick look around revealed some of the best hummingbird activity I have seen on this road. Without feeders, the flowering Ingas and bushes turned up 8 species of hummingbirds including Brown Violetear, Violet-headed Hummingbird, and a few Steely-vented Hummingbirds! This is the second time I have seen this Pacific Slope species happily sucking nectar from flowers fed by waters that rush down to the Caribbean Sea.

While attempting to ID hummingbird silhouettes (another downside of birding in misty conditions), Black-throated and Stripe-breasted Wrens sang, Yellow-olive Flycatcher was being too hyperactive for photos, and Thicket Antpitta called from its usual inpenetrable haunts. I slowly made my along the road and recorded the voices of a good bunch of birds. Some of these were: Long-billed Gnatwren, Dusky Antbird, Keel-billed Toucan, Brown-hooded Parrot, and Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush.

This recording gives you an idea of what it sounds like along the road to Manuel Brenes Reserve (Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Blue-black Grosbeak, Lesser Greenlet, and Tropical Parula among others): Manuel Brenes Road Medley

While I was capturing the sounds of this little known Costa Rica birding hotspot, I also saw quite a few species including: American Swallow-tailed Kite, Crested Guan, Spotted Woodcreeper, Plain Xenops, Rufous Mourner, Black-faced Grosbeak, Passerini’s, Black and Yellow, White-throated Shrike, Speckled, and Hepatic Tanagers, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Russet Antshrike, Tawny-faced Gnatwren, and others.

The only bird I was able to photograph was one of the best. The image isn’t going to provoke any “oohs” or “aahs”, but if you use your imagination (and a field guide), you should be able to identify it as a Blue and Gold Tanager.

Blue and Gold Tanager- uncommon regional endemic often found in this area.

I stayed until ten a.m. or so before heading down the highway to La Fortuna. After meeting and giving the binoculars to Elias (a young guide for the Arenal area with a good handle on the birds there), I should have made my way back to the Central Valley but instead, opted for heading over to Lake Arenal in search of my lifer Keel-billed Motmot. Being short on time and in desperate need of this uncommon species, I chose to broadcast its vocalizations into a few suitable looking spots. I came up empty handed (except for a distant Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher)  and liferless but it was worth a shot. If I hadn’t went looking for the motmot, I wouldn’t have gotten my best images of the day:

Displaying male White-collared Manakin.

He only let me get off two shots before rushing back into the undergrowth but both came out pretty nice!

After success with the manakin, I checked out the lake and ended up getting my year Peregrine Falcon instead of  any interesting waterbirds. As this site can be good for Plumbeous Kite, I was half expecting the falcon-like shape to be that species but I wasn’t complaining when it turned into an adult Peregrine- an awesome bird to end the day. In all honesty, it wasn’t actually the end of my day but I prefer that happy ending over the subsequent experience of driving through cushion thick fog, pounding rain, and horrendous traffic.

That’s fine with me because the manageable size of Costa Rica makes it plausible to visit several habitats on different day trips and living here means that I can easily get to some of the more far flung sites (to boost the year list of course). High bird diversity in Costa Rica also means that I see a bunch of birds every time I head out in any case so I’m not complaining! Take for example two recent trips to Carara National Park and vicinity. On one day trip, even though the focus was on bird photography, we still ended up identifying over 140 species (!). This reflects the amazing bird diversity in and around Carara as do the 120 or so species identified from a morning of guiding done there yesterday.

A high number of species were identified on the forest trail behind the HQ in part because the birds were singing up a storm. Mornings in Costa Rica are filled with bird song because March is nesting season for a number of bird species . It can be frustrating when they chortle, trill, and chirp yet refuse to come out from behind that wall of green but at least we know that Green Shrike Vireos are hanging out in the canopy and that Blue-black Grosbeaks are haunting the undergrowth. With a little luck and patience, though, the majority of vocalizing species show themselves and this  was how we got Black-faced Antthrush, Rufous-breasted, Riverside, and Rufous and white Wrens, and Dusky Antbird among others. These species are pretty much par for the course at Carara although the antthrush isn’t always guaranteed. We did pretty good on woodcreepers for birding just one morning. Five species were seen (Wedge-billed, Northern Barred, Streak-headed, Cocoa, and Long-tailed) and one was a heard only (Black-striped). The pickings were slim on trogons however, with just one Baird’s heard and a pair of Black-throated seen.

Black-throated Trogon.

Both spadebill species were calling (Stub-tailed and Golden-crowned), the buzzy trills of Northern Bentbills were heard throughout the morning, and we had very close looks at a good number of Chestnut-backed Antbirds. Mixed flock activity was fair and resulted in niceties such as Slaty Antwren, Royal Flycatcher (pretty scarce this year), and Tropical Parula.

Cloudy weather made it easier to see Lesser Swallow-tailed and Costa Rican Swifts above the forest and also revealed a few migrating Cliff Swallows. Back down in the understory, Streak-chested Antpitta was a non-heard no show but we did get nice looks at both White-tipped and Gray-chested Doves and a pair of beautiful Ruddy Quail-Doves seen at the Heliconia patch on the “Universal Trail”. This spot also had Long-billed and Bronzy Hermits chasing each other around and was close to where we had perfect, close looks at three Great Tinamous. Conspicuously absent were the odd, metallic calls of Three-wattled Bellbird. Maybe they will show up next month to feed on fruiting figs but for the moment they have mostly (or only?) been seen in the hills above Carara (you might get them along the road to Bijagual).

As far as colorful birds go, Turquoise-browed Motmot showed nicely near the trail entrance, Scarlet Macaws made regular flybys through the canopy, and we had several sightings of Red-legged Honeycreepers, Bay-headed Tanagers, and Golden-hooded Tanagers.

Red-legged Honeycreeper

During a day of guiding on Sunday, a different set of more than 100 species were seen in much wetter, middle elevation forests near San Ramon. Over there on the Caribbean slope, we started things off with Least Grebe, Ringed Kingfisher, and Solitary Sandpiper on a lake along with flyovers of Red-billed Pigeons, Brown Jays, and Montezuma Oropendolas. This was quickly followed up by Crested Guan posing for us in a Cecropia, a Stripe-breasted Wren that thankfully revealed itself in a mossy vine tangle, Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner coming into playback of its song, Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant and Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush showing well, Tropical Parulas trilling from the treetops, and several tanagers that called but remained oddly elusive.

We eventually got good looks at Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Emerald, Silver-throated, Speckled, Passerini’s and Crimson-collared Tanagers but Black and yellows and Carmiol’s (Olive) afforded very few good looks and White-throated Shrike Tanager ended up being a heard only. Not fully connecting with a good mixed flock was also why we missed out on fairly common species such as Russet Antshrike, Spotted Woodcreeper, and Slaty-capped Flycatcher.

We were entertained by American Swallow-tailed Kites as we scanned the treetops of an open area but didn’t chance upon any of the toucans, raptors, parrots, or other birds that are often seen from this point. A nice surprise bird here was a Lattice-tailed Trogon that called and then gave good looks as it flew in front of us before it swooped out of sight into a dense patch of forest.

Nothing in the trees today.

As is usual along the road to Alberto Brenes Reserve, we had nice looks at Rufous-tailed Jacamar but even one of those needle-billed iridescent beauties taking a dust bath in the road was trumped by seeing Ocellated and Bicolored Antbirds. Although we couldn’t find any army ants, they must have been terrorizing invertebrate communities somewhere in the area because the presence of these two antbird species is typically associated with good old Eciton burchelli. On a side note, Ocellated Antbirds seem to be sighted with more regularity along this road than others areas in Costa Rica.

Some nice heard only birds were Black Hawk-Eagle, Nightingale Wren, and Tawny-faced Gnatwren.

Hopefully this will give readers an idea of what may be waiting for them if visiting Carara or San Ramon in the next two weeks. If you go, tell us about your highlights in the comments.