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Birding Costa Rica

Costa Rica Birders Prepare for October Global Big Day

The Big Day is happening soon. We’ll dress for the occasion, strive for a Zen birding mindset, and brew an ample supply of coffee. On a deeper level, some of us have already been studying up on nocturnal flight calls, pondering over the brief modulated calls of Wood Thrushes and the slightly clearer and upward inflected whispers of Scarlet Tanagers.

You know, just in case they happen to call in the pre-dawn while we’re cupping our ears to the night sky because on Saturday, the detection of each and every bird is coveted, warranted, and necessary. Soon, more than any other day, every bird identification will count and the quicker you “get” them the sooner you “got” them.

Hopefully, we’ll get a Purple-throated Mountain-Gem.

No, October 14th isn’t some anniversary or other noted event. Well, at least not for the non-birding world. It’s something much more monumental. On Saturday, we collectively mark and celebrate eBird’s 2023 October Big Day and check it out, up here in Costa Rica, we are ready to rock the birding house.

This is some of what birders in Costa Rica have been up to.

Local Birding Teams

In Guanacaste, Team Northwest will be scouring windswept fields, and checking rice fields for Spotted Rails and Paint-billed Crakes. They’ll be birding forests in Rincon de al Vieja and other sites, finding rare migrants, and checking off the dry forest birds.

Chambita and others will be counting birds in the Cano Negro area, and other teams yet to be announced are surely getting ready to show what they can find.

If past Big Days are any indication, the owner and guides of birding lodge Hotel Quelitales will do their best to show how incredibly diverse their corner of Costa Rica is.

The many women birders that make up the Jacanas Team will also be birding in various parts of the country, and hundreds of other local birders will participate too.

Team Tyto

This local team will also be in the field. Comprised of moi and my partner Marilen Palacios, all I can say is that we will be counting birds somewhere in Costa Rica. This is one of the few October Big Days when I won’t be working and I plan on taking full advantage of it! We have a rough plan but we’ll see how it goes, see what we find. It’s gonna be good, it always is when you let yourself get carried away with the birding flow in Costa Rica.

eBird Sightings and Whatsapp Groups

In preparation for October 14th, we have been checking the local sightings, seeing who should target which species. However, even more so, local birders are in constant touch with Whatsapp groups. This instant access to bird gen is light years ahead of how it used to be!

I mean, even if I can’t go chase a Black-throated Blue Warbler or Chipping Sparrow (I know but this is Costa Rica), at least I know where they were found.

I know where to find Great Potoos, I hope one turns up on October 14.

Due to lack of high coverage and misidentifications, eBird in Costa Rica isn’t perfect but it can still provide some good ideas for your Big Day plan. I know I’ve been checking it out and making plans!

Food and Drink Shopping

Yes, this is part of the Big Day birding equation, a very important part of it. October Big Day isn’t just about seeing birds, about focusing on birds and listening for the quiet sputter of a high-flying Upland Sandpiper. This day is also a celebration, a time to mark the collective enjoyment of bird observation.

Yeah, that’s what it is but not quite either. The deal is more like “bird merging”, feathered nature connection, or maybe exploring the sacred link between us, each other, and the marvelous beauty of life and ecosystems on Earth.

A day like this merits more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Make or get your favorite food! When you check out the chocolate aisle, do yourself a favor and get the good stuff. Buy appropriate beverages to accompany this day of focused birding, get enough of everything you like to keep you in the field, to maintain your focus on the birds.

Don’t forget to buy celebratory drinks too, or at least schedule a visit to the best spot to end your October Big Day.

Brushing Up

As in studying. Yeah, it all depends on how you want to watch birds but I believe that the more you prepare yourself for birding, the better it will be. Whether you just check out some pictures of raptors in flight or attempt to tune the senses to nocturnal flight calls, studying birds will help you celebrate October Big Day.

Unspotted Saw-whet Owl Costa Rica bird app
I’ll use the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app to brush up on the calls of Unspotted Saw-whet Owl (one can always hope…) and hundreds of other birds in Costa Rica.

And, if your Big Day goal is going above and beyond with bird identification, you better do some last-minute studying. Recheck those jaeger field marks (as subtle and confusing as they may be), think about odd possibilities like Common Ringed Plover, and look into little known flight calls. Keep it in mind, you just might need that extra bit of neural stuff!

Yes, October 14th is almost here and yet, with horrible and heart-wrenching situations happening in so many places, it’s easy to wonder how we can possibly celebrate anything?

Especially when the worst of situations affect people we know and care about along with so many others whom we would love to know. Bird celebration suddenly seems trivial. However, birding can still act as a mental refuge, and what better way to focus on peace and communion that birding together in so many places, all at the same time.

As I listen for Gray-cheeked Thrushes in the night sky (just one will work!), call for quetzals on Poas, and scan rainforest canopy for cotingas, I’ll be thinking about all the birders who won’t be able enjoy birds as much on October 14th. I’ll be thinking of birding friends, acquaintances, and their families, and striving for calmer, better days when we can meet again and enjoy birds together.

Take care, watch birds on October 14th, and make to treat yourself to the good chocolate.

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Birding Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica Introduction

The Big Day that Started with an Owl and Ended with an Ibis

A couple of weeks ago, Susan Blank, Robert Dean, and I ventured out into the Costa Rican wilds to identify as many birds as we could. Although the birding Big Day to end all Big days didn’t officially start until we put on our birding ninja head bands (I wish I had one but they were only figurative), the Big Day really began in January, 2014. That was when we began to think about and discuss our strategy. With the help of personal experience and eBird, we defined and refined the route. Times were taken between key sites to see if we could manage that extra two or five minutes. The road status site for Costa Rica was checked and rechecked. Targets were planned, energy bars were purchased, we had enough yuca chips to keep us going for days, and we were ready to break all records!

Here are some of the factors we took into account to increase our chances of hearing and seeing more species in less time (because that is the basic goal of a Big Day of course):

  • Dawn starting Point: Since dawn chorus is key to picking up dozens of forest species, the point for starting the day is of essential importance. Instead of starting out on the Caribbean slope as we had done on past Big Days, we opted for getting into the dawn chorus on the Pacific slope at the Bijagual Road. We opted for that birdy spot because this eliminated the chance of getting rained out in the morning on the Caribbean slope, and the Bijagual Road would give us a chance at hearing many rainforest species in Carara National Park, catch birds as they flew to and from morning roosts, and pick out birds perched in the canopy of the forest.
  • Enough time to check out the Tarcoles estuary: On past attempts, time ran out before we could look for waterbirds at the Tarcoles estuary. This year, we would have time to get our only shorebirds at this one key coastal spot. We would have also liked to include Mata de Limon and Guacalillo but there just wouldn’t be enough time to include those important sites.
  • The need to get as many species as possible during the night: Those dark hours can be vital not just for owls, but also for rails, herons, and whatever else might call before dawn than during the light of the day.
  • Being acutely aware of the time: We knew that we couldn’t allow ourselves to allocate more time to areas that wouldn’t yield as many species. This was why we only gave ten or so minutes for dry forest species.

These were some of the main factors we took into account, now this is how we spent February 22, 2014:

12:00 am: The day starts but we watch birds in our dreams because we didn’t see how two extra hours would give us any extra birds. I know, what were we thinking (!) but honestly, we would have just roamed the back roads of the windy Central Valley like bino-toting zombies.

2:00 am-3:30 am: Now, we could officially start! I drove over to Susan’s, read the ABA Big Day rules, loaded the car with various food and drink, and off we went! There was a big moon in a beautiful night sky as we drove over to the nearby golf course but nary a Tropical Screech or other owl species called. That’s alright, because we had a back up plan! This involved driving over to the nearby Zamora Estate where we hoped to get owls, a heron or two, and who knows what other night birds. That worked out with a Mottled Owl upon arrival, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, and both Boat-billed and Black-crowned Night Herons calling from the ponds. The uncommon Black-crowned was a bonus. We also tried for Barn and Striped Owl sans success. After thanking one of the owners for letting us enter the place in the middle of the night and bidding adieu, it was back off to the highway for a quick night drive to the Cerro Lodge road.

Hearing this avian gargoyle was enough to count it.

4:15 am-4:45 am: We opted for skipping Orotina for the Black and white Owl because we had just as good a chance for it at Cerro Lodge. This eventually proved to be true as we heard that species, Pacific Screech Owl, another Mottled Owl, and Ferruginous Pygmy owl, along with Common Pauraque, Purple Gallinule, and Southern Lapwing. No Barn or Striped Owls nor the hoped for thick knee but with ten species under the belt, we were off to a good start!

This is the easiest owl to see in Costa Rica.

5:00 am: A quick stop at the croc bridge for the thick knee was aborted after a minute because the traffic was too noisy and no thick knees called anyways.

5:15 am-8:30 am: This was it! We were on the Bijagual Road and as hoped, a Spectacled Owl made it onto the list near Villa Lapas. I’m not sure if we got anything else between then and the “death cicadas” but fortunately, those incredibly loud arthropods stopped their unhealthy din after about 20 minutes. As we could barely hear anything else, we probably missed birds but we did alright (ohh, how I hope those cicadas became meals for other animals in the forest). I’m not sure how many species we got but highlights were much needed target forest birds like Crested Guan, Great Curassow, Ruddy Quail Dove, Gray-chested Dove, White-whiskered Puffbird, Golden-crowned Spadebill, Chesnut-backed Antbird, Black-faced Antthrush, both tinamous, Scarlet Macaw and 5 species of parrots and parakeets, Blue-crowned Motmot, Lineated, Pale-billed, Golden-naped, and Hoffmann’s Woodpeckers, two trogons, Black-mandibled Toucan, Fiery-billed Aracari, Plain Xenops, Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner, 3 manakins, Orange-billed Sparrow, 6 wrens, Painted Bunting, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Gray-headed Tanager, and so on.

We also saw the most Western Tanagers and Philadelphia Vireos we had ever seen in one place in Costa Rica, ever. Those two species must have been migrating because the Western was one of the most common species there (this does not happen in Costa Rica), and Phillies were all over the place. Among those Phillies was also at least one Warbling Vireo, a nice, rare surprise! Despite getting well over 100 species, we were actually missing several key birds. We got Gray and White Hawks but other raptors failed to show or be seen in the canopy (that idea was a bust), very few woodcreepers called (might have been drowned out by the death cicadas), and we saw few birds flying to and from roosts. However, one other bonus on the road was scoping a very distant mud flat that gave us several herons, White Ibis, and Roseate Spoonbill.

We also heard this jovial (maniacal) bird.

One of our three manakins.

8:30 am-11:00 am: This time was dedicated to edge and dry forest species, and coastal birds around Tarcoles and near Cerro Lodge. This worked out for the most part with many targets being found including Yellow-naped Parrot, both caracaras, Osprey, Common Black Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Little Blue Heron, Green Kingfisher, bonus Olivaceous Piculet, some mangrove species, and so on. The estuary also turned up some key birds but not a single gull or tern! Just a couple days before then, I had several terns and gulls there but they flew the coupe on the 22nd. We also picked up a few dry forest species on the Cerro Lodge road but not much in the sunny, hot weather.

We got this one just before we left Playa Azul.

11:00 am-12:30 pm: It’s a bit hazy now but I think this was when we drove back up the highway (seeing nothing new) to visit the Turrucares reservoir. It took a bit more time than hoped but resulted well with hoped for Least Grebe, 2 ducks, and bonus Keel-billed Toucan. We also got a high flying Short-tailed Hawk while stopping at an intersection.

12:30 pm-2:00 pm: On we went up slope to the Poas area with a quick stop en route for a friendly Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush in an otherwise silent, warblerless forest. Sunny weather was not a good sign and this marked the point where the Big Day began to seriously slow down. We got the hoped for hummingbirds at the Volcan Restaurant but had to work too much for other birds there and further up slope. Several species did show up including Sooty and Mountain Thrush, both silky flycatchers, Acorn and Hairy Woodpeckers, and some other birds but it was pretty quiet and we just didn’t have to time to wait for the birds to show. Our best bird was a surprise Merlin.

We were happy to hear this uncommon species.

One of the hummingbirds we ticked at the Volcan Restaurant.

2:00 pm-3:00 pm: Part of this time was still spent somewhere around Poas looking for cloud forest species (we got our Prong-billed Barbet) but the luck ran out with road work just before Cinchona. Ouch, there went 20 precious minutes and try as we could to find birds while we waited, only a couple of species showed and called in the sunny weather.

3:30 pm-4:30 pm: A quick stop at Cinchona got us our Green Thorntail and White-bellied Mountain Gem but the fruit feeders were quiet as was the surrounding area. We also picked up Yellow-bellied Elaenia and maybe another bird or two across the street. By 4:30, we finally made it to the Nature Pavilion. This photography hotspot scored us a chachalaca and a few other birds but the area was strangely quiet. We quickly decided to rush over to more forested sites across the river in the hopes of picking up species during the final avian rush of the day.

It's always nice to see this bug-like species.

4:30 pm-5:30 pm: This was the most unexpected hour of the day and the surprise was unwelcome. Basically, the quiet surroundings continued as we saw and heard very few birds for the rest of the day. Most of the hoped for, common species that one usually hears or sees failed to materialize in any way. No Bay Wren, no Black-throated Wren, and so on for many other species. It was very odd and because of this great missing of species, we decided to not bother looking for the handful of night birds we might have still picked up. Instead, we drove home, our final bird being a lone, flyby Green Ibis.

The final tally was 250 species, a total far short of any record but yes, it was another fun, memorable day, as well as being a learning experience. I had to admit that breaking any Big Day record in Costa Rica is unlikely because there are just too many variables. Although you do drive through areas with more than enough species to break every record, the chances of getting enough of those species are diminished by fewer individuals (many species are just not as common as in the past), bird activity slows to a near stop in sunny weather as well as rainy weather so you need something in between, you can miss 40 or more species if you don’t cross paths with mixed flocks, and the birds that frequent the estuary vary quite a bit.

In conclusion, this might be my last Big Day in Costa Rica but it sure would be fun to organize a Costa Rican Birding Rally!

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big year Birding Costa Rica Introduction

A Big Day in Costa Rica

This past Saturday, I attempted my first Big Day in Costa Rica. “Big Days” should always be capitalized by the way. I mean we aren’t talking about some casual walk in the park while you smell the roses and waltz through the tulips. No, a Big Day is more like a frantic race through time and space with your head out the window to pick up the call note of a Bobolink or Squirrel Cuckoo or whatever. It is a 24 hour marathon of concentrated birding; an attempt at identifying as many species as possible within whatever size area you can manage by foot, car, boat, biplane or rickshaw. This usually means Nascar street driving your Toyota from woodlot to National Park to seashore to mountaintop to maximize birding time and increase your chances of getting more bird species.

Costa Rica is an exciting place to do a Big Day; the country is jam packed with bird species (over 800 recorded), has many accessible protected areas, is small enough to feasibly visit several distinct bioregions in one day and has twisting, narrow streets that are very conducive to Nascar street driving. The fact that so many bird species are possible, though, ends up being a bit frustrating because there is no way to get all of them. For example with the route we did, over the course of the day, we probably came within one kilometer of around 500-600 bird species total. No kidding and no exaggeration. We might have been within flying distance of all those birds but recorded far less, even missing several “common” species while seeing some rarities. For example, we missed Blue-black Grasquit and Squirrel Cuckoo but had close looks at three Yellow-eared Toucanets and Blue and Gold Tanager. The Grasquit we missed because we just didn’t spend enough time in pasture while the Cuckoo was just bad luck. If you are thinking of blitzing through Costa Rica for a few days and seeing everything, reconsider and spend more days in fewer areas. You will probably see more and it will be a lot more relaxed.

In any case, I think our total of 233 species was alright for a first attempt; especially without the benefits of scouting. Below is a summary of the day.

2:40 A.M.

I get out of bed, shave and am ready to roll out into the urban wonderland of Tibas to listen for Tropical Screech Owl. I hear a horn outside and am out the door to join my team members; Dieter, Johan and Ineke. Dieter is the tall guy in shorts. Hailing from Namibia, Dieter met his wife while guiding in South Africa. Now they live in Costa Rica and watch Motmots instead of elephants. Johan (Nascar street driver) and Ineke are from Holland originally. They have also lived in Africa; Mozambique and Zimbabwe before Mugabe went haywire. Now they too live in Costa Rica watching Motmots instead of elephants. I am originally from Niagara Falls, NY. I met my wife some years ago, we got married and now we live in Costa Rica with our 7 month old future kung-fu birder (fingers crossed) daughter and watch TV (for the most part) instead of Motmots.


After explaining the Big Day rules, we drove a few blocks to my old apartment to try for the Tropical Screech Owl that calls at night and is never seen. Almost as soon as we stepped out of the car, both Ineke and I heard it! It sounded distant but there it was- how fortunate we were! And then Johan pointed out that the sound appeared to be coming from the car. A few more owl calls and yes he was right, it was coming from the car alright; actually from inside my bag to be precise. Not only that but it sounded more like Spectacled Owl which of course it was; my cd player had somehow turned on by itself. If there was a Tropical Screech nearby, it made nary a peep and who can blame it after that display of silliness.

3:05-4:45 A.M.

We left that embarrassing moment behind and zoomed through the mountain night along beautifully silent roads, taking a left at La Garita to twist and turn our way out of the central valley. Our next destination was San Mateo. A small town located in the hot Pacific foothills, we tried for Mottled and Spectacled Owl at the entrance to Rancho Oropendola. Over the chorus of barking dogs and an occasional rooster, we got our first species as soon as we exited the car; a distant Ferruginous Pygmy Owl! Luckily, in addition to our two target owl species, we also tried for Pacific Screech Owl. While the two targets refused to answer my imitations, the Screech Owl called a few times and even gave us brief looks. At 4:45, we left the barking dogs behind and raced off towards Carara National Park.

Due to confusing road work combined with a general paucity of street lamps, we missed our turn-off (apparently a hidden gap among street cones) and raced towards Puntarenas (the absolutely wrong direction). Fortunately, one of those temporary lights that sprout at one way traffic in road work areas halted our race to Big Day disaster and after receiving directions from two middle-aged road workers who were manning the light and listening to reggaeton, we were back on course. On a Big Day one hopes that a wrong turn turns out to be serendipitous with a flyby Barn Owl or other random surprise bird and everyone says things like , “Ha ha! Good thing we made a wong turn!”, “How fortunate!” or “The birding Gods are doing a Manakin dance!” but no, nothing like that happened to us; we only saw a bunch of darkness where the wind played in the warm lowland night.

5:00 A.M.

The Tarcol bridge is a busy place during the day; people are constantly marching out along a skinny sidewalk to see the crocodiles on the river below while the cars and buses zoom by. At night, although there aren’t any pedestrians, it’s still a pretty busy road. During traffic lulls we tried for White-tailed Nightjar and got Double-striped Thick-Knees instead as they called from the grassland. Unexpected good bird! With hints of dawn in the distance we drove to the nearby Laguna Meandrica trail. This is always an excellent birding site. Its mix of dry and moist forest species along with waterbirds always makes for a huge list. Our plan was to walk a few kilometers back to an area of primary forest for the dawn chorus, picking up nightbirds along the way. Although we didn’t get any owls, we got loads of Common Pauraques, many on the track itself. We started picking up the pre-dawners too such as Blue-crowned Motmot (only ones for the day), and Cocoa and Nothern Barred Woodcreepers. You just don’t realize how common some woodcreepers are until you hear a dawn chorus. We had at least a dozen of each of those species with lesser numbers of Wedge-billed and Streaked-headed.

The Tarcol bridge during the day.

What everyone is looking at.

6:00-8:00

As daylight quickly vanquished the night, the birds came fast and steady at this exciting site. Although we missed many of the primary forest targets I had hoped for (appear to be more likely along the HQ trail), we still got 121 species over the next two hours (yes, Carara is one of the best birding sites in Central America).We picked up most of the herons including Boat-billed, got Purple Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, had a Roseate Spoonbill drop out of the sky to feed in front of us, saw several Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and much more.

Best birds were a distant calling Striped Cuckoo, Golden-naped Woodpecker, 3 Toucan species, Three-wattled Bellbird and American Redstart. We also got many targets such as Stub-tailed Spadebill, 4 Trogon species, Orange-collared Manakin, a Crane Hawk spotted by Dieter, 4 Wrens, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Royal Flycatcher, White-whiskered Puffbird, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Long-billed Gnatwren, Plain Xenops, Dusky Antbird and more.

The lagoon. This is another spot where I need to sit and watch all day sometime.


The lagoon is an excellent spot for Boat-billed Heron.

We found a perched Lesser Nighthawk picked out while checking out some Anis in a tree.

This Bicolored Antbird was at an antswarm along with Gray-headed Tanagers, Chestnut-backed Antbirds and Northern Barred and Tawny-winged Woodcreepers.

And of course we got great looks at one of the stars of Carara, Scarlet Macaws. This pair was inspecting a tree hole and preening right over the trail.

8:20-9:45

It can get hot pretty early along the Pacific coast and Saturday was no exception. You really have to be out and about by dawn or you are going to miss a lot of birds. On Saturday, bird activity dropped off by 8:30 A.M.; right around the time we we birded the pastures and forest edge near Tarcoles. This probably explained why we missed Striped-headed Sparrows and Blue-black Grasquits. We barely picked up Ruddy Ground Dove with just a few flybys and somehow missed Crested Caracara! We still picked up other things though like Common Black Hawk soaring way up in the blue with the Vultures, Philly Vireos, Orange-fronted Parakeets and Ruby-throated and Steely-vented Hummingbirds all feeding on orange-colored flowers, and Orchard Oriole.

At the mangroves near Tarcol lodge, we got great looks at a few Mangrove Vireos, saw a close female Blue Ground Dove, heard Red-winged Blackbirds and picked up Ruddy Turnstones and Whimbrel that were perched on snags in the estuary.

At the nearby beach, we did alright picking up expected species such as Osprey, Neo. Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Mag. Frigatebird, Laughing Gull and Royal Tern but aside from a distant Brown Booby, missed a chunk of shorebird and Tern species more likely during low tide.

10:00-11:30

Leaving Tarcoles by mid-morning we rushed to the bridge hoping for open country species and maybe a White Ibis or shorebird but were vanquished by the sun. I was starting to feel vanquished by the sun too. Unfortunately, I have been getting pretty bad headaches and feeling pretty drained when I walk around on hot days; to the point of feeling too tired to talk. Not sure why this happens but it’s a royal pain! I try to drink a lot of water so I don’t know what the deal is; maybe I’m turning into a mountain person? Maybe it was because I missed my morning coffee? In any case a couple of tylenol helped out and at least the birding was slow during my brief time of head pain.

It was during this hot time that we tried for dry forest species around Guacimo. For our 15 minutes of effort we picked up a Nutting’s Flycatcher panting in the heat and nothing else.

We swung by Orotina for the Black and White Owls and it was surreal as always; some non-birder guy on a bench asks me if I want to see the owls in the fairly busy plaza, I say yes please, he points to a large tree in the middle of the plaza and there they are. Just incredible. I say “gracias” and we walk back to the car noting a Turquoise Browed Motmot (which we already had but always deserve to be watched) and picked up Yellow-green Vireo via its incessant singing. Also got another urban bird here; Grey-breasted Martin. Like Purple Martins, these guys have also become completely adapted to and maybe even dependent upon the structures built by people.

From Orotina, it was back uphill towards the Central Valley. Along the way we stopped for a drink at the Café Mirador near Atenas. This is a great place to stop for a drink or breakfast. Nice ambience and beautiful view all the way to the sea, it can also be good for dry forest birds. Can be means not at 11 A.M. though because we only saw the wind make the trees dance. We did pick up two birds though; a Yellow-bellied Elaenia was friendly enough to call once and the local Blue and White Swallows were present. It was good to stop for a drink and brief rest but this may not be the best place to stop on a Big Day; the service was just too relaxed. This is nice any other time but on a Big Day even a a few squandered minutes can mean lost birds. This may sound crazy but not if you think in terms of priorities; number of bird species being the top priority on a Big Day.

Just past Atenas we had another brief yet fruitful stop to check out the Rio Grande reservoir. This stop was perfect; we got out of the car and picked up our targets; Least Grebe, Blue-winged Teal and Black Phoebe and got one non-target; Short-tailed Hawk!

If the A-team had converted to birding instead of firing guns and smoking cigars, they would have said, “I love it when a plan comes together”. Well, actually, their leader would have said that while Mr. T would have said, “I pity the bird who don’t show itself”. Face would have said something stupid like “I love Cowbirds” and the crazy one have mewed like a Clay-colored Robin.


View from the Mirador café

11:30 A.M. – 2 P.M.

This is when we saw very few birds because Johan was getting us through the traffic obstacle and maze of roads in San Jose. Traffic wasn’t too bad except along one stretch near our turnoff to the Caribbean. It might have been worth it if we had picked up a House Sparrow but nope, we saw nothing.

2-3 P.M.

Ahhh, relief to have escaped the car conglomeration and back out on the road heading up to Zurqui. I told the team to get on any bird that fluttered a wing or peeped as everything would probably be new up there at 1600 meters. We pulled over at some roadside café near patchy cloud forest habitat and tried to hear and see some birds through mountain pass mist accompanied by the din of passing 18-wheelers. Well, it wasn’t exactly the most active time of day for birds but we managed to get a few things such as Plain Wren, Slate-throated Redstart, Common Bush Tanager, Mountain Robin, Wilsons Warbler and our only Rufous-collared Sparrows of the day.

Further on, we stopped at our only good cloud forest site; the Zurqui police station in Braulio Carrillo National Park. There used to be an excellent trail here with cloud forest birding as good as or even better than Monteverde. The trail is too overgrown to bother with though so we were limited to the noisy roadside during rainy weather. We picked up a handfull; Golden-bellied Flycatcher foraging around the police station, Yellowish Flycatcher, a gorgeous male Flame-colored Tanager, and our best; Emerald Toucanets flying across the road!

Unfortunately we were slim on time, the birds were quiet at this time of day and you really can’t see too much from the side of the road so we left for lower elevations of the Caribbean slope. This was pretty frustrating since there was probably 70 new species somewhere nearby in those excellent cloud forests. Next year, we will have to figure out how to maximize our cloud forest species number. On our original route, we would have done quite well but that road no longer exists; the way through Varablanca and Cinchona which was destroyed by the January 8th, 2009 earthquake.

Taking in the mist and not seeing much at Zurqui.

3:30-4:30 P.M.

Heading downhill, lucky for us, the weather cleared up by the time we reached my patch; Quebrada Gonzalez. We had some good birding for that hour. We picked up Collared Aracari and Bay Wren upon arrival, White-breasted Wood Wren and Pale-vented Thrush as soon as we entered the forest, Tawny-capped Euphonia and a good variety of other Tanagers such as Dusky-faced, Olive, Tawny-crested, Emerald, Bay-headed, Black and Yellow, and best of all, Blue and Gold! We also got Rufous-winged Woodpecker, Black-headed Nightingale Thrush, Green Shrike Vireo, Buff-throated Foliage-Gleaner, Striped Woodhaunter and best of all, Yellow-eared Toucanet to clean up on Costa Rican Toucan species! As on other occasions when I have seen this species here, we saw three close and tame (but quiet) birds in the upper understory. I took the photo below zooming in about 3X.

Here is a digiscoped female from another a day there in January.

It was tough to leave with such nice bird activity but we still had to hit the Sarapiqui area so off we went; driving through the pouring rain for Carribean lowland targets. We got lucky again with the weather when it cleared up before reaching the La Selva entrance road. Along the way we got Pale-vented Pigeon perched on a roadside wire and upon arrival picked up a Swainsons Hawk amidst the 1000s of Turkey Vultures migrating en masse. It was incredible; this river of birds stretched from horizon to horizon! It was tough to pull ourselves away from this spectacle but we had targets to look for. The La Selva entrance road is always productive and we picked up several birds; the churring of White-throated Crake, Gray-rumped Swifts overhead, a Purple Martin (good bird!), a group of Olive-throated Parakeets screeching past, Golden-hooded Tanager, our only Masked Tityra and Lineated Woodpecker of the day, Fasciated Antshrike (!), Passerini’s Tanager, a distant Black-cowled Oriole scoped on a tree-top, a White-collared Manakin calling and then as dusk approached and most birds became silent we picked up our Little Tinamou and watched Crested Guans flap up above the tall trees to gracefully glide down into the shadows. As it got dark, we got one of our best birds for the day; Short-tailed Nighthawk! It gave us great looks right at the start of the entrance road, flying out on long wings a bit like a large bat. Our last bird though came at 6:15 P.M. when night had once again taken hold. It was another owl species; a distantly calling Spectacled. This was the end of our Big Day for 2009. So what if we didn’t get 300 species; its not every day that you get to identify 233 bird species while visiting lowland rain forest, montane cloud forest, mangroves, an oxbow lake and an ocean beach over the course of a single day.

A bad pic of the 1000s of TVs going by.


Violaceous Trogons are pretty common along the La Selva entrance road.

Our last stop; the La Selva entrance road.