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Quail-Dove Identification in Costa Rica

buff-fronted-quail-do

Quail-doves seem to herald from the realm of birding dreams. The plump birds aren’t quails but you could be excused for believing it. They are indeed doves but are a far cry from those everyday, easy-peasy Mournings.

Instead of sitting in the open or easing on down the middle of a road, quail-doves lurk in the shadows. Shy by nature, quail-doves are careful. I can’t blame them. I mean if I had to walk the same forest floor as hungry Ocelots, boas, and other animals that couldn’t wait to devour me, I’d be pretty darn timid too!

Most forest floor birds are careful but quail-doves take it to another level of caution. They have to because unlike somberly plumaged wrens, antbirds, and Swainson’s Warblers, quail-doves are downright fancy.

They got cool little face patterns and patches of iridescence that transform them into beautiful little birds. Quail-doves can still sort of blend in but not if they take bold steps, and definitely not in open habitats.

All of that cautious behavior makes quail-doves somewhat more challenging to see than other birds. You can still find them, sightings can happen (!) but only if you get lucky, or play by quail-dove rules.

Those would be:

  • Walking slow and careful like a quail-dove.
  • Keeping silence. Forget talking, better to not even whisper.
  • Keep an eye on the forest floor in mature forest, especially below fruiting trees.
  • Listen for and track down calling quail-doves.

Yeah, that’s especially challenging in group birding situations and requires a high degree of patience but what are you gonna do? Thems are the quail-doves rules!

Now that you have a fair idea of how to look for quail-doves, here’s some tips to identify them in Costa Rica. The two main problematic species are the first ones mentioned, I’ll mostly focus on them.

Buff-fronted Quail-Dove vs. Purplish-backed Quail-Dove

The Monteverde parking lot Buff-fronted Quail-Dove (aka “Super Friendly”)
Purplish-backed Quail Dove on the trail at Pocosol- a rough picture but it does reflect how they are often seen.

Way back when, in more ecologically healthy times, ancestors of these two species took two different paths. One preferred the high road, and the other, the not so high road. After long years of separation, one became the Buff-fronted and the other the Purplish-backed.

Despite their names, these two species can look a lot more similar than you think, especially when they give you typical, few second, quail-dove views The heavily shaded, understory conditions don’t help either!

Both have a similarly patterned, mostly gray head, dark back, and gray underparts. If you know what to look for, separating the two isn’t all that problematic. Confusion stems from the color of the back, and expecting to only see Buff-fronteds at high elevations.

Regarding their back, the Buff-fronted’s is maroon-brown, maybe with a hint of burgundy; a color that can easily make you wonder if it might actually be some shade of purple. Focus on that tint, especially if the quail-dove is in middle elevation cloud forest, and it’s easy to enter it into eBird as a Purplish-backed.

If you see a quail-dove like this at high elevations, yes, without a doubt, Buff-fronted. Purplish-backeds only typically range up to around 1,200 meters or so. But what about the adventurous Purplish-backeds that walk a bit higher? What about Buff-fronteds that commonly range down to 1.200 meters or even lower?

Oh yeah, they can overlap! Buff-fronteds stroll at lower elevations than you think. Perhaps they are limited to old second growth in such elevations? Maybe other odd situations such as the feeders at Cinchona?

Whatever the case, you CAN see these two birds in the same area. That just means that in places where foothill rainforest transitions to cloud forest, you can’t assume identification based on elevation.

Instead, if you see a quail-dove at Cinchona or other spot with similar elevation, focus on these main field marks:

  • See if the bird has a buff or just pale gray front- The Buff-fronted lives up to its name. The Purplish-backed has a pale gray front.
  • Look at the back- If the bird has a green nape, and the back and wings are the same maroon-brown color, it’s a Buff-fronted. If the bird has a distinct amethyst purple patch on its back that contrasts with duller brown wings, hello Purplish-backed!
A much nicer picture of a Purplish-backed Quail-Dove from the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app. This picture was taken by Josh Beck.

Ruddy Quail-Dove vs. Violaceous Quail-Dove vs. White-tipped Dove

A Ruddy Quail-Dove from Luna Lodge, Costa Rica, a place where it is common.

In general, these are pretty easy. Both Ruddy and the rare Violaceous have reddish beaks but Ruddy is more brownish or red-brown with pattern on its head while Violaceous has a more uniform grayish head and contrasting white underparts.

Based on its general plumage pattern, the Violaceous might remind you of a White-tipped Dove. However, if that “White-tipped” has a red beak , grayish head, and rufous tail, it’s a Violaceous Quail-Dove.

Chiriqui Quail-Dove

This hefty quail-dove is pretty easy. No other quail-dove in Costa Rica is brown with a gray cap.

Olive-backed Quail-Dove

Another easy quail-dove, at least to identify. It’s the only one that has mostly dark gray plumage and a white mark on its face.

Quail-doves are some of the tougher birds to see in Costa Rica. They require a special type of patience and can be especially tough on group birding tours. However, play by their rules and you can see them!

Maybe not the Violaceous but if you go to the right places, the other quail-doves for sure! Learn more about seeing quail-doves and other birds in Costa Rica with “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. Use it to get ready for your birding trip to Costa Rica and see hundreds of bird species. I hope to see you here!

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5 Suggestions for Better Birding in Costa Rica, July, 2023

Birding in Costa Rica this July? Maybe you are already here! I hope so, I mean, one of my constant hopes is for every birder to experience the avian splendor in this beautiful Central American nation. Although most folks visit in the dry season, July is our other, mini high season for birding.

July usually gives us a break in the rains and more time for birding, Even better, a lot of resident species have just finished breeding, more juvenile birds are around, and the activity…well, the bird activity is simply delish and delightful.

Mixed flocks call, scramble, and roam the foothill rainforests, quetzals are doing their spectacular thing in the highlands, and there’s lots more, always lots more Costa Rica birds to experience.

To help improve and enhance your birding trip to Costa Rica, here are five tips for “better birding”.

Don’t Worry About eBird, Just Keep Watching Birds in Good Habitat

EBird data for Costa Rica are helpful but the platform doesn’t have the final say on where to go birding. Yes, you can see where certain birds have occurred and learn about various hotspots BUT birds are not restricted to where eBirders have seen them. Whether a site is on eBird or not, the best birding is always in the places with the best habitats.

Now that doesn’t mean that eBirders aren’t visiting excellent sites. They certainly are but there are lots of additional sites with just as good or better birding. Many areas of good habitat don’t stand out or even show on eBird simply because they don’t receive much coverage.

birding Costa Rica

With that in mind, don’t be shy about watching birds in Costa Rica wherever you find good forest and other suitable habitats. That’s where the birds are.

Visiting the Pacific? Scan the Ocean, Maybe Get on a Boat, and Take Pictures!

El Nino has been bringing us some seriously rare birds. The latest stars of the local birding show have been Peruvian Boobies, Blue-footed Boobies, and Sooty Shearwaters but various other species are possible too.

This is the year to scan the ocean or take a pelagic trip in Costa Rica. Scan the sea or get out on a boat and you’ll probably see something good! Since weird stuff can appear that is not in most field guides for Costa Rica, please take pictures of as many seabirds as possible. You never know, you might find some crazy rarity!

birding Costa Rica

To be ready for it, get the Costa Rica Birds-Field Guide app for IOS devices. All possible seabird species are on the app, including some that have yet to be found in Costa Rica but are expected to occur. Get ready for your trip by marking target birds, studying bird sounds, and more.

Visiting the Caribbean? Scan that Ocean and Take Pictures!

The Caribbean side of Costa Rica is also turning up major records. There have been tantalizing reports of a possible Gannet, Great Shearwater was seen from shore, and a pelagic trip turned up Cory’s, Great, Audubon’s, and Manx Shearwaters! Those might be normal off North Carolina but in Costa Rica, those birds are riding the aquatic Mega train!

Although I do suspect that these and other pelagic species visit the deep waters of the Caribbean more often than expected, they are still rare birds around here (except for the Audubon’s).

Once again, you might document some serious rarity. Keep looking!

Keep an Eye Out for Red-fronted Parrotlets

Costa Rica has a bunch of parrots, parakeets, and even two monstrous macaws. Most of these cool, fancy birds are easy to see but there’s one special little species that stays out of the spotlight; the Red-fronted Parrotlet.

This miniature parrot seems to be genuinely uncommon and is the toughest member of its family to see in Costa Rica. The challenge stems from its tendency to wander up and down mountains in search of just the right food coupled with its habit of quietly feeding high in the canopy of dense rainforest.

In June and July, Red-fronted Parrotlets may move around a bit more. With that mind, keep a close eye and ear out for these birds at fruiting figs and other fruiting trees, even in the Central Valley and the Caribbean lowlands. Lately, they have been seen in the high Talamancas as well as in typical sites like the Monteverde area and El Copal.

They make distinctive, high-pitched reedy calls, are small, and show red in their wings. Good luck!

Where to See The Cotingas

No matter where you go birding in the Neotropical Region, if cotingas are in range, these birds perch right at the top of the wish list. Colorful or cool and bizarre, cotingas are a welcome sight for any birding eyes.

birding Costa Rica

Unfortunately, in Costa Rica, most are not common and a few are kind of rare. With that in mind, here are some tips for seeing them in the next few weeks:

  • Bare-necked Umbrellabird- Some are still in middle elevation forests but others have already moved to lower elevations. At least one has been seen in Centro Manu and there have been other sightings from Monteverde, Veragua, and the foothills of Braulio Carrillo National Park. Other good areas right now may be the San Luis Canopy, Arenal, and other forested foothill sites on the Caribbean slope as birds move between middle elevations and the lowlands.
  • Three-wattled Bellbird– Several bellbirds are still on breeding grounds around Monteverde and near San Ramon but some are definitely on the move. There have been recent sightings from the Sarapiqui lowlands and other areas indicating that some of these cool, crazy birds are moving to post-breeding, lower elevations.
  • Snowy Cotinga– This awesome bird is at its usual lowland rainforest haunts. Best places are lowland forests from Guapiles to Panama (especially south of Limon), Sarapiqui, and Cano Negro.
  • Yellow-billed Cotinga– Although it is not listed as endangered on the IUCN list, this is definitely a mistake. The Yellow-billed Cotinga is seriously endangered and only occurs in a few areas. The most reliable site continues to be Rincon de Osa and mangroves near Sierpe. Sure, it can occur at a few other spots and you might still see it at Cerro Lodge or Carara but, tragically, that population is doomed. It has steadily declined, nothing has been done to improve habitat for it, there are further plans to destroy vital corridor habitat at the Nativa Resort, and there might only be three birds left.
  • Lovely Cotinga– Always tough in Costa Rica, they might still be on breeding grounds in middle elevation forest but some are surely moving lower. A female was recently seen at Arenal Observatory Lodge. Other suitable areas include any good middle and foothill elevation forest on the Caribbean slope.
  • Turquoise Cotinga– This uncommon bird is still showing at the usual spots in the General Valley, Esquipulas, and in and near the Osa.

Support a Local Conservation Project

The folks at the Ibycter project are working hard to learn more about one of the only known remnant populations of the Red-throated Carara in Costa Rica.

This formerly common species has seriously declined in Central America but no one knows exactly why.

To learn more about these birds and develop strategies to protect them, they have been observing and recording a small family of Red-throated Caracaras in northern Costa Rica. They hope to attain information about their life history and learn about their movements by place transmitters on the birds.

To learn about and help this local conservation effort, please visit the Carara site and Facebook page.

Supporting the project might help you see some very special birds in the future, and, most of all, you will be helping to conserve one of the most threatened bird species in Central America.

I could say a lot more but perhaps it’s best to finish by saying that as long as you go birding in Costa Rica, you’ll have good birding. The best birding depends on what you want to see and how you want to do your birding thang but, you’ll always see more if you, (1) get up and out there early, (2) go birding in high quality habitats, and (3) hire a good local birding guide.

To learn more about all of the best sites for birding in Costa Rica, and how to see cotingas and much more, support this blog by purchasing, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica“. As always, I hope to see you in Costa Rica!

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Introduction

Highlights of Recent Back Road Birding in Costa Rica

The best birding in Costa Rica depends on what you are looking for. If that translates to an abundance of great looks and photos of beautiful common birds, you’ll find that personal paradise in many a hotel garden. If shorebirds are your thing, high tide at Punta Morales is a good bet (along with checking Puntarenas for random megas like Pacific Golden-Plover). However, if your most wanted birds are the rare, the uncommon, the challenging members of the local avian kingdom, then the search can get complicated.

To know where to go for birds like Blue-and-Gold Tanager, Song Wren, or cotingas, eBird gives good hints. However, the true key to seeing them is knowing how to find them, and knowing the best places to visit, especially when many such places are well off the regular birding routes. Such little visited and less accessible places often have better birding than popular hotspots (and is one of the reasons I include many of them in “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”}.

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A Blue-and-Gold Tanager high on a perch in misty weather.

What?!? Better than eBird hotspots? Well…yes and that’s probably the case for any place lacking major eBird coverage (in other words, most nations). Don’t get me wrong, eBird is a huge help and fantastic birding tool but, birds are always where the habitat is and if such places aren’t visited by many birders, they can’t get much coverage on eBird.

This is why, when guiding for custom, target bird trips, I often visit sites off the regular birding map. These are places that don’t fit into regular birding tour circuits because of location or access but can be an excellent fit for small birding groups in Costa Rica doing their own birding thing.

Recently, I enjoyed some of that fine back road birding in Costa Rica. Here are some highlights from three such sites:

The Road to Manuel Brenes Reserve

What can I say? Quality habitat is where the birds are and this road fits the bill. It can be rough and is best done with four-wheel drive but if you can bird this road, you’ll have chances at common, uncommon, and rare birds. In late March, during a brief, hour or so early morning visit, we seriously lucked out with one of the kings of Costa Rica birds, the Bare-necked Umbrellabird.

This crow-sized cotinga can be seen at this and other suitable places but, thanks to their random, quiet behavior, and low numbers, umbreallbirds in Costa Rica are always a challenge to find. As is often the case with this species, we saw one by pure chance, just as we were trying to locate a calling Barred Forest-Falcon.

As we peered into the dense forest, the cotinga blasted into view and perched in a nearby cecropia. The female or juvenile male sat there looking around and ate some Cecropia “fruits” for ten minutes until it took off like a shot, zipping back into the forest. It flew like a big woodpecker and was surprisingly fast!

Not a bad way to start the birding day! We then focused on the forest-falcon and although we didn’t get the best of looks, we did manage brief views of the bird in flight and perched behind mossy vines.

After listening to the mournful whistle of a Northern Schiffornis, seeing some mixed flock action, and not noticing any signs of Army Ant swarms, we ventured on to our next little visited birding site,

Lands in Love.

After paying the $15 fee to use the trails, we ventured into the forest and found two of our main targets right away; Thicket Antpitta and Tawny-chested Flycatcher. The main entrance to the trails below the rooms is overgrown and not maintained but we still managed to get good looks and photos of the antpitta, and nice views (but not the best of shots) of the flycatcher.

Venturing onto the trails from a spot above the rooms (this trail entrance is maintained), a walk through beautiful, mature lowland-foothill rainforest resulted in good looks at Streak-crowned Antvireo, White-flanked Antrwren, and Golden-crowned Spadebill. Just as we were leaving the trail, we also ran into an ant swarm of small Labidus ants. These small black ants don’t attract as many birds as the classic, larger Army Ants but they can still attract birds nonetheless.

Their foraging gave us good looks at Ocellated and Spotted Antbirds and a few other birds. We didn’t have any sign of the ground-cuckoo but when I first noticed the bird activity, I could have sworn I saw something sneak off on the ground. Maybe one was there, hiding back in the shadows? The idea me eager to get back into that beautiful forest!

Our other main back road birding sites included:

The Road to the River Next to La Selva, and Roads That Loop Behind Selva Verde.

In the morning, birding next to La Selva, and especially down at the river, can be fantastic. Scanning high trees immediately revealed a female Snowy Cotinga and a White-necked Puffbird. We kept watching and the birds kept on appearing. Three Hook-billed Kites flew in and perched high in a fig. Pied Puffbird flew in to another high perch, Chestnut-colored Woodpecker showed, and we were entertained by additional birds. One of the best were a few Spot-fronted Swifts that flew low enough and at the right angle to see the gleaming white spots on their faces.

I heard Purple-throated Fruitcrows but they wouldn’t come close. Luckily, we caught up with that cool cotinga on the road behind Selva Verde. I don’t usually see it there so it was a nice surprise to hear one call and have it fly into view. It was hanging with a bunch of oropendolas, and as I figured, White-fronted Nunbirds.

As per usual, these choice puffbird species flew high overhead but, eventually, they did us a favor and moved much lower and into much better lighting. As is typical with such flocks, they were joined by Rufous Mourner, Black-striped, Northern Barred, and Cocoa Woodcreepers, and a few other medium sized bird species.

Black-striped Woodcreeper from another day.

We topped off that quality back road birding with close views of the one and only feathered bug, Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, and calling White-ringed Flycatchers. After those views, it was time for us to move on but oh how it is worth it to bird the forests near La Selva and Braulio Carrillo! Yesterday, a fellow local birder told me about a verified sighting of a Crested Eagle from near there (near Poza Azul and Tirimbina) a day before we were in the area!

Hopefully, that super mega eagle will stick around but who knows, it was a near adult likely moving around in search of territory. It could be anywhere in northern Costa Rica by now but my bets are on it either using the forests at and near La Selva (that includes the places I visited and Tirimbina), the forests north of Quinta de Sarapiqui, or foothill rainforests near the Socorro area. I sure hope someone sees it again, it will be interesting to see where it is found. I know I’ll be keeping that mega bird in mind!

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Better Birding in Costa Rica: Preparations for 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updating the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide App

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

The new version will have:

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

Birding in More Places

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

Make Reservations Now…

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

Plan Your Trip Around eBird?

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

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

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Costa Rica, July 2020- Where I Would Prefer to be Birding

July in Costa Rica, a month marked by a respite from the rains. Birding tours take advantage of the break in the weather to come to Costa Rica and watch quetzals, Emerald Tanagers, and three dozen hummingbird species. They could just as well catch the same exciting wave of birding on trips to Costa Rica in June, September, or any other month of the year but for the visiting birder, a chance of sun beckons more than a promise of rain. Personally, I almost prefer the rain because although I may need to sit out the birding game during those occasional thunderstorms, the cloudy innings are going to be full of avian excitement. There are times when the mixed flocks just don’t stop and when a fruiting tree dishes up a constant, parading banquet of tanagers.

Emerald Tanager

Blue-and gold Tanager

Such a birding boost tends to happen more on days of cloud and rain although I will admit that a few sunny days are nice. This is why July typically brings us some very welcome groups of birders during an otherwise slow and low season and of course, that bit of July business acts as an important injection of economic activity for every aspect of the tourism industry, birding included.

In a normal July, visit Carara National Park, Monteverde, or other sites and you might run into a birding tour or two. You might feel the lifer excitement emanating from other birders as they see their first Red-capped Manakins, watch flocks of parrots fly past the overlook at Cerro Lodge, locate a speck of a hawk-eagle flying high as it calls from above.

The tower view at Cerro Lodge, an excellent spot for views and shots of flyby parrots.

Not this July but we all know that 2020 isn’t a year for much of anything typical. While trying to stay well, and survive both literally and economically, blessed are those of us who can still find time for birding. Many find more than enough time even if the birding does take place at or close to home. In doing so, in hearing the descending calls of a White-eared Ground-Sparrow, at least we can be reminded that avian diversity can occur much closer to home than expected, that many birds can thrive in a variety of settings.

It’s wonderful to have parrots, ground-sparrows, and other interesting birds near our place in Heredia, Costa Rica but even the most appreciative of birders need occasional changes to their avian scene. Out back, I look past the vine-ridden second growth of the riparian zone and urge my gaze up onto the slopes of the nearby mountains, the volcanoes that host barbets, Black-cheeked Warblers, even quetzals. Some of my wanted year birds are up there doing their thing. In a July sans pandemic, I would probably be birding up that way.

White-eared Ground-Sparrow- I hear this cool bird out back on a daily basis.

I might bird the Poas area although would more likely be checking out a road that borders the cloud forests of Braulio Carrillo National Park. That less traveled way connecting Varablanca in the highlands to Socorro in the foothills offers a precious glimpse into wilderness that may host Solitary Eagle and other rare birds. Would I get lucky with antpittas and ground-cuckoos species at an antswarm? Would a forest-falcon make a sudden, stealthy appearance? When the forest is intact, when its lush, complicated body of green and moss and massive trees creeps up and down ravines for several kilometers, it feels like anything is possible.

A view along this road.

With high clearance and a four wheel drive, a birder can explore that exciting byway, bird the way down to lower elevations where glittering flocks of tanagers move through the bromeliads, where White Hawks call from the mist, where we can find hawk-eagles and other birds of the deep wild places. In fact, forget the vehicle, a trek down that road would be an exciting expedition coupled with the promise of avian adventure. The trek would provide much needed insight into raptor and cotinga populations. It might tell us if umbrellabirds still inhabit those forests, and might even reveal the presence of unicorn birds like the Gray-headed Piprites and the Black-crowned Antpitta.

It would be best to do this erstwhile expedition for at least three nights, camping along the way. Maybe four would be even better because the more time you spend in quality tropical habitat, the more you see, the better the chance of detecting a higher percentage of what is truly there. It’s like opening the window to see just a bit more, the stuff that was just outside of view, gazing longer at a complex painting to eventually find treasures hidden in plain sight.

Even with that window of focused observation, it still wouldn’t be everything because birds wander, some are in constant natural stealth mode, tropical birds play by their own complex set of rules. But, you won’t find anything if you don’t look and a trek down that road will reveal more of what’s going on than a one-day, bumpy drive. I hope I can do that mini-expedition some day, explore that road at leisure because no matter what I find, I already know that the birding will be nothing less than fantastic.

One of the best places to use as a base while exploring the Varablanca-Socorro road is Albergue Socorro. With luck, in 2021, another lodge with fantastic birding potential in this area will also be open and ready to impress. To learn more about where to look for birds in Costa Rica and to get ready for any type of birding trip to this beautiful country, please support my blog by purchasing How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica. Happy birding!

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Common Birds of the Cafetal

Coffee farms or “cafetales” aren’t one of the original natural habitats of Costa Rica but since they have been here for more than 100 years, a lot of birds have become adapted to this “modern” green space. Although biodiversity on coffee farms depends on how many trees are present and degree of pesticide use, they can harbor a good number of birds and other wildlife.

The types of plants and animals housed among rows of dark green bushes with occasional trees can’t compare to the ecological latticework of moist forests and wetlands that would naturally occur in the Central Valley. That said, any vegetation is better than no vegetation and in an increasingly urban environment, cafetales act as important verdant patches in a landscape dominated by concrete, glass, and asphalt.

Do you find yourself joining the family on a coffee tour when you would rather be watching Fiery-throated Hummingbirds and quetzals on Poas? Not to fret, bring those binos because there are birds in the coffee! Some cool birds live in those wonderful, special bean producing bushes. These are ten of them:

Crested Bobwhite

If you are familar with bobwhites and hear one calling in Costa Rica, look around because it’s more than likely not a birding flashback. The Crested (Spot-bellied) Bobwhite sounds pretty much like the ones up north. They prefer grassy, weedy fields but also occur in cafetales especially when they have a grassy understory and are adjacent to weedy fields.

Short-tailed Hawk

This small raptor is a common hawk in many parts of Costa Rica. It seems to do well in the mosaic of riparian zones, patches of forest, and agricultural lands of the Central Valley. Watch for both morphs soaring high overhead.

Blue-vented Hummingbird

This hummingbird can feed from the flowers on coffee bushes and trees that grow at the edges of and in coffee farms. It’s pretty common, listen for its distinctive double-noted, short whistled call. The Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is the other most common hummingbird in coffee farms.

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

One of various flycatchers that occur on coffee farms, this species often reveals itself with a vocalization that sounds kind of like a scream. Watch for it feeding on berries and other small fruits.

Clay-colored Thrush

No coffee farm in Costa Rica is complete without a healthy selection of Clay-colored Thrushes. One of the most common species in the country, expect to see lots of Costa Rica’s national bird when birding coffee farm habitats.

Blue-gray Tanager

A common, beautiful bird, watching this species in coffee farms is a peaceful pleasure.

Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow

Endemic and likely made rare by a combination of reduced habitat, feral cats, pesticides, and cowbird parasitism, this colorful little towheee persists on and near coffee farms. It is a skulker though, watch for it in the early morning.

Grayish Saltator

One of the most common species of the Central Valley, this seemingly cardinal relative does very well in garden and edge habitats. Its cheerful song is a core component of the Central Valley’s auditory soundscape.

Yellow-green Vireo

Another common species of the valley but only during the wet season. Like the Red-eyed Vireo, it sings a real lot. It also occurs in just about any set of trees including ones in and near coffee.

Rufous-capped Warbler

A snappy, chat-like bird, the Rufous-capped Warbler lives in the understory of dry and moist forest, in second growth, and in coffee fields. This is one of the more common, typical species of coffee farms.

These are some of the species to watch for and expect when birding any green space in the Central Valley. Want to learn much more about about where to find birds in Costa Rica and support this blog at the same time? Purchase my 700 plus page e-book, How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica. Plan for out trip with the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app, customize it and use it identify everything from motmots to flycatchers while birding in Costa Rica. I hope to see you here!

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Advice for Birding the Cerro Lodge Entrance Road

Cerro Lodge is the place to stay when bathing in the mega-birding in and around Carara National Park. Other options include the oft-used Villa Lapas, the sometimes crowded Punta Leona, the new Macaw Lodge back in the hills on the other side of the park, and at least one hotel right in the middle of tiny Tarcoles. However, none of them share the blend of proximity, and diverse array of birds not found in the park possible around Cerro Lodge.

One of those birds is White-throated Magpie-Jay- we had these and others near Cerro.

Part of Cerro’s appeal comes from the birdy entrance road. This unassuming dirt road passes through open areas with scattered trees, second growth, and part of a river floodplain that results in a host of good birds. Whether staying at Cerro or not, this road is worth some serious binocular time. A couple of hours on that road that week reminded me of its worth as a site unto itself, here’s some advice on birding it :

  • Make time for this site: If you have plans to enter the national park, check out the road from 6 until 7 (opening time for the park during the dry season), or until 8 (opening hour at other times of the year). Or, if you have an extra day of birding, spend a full day on this road. Like every high diversity site, the more you bird it, the more you find, especially since the habitats also seem to act as a corridor between mangroves, other forest, and the park itself.

It’s also good for lots of common and edge species like this Lineated Woodpecker,

and Rose-throated (not) Becard.

  • Quality birds: If someone ever tells you that all birds are “quality” or that every bird is the same, they are either masquerading as a birder, or don’t know the difference between “common” and “rare”. Quality birds are the ones we don’t see that often, can’t really be seen elsewhere, or happen to be major targets because they look so cool. In other words, endangered and rare species, endemics, and stuff like Double-striped Thick-Knee. In the case of the Cerro Lodge road, it hosts a bunch of those quality species including the cool and crazy thick-knee.

Its cool, its crazy, its got thick knees and hypnotic golden eyes.

  • Double-striped Thick-knee: This target seems to be more frequent on the entrance road than in the past. Check for it in one of the first open pastures, and in the pastures in the floodplain. We saw 6 last week.
  • Crane Hawk: The road is one of the better places in Costa Rica to see this odd raptor. Watch for it flopping its way through the trees in the canopy or near the ground anywhere along the road. It also soars on occasion. We had rather distant looks at two different Crane Hawks.
  • Other raptors: Hang out on this road long enough and you have a chance at a pretty good variety of raptors. The long sight lines and birdy habitats offer chances at such other species as Gray-headed, Hook-billed, and Plumbeous Kites, occasional Harris’s Hawk and Pearl Kite (in the floodplain), Short-tailed, Broad-winged, Gray, Roadside, Zone-tailed, and Common Black Hawks, Laughing Falcon, Collared Forest-Falcon, and both caracaras. Even Tiny Hawk has nested on the road in the past!

Short-tailed Hawk is one of the most frequently seen raptor species in Costa Rica.

  • Owls: Cerro is known as a site for Black and white Owl and this species can also show on the road along with Mottled, Striped, Barn, and Pacific Screech Owls. Not to mention, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is common during the day.
  • Swifts: Spot-fronted and Black Swifts are sometimes seen from the road in the morning along with more common White-collared and Chestnut-collared Swifts.
  • Psittacids: This can be a great area for parrots, parakeets, and their kin as they visit fruiting trees and move to and from roosting and foraging sites. The numbers and species vary throughout the year but lucky birders might see every possible species in one morning, mostly as flyovers. If not, it’s still pretty normal to see Scarlet Macaw, Red-lored, Yellow-naped, and White-fronted Parrots, and Orange-fronted and Orange-chinned Parakeets.
  • Good variety of dry forest species: Expect several dry forest species, including Black-headed  Trogon, Turquoise-browed Motmot, White-lored Gnatcatcher, Nutting’s and Brown-crested Flycatchers, occasional Stub-tailed Spadebill, Banded and Plain Wrens, White-throated Magpie-Jay, Stripe-headed and Olive Sparrows, Painted Bunting, and so on.

This is a good site for Nutting’s Flycatcher-  it looks almost exactly like the local variety of the Brown-crested but check out the small bill.

  • Keep an eye out for the cotinga: Last but not least, Yellow-billed Cotinga moves through this area, maybe even once or twice a day. The size of this population is very small (and, sadly, will likely disappear from the Carara area within ten years) but the few remaining birds are seen now and then near Cerro Lodge and in trees near the floodplain.
  • Bring a scope: It comes in handy when checking out distant crowns of trees and open areas.
  • Check the small marsh at the edge of the floodplain: It’s been so dry, this small wetland might not even be around when you visit. But, if so, check it for Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and other expected wetland species, possible American Pygmy-Kingfisher, and rarities like Masked Duck and maybe even a rail or two.

How to get there: From the turn off to Jaco on the Caldera highway, drive five minutes and watch for the turn off to Guacalillo on the right. Go a bit further and watch for the Cabinas Vasija on the left. The road will start going down a hill and shortly after comes to the entrance road to Cerro Lodge (the next road on the right). Be careful, it’s easy to miss!

For more information about how and where to see birds in Costa Rica, buy “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”, the most comprehensive bird-finding guide for the country.

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How to See Spot-bellied Bobwhite in Costa Rica

We birders like to describe the way we go about watching birds. If we just look at the birds in the backyard and flip through the field guide once in a while, we might say that we are pretty darn casual about birding. If we go on field trips with a local birding group and try to see and identify certain target birds, we are a bit more serious about it. Those of us who look forward to birding at every opportunity, spend way too many hours studying bird songs on Xeno-Canto, and travel to other countries to see new birds instead of relaxing on the beach are probably a bit more than serious about the passion of birding. So those distinctions are great and known among the birding community but what do they have to do with seeing “wild chickens”?

First of all, no matter how you define yourself as a birder, we have to get something straight- the only real, wild chicken is the Red Junglefowl. It does indeed look like a reddish chicken but huskies also look kind of like wolves, and when it comes down to it, the chicken is a domesticated junglefowl. Well, no matter how you want to define a chicken, keep in mind that we don’t refer to wolves as “dogs” and if Aurochs were still around, we wouldn’t be calling those massive hooved beasts “Bessie”.  So, I wonder why, if we don’t keep grouse, tragopans, or bobwhites as pets, do some birders still write them off as “chickens”? This is really just an excuse to ignore those shy ground birds because they can be a royal pain to actually see. However, they still quality as birds and since every bird counts, here is some info on seeing Spot-bellied (Crested) Bobwhite in Costa Rica:

  • Don’t look in the forest: Forested habitats in Costa Rica are inhabited by chicken-like birds but they aren’t bobwhites. Those are the wood-quails and in keeping with grouse, can be a real pain. If you want to see wood-quails, look for them in places like the cloud forests in the Monteverde areas, forests in the Talamancas (like San Gerardo de Dota), and the Osa Peninsula. The bobwhites live in weedy, brushy fields.
  • Coffee fields in the Central Valley: Go birding at the edge of a coffee cultivation and you might see some bobwhites. Pick an area of coffee with few people and no dogs, scan the edge of the trail or road as far ahead as you can see, and they might appear in your field of view. They probably occur up to around 1,400 meters.

    A road at the edge of a coffee cultivation- there are bobwhites in this picture.
  • Scan the edges of roads in the dry northwest: By “dry northwest”, I mean anywhere on the Pacific slope from just north of Cerro Lodge on up to Nicaragua and up to 1,200 meters or so. Keep checking as far ahead as you can see to surprise the bobwhites before they see you and run for cover.

    Use the car as cover and they might come close.

    Bobwhites creeping forward.
  • Early morning, late afternoon: As with almost every diurnal bird, this is the best time to see bobwhites. It’s when they call more often and scurry around in search of food.

    A female bobwhite walks close by.

    Followed by a male.
  • Calling birds: This works if the bird is calling from an exposed spot but if not, don’t expect it to show. They aren’t very responsive to playback of their whistled “bob-white” call either.
  • A few good sites: Spot-bellied Bobwhite can turn up just about anywhere in the Central Valley and in the Pacific northwest wherever weedy fields are present. That said, some of the better areas might be Ensenada, Chomes, the Guacimo Road, the road to Palo Verde, and Santa Rosa National Park. In the Central Valley, check any roads that go through coffee cultivations and open, weedy fields.

    Like other wild chicken-like birds, they are adept at being sneaky. Take a careful look in the coffee fields.

To learn more about finding birds and the birding at these and nearly every site in Costa Rica, get How to See, Identify, and Find Birds in Costa Rica.

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Preparing for a Birding Trip to Costa Rica? Get “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”!

When we take birding trips, there are two main books that us birders buy. We all know that those two essentials are (1) a field guide, and (2) a bird-finding book. While some of us forego the bird finding books because we are on a tour or want to save on packing space, most of us usually buy one before the trip. A good bird-finding guide helps with planning, lets us know what to expect, where to go, and ups the excitement level for the trip.

Costa Rica has had its fair share of bird finding guides, including a good one that came out less than ten years ago. However, most bird-finding guides are limited to a certain amount of space because it just isn’t cost-effective to publish a bird-finding tome rather than a heavily edited book with fewer pages. This leaves out many a lesser known yet valuable site as well as a cornucopia of other useful information for planning a birding trip. One solution to the extra pages/publishing conundrum is the E-book; the platform I chose for  “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica“.

More a Costa Rican birding companion than a site guide, this book has been many years in the making. I toyed with the idea of writing something that would present information on finding as well as identifying birds in Costa Rica ever since my second trip there in 1994. As I birded my way around several parts of Costa Rica, such questions came to mind as: If antbirds were supposed to be common, where were they? How do you find motmots, puffbirds, tinamous, and other neotropical birds? Where were all of the raptors? And what about identification of woodcreepers?

This book aims to answers these and many other questions about birding in Costa Rica to help birders of all levels prepare for trips to this country as well as other areas in the neotropical region. It’s also a site guide and although I haven’t included every site in the country, this book is, by far, the most comprehensive birding site guide for Costa Rica. I had hoped to make it available by the end of 2014 but, as it turns out, it just took much longer than expected. However, I am happy to say that this first edition is finally done and available for use on PCs, tablets, and smartphones (once an Adobe Reader app. is downloaded onto the device). Buy this e-book for $24.99 if you would like to see and identify more birds in Costa Rica, and if you would like to support this blog.

A few screen shots from the book:

Information from the second section of the book:

Tips for Identification:

An excerpt from the site guide section:

To order this e-book,

please contact Pat O’Donnell at information@birdingcraft.com.