web analytics
Categories
big year bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica

Six Months Birding Costa Rica, 600 + Species

It’s June, 2026, do you know how many birds you’ve seen this year? Or heard? If you’re keeping track of the number of bird species you’ve identified, take note, 2026 is halfway over! Yep, 6 months down and 6 months to go and whether you are a birder doing a Big Year or just counting year birds, you’re about to enter the home stretch. It’s a long 6 months but they’ll go fast; time is running out!

The hour has arrived to plan out the next 6 months, to arrange trips and visits and birding breaks for the birds you still need to identify. Make plans and restrategize and mark calendar dates. Book hotels or check out campgrounds and maybe flights, it’s up to you to see how far you want to take your annual counting of birds.

Or, count but go the Zen birding route and take the birds as they fly. Meditate under an old growth tree to clear the mind and then go birding whenever and wherever. You won’t see as much as the red-eyed, strategists but so what? Mushroom tea and woodpecker drums? Watching soaring raptors and imagining what it would be like to ride those same thermals? This is your birding year, you can count birds however you want or, not even count them at all. It’s your birding list, this is your birding life.

But you really should try to see a Black-and-yellow Tanager. Or a Swallow-tailed Kite or one of those blue-faced Black Guans or, gasp, the magnificence of a Resplendent Quetzal. As much as I dislike the pushy connotations associated with “should”, in this case, it’s all about making birding recommendations with the best of intentions.

We enjoy whatever birds we see but let’s face it, some birds sort of look pretty mind blowing more than other birds (hello House Wrens…). Take that aforementioned tanager for example. The male’s bright, nearly orange-tinged yellow contrasts with coal black and it has a slender look and beak that make it look sort of like a king warbler.

Or the kite in being a living definition of elegance. That raptor was built to mesmerize!

The guan is cool because yes, it does have a blue face and, that’s not all! It has garnet eyes that makes it look like an escapee from the stuffed animal dimension.

As for the quetzal, reasons to see that ridiculously extravagant bird are self explanatory. I mean, the thing is big, it shimmers better than cellophane (!), and makes wacky, cackling sounds in flight. If you have yet to see one, prepare thy mind for sensory birding overload. Tears may happen (and justifiably so).

A male quetzal is always the star of the avian show.

It’s June, 2026 and I’m pleased to have spent some time with these species since January. I hope to keep seeing them but, I do have some other birds I’d like to experience over the next six months. Those would be bird species I have yet to run into this year in Costa Rica, svelte birds like the Spotted Rail and Paint-billed Crake, Elegant Trogon and Ivory-billed Woodcreeper. Ruddy Woodcreeper would also be welcome along with Thicket Tinamou and Stub-tailed Spadebill (a right name for a truly gnomish little bird).

If I make it up to Guanacaste and bird Rincon de la Vieja and other right places, I should connect with these species and more. Looking at other blanks on my year list, it looks like several mornings of dawn chorus in quality middle elevation forest could also work out well. I do that and I’ll have a better chance of hearing rarities like Strong-billed and Black-banded Woodcreepers and maybe a Black and white Becard. I might also meet with Azure-hooded Jay, antthrushes, and other unseen year birds that reside in dripping, mossy cloud forest.

It’s no surprise that uncommon species from other bioregions are likewise lacking from my year list. Those would be birds like Tody Motmot, Black-eared Wood-Quail, and a few other denizens of the foothill zone, a handful of high elevation species, and some birds more likely in the South Caribbean.

However, the birds I need to truly push me over the year bird edge are a combination of migrants and seabirds. I don’t know if I’ll make it out to pelagic waters but, if I do, I can expect ten or more species, birds like storm-petrels and shearwaters, and the long-winged terns of the high seas. Luckily, I can also catch up with some of them from the ferry in the Gulf of Nicoya coupled with seawatching from Puntarenas.

As for my missing 2026 migrants, I’ll have to wait until September to look for various shorebirds and, then, go all out with year birding efforts in October. That translates to listening to night skies, going birding most mornings, and looking for migrants as much as possible, especially on the Caribbean coast. That’ll boost my chances at finding rarities for Costa Rica like some warblers and Least Flycatcher (yeah, it’s rare here!) but it’ll also be a treat to bear witness to all the kingbirds, swallows, raptors, and other birds moving south.

Even if I didn’t see any new year birds, it would still be all good. I can’t complain with identifying 604 year birds so far including key species like Red-fronted Parrotlet, several owls, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Lovely Cotinga, and lots more!

I can’t complain with watching flybys of White-fronted Parrots and Red-billed Pigeons in an urban neighborhood either. There’s always lots to see in Costa Rica, go birding here and you won’t be disappointed!

In the meantime, I’ll do some strategizing, do some focused searches for missing year birds, and work on various writing and bird-related projects. One of those is updating “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. Although this Costa Rica bird finding guide is fairly complete, there have still been a few new places to add and others to edit. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish that update soon. Until then, happy birding, I hope to see you here!

Categories
Costa Rica birding news planning for a birding trip to Costa Rica Where to see birds in Costa Rica

Costa Rica Birding Outlook, June, 2026

May is nigh finished. In Costa Rica, it doesn’t feel like it. We don’t mark the end of the 5th month, the transition from spring to summer, with Olive-sided Flycatchers and other “late” migrants. Although there might still be a few migrant species around, most fled north back in April. Instead of measuring May’s final days with migrants, birders in Costa Rica know when June is at hand by the heavy rains.

Normally, the rains begin in April and are an everyday, afternoon occurrence in much of May. By the end of the month, daily afternoon downpours are a given.

Not this year. In 2026, the predictable heavy rains are starting late or, maybe not starting at all and it has everything to do with the El Nino.

El Nino Weather Begins

There’s been a lot of talk about an El Nino occurring this year, maybe even a super El Nino, one stronger and longer than past events. Although we don’t know yet if that will happen, we are definitely in the initial grips of one now.

That explains the present lack of rains, at least on the Pacific slope and, the opposite on the Caribbean slope. Lately, although we have had some rains on the Pacific, they have mostly fallen in the south. The Central Valley and Guanacaste have had much less rain than normal while parts of the Caribbean have experienced flooding.

What does this mean for the birds? Since quite a few birds seemed to breed early, hopefully, the lack of rains won’t affect the 2026 breeding season too much. However, birds attempting to breed now, at least the ones on the Pacific slope, might not do so well.

If you plan on visiting Costa Rica in the coming months, expect hotter temperatures, drier conditions on the Pacific slope, and very wet weather on the Caribbean slope (which often translates to occasional landslides and localized flooding).

Good Fruit Crops on the Caribbean Slope

On a brighter birding note, there seems to be a lot of trees in fruit on the Caribbean slope, at least in the middle elevations. Although that might result in fewer birds visiting fruit feeders in some areas, this is great news and how it should be. More available fruit in middle elevations means more food for Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Lovely Cotinga, guans, tanagers, and other frugivores.

Indeed, I suspect it’s why I saw an umbrellabird and may have glimpsed a Lovely Cotinga near the Varablanca area last month. On recent visits, I’ve still seen lots of trees in fruit including the small “avocados” favored by quetzals, cotingas, and guans. I’m itching to check that area again soon to look for those birds and check for quail-doves feeding down below.

Quetzals in the Poas Area

With the good fruit crop, it’s no surprise that quetzals seem to be becoming easier to see on and near Poas. Last week, I saw several trees in fruit and had good looks at a pair, a female, and heard one or two additional males!

Quetzals probably won’t be too tough to find near Varablanca either.

Cinchona Still Slow, Corso has Improved

On a recent visit to Cinchona, I didn’t see any real change in hummingbird activity. Green-crowned Brilliants were common but I only had one sabrewing. At least an uncommon White-bellied Mountain-Gem was present.

The White-bellied Mountain-Gem is a beautiful, local hummingbird species.

The fruit feeder was also fairly slow, I suspect because there is so much fruit available in nearby forests and, perhaps because various birds are still nesting. Even so, it’s still worth visiting, at least for a short visit. To see more birds, you might also want to check out the Soda Poas (backs up to good forest), and other roadside sites in that general area.

As for Corso (now known as the Rualdo Cafe), several Porterweed bushes were in flower and were attracting several hummingbirds. There were several Volcanos (of the Poas-Barva subspecies), and a couple Scintillants, Violetears, and Purple-throated Mountain-Gems.

Fingers crossed that they do not trim the bushes again! If you stop there, please patronize the cafe. However, if they cut the bushes again, I would suggest mentioning that you would have visited but, since they destroyed hummingbird habitat, you’ll be taking your business elsewhere. I hope it doesn’t come to that but, if so, I’ll be making sure to tell them just that.

Good Marshbirds in Guanacaste, Wildfires in Palo Verde

In another part of the country, lately, the marshbirding has been pretty good. Rice fields in Guanacaste have played host to Spotted Rail, Paint-billed Crake, and Pinnated Bittern among other, more easily seen species.

This is actually expected, the challenge can be finding rice fields with appropriate water levels that have not been harvested. It might be worth driving around and checking roads near Canas and Liberia. If you are really lucky, you might even connect with a field being harvested! If so, focus in on the rice in front of the harvester, there’s a good chance you’ll see several flushed rails. including Paint-billed Crake.

Unfortunately, in Guanacaste, the hot, dry weather has also resulted in some wild fires, including a large one in Palo Verde National Park. With diminished rains forecasted compounded by hotter weather, sadly, we’ll probably be in for more fires up north. If traveling in that area, be aware of your surroundings!

That’s all that comes to mind right now but I could always say a lot more about the great birding in Costa Rica. It’s like any place you visit for birding; go birding in good habitat and you’ll see a lot! To learn about birding sites in Costa Rica along with information on finding and identifying birds in Costa Rica, you might like my ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica“.

I hope to see you here!

Categories
Birding Costa Rica Global Big Day

Global Big Day, May 9, 2026, Costa Rica

I didn’t do much birding this weekend. Yes, there was the automatic birding that happens when Crimson-fronted Parakeets exclaim their presence from urban ledges, Clay-colored Thrushes sing outside, and Brown Jays call from a neighboring farm but, I did not specifically venture outside and look for birds. As eBird would say, my birding the past two days has been completely “incidental”.

I’ll tell you what though; I made up for it last weekend (Saturday in particular) and while guiding in the Poas area a few days later. On the 13th, we had 100 plus species while birding cloud and middle elevation forests near Poas Volcano. There were silky-flycatchers, Resplendent Quetzal, Flame-throated Warblers, a glimpsed Nightingale-Wren, eye-catching Swallow-tailed-Kites, and a whole lot more but, even that wealth of birds didn’t compare to the birding bonanza that took place on the 9th of May.

birding Costa Rica

That auspicious day was Global Big Day and, as befits such a bird-focused date, the birding was fierce, nonstop, trying, tiring, and simply glorious. I saw a lot but what makes Global Big Day especially fantastic is knowing that other birders from around the world are likewise focusing on birds; watching and listening and counting and noting and birdbathing in the magnificence of our feathered world.

On May 9th, 2026, those other birders celebrating the avian side of life included 81,000 plus people and although I only ran into a handful, I love knowing that all these other folks are also out there in Nebraska and Oaxaca and Japan and Tanzania and so many other places digging birds too. See some of their stories at the Global Big Day results page, and check out country and world totals at the main Global Big Day page. You’ll notice that, this year, us Global Big Dayers collectively identified more than 8,000 species! Here’s some of what happened in Costa Rica:

Good participation in Costa Rica

Although I only saw a few other birders, according to the Costa Rica results page, more than 1,000 birders were submitting lists on May 9th! That’s fantastic because, as with everywhere, the more birders the better. We also submitted a lot of checklists (more than 3,400), and had some major team results on the international stage.

In looking at the results, it looks like we had birders covering most corners of the country, including one or more pelagic trips off the Pacific Coast. Thanks to those boats, somewhat elusive birds like Christmas Shearwater and Tahiti Petrel made it onto the Costa Rica GBD list.

703 Species

Together, we identified more than 700 species, an excellent total given that a high proportion of migrants have already flown north. Some were still around, principally shorebirds, but overall, most birds on the GBD list are residents.

These included all regularly occurring hummingbird species, all tinamous, most woodcreepers, most cotingas, and so on. Of note were 37 species of diurnal raptors! That’s a good reminder that even though raptors in Costa Rica are generally uncommon, we have an impressive number of species and if you cover enough ground, you’ll end up seeing quite a few. The only regular one missing was the Pearl Kite.

Pearl Kites are uncommon, shrikeish, mini raptors.

Missing birds

Most of the resident species not recorded read like a typical wish list for folks who have birded Costa Rica on several occasions or, the rarities that tend not to be seen on a birding trip. These included challenging species like Masked Duck, Tawny-faced Quail, Violaceous Quail-Dove, Olive-backed Quail-Dove, White-tailed Nightjar, Buff-collared Nightjar, Ocellated Poorwill, Spot-fronted and White-chinned Swifts, Rufous Nightjar, Lanceolated Monklet, Great Jacamar, Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon, Spot-crowned Antvireo, Scaled and Black-crowned Antpittas, Black-banded and Strong-billed Woodcreepers, Lovely Cotinga, Gray-headed Piprites, and Botteri’s Sparrow.

These species are tough but still regular in the right places. On past GBDs, we’ve recorded all of them by having birders looking for them in key spots. This time, I think we just didn’t have that going on.

That especially rings true for species like Spotted Rail, Mangrove Rail, Brown Booby, Pearl Kite, Middle American and “Puntarenas” Screech-Owls. All of these are fairly expected when birding certain areas or sites (although I do wonder if the two species of screech-owls aren’t vocalizing these days).

The highest total for Costa Rica

It was a long day but I was pleased to get the highest non-team species total for Costa Rica (and one of the top ten totals on the global stage). 283 species in one day also shows how darn birdy Costa Rica is especially considering that we started at midnight (although 2 a.m. was still pretty early), detoured into the Central Valley, and had some breezy and hot conditions that limiting bird song.

As is often the case, some odd birds failed to show in places where I typically record them but, I also had lots of highlights. The rare and unexpected bird experiences included Least Bittern calling once from a brushy wetland near Orotina, hearing Harris’s Hawk call just before dawn, hearing a couple of late lingering Indigo Buntings, and having a few Uniform Crakes call to each other at the end of the day, just before the rains poured down.

Carara also worked out despite being hot and home to way too many cicadas. Back in the more humid part of the forest, the areas with the biggest trees and farthest from the road, I was treated to tough and iffy birds like Piping Long-tailed Woodcreeper, Green Shrike-Vireo, Black-striped Woodcreeper, Baird’s Trogon, and Scaly-throated Leaftosser.

This eye-smacking bird has become iffy at Carara.

My raptor day was pretty low but lots of other birds showed, especially at and near Carara, and in the Poas area. What’s kind of crazy is that I’m sure I would have identified even more if I had not detoured into the Central Valley and, if conditions were slightly better for bird activity. Not to mention, very few wintering birds were still present, if so, I probably would have broken 300.

It’s also worth mentioning that all these birds also happened while driving an electric vehicle and even stopping to charge it mid-morning (where we picked up Rock Pigeon ta da!). Regarding that, I’ll be writing more in detail about electric vehicles in Costa Rica as well as the Global Big Day experience in other places. In the meantime, I’ll just mention that my GBD, and the Costa Rica GBD totals in general remind again how incredibly birdy Costa Rica is.

To learn more about the Costa Rica birding sites mentioned above, you’ll find lots of information at this blog as well as in my 900 plus page ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica“. I hope to see you here!

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica

The Swifts are Back in Town

In Costa Rica, the dark clouds of the wet season have descended upon us. Every afternoon, around one or two, they gather and swoop in to unleash their million count buckets and if the winds happened to bring in a bit of extra moisture from the Caribbean, the sky loaders work double, triple time to keep the rains a coming.

It’s only May, the rain bringers are just getting started; barely kicking the gears to get that sky river rolling. Some afternoons, the rains deluge and flood streets, even create local tornadoes. We saw one such heavy energy system the other day, happily, from a safe and dry distance. It was a massive lead block, a thing of dense gray water seemingly turned solid and alien that grossly interrupted the usual bucolic scenery of towns, scattered palm trees, and green quilted hills. In the news later that day, we watched footage from the center of that aquatic creature, an ocean in action that ripped off roofing and forced trees to bend the knee. From our perspective, it was a lead void that obscured the skies over the town of Grecia and the southwest flank of Poas Volcano. From the inside, I figured I had learned what a fish sees when it looks through the water of its tank.

Fortunately, so far, that seemed to be the worst of the early wet season weather. No doubt, as the season moves forward, we’ll see more of the sky becoming oceanic, especially with a super el Nino forming. What will it bring? Probably nothing good, severity on top of extreme is never a boon, at least not unless you are a mountain hoping to shed tonnages of soil and trees. Not unless you are a stream dreaming of becoming a rushing, unstoppable river.

In the meantime, although we have seen a few afternoons of rain steady from the afternoon on well into the night, there have also been sunny mornings, fresh foliaged trees graced with singing vireos (a la Yellow-Green), Clay-colored Thrushes bring beakfulls of food to hidden young, curious, loudly calling Brown Jays, heavy set Red-billed Pigeons power flapping through the humid air, and other neighborhood urban birds.

Those would be species like Blue-gray Tanagers, an occasional Blue Grosbeak warble-singing with hope at the edge of determined second growth, a motmot hooting from the shade, and others.

Here at the tail end of migration, as the warblers in NYC sing proud to announce their festive northern arrival, we still have some migrants. These are the classic “late ones”, the birds hesitant to leave their Amazonian haunts. Yesterday morning, around 5:40 a.m., I saw some of those later migrants; a flock of Eastern Kingbirds winging it north and briefly stopping to feed from a fruiting fig, pewees air bouncing from perches, and a stealthy Willow/Alder Flycatcher keeping to low vegetation at the edge of a small, urban stream.

My greatest hope is seeing a migrating cuckoo, the more likely one being a Yellow-billed. But they are tricky here in Costa Rica, with those long, svelte wings, most probably zip right over the entire country in one night. The ones that stop hide all too well and they don’t sing but I know they are here, hopefully I’ll get lucky before they are gone. I’ve been listening for them at night too but haven’t heard any. In fact, although I have heard various other species call from night skies above the Central Valley, I have yet to hear the guttural calls of migrating cuckoos.

I might not be seeing cuckoos but I’m grateful to see an abundance of swifts. It’s like this every wet season. After clear and breezy dry season skies nearly bereft of swifts, all of a sudden, we’ve got the air birds dotting the cloudy skies, calling from high above, and even zipping low over local roofs. They’ve come back to town and are still ever difficult to see well but at least they are here.

Where were they in the dry season? In all likelihood, the swifts were out foraging over rainforests or, maybe just too high overhead to see. In the dry season, birding eyes can always find the low flying Chaeturas (the good old “cigars with wings”) and the falconish, big White-collared Swifts but, to see the less common swifts, you usually need to bird more humid regions.

Not so right now and, amazingly, the uncommon swifts will forage right over busy streets and congested roads. That’s how it was this afternoon. While waiting in line for a late afternoon traffic light to change, dozens of scythe-winged, dark birds zipped over houses and busy streets. If anyone person bothered to look up and notice them, they could easily be envious. While we sat nearly trapped in vehicles waiting to move a few feet, the aerialists moved unhindered and fast, flying where they pleased and far, as if the town wasn’t there, as if to show off their natural freedom.

Without binoculars, I couldn’t say for sure which species were flying overhead but suspect they were mostly Chestnut-collared Swifts along with a few other species. When I got back home, birds were still flying over houses as well as high in the sky. Thanks to magnified views, I espied several White-collared Swifts along with a handful of Black Swifts, several Chestnut-collareds and, the stars of the wet season, Spot-fronted Swifts.

A few swift photos from some years ago…

There may have been White-chinned as well but I couldn’t see enough details to say for sure, nor did they reveal their identity with vocalizations. Happily, the Spot-fronteds did, mostly as they chased each other on air-chopping, bat-like wings. I suspect it’s some form of courtship, supposing they know that now is the time to nest, now is the time of insect abundance, at least on the Pacific side of the mountains.

We’ve been witness to that abundance ourselves, noticed clouds of gnats, millions of tiny bugs swarming over the streets. Swift and flycatcher food, could that also be why the flycatchers migrate late? More en-route sustenance?

The low pressure and clouds drive the air plankton down and the swifts follow suit. And you can actually see them, note pale scaling on the belly and eventually catch the fine details on their heads and, even so, their fast ways ensure that they aren’t the easiest of birds to watch. But now is the time to try and focus in on swifts in Costa Rica, at least in the Central Valley, because now is when the swifts are back in town.

To learn about swift identification in Costa Rica, check out the freshly updated Costa Rica Birds- field guide app, my ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica” and this excellent article written by my friend and Ornis birding guide, Dani Lopez-Velasco, “Neotropical swifts: some noteworthy Peruvian records—and additional aerial enigmas“.

Categories
Birding Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica middle elevations preparing for your trip where to find birds in Costa Rica Where to Watch Birds in Costa Rica and How to See Them Book

Observations from Overcast Birding near Poas, Costa Rica

Going birding in Costa Rica? It’s worth being aware of the biggest birding factors. If you’re a birder, you already know them; factors like habitat, time of day, season, and weather. In these modern, tech-birding times, we can also factor in eBird although it’s worth mentioning that you can’t trust all eBird records and, that bird sightings are automatically biased for heavily birded areas.

That bias means that yes, you can get an idea of where certain species have been seen but, it doesn’t mean that they don’t also occur in other suitable places. Remember that there’s a lot of places with little to no eBird coverage, and even in places where folks do go birding, many aren’t finding all the birds in that given area.

I was reminded of all of these bird-affecting factors during a recent day of guiding in the forests on and near Poas Volcano. Since we couldn’t start until well after the early morning, I wondered what we would see. Would the day bring breezy, sunny weather perfect for picnics but bad for birding? Would we become besieged with pounding rain and be relegated to watching for a hint of avian life from a sheltered, fixed position?

As luck would have it, we experienced none of the above. Instead, we lucked out with the in-between weather, misty, cloudy conditions that do more than remind you of cool, camping weather in Pennsylvania. In Costa Rica, this is the weather you hope for because overcast days are always better birding days.

That doesn’t matter do much from 6 to 8 a.m. but after that avian morning rush, it makes all the difference. Arriving at the road to Poas around 11, we got there just in time for late morning activity. Under the cool, overcast skies, a good number of birds were active and calling and we were kept busy with nice views of regular resident species. Those would be birds like Collared Redstart, bush-tanagers, Mountain Elaenias, Slaty Flowerpiercers, Sooty Thrushes, Fiery-throated Hummingbirds, Mountain Thrushes, and others. Thankfully, those other species also included nest building Black-and-Yellow Silky-Flycatchers, and Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers.

The Long-tailed in particular were in abundance, we had so many close views, we almost got tired of looking at them!

Other birds of note were a brief view of a Buffy Tuftedcheek, nightingale-thrushes, and a distant calling Buff-fronted Quail-Dove but I didn’t want to linger very long. There was a bit too much volcano traffic and we had other birds to see so, by noon, we made the short drive downhill for lunch at the Volcan Restaurant.

That nice, birder friendly site paid off with several hummingbirds and one of our birds for the day, Resplendent Quetzal! While watching from the back windows, in a surreal half a moment, we saw two quickly zip in and disappear in the streamside forest.

After failing to relocate them (but seeing Black-thighed Grosbeak in the process), I eventually spotted one of the males fluttering high over forest just down the road. As is usual with R Quetzals, it was another, dream-like surreal moment. While looking out over the forest, the bird suddenly appeared in silhouette against the pale gray sky. No colors, just a bird slowly flying in a straight line with its long tail fluttering behind it, all the while looking like a fancy kite being flown by a happy child.

We walked in that direction and sure enough, the male quetzal flew out again, eventually giving is excellent perched views joined by its mate.

The next place on our list were the cloud forests of Varablanca, forests that border Braulio Carrillo National Park between 1500 and 2,000 meters. We got there around 1:30 or so and it was still overcast but, the bird activity had calmed down quite a bit. That was surprising, it was early afternoon after all, about when many birds sort of take a siesta. Even so, in the high areas, we still managed to see Flame-throated Warblers, Barred Becard, and a few other birds before birding our way down the San Rafael Road.

Thankfully, this road is paved down to around 1550 meters as it borders beautiful cloud forest adjacent to Braulio Carrillo National Park. The good road condition and very little traffic always makes for fun, easy-going birding.

Although the cloudy conditions resulted in little soaring raptors, we did alright with some other birds. With diligence, as the afternoon wore on, bird activity eventually picked up again and we had views of Prong-billed Barbets, Northern Emerald Toucanet (that was actually early on at a fruiting tree), Tropical Parula, White-throated Spadebill, thrushes, woodcreepers, an extremely tame Collared Trogon, and some other birds.

One of those other birds beat out quetzal for bird of the day. Around 1500 meters elevation, while trying to espy a pair of skulking Red-faced Spinetails, a big, chunky, black bird fluttered into view. I immediately knew what it was and, thankfully, we for excellent views of a female Bare-necked Umbrellabird before it moved off and into the forest!

Not long before then, I had mentioned that umbrellabird was possible, that, given the time of year and elevation, a few were likely somewhere out there in those cloud forests. However, I also mentioned that we’d still be very lucky to see one. Running across one is typically random and there are few in number; it isn’t an endangered species for nothing.

I’m not sure why the umbrellabird was present but there were a couple of suitable fruiting trees near there and it’s possible it was feeding from them. Pale-vented and Mountain Thrushes were also foraging at those trees, heck, the even more elusive Lovely Cotinga might visit them too!

While we saw the umbrellabird, I also had another interesting observation. It was a sound actually and one that I still wonder about. It just doesn’t fit anything that could occur there, at least the bird vocalizations I am aware of. It sounded like a dove but the longish, descending call seemed too high pitched for a Ruddy or Chiriqui-Quail-Dove. Those are the two main candidates and I suspect it was one of them but I’d sure love to see what that bird was. I also wonder if it was some owl making some weird call during the day? All the more reason to return and look for it!

The final highlight was listening to nightjars at dusk. A bit after 6, Common Pauraques called and, in one spot, were joined by the whip-poor-willish sounds of the Dusky Nightjar. Listening to the evening nightjar serenade was a treat and a fine way to end our eventful day of birding.

To see the birds we recorded, check out the trip report. Learn more about these and hundreds of other birding sites in Costa Rica (along with how to find the birds) with my 900m plus page ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”.

I hope to see you here!

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

Costa Rica Birding News April, 2026

April is the spring month, the one where the flowers come back to bloom, migrating Red-shouldered Hawks flap and turn high above the thawing grounds of the Lake Ontario plain, ducks are on the move, and Yellow-rumped Warblers brighten the local birding scene. Those and kinglets, and singing sparrows, and tail bobbing phoebes.

At least that’s how I recall birding on the Niagara Frontier, in the western edges of New York State. Birds are also on the move in Costa Rica but the scene is several layers of difference. Exciting layers of migration and local birds and a change in the weather. Here’s some news about some changes and what’s been happening and expectations for birding in Costa Rica this 4th month of 2026.

Cinchona…a lack of hummingbirds

Violet-Sabrewing-male
Even the sabrewings were absent.

The construction has been completed at Cinchona and it has brought more and needed elbow room. It probably hasn’t affected the surrounding habitat too much and birds still come to the fruit feeder but the hummingbird scene is at an all time low.

The lack of hummingbirds is probably at least partly related to the lack of feeders (just one was present on the last visit), but it seems like there should still be more. Maybe there’ll be days when they are more? Sadly, lately, there haven’t been so don’t be surprised if you visit and see very few hummingbirds. If not, don’t fret, you can still find them elsewhere, maybe at a few other roadside sites higher up the road and definitely at other places.

Watch the feeder and surrounding trees though. Highlights from a recent visit included Black-breasted Wood-Quail being furtive behind the feeders, and Scarlet-thighed Dacnis among other birds.

Hot weather but rains are starting

April is hot in Costa Rica but ends with fresh, rainy airs. Instead of that March lion start and lamb ending, we’ve got April beginning like a furnace and ending like a cool shower. Sort of. In any case, visit now and you’ll get hot days but you can also expect some cloudy weather and at least some afternoon rains.

Those rains and clouds are good for birding, get out there and watch, especially after the rain stops!

Swifts are in the air

One thing that the rains bring are swifts or, better to say that the rains bring the swifts lower and into view. The aerialists were always up there, just beyond speck visibility, up there riding the highest airs or chasing storms to Panama. Who knows?

What I can say is that with the rain clouds here now, you have a good chance of watching swifts within bino viewing range. Watch for them just before the storms arrive, right at the misty edge. It’s a good way to test your skills and patience trying to identify uncommon White-chinned and Spot-fronted Swifts. Hopefully they’ll call, that makes it easier.

Raptors flying too…

April is also raptor flying time in Costa Rica. In fall, the river of raptors flows south but, in spring, it reverses course and the flow gets a big pulse in April. The birds can fly anywhere (we saw a nice group of Swainson’s on Poas) but the Caribbean lowlands are typically best.

There be Broad-wingeds, Swainson’s, TVs, Mississippi Kites, and a few other birds. As The Urban Birder says, “Look Up”!

Ground-cuckoo may still be showing at San Luis Canopy

A Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo has been showing at an ant swarm near the San Luis Canopy for some weeks now. Since they are still seeing it, apparently, local guides keep track of ant swarms and can bring you to the bird!

Although that could change at any time, one of the local guides told me that they are still seeing it as of yesterday. To see it, inquire at the San Luis Canopy (opens at 8) and expect to pay $20 per person.

Big morning of birding on the Pacific coast- 226 species by 10 a.m.

On another nice and birdy note, my partner Maryllen and I started a Big Day a few days ago. Notice I only mention “started” meaning that we ended up aborting it pretty early. That was a shame but it had to be done; all the fast car chargers had stopped working overnight (and thus stranding several drivers) and since having them available was essential to the electric car Big Day plan, we had to abort the mission.

Nevertheless, we still had an exciting, successful morning of birding and the attempt helped me realize how I could tweak it to maybe break a record. Starting at midnight at Punta Morales and birding until 10 a.m. around Carara and Tarcoles, we identified 226 species. Yes, that many and mostly in the same area. That high number emphasizes how incredibly diverse the Carara ecotone is. For myself, it also helped me realize that, given the right factors on the rest of the route, reaching 350 or even 400 species is possible in one day of birding in Costa Rica.

Check out the trip report.

I’ll be writing more about this exciting day and idea perhaps here and elsewhere, stay tuned!

Third Edition of the Garrigues and Dean Field Guide Coming Soon!

It’s official, the third edition of the Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide is coming out! It’ll be available in October and, based on what I’ve seen will be yet another boon for birding in Costa Rica. The authors and publisher redid many illustrations, added various behavioral and habitat illustrations, and have included all species on the Costa Rica list.

If you are headed to Costa Rica after September, you’ll want to definitely get this book for the trip.

The Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app– customizable, updated with more bird finding tips, shows 1020 plus species.

If you’d also like to have a birding app to boost your birding experience in Costa Rica (and have an Apple device), this is the one to get. I admit I work on this app but that’s also why I know why it’s such a helpful tool before, during, and after a birding trip or tour to Costa Rica.

For the recent update, I went through every one of the 1020 plus species to refine their descriptions, habitat information, and tips for seeing them. I also included more birds, images and a vocalization or two. Why more birds? Since you can fit a heck of a lot in a digital format, I figured it would also be worth including species that could occur in Costa Rica. Those would be birds like Altamira Oriole, Yellowish Pipit, some Siberian vagrants, and various pelagic species.

Sure, a birder can download the Merlin pack for free but with this app, you can make target lists, mark birds seen and heard, take notes, look at species while listening to their vocalizations, and have more accurate, updated, locally written information and tips (along with other perks).

I could say more but I’ll leave the local birding news at that for now. If you’re headed to Costa Rica soon, I hope you enjoy your trip!

To support this blog and learn about 100s of birding sites in Costa Rica, ID tips, and more, please consider purchasing my 900 plus page ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. I hope to see you here!

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica Costa Rica birding hotels

A Productive Morning of Birding at Villa San Ignacio

cabani's ground-sparrow

Costa Rica can be a crowded place, especially in the Central Valley. While San Jose is technically only in one part of the valley, that’s how most visitors refer to this ever popular region. It’s not the only city or town in the Central Valley but no one can blame them for calling all of the urban sprawl and winding streets and small stores and quaint churches with shaded parks “San Jose”.

From a bit east of San Jose on west to the edge of Alajuela (that’s the actual name of the city where the airport is), it all seems to blend together. At one point in time, it certainly didn’t but we could say the same about Los Angeles, Dallas, Bangkok, and so many other modern mega-cities.

The Greater Metropolitan Area or (GAM as it is locally referred to) hosts a fair portion of Costa Rica’s 5 million people population and yet, birds are there too. Not as many as are even marginally wilder areas but in the GAM’s parks and riparian zones, urban birds persist. There are Crimson-fronted Parakeets roosting on and screeching from buildings, Blue-gray Tanagers and Great Kiskadees calling from parks and other birds too, more than you think.

However, species numbers really jump when you finally reach a good amount of green space, especially when you can bird in fair bits of remnant forest and other habitats. You’ll find those habitats in Estes Park as well as other Costa Rica birding sites shortly after leaving the edge of the main urbanized front. One such bit of green space is at Villa San Ignacio, a small hotel situated at the edge of the urban perimeter, just northwest of Alajuela.

Villa San Ignacio is a bastion for birds because although the hotel does have some landscaped grounds, it’s done in a manner that preserves and showcases biodiversity. Unlike so many other places, this hotel also hosts several large and mature trees, especially massive figs that provide critical food for a wide variety of species.

You can also check out short and easy trails in regenerating forest and watch the skies for flyover raptors, swifts, and other birds. Some road noise reminds you that you’re still in an urban area but the wealth of birds seems to convince you otherwise or, at least show what mature trees and habitat preservation does for birds, butterflies, and more.

On Monday, I spent most of a morning at Villa San Ignacio and the birding was good as always. As per usual, it was also unpredictable with some birds appearing and others staying hidden or being no-shows. That’s normal for tropical birding, at least in Costa Rica. It’s why it’s worth staying longer and birding the same rich areas more than once, why it’s worth always watching and keeping an eye out for the unexpected.

These are some of the highlights and happenings from that morning.

Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow

Right off the bat, we hit the local jackpot with this rare and threatened species. Shortly after 6, while walking up the road towards the upper rooms, I was happily surprised to hear the high pitched tick of this special bird.

Even better, the pair and what looked like a juvenile foraged right in the open. They didn’t stray far from the hedgerow at the edge of a green, metal fence but you can’t ask much more from these major skulkers. As is typical for this special towhee, you’ve got to see it early and get onto it quick. It won’t take long for them to get into cover and be essentially invisible for most of the day.

Short-tailed Hawks and other Raptors

Around 9, as the cicadas pumped up the volume and heat waves swirled into the tropical skies, raptors did their morning dance. Black Vultures circled and gained height, a couple of migrant or wintering Broad-winged Hawks followed suit and were followed by high flying views of Gray and Short-tailed Hawks.

No Zone-tailed that day but later on, we also had both caracaras and additional Gray Hawks. It’s worth it to keep watching above, to keep looking up (as the Urban Birder David Lindo reminds us). Other days I’ve also seen migrating Swallow-tailed Kite and Swainson’s Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, and even Double-toothed Kite.

Long-tailed Manakin and other forest birds

Down in the forest, fewer birds showed than I had hoped but we still heard and saw some things. One or two Long-tailed Manakins called, “Toledo” while White-eared Ground-Sparrows gave cascading calls from the undergrowth and Rufous and white and Rufous-breasted Wrens dueted from the vines.

Those birds stayed hidden but we did manage to see Common Squirrel Cuckoo, Olive Sparrow, saltators, Cabanis’s Wren, Barred Antshrike, Gray-headed Chachalaca, and some other species.

Indigo Buntings

One of those species,, one of those surprises, was the Indigo Bunting. Not just one either but several! An uncommon bird in Costa Rica, it was fun to see fully plumaged deep blue males, molting patchy blue males, and at least one plain sparrowish female.

We probably had 10 in total, they were either migrating through or grouping together and getting ready to migrate. One also sang its prolonged, jumbly song that we hear at this time of year in Costa Rica. I included this vocalization on the recently updated Costa Rica Birds – Field Guide app but, in checking it, I realized that I also need to include the bunting’s commonly heard call notes. I’ll probably get to that in May but hopefully sooner (I recently included better habitat information, more birding tips, and images).

Speaking of buntings, on that morning at Villa San Ignacio, I was reminded that Painted Buntings can make a call that sounds a lot like the one-noted call of a Mourning Warbler (at least to my ears). While pishing by a hedgerow, a bird responded and I figured it would be a Mourning. Much to my surprise, I found myself focusing on a leafy green female Painted Bunting! It was a good reminder to brush up on their calls.

Plain-capped Starthroat and 69 other bird species

How many bird species can you see in a day at Villa San Ignacio? I figure that varies but I can say that 70 in a morning is possible. That’s what we had on Monday and that was also lacking several regular species! Some of the other nice ones were Plain-capped Starthroat on the walk up to the upper rooms, close Cinnamon Hummingbird, Scrub and Yellow-throated Euphonias, and a bunch of other birds, many feasting on the fruiting figs.

Check out the bird list!

That constant birding activity is why I always look forward to birding back at Villa San Ignacio. Along with the good service, friendly vibe, and beautiful habitat, it’s a hard blend to beat.

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

Costa Rica Birding News- The Poas Area

Headed to Costa Rica? Wonder where to go birding in Costa Rica? You are the fortunate one. The cold fronts seem to have dissipated and they’ve taken their saturating weather with them. I don’t mean to speak ill of the rains, the complex tropical habitats in Costa Rica depend on their abundance and all the humidity they bring. However, constant wind and rain can become a bit too abundant, especially when the overexcited elements raise rivers and tease bits of mountains to race downslope and block roads.

For the moment, happily, those challenges seem to be taking a break. As a bonus, both lanes are also open on the Tarcoles Bridge! You could still run into traffic but shouldn’t have to deal with 3 hour traffic jams. You’ll probably still have to deal with some roadwork traffic between Tarcoles and Jaco but, it won’t measure up to the infamous bridge traffic of early March, 2026!

Better weather and less traffic jams (in some places) aren’t the only things to smile about. We’re birding up in here and the avian action is getting fierce! Birds seem to be tuning up in anticipation of the breeding season, I’ve seen several species with nesting material, and at least some areas seem to have a healthy variety of fruiting and flowering trees.

That of course translates to insect and bird food; exactly what we want. Much of what I’m saying stems from recent birding in the Poas area, check it out:

Resplendent Quetzal Activity

As is per usual at this time of year, quetzals are getting feisty. Actually, they’ve been feisty for a month or more but now, as they nest, they may call a bit more. At least that’s how it seems to me. In the Poas area (meaning anywhere from Poas to Varablanca and on down to Virgen del Socorro), I’ve heard quetzals singing and seen males give display flights. Not a huge number but, certainly more than other days.

Also, I’ve noticed at least a few trees covered in the small “wild avocados” that quetzals feed on (along with Black Guans and other fun birdies). There’s one within good viewing distance of a road and I’m guessing that one will be ripe for quetzal banquets in a week (and they might already be feeding from it!).

Lovely Cotinga Still Occurs in Virgen del Socorro

Whoah! Yep. Yes, Virgen del Socorro (and Cinchona) are in range for this uber stunning, rare bird but, they are rarely seen in that area. I figure the paucity of cotinga sightings from this classic birding site are related to the bird’s quiet nature, lack of spots to scan the forest canopy, and the species being genuinely scarce in Costa Rica.

It’s one of those birds that I figure could show up but, at the same time, wonder how many are still around, or, if they only occur far off on the other side of the canyon. After this past Friday, I’m pleased to say they can still show in the Virgen del Socorro area. We were checking the road between Socorro and Cinchona when I noticed the tell tale rustling of foliage that hints at bird activity. After a closer look, we realized that several birds were indeed feeding on berries; birds like Pale-vented Thrushes, tityras, elaenias, and others (although less tanagers than I had expected).

Given the quantity of fruit, I was also surprised to not see any toucans or guans. Would those diehard fruit lovers visit the natural table another time? Were they in another part of the forest? There did seem to be a lot of fruiting trees around. No matter how surprised I may have been by toucan absence, that didn’t come close to matching my smiling surprise at seeing a male Lovely Cotinga!

Amazingly, despite intently watching the fruiting trees, we wouldn’t have even seen it if I hadn’t decided to walk 20 feet up the road to check some other trees. As we walked underneath what was probably a fruiting fig, there was a big flash of turquoise, way too much for a male Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, and I immediately realized what was going down! No distant scope views that day. More like point blank, in your face looks at a shining, living turquoise sculpture with amethyst highlights.

After a couple minutes, the royal rare denizen of Socorro flew across the road and down into the canyon. You can bet I’m going to find some good overlooks for scoping the treetops. There be cotingas out there.

Cinchona Hummingbird Cafe- a Lot more Elbow Room

Over at the Cinchona hummingbird cafe, they have finished their remodeling. Alas, the rustic look is gone but so is the floor that sometimes shook with people’s footsteps. It has been replaced with a rock solid concrete base under a high roof. There’s a lot more elbow room and the place did need it but, it remains to be seen how that may affect the birds.

There’s a bit less habitat but, during a couple brief visits, the birding seemed alright. The usual suspects were still coming to the fruit feeder and nearby trees hosted some other species. Hummingbirds were not in abundance but, sadly, it’s been like that at Cinchona for at least a few months now. Wait long enough and maybe some will pop in for a visit but, lately, it’s mostly been the domain of Green-crowned Brilliants and a couple sabrewings.

Hopefully, that will change but I wouldn’t absolutely count on it. Instead, watch for hummingbirds at flowering plants and visit other sites.

Fair Hummingbird Action

This subtitle may seen contradictory to the text above it but yes, there has still been a fair bit of hummingbird action, just not at the Cinchona feeders. Are there more flowering plants in the wild, more hummingbird food available? Could be, I do know I’ve done alright with seeing a fair number of species.

In the Varablanca area, I’ve had good looks at Green-fronted Lancebill, Coppery-headed Emerald, Black-bellied Hummingbird, Green Hermit, Violet Sabrewing, Purple-throated Mountain-gem, Green-crowned Lancebill, and Scintillant Hummingbird.

Coppery-headed Emerald birding Costa Rica

Higher up on Poas, I’ve also had the usuals; Volcano Hummingbird, Lesser Violetear, Talamanca Hummingbird, and Fiery-throated Hummingbird. One spot has also been good for the woodstar and, down in the foothills, I’ve had good looks at Purple-crowned Fairy, Black-crested Coquette, and Violet-headed Hummingbird. I’ve also been hearing Brown Violetear. In other words, the hummingbirds are out there, you just have to know where to look (and have them show up).

Ornate Hawk-Eagles and Other Raptors

The sunny weather has also been good for raptors in the Poas area. Perhaps not so much in the high elevations but the middle elevations and foothills have delivered. I wish I could say Solitary Eagle but no, if that species still occurs in Costa Rica, there are likely very few in very remote areas.

However, I can say that I’ve been seeing several other raptors, especially Ornate Hawk-Eagle. The powerful goshawk on steroids can occur anywhere from Varablanca down to San Miguel, maybe even high up on Poas. Keep that mind when birding the area, even at Cinchona. Once, I saw one soar into view right next to the cafe.

Other raptors have included Barred, Short-tailed, Gray, Roadside, and Broad-winged Hawks along with King Vulture (near San Miguel), Double-toothed Kite, the rufous bellied local version of the Red-tailed Hawk, Swallow-tailed Kites, and the decidedly uncommon Great Black-Hawk.

And that’s not all! Although I have not seen them lately, White Hawk and a few other raptors also live in the general Poas birding area.

I suppose that’s all for now. Let’s just say that the birding has been pretty good up there and since it’s only 45 minutes to an hour drive from the Central Valley, a morning of birding could be well worth your while. Happy birding, I hope to see you here!

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica Pacific slope

Recent Birding News and Tips from Carara, Costa Rica

Last week, I did some birding around Central America’s biggest ecotone. It’s an area where rainforest meets dry forest meets mangroves and some! It’s such a crossroads of biomes and habitats, I’m not even sure if ecotone is the right term. “Megatone” might be better but “hot birding wonderland” would also work. I’m talking about Carara, the place where the Grand Tarcoles River empties the waters of the Central Valley into the Pacific, where coastal hills capture life giving rains, and where the biodiversity is sort of astonishing.

Given the meeting of so many habitats, the high end species numbers shouldn’t be surprising but, there’s just so much, I can’t help but use superlatives. If you’re headed to the Carara area, get ready for deserved superlative birding. Going birding around there soon? You might find these bits of news and tips helpful.

Tarcoles Bridge Work

Lately, this has been some of the biggest news in Costa Rica. The Tarcoles Bridge, the one where so many thousands of tourists stop to look at crocodiles, is undergoing roadwork. And it’s not pretty. Temporary road closures and changing the two lane bridge to one lane for 24 hours a day on the main and almost only coastal route to Jaco has its consequences.

I was there on the first day of the closures and on the way back from Jaco to Tarcoles, the normally 30 minute drive took four hours.

Yes, you read that right. Four. Complete. Hours. Since then, it’s been similarly bad, sometimes better, sometimes worse. Given that this is also a vital route for commerce, workers, and students, this particular bit of roadwork is throwing a giant wrench into a lot of people’s lives.

With almost no alternatives, if you are headed to and from Jaco or even Manual Antonio, you may be in for a terribly long wait. I suggest trying to see which times are best and probably crossing the bridge at 4 in the morning or so. The current schedule is for the one lane closures to end on March 27th and to happen again from May 4th to May 9th. There will also be some nighttime full closures from March 15 to April 20th. These can happen on any night during those dates from 9 pm to 5 am.

If you plan on visiting Carara National Park, the wait might be a bit less but anything can happen, perhaps more so on weekends. The good thing is that the park is fairly close to the bridge so, if you have to cross back over to the Tarcoles Birding Lodge area, that won’t take as long as driving from Jaco. I suppose another good thing is watching birds while you wait in traffic but, that’s not exactly ideal.

Yellow-billed Cotingas from the Tarcoles Birding Lodge

Now for some good news! While watching from the overlook at the Tarcoles Birding Lodge, I had a quick, distant flyby cotinga one morning and saw two distant males the following morning! This is great news because the Carara population is so dreadfully small, it really could disappear at any time.

Seriously, there might be 5 or fewer birds still occurring in the area. Another positive sign was a recent sighting of a female by an experienced ornithologist (which makes me think he really did see one and not a tityra). What this means for birders visiting the area soon is that you might also see one by scanning for them from the Tarcoles Birding Lodge in the early morning. You’ll see other birds too, maybe even a Gray-headed Kite like the bird pictured at the top of the post (we had one).

You might also get lucky on the Cerro Lodge road, boat tour, or even in the national park but your best bet will be scanning the distant mangroves from the Tarcoles Birding Lodge or maybe Cerro Lodge too or, maybe even another new place…

More Birdy Accommodation in the Area

The new place that could turn up the cotingas as well as lots of other nice birds is a cozy BnB called “Finca Quietud”. This small place just down the Cerro Lodge road is especially suited for couples and single travelers looking for a quiet place with friendly owners, an excellent breakfast, and a nice pool.

It also has an excellent view of a wetland, mangroves, and the sea. I bet the cotingas could be seen from there along with lots of other, more expected species. On a recent visit, one of our highlights was a pair of Spectacled Owls that flew into view before dusk!

Humid Forest Species in Carara

birding Costa Rica

Regarding Carara National Park and vicinity, it seems like the trend of humid forest species becoming rarer is taking place. Unfortunately, climate change has been causing the forest to become drier bit by bit or, at least changing the amount and timing of rains. In any case, various rainforest species seem to have declined and a few have become downright rare, at least in the accessible part of the park.

You can still see a good variety of birds but many are not as common as they used to be and a few have become really tough. The more challenging ones seem to be species that require the wetter forests, birds like Baird’s Trogon (maybe the hardest hit), Orange-collared Manakin, and Golden-naped Woodpecker among some others.

Carara is still worth birding but, to see some birds, if you aren’t birding further south, you may need to look for them higher up on the Bijagual Road or, at Macaw Lodge. It tends to be wetter in those spots (in a good way for birding) but, even there, Baird’s Trogon has become much less common. To look for those birds, especially at Macaw Lodge, local guide Beto Guido is one of the better guides to go with. He birds there quite a bit and recently, even found a rare Agami Heron at the lodge!

Mangrove birding

One of the other birding bonuses around Carara is looking for mangrove species. In Costa Rica, some of those specialties include the endangered Mangrove Hummingbird, Panama Flycatcher, and Mangrove Vireo among a few others. You might get lucky with those species on a mangrove boat trip but even then, they can be easily missed.

The funny thing about those mangrove birds is that they don’t seem to be very common, even in the mangroves! Usually, mangrove sites near Playa Azul are good for them but, recently, despite giving those sites a very good check, they weren’t.

Mangrove specialties seemed oddly absent there and at another spot near Bajamar. One thing I did notice was that those unbirdy mangroves also seemed drier than usual and lacked standing water. I suspect that has something to do with it because it was the only difference compared to past visits that did readily turn up the mangrove specialties.

Also, on a recent visit to mangroves at Mata de Limon, I did see all the mangrove specialties (and heard a Rufous-necked Wood-Rail too!) and those mangroves had lots of standing water. This was a change from another fairly recent visit where they were drier (and turned up far fewer mangrove birds).

I suppose the lesson here is to lower expectations or check other sites if the mangroves look dry and, maybe take that boat trip after all.

That’s all for now, if you visit the Carara area, I hope you catch the bridge traffic at the right moment and see lots of birds. Be ready for hot weather and bring plenty of hydration (no plastic bottles allowed in the national park). As always, I look forward to getting back to that birdy megatone.

On another note, I recently updated the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app to match most of the recent eBird taxonomic changes and made some other changes too. I’ll write a post about that this upcoming week!

To learn more about sites mentioned in this post along with 100s of other birding sites and information about birding in Costa Rica, support this blog by purchasing my 900 plus page Costa Rica bird finding ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. Happy birding, I hope to see you here!

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica birding news

Recent Highlights from Birding Costa Rica in the Rain

This past week in Costa Rica has been a mix of wind, rain, sun, and AC temperatures. It’s not like that everywhere, depends on where you go but if you’ve been birding in the highlands or Caribbean lowlands, I bet you know what I mean.

It’s been one cold front after another and although I’d be lying if this northern born Niagaran said it was actually, honestly “cold”, I will admit to having worn a fleece jacket while birding. Up on 8,000 foot Poas, I wore two layers, and put on this flannel shirt thing during a boat ride on the Sarapiqui (it’s usually way hotter in that tropical domain!). Yep, cooler than normal and I can only hope that the icy northern push brought us a weird sparrow or two.

No one has found any mega vagrants yet but I’m still hoping for it. Cool weather or not, the birds are still here in Costa Rica. These are some recent highlights.

Sarapiqui boat ride

Once again, taking the Green Ship Sarapiqui boat tour paid off with fantastic looks at a Sunbittern. After spotting the bird trying to skulk behind some river grass, we boated on over, waited, and then watched it stalk the sand. Just like a Gondwana robin, it pulled worm after worm out of the ground!

Walk away views were had and we continued on but the Kagu relative wasn’t finished with us yet. In a moment, it flew upstream, showing its wild, sunburst patterned wings as it glided to a river snag. After sharing the perch with an Anhinga, the Sunbittern glided off again, back into the shadows and out of sight.

We didn’t have a heck of a lot of other birds from the boat that morning but the Sunbittern show made up for it.

Middle American Leaftosser at Cinchona

A leaftosser I saw in the Socorro area some years ago.

Seeing a mud-brown bird with tawny highlights might not seem noteworthy but when you realize how infrequently you see these birds, it can take center stage. Luck was with us when one called and showed right next to the Cinchona birding/restaurant platform/seating area. We had fantastic looks and that was especially good because we didn’t see a whole lot else.

Unfortunately, construction work was being carried out and the associated clanging and spark-flying soldering wasn’t exactly a bird friendly atmosphere. Even so, some birds still came in to the feeder! Also, by now, I would think that they’ve finished the work, I just hope that whatever they are doing doesn’t destroy more habitat.

On a related note, if you are in to hiking up a somewhat slippery road/trail, you could always explore the Old Cinchona area. This is across the street from the main cafe and up a steep driveway. Head up there and walking the old roads can be very birdy. Head to the left and uphill and you could find various uncommon middle elevation birds, maybe even Red-fronted Parrotlet.

Ornate Hawk-Eagle and Bicolored Hawk

birding Costa Rica
A picture of another Bicolored Hawk in the rain, this one from the Arenal area.

Over in the San Rafael de Varablanca area, on the La Legua road, clear skies produced a calling Ornate Hawk-Eagle. It was a distant one and did not come in to my whistling response (sometimes they do) but adult hawk-eagle a la ornatus it was. This is a good area for this species, especially on sunny days.

It’s also good for other raptors, yesterday morning, we had a juvenile Bicolored Hawk perched in the rain. It was a treat to get prolonged looks at that uncommon bird!

Good Birds at Arenal Observatory Lodge

I haven’t been birding there lately and I bet the weather is rough but, folks have also been seeing some good stuff over that way. Birders have also been treated to a subadult Ornate Hawk-Eagle and some lucky birders even got looks at a ground-cuckoo on the Waterfall Trail!

Yellow-eared Toucanet has also been seen along with lots of other nice birdies.

Rain and more rain

The cold fronts have brought constant rain to the highlands and parts of the Caribbean lowlands. Although not exactly a highlight, rain can have its birding benefits, as long as it doesn’t pour like crazy.

For example, in lightish rain, I think raptors sometimes perch more in the open (that’s not the first time I’ve seen Bicolored Hawk do that), and other birds can forage much lower and closer. Up on Poas and Varablanca, although the birding was shelter and umbrella-worthy, the bird activity was in high gear.

Bright Collared Redstarts flitted close by, Ruddy Treerunners were running up trunks, Costa Rican Warblers flitted, a quetzal called, and there was a mess of Mountain Thrushes.

Collared Redstarts are a birder’s Turkish Delight.

Route 32 has been closed = more traffic on Route 126

Ok, so this isn’t exactly a highlight but it’s still good to know. The main road from San Jose to Guapiles and Limon has been closed for several days and could still be closed in subsequent days. Hopefully not but it’s best to be aware of that possibility.

You can still drive on 126 and go past Cinchona but you won’t be the only vehicle on the road. You could run into traffic jams, especially by the Peace Waterfall. Hopefully, the main route will open back up and stay that way but, there could easily still be issues for the next few days.

There’s always lots more to say about a lot more birds but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment. On a bright note, it looks like we probably won’t have any more strong cold fronts (fingers crossed), so that should help with getting around and seeing some sunshine, at least on the Caribbean slope.

To learn more about the sites mentioned above and hundreds of other birding spots in Costa Rica, support this blog by purchasing my 900 plus page ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. Happy birding, I hope to see you here!