Costa Rica Living and Birding

Birding is more than watching birds. Anyone who has partaken becomes aware of this fact, probably after the first time they do it. Speaking of birding for the first time, I don’t recall having a definitive first birding moment or excursion or class. However, there was that time when i was six when my father brought me to Canada, maybe to cheer me up, and that might count. I had a minor infection on my left index finger, had to have it lanced, and recall him taking me to Canada not long after.

By “Canada”, I mean walking across the Rainbow Bridge to visit the same named city of my home, on the other side of the gorge, Niagara Falls, Ontario. From my parent’s house just off Pine Avenue in downtown Niagara Falls, NY, it took around 15 to 20 minutes to walk to the bridge. That close and yes, we could hear the Cataracts of Niagara at our house, if quietly, off in the distance, 24/7.

I don’t exactly recall walking across the Rainbow Bridge, maybe because I eventually ended up doing that dozens of times, nor do I recall when we had our adventurous stroll (for a 6 year old) but, I do remember two things from that day in 1977, quite clearly. The first is when we spoke with the Canadian border agents. Noticing my bandaged finger and being a good sport, one of them asked me if I was a fighter. I must have said no, I think they laughed and he replied, “That’s good because we don’t let fighters into Canada”.

After they let me in on account of being an injured non-fighter, my father and I walked through the beautiful parklands that paralleled the rim of the gorge. This is some of the area that offers spectacular views of the American and Horseshoe (or Canadian) Falls. It can also offer magical, look-down views of a myriad of gulls, loons, and other river bird life but I wasn’t aware of that at 6. The park has big, old trees, flowering bushes, and other beautiful garden greenery. There’s also birds, mostly common ones, and one of those birds is the other main thing I recall. I noticed a striking male Red-winged Blackbird foraging in the grass and I asked my Dad of he knew what that bird was. He said he did not but wondered if it might be an oriole.

Not a bad guess for a non-birder, he did get the family right! I can’t say that was my spark bird; I was already interested in animals and became interested in birds by way of books at the Earl W. Bridges Public Library. I had also already been looking at birds and trees and other aspects of nature so, I can’t really say it was my first time doing some sort of birding either. However, that visit to Canada at six might have been the first time I specifically asked about the identity of a bird species.

In any case, if we did happen to refer to that day as “birding”, even if our main focus had been watching birds, it would have also been much more than that. There was positive interactions with border guards, strolling through beautiful green grass with my father, noticing the jade green waters of the Niagara River flowing 180 feet below, hearing tourists speak in languages other than English, and more. This being 1977, although I don’t recall, there must have also been boat-sized vehicles and quite the disco fashion scene going on.

In any case, what I’m saying is that birding is always more than watching birds and, we even have subsets of birding. Oh yes, we do since, although birding is checking out feeder birds while sipping hot ,fresh coffee (feedercoffeebirding?), it’s also creeping through rainforest to stalk antpittas, watching migrating raptors, and challenging winter’s bite to look at ducks.

Yesterday, my subset of birding involved staring through optics while slowly scanning back and forth, hoping to pick up movement while the sea breeze whistled in my ears. I was seawatching and doing it at Puntarenas, one of the better spots in Costa Rica to carry out this focused birding subset.

I had been eager to visit Puntarenas after hearing about El Nino birds in Panama. Those would be seabirds moving north from equatorial and Humboldt Current waters to look for better foraging grounds. Sadly, with water temperatures being pretty El Nino warm here too, I don’t know how much sanctuary they’ll find in Costa Rica. Nevertheless, the birds have arrived in Panama and some (or maybe many) will also make their way to these shores.

We’re talking birds like Blue-footed Boobies, perhaps a rare Peruvian Booby, and chances at other mega rare birds for Costa Rica. Maybe an Inca Tern? Could a Guanay Cormorant appear? What else? The only way to know is by looking for them and you can’t go wrong by watching from Puntarenas. You’ve got to watch from the area of the lighthouse and watch with a scope too but, you do that long enough, you should see something interesting. I suspect the avian prizes have something to do with the spot jutting into a meeting point of currents and where the inner gulf sort of meets the outer gulf.

Yesterday, I wasn’t sure what I’d find or, if there would even be any birds at all. Happily, there were and it was a good, productive morning of seawatching in Costa Rica.

The Usual Flybys

While scanning from Puntarenas, you’ll see the usual flybys, the birds to expect and enjoy and become familiar with to train yourself to pick out less common species.

I watched and saw Royal and Sandwich Terns both near and far, flying to and from the inner gulf. I checked every one and you have to because a juvenile Red-billed Tropicbird can look surprisingly like a Royal Tern and, although rare, they do visit the Gulf of Nicoya.

There are also the two big common bruisers, Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds while pairs of White Ibis oddly flap their way across the gulf. Laughing Gulls also fly past and you’ve got to watch them too, you don’t want to pass off some rare gull for a Laugher!

Keep scanning and you’ll probably pick up Neotropical Cormorants and one or two Cocos Boobies. That Sulid used to be commoner although it’s still regular, especially from the ferry.

Pelagic Birds!

Keep scanning back and forth, keep looking because, eventually, a tiny black bird might come zipping over the waves, like a bat out of the big blue abyss. I didn’t see any storm-petrels from shore yesterday but, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few were visible from the ferry. Consolation was welcome in the form of few Galapagos Shearwaters, way out there, fluttering low over the waves. Distant, but the only Puffinus shearwater at this time of year, and regular in the gulf, especially in the summer.

While scanning, I also picked up another pelagic bird, one I would have missed if I had ignored the distant terns. I picked up the long winged bird in the scope as it leisurely crossed over sizeable parts of the gulf and, seeing that it wasn’t exactly one of the usual flybys, stayed on it. Darker gray back and a hint of a head pattern, Bridled Tern! Now is a good time to see this elegant seabird in Costa Rica, especially from the ferry.

The other pelagic bird species I saw might not exactly fall into that category but I’ll mention it here anyways. While scanning, a few, smallish, fast flying birds caught my eye. “What are those?!” I wondered as they zipped to the right and joined a small feeding flock of regular terns. Darkish, they fluttered and I saw the white below. Of course, Black Terns! Not all move north, some stay in Costa Rican waters, all year long.

Blue-footed Boobies

Those distant pelagics weren’t the only fun birds on yesterday’s seawatching block. The stars of the Puntarenas birding show were much bigger and a few came quite close to shore. They were also one of the first birds I noticed, Sulids diving in the shallow waters of the inner gulf. Silhouetted, they could have been Cocos Boobies but when they flew into better light, they revealed their identities. Dark beak, white on the tail and a big white patch on the back, yes!, Blue-footed Boobies!

The El Nino birds were here and they showed very well with a couple floating in full view. I made a conservative estimate of 4 but am pretty sure there were more, way out there in the waters of the gulf.

Surprise Arctic Terns!

Saving the best for last, I was sort of mindblown to witness a quartet of small terns fly into view. Like several other birds, they were flying towards the inner gulf, coming in from the deeper, wider waters and flying past the point. Not all that close but, close enough to catch some field marks through the scope.

Smallish and pale, I nearly cast them aside as distant Sandwich Terns. Luckily, I realized that ID didn’t quite fit, that although they had dark beaks, they weren’t that species. Flying quickly past, I saw pale wings with some of a dark carpal bar but didn’t notice any dark secondaries, didn’t see any dark on the topside of the primaries. Something wasn’t clicking, something didn’t make sense because those birds didn’t belong there right now, even when I got a clear, definitive view of the underside of the primaries. There it was, a narrow, dark line etched on the trailing side of the primaries, like someone took a fine-tipped permanent black marker and drew that unmistakable line, the one that an Arctic Tern shows.

It’s a shame I did not have a camera but I had seen enough, especially after reviewing dozens of images of June, immature terns. When I read that yes, many young Arctic and Common Terns spend their first summer on the wintering grounds, it made more sense. I can’t help but wonder if those young Arctics were El Nino birds too? I suspect so, I don’t think they’d normally have much business visiting the gulf at this time of year, much less Costa Rican waters in general but, there they were and I wonder, what the heck else is out there right now? Inca Tern? Kelp Gull? I wouldn’t be surprised, I need to take that ferry.

To learn more about birding Puntarenas and hundreds of other birding sites 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 however you do it, I hope to see you here!