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bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

Rare Birds in Costa Rica- 12 of the Least Known Species

There’s a lot of birds in Costa Rica. More than 900 species on the official list of birds for Costa Rica. It’s a heck of a lot and I’m sure we’ll get a few more! In Costa Rica, as our great luck would have it, most of the resident birds are accessible. Factor in good infrastructure in a rather small area and Costa Rica becomes a wonderfully easy nation to see a huge number of bird species in a short amount of time.

However, as with birding locale, the birding isn’t always easy, not every species is as common as a Blue-gray Tanager. Many birds are rare, some naturally so, others because of habitat destruction, and others for reasons unknown. The following are a dozen of the least known birds in Costa Rica, rare species that can be a huge challenge (or nearly impossible) to see in this birdy country. It’s ok to have these species on your target list but you may need to curb your birding enthusiasm.

Masked Duck

Masked-Duck

Based on how little this bird enjoys being seen, the mask it wears is either one of shame or a reminder of its anti-social behavior. This duck might not be endangered and it is recorded on an annual basis but not as often as one would like. Visit seemingly nice habitat for the bird and it’s either hiding or just not there. We don’t know what it does and that’s the problem. Given its penchant for seasonal wetlands, Masked Duck in Costa Rica might be nomadic but if so, where does it go? Where does it host its off-season skulking parties?

Believe me, I wish we knew. I have some suspicions but no easy answers. What I do know is that the best spot for it is in wetlands near Ciudad Neily from August to November. The Cano Negro area is another good area to look for it as well as any shallow, marshy wetland.

Violaceous Quail-Dove

One of those wide-ranging, uncommon and spotty birds. Like the Masked Duck, this bird may also be somewhat nomadic, at least in the sense of moving around in search of some sort of suitable, not very obvious microhabitat. I suspect it uses some form of advanced or viney second growth within mature forest but who knows?

Although this dove is never common nor expected in Costa Rica, it does seem to be slightly easier to find around Rincon de la Vieja and in wetter forests of the Nicoya Peninsula.

Pheasant Cuckoo

One of the number one ghost birds of Costa Rica. Given the paucity of records, this cuckoo species surely has a very small population, especially compared to ther places. Too much competition with other species? Not enough nest hosts? Who knows what the reasons are but suffice to say, the ideal ecological situation for this species does not take place in Costa Rica. When birding Costa Rica, don’t expect to find it, even if you do look for it in the southern Nicoya and southern Costa Rica.

Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo

birding Costa Rica

Over the past few years, thanks to more birders looking for the ground-cuckoo, we know a bit more about where this bird lives and how to find it. It almost got left off this list. However, the cuckoo is still a decidedly rare, little known species. How many live in in a given area? What do they need? Do they still occur in lowland forest sites? Answers to these questions are lacking.

Oilbird

One of the most intriguing species on this list and not just because of its nocturnal habits. We don’t know where the Oilbirds in Costa Rica come from, we only know that they are most frequent during the wet season. There’s a fair chance some live in caves in southern Costa Rica. If so, hopefully those specual grottos can be located so the population can be assessed and safeguarded.

Crested Eagle

Oooh, one of the top prize birds in Costa Rica. A big rare and spectacular eagle. I have seen it a grand total of two times..in Tambopata, Peru. Is it still extant? We can only hope that some still occur in remote rainforests, especially in the Caribbean slope foothills, in or near Tortuguero, the Las Tablas area, and forests of the Osa and Golfo Dulce.

Harpy Eagle

Another elusive prize, this one probably the grand prize of Costa Rica birding. Unfortunately, we don’t know where it occurs, nor if it even still nests in Costa Rica. If so, the population is surely miniscule. I wouldn’t look for it on the Osa either, the last time one was documented in those forests was in 2006. Better chances are to be had in remote forests in northeastern Costa Rica, Tortuguero, and in the Caribbean slope of the Talamancas. The most recent documented sighting of a Harpy Eagle in Costa Rica was in 2017 in very little birded rainforests north of Rincon de la Vieja.

Perhaps be reintroduced to Corcovado National Park?

Solitary Eagle

This third of the largest eagles in Costa Rica is likewise missing in action. On account of frequent confusion with Great Black-Hawk, many past sightings are in doubt. If the species does still occur in Costa Rica, it probably lives in remote parts of the Talamancas, deep in Braulio Carrillo National Park, or in foresrs of the northern volcanoes.

Red-fronted Parrotlet

Unlike the big eagles, this species is recorded and on a regular basis. However, it seems sporadic, makes altitudinal migrations, and very little is known about its natural history. All of these factors make it a challenge to find. Look for the bird long enough in middle elevation and foothill forest and you may eventually find this unpredictable bird. I usually hear them in flight.

Speckled Mourner

This odd species hasn’t been recorded in Costa Rica for some time. Hopefully, it still occurs! If still extant, it must have a very small population. The best places to search for it may be flat areas along streams in the largest areas of mature lowland and foothill rainforest. My sole sighting for Costa Rica was in a large mixed flock near El Tapir in 2000.

Gray-headed Piprites

Luckily, we do know that this species is present and not overly rare in forests near Rancho Naturalista and El Copal. It should occur in other places too but where? It might be another of those bird species that requires some habitat mosaic of mature forest and older second growth, or perhaps such habitat combined with the presence of a healthy community of flocking understory species. Whatever the case, it’s not an easy bird to see.

Slaty Finch

Like the quail-dove, this is another bird infrequently seen in a large range. It may be tied to bamboo seeding events; at least that seems to be when it sings more often. In the meantime, what do they do, where do they go? The birds are out there somewhere, perhaps moving around in search of bamboo seeds.

Some of the other rare and little known resident species of Costa Rica include Rufous Nightjar, Lanceolated Monklet, Great Jacamar, Lovely Cotinga, and Botteri’s Sparrow. With some effort, they can be seen but only if you know how to look for them in the right places. The Costa Rica bird finding guide, How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica has information for finding these and all bird species in Costa Rica. Get this 700 plus page ebook to support this blog and prepare for your trip. Costa Rica is closer than you think!

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biodiversity bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

Relaxed Birding in Costa Rica = 177 Species on Global Big Day

Global Big Day, 2022 has come and gone. Once again, thousands of birders around the globe recorded their observations in eBird to collectively identify more than 7,500 species! In Costa Rica, we always play our part and this year’s Global Big Day (GBD) was no exception. The local birding community captured 5th place for number of checklists (more than 2,500 were sent to eBird) and had a grand total of 685 species. Not bad for a country as big as West Virginia!

If the count had taken place while wintering birds were here, we would have seen much more. Ditto if May 14th didn’t see Costa Rica doused with torrential rains. Don’t get me wrong, I have no complaints, just stating the facts is all. Knowing that any degree of Big Day record breaking would be severly hindered by heavy rains and a normal lack of wintering species, my partner Marilen and I opted for more relaxed birding. An easy-going GBD if you will.

Our birding wasn’t so relaxed that we stayed home to watch birds between intervals of home-made pizza and refreshments, but we didn’t start birding at midnight either. Instead, we figured we would head out early and just see what we could find in the patches of cloud forest and foothill rainforest on Route 126. Having recently heard Azure-hooded Jay on that birdy road, I was reminded of the many birds always possible on this route.

Violet-Sabrewing-male
It’s a good route to get bedazzled by the purples of Violet Sabrewing.

Our relaxed birding day went something a little bit like this:

An Early Start

Wait, wasn’t this relaxed birding in Costa Rica? Yes, but you can still bird easy even if you get up at 4 a.m. That 4 a.m. part was important to drive to a nearby field and see if any Barn or Striped Owls were around. They weren’t but I’m still glad I tried and other birds were singing anyways. These were species like the ubiquitous Clay-colored Thrush along with our only Tropical Mockingbird, Blue Grosbeak, and Rufous-naped Wren.

We hit the road by 5 and made a stop or two in remnant green space of the heavily urbanized Central Valley. The songs of saltators, doves, Rufous-collared Sparrows, and kiskadees and kiskadee-type birds filled the air. That avian sound wave is why you get up early, even in urban settings, you can just about have the birds all to yourself.

Productive Drive-By Birding in the Highlands

Driving slowly but surely upslope, up towards higher elevations, we noted birds as they called and sang. Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrushes and Chestnut-capped Warblers calling from ravines, Brown Jays screeching from the trees. Many a Red-billed Pigeon, Yellow-faced Grassquit, and even one barking Northern Emerald Toucanet, our only one for the day.

At the highest point, easy drive-by birding gave us some sweet endemics, birds like Black-cheeked Warbler, Black-thighed Grosbeak, and Yellow-winged Vireo.

Other typical montane birds called and made it onto our GBD list, birds like Mountain Thrush, Mountain Elaenia, and Hairy Woodpecker (yes, it lives here too but it won’t look like the ones you see back home).

Misty Weather Pushes us to Lower Elevations

We birded from the car and a good thing too, the montains were shrouded in fog and spattered with light rain. It wasn’t surprising, we knew the weather could present some challenges but given the low visibility, we opted not to bird areas near Varablanca. Instead, we moved move lower, heading downhill to see if we could watch birds without an umbrella.

At a spot overlooking the Peace Lodge, the light rain was still happening but the birds were calling, lots of them. We saw Spangle-cheeked Tanagers, a surprise Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, and heard various other species including one of our best for the day, a Highland Tinamou (!) calling from the green, wet depths of the cloud forest.

We kept descending the road, eventually reaching honest to goodness sunshine! Alas, it was brief but a bit of warm air did push a Short-tailed Hawk and a Swallow-tailed Kite into the sky.

Nice Foothill Rainforest Birding

Seeing that we had more than enough time to bird the road between San Miguel and Virgen del Socorro, we made our way to that hotspot and spent the next couple hours hearing and seeing 100 species.

birding Costa Rica Keel-billed Toucan

The cloudy weather upped the bird activity and gave us a mixed flock of Carmiol’s Tanagers, Russet Antshrike, three species of woodpeckers, Gartered Trogon, and other birds. Toucans moved through the trees, a jacamar called from below, and other species flew onto our day list. It was great easy going birding, almost all of it from one strategic spot. When the rains came, we decided to head upslope and enjoy a meal with birds at Cinchona.

Lunch at Cinchona

Watching birds accompanied by good food and drink is a gift and Cinchona is Christmas, all year long. Prong-billed Barbets and other birds visited the fruit feeders while Violet Sabrewings and many a Green-crowned Brilliant zipped by our table. Once in a while, I would get up and look over the railing, look to see there was a quail-dove or brushfinch below the feeders. No such luck on GBD but it was still all good.

Racing the Rain

With nothing but rain going on, we figured we might as well head back home, maybe see some birds around those urban parts. It poured for nearly the entire drive, only letting up when we got much closer to our place. We weren’t the only ones headed that way. A monstrous block of deep dark gray was moving in the same direction, I only hoped we could see a few more birds before it gave us a big wet slap.

A stop at one frequently productive spot produced a few swifts but most other birds were absent. They weren’t fools, they had no doubt flew and found shelter from the approaching storm. We followed suit, hightailing it out of there, driving the final ten minutes back to our place, arriving there just in time.

Last Chance Birding from the Homestead

The rains came down hard and heavy, typical for May afternoons in Costa Rica. However, they can also let up, maybe enough for some birds to come out. Hoping for a few more species, wondering what might show in steady but light rain, I watched from the back balcony. I scanned the trees in the distance, kept an eye on roadside wires and for courageous birds flying through the rain.

White-fronted Parro

I also listened for the birds that sometimes call from out back, the laughing Barred Antshrikes and Lineated Woodpeckers, the whistling Rufous-and-white Wren. They were quiet on the afternoon of May 14th but my vigil still paird off for a few other species. That pair of White-fronted Parrots I had been waiting for eventually flew into view, Yellow-throated Euphonias called, and I managed to add a couple other birds.

When the sun set, we finished our GBD with 177 species; not bad for an easy-going day of birding in Costa Rica!

The birding day on May 14th, 2022 was done and then I turned on the news. A mass shooting..at a supermarket..in Buffalo, NY. Any evil occurrence is horrible but when it happens in places you know, at a supermarket chain you grew up with, it’s hard not to feel the tragedy hit you like a hammer. I have lived far away from WNY for many years but it is the place where I learned to play baseball, the place where I made many friends, where I started birding, where I grew up, where I once worked at a Tops Supermarket, the original home. It’s where I have also spent so much time in Buffalo, NY.

Yet another mass shooting, one that included callous murders of community leaders, of beautiful people for racist reasons. I’m not just saddened and horrified, in all honesty, I am really trying not to be pretty fricking angry. Evil atrocities such as this don’t happen for nothing. They are made easier by weapons designed and perfected for murder but they have their roots in the negative word streams of the great fomenters, the people who purposely extoll lies and sick ideas to large audiences. And why manipulate negative emotions? Because it works for making money, because it can work to help you get elected. What it doesn’t work for is anything good, not even in the slightest. May such misguided people be called out and exposed for who they really are; people making the world a worse place for personal gain.

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bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

First Birding Trip to Costa Rica- Where to Go?

Birding in Costa Rica has been on your mind since the early 90s. A visit to Costa Rica has been in the mental works and you figured that some fine day, you would take that trip. You almost did in 2003 but then you saw that amazing deal to visit Jamaica. Streamertails and island birds that inspired Bob Marley took precedence and you have no regrets (!) but, it wasn’t Costa Rica. On that other occasion, you went a bit further with trip planning but then your faithful birding friends convinced you to go to Arizona instead. Once again, no regrets! That was a fun trip highlighted by hummingbirds, desert blooms, and roadrunners but you aren’t getting any younger and there be hundreds of beautiful birds in the tropical forests of southern Central America…

speckled tanager
Eye candy birds like Speckled Tanager.

Spurred by photos of quetzals and toucans on Facebook, hearing the rest of the birding community rave about visiting Costa Rica, or just realizing that it’s now or never, the time has definitely arrived for that inagural Costa Rica birding experience. Now you just have to figure out where to go. Should be easy enough, the country is pretty small, the best places to go should be pretty straightforward, right?

Not exactly. Costa Rica might be a small nation but it’s big on a few things that complicate trip planning. These factors are biodiversity, mountains, and birding sites. Mega biodiversity gives Costa Rica a bird list of 900 plus species. Whoah! Yeah, that’s a lot to work with, even after taking vagrants and pelagic birds into account. You gotta take mountains into consideration too because driving up and over them, winding your way through the naturally broken and uplifted land plays a big role with driving times.

You might also want to visit mountains because that’s where quetzals are, that’s where the biggest percentage of endemic species occur. Then there are the birding sites in Costa Rica. As with any birding trip, we need know about the best sites, about where to go to see more birds, or photograph more birds, or see certain species, or if the site has a certain degree of comfort we are looking for, or if we don’t mind hiking on steep forest trails, or if we would rather spend more to soak in hot springs after a morning of easy-going birding.

So where do we go?

To effectively entertain that complex answer, you need to start with some questions of your own.

How Do I want to Experience Birds in Costa Rica?

There are many ways to bird. For some, birding is sitting back and taking pictures of whatever species happen to visit feeders or fruiting trees. Other people enjoy a blend of easy, casual birding, good food, good company, and a dance lesson or two. Some birders would rather focus on birds 24/7 and eBird their way to a big old satisfying list.

Ornate Hawk Eagle
A list with nice birds like Ornate Hawk-Eagle.

This may sound controverisal, but all of the above is birding. For this reason, the best places to go on a birding trip to Costa Rica depend on how you want to experience our friends of the feathered kind. There’s a lot of options with some more suited to photography, othes better for individuals or smaller groups, and others for more adventurous birders.

How Much Time do I Have?

Once you know how you want to watch birds in Costa Rica, you can move on to the question of time. If the trip is less than a week, I would visit two sites at the very most. Staying for a week? You could visit three or four sites, or even just stay at one place. Once again, it all depends on how you want to watch birds. Have two or more weeks to work with? That opens the door to many more birding possibilities.

No matter how much time you have, keep in mind that in general, very diverse sites like the Sarapiqui area, Rancho Naturalista, or the Carara area merit at least two to three nights. You could also, easily stay at such sites for a week and still see new birds every single day (seriously!).

Zeledon's Antbird
Skulky species like the Zeledon’s Antbird might require a bit more birding time.

In the highlands, although you could stay longer and still have lots of fun, two nights will probably suffice. The same goes for dry forest habitats in Guanacaste. If you just wanted to stay in the Central Valley and do day trips, that can also work for such places as the Carara area, San Ramon area, Braulio Carrillo and nearby (as in Cope’s and Centro Manu), Poas, Irazu, and more sites.

How Much do I Want to See?

Chestnut-colored Woodpecker
You might really want to see a Chestnut-colored Woodpecker.

Perhaps the most vital question of all because you can’t see certain birds unless you visit the places where they occur. That’s right, Costa Rica might have a huge list but that’s because some birds only live in the high elevations, others in middle elevations, some in the lowlands on one side of the mountains, others on the other side, and so on.

If you want to see as much as possible, then you have to spend at least two or more days in each main bio-region. If you are fine with seeing a bunch of cool birds and don’t really mind which ones you espy, then you could stay at one or two places just about anywhere, Costa Rica.

In general, I would suggest spending at least two nights in the highlands, three nights in the Caribbean lowlands, and at least two (maybe three) nights on the Pacific slope, probably in the Carara area. Do that and you will get a pretty good taste of Costa Rica birds, not to mention, it would be a shame to NOT see a Resplendent Quetzal, even more so if the birds in Costa Rica and Panama end up being split from the birds in northern Central America (there’s a fair chance that will happen!).

But where to go? Which places to stay? I have mentioned so few places because, without first knowing how you want to bird Costa Rica, nor your budget, there are honestly too many really good sites to choose from (and they aren’t all on eBird either). A thorough birding site guide for Costa Rica will provide the right answers. In the meantime, I might also have an idea for an itinerary or two. Contact me at [email protected]

Until then, happy birding, I hope to see you here!