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Costa Rica Birding News- March and April, 2023

It’s late March and we are at the tail end of the high season for birding in Costa Rica. April will still bring a good number of birders but, as with previous years, most birding trips to Costa Rica happen during the first three months of the calendar year. If you do happen to be visiting Costa Rica in April, you are in luck because the fourth month is a fantastic time for birding. It might even be the best time to bring the binos to this beautiful, birdy nation.

April is high time for our spring migration and although the warblers and other migrants won’t be singing like they do up north, this month features large numbers of swallows, Chimney Swifts, Eastern Kingbirds, Red-eyed Vireos, raptor migration, and other birds that winter in South America. This impressive spectacle of migration adds a nice cherry on top of a birding cake flavored with hundreds of resident bird species.

With that in mind, let’s start recent birding news with some tips on the best sites for spring migration in Costa Rica.

An eddy in the river of raptors.
  • Tortuguero– Situated on the Caribbean coast, this national park also sits smack in the middle of a flyway that features millions of birds. Watch the skies for flocks of kingbirds, swifts, swallows, and raptors as well as other odd birds making their way north. When I visit, I also check the coastal scrub and gardens in the village for small migrants like warblers, the occasional cuckoo, and various other species, and the beach for shorebirds and occasional pelagic species.
  • Cahuita-Manzanillo– This general area is also excellent for migration and a wonderful area to mix migrant birds with fantastic birding in lowland rainforest. The seabirding seems better at Tortuguero but it’s still worth scoping the ocean around here too. I have seen Brown Noddy, Bridled Tern, and a jaeger or two, and other species are certainly possible.
  • Sarapiqui– Another classic site for lowland rainforest, it can also be very good during migration. Although there won’t be any seabirding, you might find Cerulean Warbler, flocks of Scarlet Tanagers, a river of raptors, and several other species.
  • Puntarenas and the Gulf of Nicoya– Puntarenas is a good place to do some seawatching and look for migrant terns and other species. Mud flats and other sites on the Gulf of Nicoya also act as important stopover sites for shorebirds.

In other birding news, here are some other items of interest for birding Costa Rica:

Gullmania in Puntarenas– Costa Rica isn’t really known for gull watching and with good reason. Although a good number of Laridae are on the official bird list for Costa Rica, most are vagrants, even bird species like Herring Gull and Ring-billed Gull. Our regular species only include Laughing Gull, migrant Franklin’s Gulls, and various terns.

Given the lack of birding coverage along extensive coastlines, inaccessible shrimp ponds, and other gullish sites, I bet more gulls visit Costa Rica than we realize. Not a huge number by any means but choice rarities surely slip by and over our local birding RADAR; we just don’t have enough people putting in the hours. However, we do have enough focused birders to come up with some really good finds. One of the best was a Heerman’s Gull at Puntarenas! A first year bird discovered by Daniel and Robert Garrigues, and Daniel Fernandez Duarte is the first officially documented record for Costa Rica. This species has been on my personal birding RADAR for some time, it’s great to see that one was found and that it has also stayed long enough to be seen by a number of local birders (my partner and I included).

The Heerman’s will probably be Costa Rica’s “best bird” of 2023 but, even better, it came with two consolation prizes; a Herring Gull and Ring-billed Gull in the same area! For many local birders, all three of these species were key lifers. Once again, it pays to bird Puntarenas.

Pacific Golden-Plover in Puntarenas- What was I just saying about Puntarenas? A very rare migrant Pacific Golden-Plover was found by local guide Beto Guido during a recent visit. It was with two American Golden-Plovers and although they seem to have flown north, the Pacific has stayed for several more days. As of March 26th, it was still present. Look for it on the beach and jetties from the lighthouse to parts of the beach east of the jetties.

Pacific-Golden-Plover-Puntarenas-Costa-Ric
A Pacific Golden-Plover I found at Puntarenas in 2022. Perhaps the same indfividual as this year?

8 quetzals in a day at and near Poas– Most birders visit the Dota Valley or Monteverde for their fill of quetzals but the ultra fancy birds also live in other places. I don’t always see or hear them on Poas but have a pretty good success rate. Last week, though, was exceptional with two quetzals heard on Poas and at least 6 (maybe more) heard and seen at a site near Varablanca.

Speckled Mourner seen!– This odd little bird is one of the rarest resident species in Costa Rica. With very few confirmed sightings, and not really knowing what they need for survival in Costa Rica, we really have no idea how many still occur in the country. On a high note, a bird was seen and photographed by a local birder and biologist at a site within the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund Area (which also protects important rainforest and cloud forest habitats). This important sighting hints at the quality habitats protected by the fund and (along with the 2017 Harpy Eagle sighting) provides further impetus to explore and bird sites around those remote northern volcanoes.

Bellbirds near San Ramon- Lastly, the bellbirds are back at sites near San Ramon. Last week, we had excellent views of a calling male near the end of Calle Chaves, the Pagan Poetry Bed and Breakfast road. It’s four wheel drive only but the trip might be worth it. The bellbirds at this and other sites near there do move around but might still be possible until May or June.

These are some of the latest local birding news items and with dozens of birding hotspots, I could always say more. Learn more about where to watch birds in Costa Rica with my 900 plus page, recently updated ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. I hope to see you here!

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Two Ebird Hotspots in Costa Rica that Have Gone Cold

Birding is inherently dynamic. Even in patches as small as a backyard, supposedly tiny changes can have major impacts on the numbers and types of birds that visit. Put in a water feature and suddenly, your morning coffee can be accompanied by views of warblers and other migrants. Stop cutting (destroying) part of the back lawn, let more vegetation grow, and birds will find that new bit of habitat too.

In Costa Rica, a new backyard addition can take the form of a Barred Antshrike.

On the contrary, replace your personal green space with plastic grass and the patch will only be suitable for birds adapted to the new melted carbon paradigm (unfortunately, no species have attained such special traits). In essence, whether your birding takes place in a backyard or in a massive wilderness area, changes to have habitat have consequences.

When it comes to birding in Costa Rica, luckily, many sites are intact and not subject to the destruction so commonly and horribly seen in many parts of the world. Even so, changes have still occurred in some places, some for better and others for worse. A few such places in Costa Rica are listed as eBird hotspots but the truth of the matter is that (1) they have changed to the point where they are no longer worth visiting, or (2) you simply can’t visit because of lack of access.

This means that in Costa Rica (and elsewhere), eBird hotspots can still be listed as hotspots even when the hotspot status is more of a label harkening back to better birding days. Although the birds won’t be the same, keeping such places listed as hotspots can at least give us hope and data to eventually, properly restore natural places back to how they should be.

The following are two of the most impacted eBird hotspots in Costa Rica:

El Tigre Wet Fields

Check the species list for this site and you might pencil it in as a chance for Pinnated Bittern, Paint-billed Crake, and other choice wetland birds. Get over-enthused and you might even scratch Cano Negro from the itinerary in lieu of more time spent at the Tigre Fields. Before you make those changes, check when such birds were seen there last, better to get an idea of what’s being seen by reviewing recent lists from the site.

You’ll find that the best place for Pinnated Bittern is Medio Queso wetland.

If you don’t see much of note, don’t be surprised for this former gem of a spot is nothing like it used to be. Whether because of draining or a drying climate, wet, flooded pastures have become dry stomping grounds for cattle. As for the large area of rich second growth across the street, the places that used to be full of chattering Scarlet-rumped Tanagers and other birds, well, that was eliminated and replaced with poisoned earth pineapple (not many birds there).

Sadly, although a few wetland birds can still occur, this particular hotspot has become an average birding site at best. Who knows, maybe some day, it can be restored? In the meantime, stopping there is probably not worth your while.

El Tapir

El Tapir still boasts great foothill rainforest habitat but it has become a major tease; you can’t really bird it. If you can gain access, maybe you can but rights to this wonderful site appears to have been purchased by someone who has yet to give any indication of opening it to the public. For the sake of easy views of Snowcap and a host of other species, hopefully, access issues will change but in the meantime, it’s best to allocate birding time in foothill rainforest to other sites.

Male Snowcap.

Fortunately, there’s not many birding hotspots in Costa Rica that have seen changes to habitat nor access as radical as these. Even so, this situation is a good reminder to view hotspot eBird information for Costa Rica with a grain of salt. Check dates for the latest sightings of target birds and always remember that the bird birding doesn’t necessarily happen where people bird the most. It takes place at sites with the highest degree of intact habitat.

Get local information for the best birding sites in Costa Rica and support this blog by purchasing “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”; a 900 page ebook that shows you where to see birds in Costa Rica, how to find them, and identification tips. I hope to see you here!

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One Day Birding in Costa Rica = 5 Owl Species Plus Potoo

How many birds in Costa Rica can be seen in a day? The answer depends on how you go birding just as much as where you go birding. Make a focused bird run through different avian-rich habitats in different habitats and well over 100 species are probable. Go the relaxed route at one or two sites and you might not have as much but you’ll still see a lot, and might connect with a few true blue rarities.

You might see a lancebill.

However, no matter how you do your birding thing, days with multiple owls are far and few between. I’ve done all sorts of birding in Costa Rica as well as a bunch of other places but owls are always the exception. They hide incredibly well, most don’t become active until it gets dark and even then, they ghost around the woods and fields on silent, moth-like wings. No wonder we hardly ever see them! One would think owls are rare, birds that you just don’t see, just can’t see.

Truth is, owls in most places are more common than expected, they just require a different way of birding, or, in depth local knowledge. That’s how we saw so many owls on the annual Buffalo Ornithological Society owl field trip. That special, memorable day was the exception, the day when you knew you had a good chance of seeing not one or two owls but a bunch and it was all because of invaluable local knowledge.

The owl trip was an all day winter event, a time when several of us would carpool to a meeting point with Glen Coady or other Canadian birders who would then graciously bring us to several sites in and near Toronto, Ontario. There were groups of Short-eared Owls coursing over snow-covered fields, a Northern Hawk Owl or two in suburban neighborhoods, Snowy Owls, and stacks of Long-eared Owls in a waterfront park. A closer, fine toothed check of the same park might turn up a Northern Saw-whet or maybe even a Boreal Owl (!).

Eastern Screech Owls would be scoped and revealed hiding in big, craggy trees, we might get lucky and see a Great Gray Owl, and we would usually round out the day with views of Barred and a Great Horned Owl or two.

Yeah, that many owls! An incredible day indeed and one that would have been impossible without the help of expert local birders who had put in countless hours to find those birds. I’ll always be grateful to those Canadian birders, other B.O.S. birders, and my father for taking me on those memorable, magical trips.

Although laying eyes on 8 to 10 owl species in one day of birding in Costa Rica is unlikely, the same sort of local knowledge can still turn up an owl or two just about every day of your trip. Play your birding cards right and you might even see several. This past March 2nd, I had one of these rare and special days.

It started with a visit to one of more reliable places to see an owl or two; Cope’s place at Union de Guapiles. Cope often know where the owls are hanging out but as with all things birding, you just really never know if they are gonna be there! Luckily, on March 2nd, the two hoped for species were present on roosts that Cope knew of. We still had to look for a bit, still had to check a few roosts, but yes (!), ended up with great looks at Crested Owl,

followed by Spectacled Owl.

While looking for other birds, Cope had mentioned that the night before, he had also heard a Central American Pygmy-Owl calling repeatedly from a nearby site. Would we like to look for that uncommonly seen species? Oh, I think so! Shortly after arrival, while scoping Masked Tityras and other lowland species, it didn’t take long for the teensy tiny owl to start tooting and a minute later, we were looking at one. Even better, it was calling from a nest!

We got more than our fill of the bird looking at us from its nesting hole as well as views of its mate before moving on to a stake out for another nocturnal specialty, the Great Potoo. Sure enough, the large, pseudo owl was present and with that sighting, we had four nocturnal species for the morning.

After lunch at the Hacienda La Isla (very much recommended, and for birds too), we made our way back to the Hotel Bougainvillea and birded the rest of the afternoon there. Wind and sun put a damper on birding activity but it didn’t stop us from seeing a known but well hidden Mottled Owl (!). Not long after, we saw our 5th owl species for the day when a pair of Ferruginous Pygmy-owls perched in the open.

That finished off yet another memorable day of birding in Costa Rica. Now, if we had known where Black-and-White Owl was hiding at Hacienda La Isla, and knew of a spot for roosting Tropical Screech-Owl, we would have had an impressive 7 owl species (!). Oh well, those will have to wait for another day.