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Month: November 2023

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5 Things Learned from Chasing American Avocets in Costa Rica

Recently, there have a few twitchworthy birds in Costa Rica. Lesser Black-backed Gull in Tarcoles- second country record, first chasable bird! American Avocet at Ensenada- a very rare vagrant scything the brine for several days! White-eyed Vireo also at Ensenada- rare vagrant, good bird to see in Costa Rica!

All present for more than one day, tempting for the Costa Rica birder, and all very twitchworthy. This past Thursday, temptation had its way and we found ourselves driving to Ensenada Wildlife Refuge. The plan was to see the avocet, maybe even visit the shorebird hotspot at Punta Morales, and keep tabs on the Tarcoles gull situation.

Ensenada is also a good spot for Spot-breasted Oriole.

At least that was the plan, here’s what happened, here’s what I learned. Even if you don’t chase vagrant migrants in Costa Rica, the following just might help your regular birding in Costa Rica too.

“Twitchworthiness” Doesn’t Guarantee Anything

When you start following the birding way, it doesn’t take long to learn some hard truths. Among those many birding facts of life, we quickly find that birders like to make a weird hissing noise referred to as “pishing”, that warblers look a lot nicer in spring, and that owls verge on being invisible.

It’s pretty nice when they become visible.

We also learn that just because we think we’ll see a particular bird species, noy an ounce of your confidence and faith will make that bird materialize. Beyond field skills, birding is sort of a game of chance. You can use weather, time of day, and other factors to nudge the odds in your direction but nothing’s guaranteed.

But hey, there are upsides to birding chance! You might find something rare! You might see the unexpected and if you pay attention, you’ll always learn a thing or two.

On our avocet chase, I was reminded that even if the bird was seen one day before, it doesn’t have to be there. Twittering flocks of Western Sandpipers were present. Wilson’s Plovers, yellowlegs, stilts, and other expected shorebirds rested and picked in the mud of Ensenada’s brine pools but nope, no neat bird with the extra fine, upturned beak.

We ran into other birding friends, notable our friends from Birding Experiences but even with more eyes looking and checking every pond, the avocet was no more. Well, we thought, at least we can check for the vireo a la white eyes! We knew just where another guide friend had found it, right where to pish and make pygmy-owl sounds. That little thicket dweller was destined for the birding bag.

But, no, the vireo didn’t want to come out either. I can’t blame it, if two-legged beings were making funny noises at me while the tropical sun baked the land, yeah, I would ignore them too.

Noon isn’t the Best Time for Birding on the Pacific Coast

Yeah, a better time to look for those White-eyed Vireos would have been much earlier in the day. You know, when birds are active and calling because it’s a lot more comfortable when it’s not a stifling, windless 90 plus degrees.

So right, why would we go birding in a natural oven at high noon? Our decision was based on upping the birding odds in our favor. On Thursday, noon was high tide and that there is prime time for shorebirds in Costa Rica. At low tide, most of the sandpipers and plovers forage way out on the mud flats in the Gulf of Nicoya. They spread out too and many are just too far away to watch.

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Distant mud flats at Chomes.

You gotta visit the shorebird spot at high tide, check the salt pools and other places where they congregate. In keeping with the no-guarantee rule for birding, they might not be at the pools you happen to be checking but hey, what are you gonna do? Stay home and not watch birds instead of being lasered by the long vertical hands of Helios?

Not necessarily! However, you could forget that noon birding stuff and stick to pleasant and productive birding efforts in the morning and late afternoon. You don’t have to stay home either. Like, you could find an ice cream shop or enjoy cold drinks in some shaded place until 3 in the afternoon. I mean, that’s sort of what the birds do anyways…

Slow Ride, Take it Easy…

Another benefit of leaving extra early is avoiding the traffic. You won’t be exempt from bumbling trucks and slow blocky vehicles and other oddities but there won’t be as many. It’ll still be better than driving at other times.

I can’t emphasize enough, on roads in Costa Rica, drive real early or give yourself some extra time! It really is slow going, especially on the highway between Puntarenas and somewhere around Limonal. I suppose at least when you drive slow, you have a better chance of spotting some perched raptor or maybe even finding a Northern Potoo. But please remember to leave that bird searching to the passengers. The driver has to constantly watch for pot holes, bad drivers, and other weird stuff.

Late Afternoon Dining in Puntarenas- a Big Yes!

We did not see the twitchworthy birds, and our extra side trip to the Colorado salt pans added on quite a bit of unexpected driving time but at least we visited Puntarenas!

We got there just in time for a late afternoon meal at the Isla Cocos Bar and Grill. Let me tell you, 4 p.m. could be the best time to visit this small seaside city. From our outdoor seating, we had a beautiful view of the gulf of Nicoya, Franklin’s Gulls picked at the shoreline, and other birds flew by.

While scanning the gulf from my seat, I even saw a distant storm-petrel sp.! Wish I would have had more time to scan for seabirds but we were hungry, we needed a real meal. Along those gastronomic lines, the Isla Cocos Bar and Grill delivered. I very much recommend it and not just because they support sustainable fishing. The food was good and the owner also offers boat trips into the Gulf!

Don’t Do Ensenada as a Day Trip

I used to visit Ensenada and Punta Morales as a day trip from the Central Valley. And yeah, you still could but it’ll just be a longer day than it used to be. Birding time has been reduced by traffic and the roadwork situation to the point where it’s hardly worth it to drive back and forth from that area.

I guess you still could if you left the Central Valley at 4 a.m. but even then, it’ll be a lot more fun and relaxing to bird the coast early and stay somewhere in that area for a night or two, maybe even in Puntarenas or at Ensenada Lodge. That way, you can have plenty of time to check shorebird spot, dry forest, and do seawatching and even boat trips from Puntarenas. There will also be plenty of time for mid-day siestas, cool drinks, and breezy tropical ocean views.

Ensenada, Punta Morales, and other shorebird sites also work well as birding stops as you make your way north to Guanacaste.

On Thursday, we dipped on the avocet and vireo, and we didn’t even try for the gull (which has also gone AWOL). However, we of course still saw other birds (a foraging Gull-billed Tern was a highlight), enjoyed a nice seaside meal, and learned a thing or two. It was also nice to end the birding portion of the day by listening to the rumbling gruff voices of duetting Spectacled Owls near Orotina.

There will always be more birds to chase and as I write, there’s certainly many more birds to find. Time to go look for them! Just not at noon…

To learn more about the birding sites mentioned and prepare for your fantastic birding trip to Costa Rica, get “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”, a 900 page site guide ebook for Costa Rica with accurate bird lists, tips for identification, finding birds, and more. I hope to see you here!

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Recommendations for Birding Costa Rica- December, 2023

Will you be birding Costa Rica soon? Need some recommendations? Here’s my take on birding Costa Rica in the final month of the year. These suggestions probably work for every December. In any case, I hope they help with your upcoming trip.

Expect Rain in the Mountains and on the Caribbean Slope

“It’s raining again…”

It’ll will be raining…but it won’t be that bad. Well, at least not on the Pacific slope! Yeah, in December, the dry season does kick into gear but not everywhere in Costa Rica. This country might be small but it sits at a major junction, one called the continental divide.

Put your pishing skills to the test at Walmart Woods and you’ll be urban birding on the Pacific slope. Go anywhere south of the mountains and it’s the same- all that water is headed to oceans where Nazca Boobies dive and Black Storm-Petrels nighthawk their way over the waves.

Bird the Pacific and the rains should be trailing off or stopping altogether.

Go to the other side of the mountains, anywhere north of the volcanoes and tectonic lift and you’ll be joining currents that flow to the Caribbean. The Atlantic Ocean that is, waters where Great Shearwaters shear and Black-capped Petrels arc and wheel. And oh how we hope to see those lost birds in Costa Rica!

Over on the Caribbean slope, it’s generally wetter and there is no historic, actual dry season. In fact, it usually rains more in December but don’t fret! If you are bringing binos to Arenal, La Selva, or any other site on Costa Rica’s Caribbean slope, the birding will still be good. In fact, when the rain stops, it can be downright fantastic.

What about the mountains? What about folks headed to Paraiso Quetzal, Savegre, and other montane birding sites in Costa Rica? Yeah, bring a rainjacket or poncho and/or waterproof stuff. It’s more hit or miss in December but once again, when the rain stops, the birds come out. They like it more than the hot, beating sun.

Don’t Rely on eBird Too Much- Birds are Where the Habitat Is

Tawny-faced Quails are very difficult birds to see. In Costa Rica, they occur in hilly lowland and adjacent foothill rainforest in the northern part of the country.

eBird is such a font of knowledge. Where would we be without it? It is very useful, and for those of us OG phone bird alert, pager, and listserv folks, I daresay the platform is still revolutionary.

However. In Costa Rica, it’s not really the final say on birding. That’s because:

  1. Most coverage occurs at the same sites and main birding circuits.
  2. Most lists do not show all the birds that were seen or heard (because a high percentage of people using eBird in Costa Rica don’t know all of the bird vocalizations).
  3. And most lists probably have errors that can be tough to filter out.

This doesn’t mean that eBird is useless. By no mean! In Costa Rica, it’s a great resource for birding. It just means that you should always remember that birds are not restricted to hotspots or sightings on eBird. They occur in their appropriate habitats.

Umbrellabirds at Centro Manu and Other Lowland Forest Sites

It’s that time of year again! Centro Manu continues to be one of the better sites for Bare-necked Umbrellabird. Even so, this endangered bird is not common there. You may need to walk the trails for some hours and really look for them. BUT, you’ll have a very good chance of seeing this mega, especially if you hire the on-site guide Kenneth. As a bonus, he might also know of roosting sites for owls and potoos.

He sometimes has Crested Owl on the premises.

As for other lowland forest sites, yes, umbrellabirds should be there too. The best places are Veragua, the Rainforest Aerial Tram, and Pocosol but they can also occur at Quebrada Gonzalez, the San Luis Canopy, the road to Manuel Brenes, Nectar and Pollen, La Selva, Tirimbina, Arenal, and any site where primary lowland and foothill forest is connected to highland forest.

Those weird big cotingas are just tough to chance upon.

Look for Rare Birds- You’ll See the Common Ones Too!

While looking for White-fronted Nunbirds, you should also find plenty of other nice bird species.

The best birding isn’t in hotel gardens. Ok, so that all depends on what one mean by “best birding” but in this case, I mean birding that gives you the best chances at the most bird species. As with all places on Earth, that means visiting the largest areas of intact habitat. In Costa Rica, that usually translates to mature, intact forest.

Naturally, such places also coincide with the best sites for rare birds. Focus on those rare species and you’ll see the common ones too. You’ll also see plenty of uncommon bird species. Just make sure to spend some time at the edge of the forest and scanning the canopy before walking beneath the trees.

Want to see leaftossers? I know, say what? But seriously, leaftossers, foliage-gleaners, more manakins, and many other birds. You’ll need to leave the tanagers in the garden and visit quality forest habitats.

Avoid Driving Rush Hour in the Central Valley

As a final note, I’ll just mention, no, urge you to avoid driving in the Central Valley during rush hour. The Central Valley is basically San Jose and all its urban connections. There are major traffic jams on a daily basis, perhaps exacerbated by roadwork, always by daily fender benders.

Drive in it and you’ll be missing out on hours of birding time (in addition to testing your stress levels). Avoid it by NOT driving Monday through Friday in the Central Valley at these times:

5:45 am-8:30 am

4:00 pm-6:30 pm

It can also get gridlocked on Saturdays! Sundays, though, Sundays are fun driving days except when ascending Route 27. On Sunday afternoons, the weekday rush hour traffic gets transferred there by the many folks coming back from the beaches.

If you must drive in and out of the Central Valley, leave early, even by 5, and stay out all day. Instead of wasting time in traffic, dine out and then go owling somewhere. That’ll be way more fun!

I’m sure I could day more but these suggestions will help for now. For more Costa Rica birding information, search this very blog and support it by purchasing “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. It’s also a great way to prepare for your birding trip- it has up to date information about most birding sites in Costa Rica along with tips for seeing and identifying everything.

I hope to see you here! Happy Thanksgiving and happy birding!

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bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

American Bittern Twitch in Costa Rica

Another highlight was a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron that hung out at the Casa Marbella.

Last week I wrote about some of the latest in Costa Rica birding news. As happens, shortly after mentioning avocets, warblers, and chances at Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoos, another major birdworthy sighting cam to light.

As it turns out, on October 22, local birder and photographer Christian Bonilla found a mega of mega birds for Costa Rica. The American Bittern is not a colorful bird, nor is it endangered or a species difficult to see in its usual cold marsh range. But it most definitely is a major bird for Costa Rica!

You see, we just don’t see American Bitterns in Costa Rica. We see other hefty herons, especially the Bare-throated Tiger-Herons like the bird pictured above. But not American Bitterns.

Sort of like the White-faced Whistling-Duck and Short-eared Owl, the American Bittern is on the official Costa Rica bird list but it’s more of an historic species. It’s a bird from times when the Central Valley was a mosaic of wetlands, moist woodlands, and farmlands.

It’s also important habitat for the Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow.

That was some 100 years ago. Since then, the wetlands have been mostly drained and whatever birds wintered in such places have likewise left for other, more suitable places. Given the destruction of wetlands in the Central Valley, I figured that the bittern was one of those species very unlikely to appear in these lands.

I mean, much of its former wintering sites in Costa Rica were destroyed long ago, and the species can just happily winter in other sites much closer to its breeding grounds. Why would any of these hefty herons bother flying all the way to Costa Rica?

At least that’s what I thought. It’s why I merely wrote “Hope to chance upon one in marsh habitat.” in the “How to see this bird” section of its description in the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app. I suppose that advice for seeing an American Bittern in Costa Ricas still holds true but I would also add, “Watch for this rare wintering species in seasonal freshwater marshes, especially in the highlands.”

Not that birders visit Costa Rica to see American Bitterns but hey, you never know.

However, in 2023, one did fly all the way here. Actually, since there have been a couple other likely sightings during the past 20 years, other adventurous American Bitterns have probably also made the trip. Those birds just weren’t documented like this one was.

This sighting makes me wonder if a bittern or two has always wintered in Costa Rica. I mean, they aren’t exactly obvious, many wetland sites in Costa Rica aren’t very accessible, and we don’t have birders combing every corner of the country.

Although it was found in late October, local birders kept the sighting on the downlow because they were concerned that photographers could drive the bittern away. Fortunately, last week, they changed their minds, the American Bittern location was released and the twitch was on!

On Sunday morning, hoping to avoid any crowds and to have a better chance at seeing the bird, we visited the site bright and early. The spot is a small, seasonal marsh just outside of Paraiso de Cartago, right next to a puddled, dirt road that sees runners, cyclists, and plenty of other passersby.

As we discovered, it’s also a beautiful area of habitat. The small marsh is bordered by scrubby habitat that bounced with Morelet’s Seedeaters, Gray-crowned Yellowthroats, and beautiful little black-backed Lesser Goldfinches.

Gray-crowned Yellowthroats are pretty common in brushy fields.

Scanning in the back, I saw a thrush-sized black bird with white shoulders flit through my field of view. White-lined Tanager! Off to the left, a suspicious dirt clump morphed into a hunched over Green Heron. White-throated Crakes sizzled from the grass, saltators, and other Northern Jacanas also chattered.

I tell you, it was one heck of a beautiful morning in that fresh Cartago air.

There were also nearby woodlands we did not explore. They could have held some rare warbler, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did but we had another bird to look for. There was that bittern somewhere out there, somehow hiding.

With such a small area, several birders looking for it, and no one seeing it, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were one day too late. Was it going to be like the failed pochard twitch? Could the bird have left? It certainly could have. I mean, it’s a migrant that doesn’t need to stick around, a bird that could just up and leave whenever the heck it wants.

And therein lies the multi-pronged challenge of the twitch. Not only do you need to find the bird, you also have to accept that you just might not see it. You gotta quell the roots of anxiety, go Zen and accept that your Ross’s Gull may have been eaten by a Great Horned Owl (that happened to me once). You don’t have to remove the anxiety but since living stress-free is healthier living, taking that Zen route really is best.

Going Zen birding might also help you see the bird. Forget that no one is seeing it. Instead, think about why no one is seeing the bittern. Let’s see, it hides extremely well, even in bits of habitat, and doesn’t need to move. Think about that as I scan the reeds again, carefully look and hope to see some bit of a bird, some brown piece that doesn’t quite fit.

I scanned and still no dice, not even after double and triple scanning. Hmm, maybe from another angle. For some reason, I walked up an embankment and scanned from a different angle. And there the bird was, obvious as can be!

At least as obvious as a bittern head partially obscured by reeds can be. But seriously, there it was, very much visible way back in that small marsh, at just one angle. Move a few steps to the right and there was only reeds and singing seedeaters. Check from the left and there wasn’t any bittern, a complete forget about it.

Fortunately, though, our American Bittern had not given up on Paraiso de Cartago. We could all see it from that one spot! It wasn’t a full, on stage view of a bird begging for attention but we could focus in on it. There was its pale eye, the coffee brown colors in its plumage, stretching its neck up to look way back at us. Photographers would have preferred different views but seeing it through the reeds somehow seemed more realistic, more in line with the classic bittern experience.

It reminded me of the bitterns I had seen pretending to be cattails in upstate New York, of chunky northern herons that shared space with calling Virginia Rails, Soras, and witchety yellowthroats. This one was sharing space with another yellowthroat species, was stalking frogs in a very different locale but there it was. An American Bittern in Costa Rica. Heerman’s Gull, American Bittern, Lesser Kiskadee, what’s will be next on the twitching list?

Thankfully, lots of local birders have been seeing the bittern these past few days. A good thing too because with its little marsh steadily trying out, who knows how long it will stay? This might be the only American Bittern they see, I hope it does us a favor and stays long enough for everyone to take in that bittern experience.

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Costa Rica Birding News- November, 2023

24. Magenta-throated Woodstar

November is that transition between fall and winter, the time of lead-gray skies, gull flocks and hints of snow. In Niagara, scan the cold waves chopping the lake and you could spot a big white owl flying in from the north. Keep watching the hundreds of ducks on the move, you could see an eider, will likely test the numb level limit of your hands. But the freeze test might be worth it, you could see something truly crazy (like an unbelievable Short-tailed Shearwater apparently!).

The August migrants are long gone from the north but I can tell you where they went. I know where the Baltimore Orioles are living it up, where the Wilson’s Warblers are chipping and the Prothonotary’s are holding sway. We’re seeing plenty in Costa Rica, here’s some other news for November, maybe even for the upcoming high season too:

American Avocet

The avocet has landed! We don’t get very many of these extra elegant birds, not in Costa Rica. One turns up every so often but the event ain’t annual. As with most past sightings, 2023’s avocet appeared on the Pacific Coast. Local birders have been twitching it at one of the better spots for shorebirds; Ensenada Refuge.

I hope it stays long enough for us to see it too. Heck, I hope it stays all winter. If you see one, even if it doesn’t seem all that exciting, please eBird it, local birders will be sending gratitude.

Lost Warblers

Other birds that Costa Rica isn’t known for are Palm Warbler, Prairie Warbler, and Black-throated Blue Warbler. Recently, all three species have been seen, hopefully they’ stick around too. We don’t get too many of this trio of Caribbean wintering birds, it would be nice to catch up.

In all likelihood, there’s surely more of these and other rare wintering warblers in Costa Rica. The problem is they could be anywhere, a “place” where we just don’t have people birding. One can only pish so much. How to find those birds? All you can do is get out birding, keep birding, be fast on the bino draw, and go with the birding flow.

Corso has Been Good

I’ve had the pleasure of stopping at the Corso Farm on several recent occasions. Each visit has been pretty productive, has yielded several hummingbirds. The best have been Scintillant Hummingbird and Magenta-throated Woodstar. The woodstar comes and goes but the Scintillants are usually present.

Their minute dimensions might keep them hiding from the other hummingbirds but keep watching, they’ll eventually come out.

Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo at Pocosol…

This mega is always at that site but will you see it? Of course that is the constant and most important birding question. Recently, one was seen with a youngster, right next to the station! I think that’s a pretty good sign they’ll be around.

If you visit, give yourself enough time to find those ants. They’ll be lots of other birds to look at too! Check out my birding site guide for Costa Rica to learn more about this fantastic site and hundreds of other key places to go birding in Costa Rica.

Lots of Rain this Month- Be Prepared

Last but not least, there’s been a lot of rain going on. That’s expected for November but it’s still worth mentioning. You see, these rains can cause landslides and they always generate local flooding.

They’ll probably be gone in a month but if birding Costa Rica in the meantime, keep an eye on weather conditions, limit time on Route 32, and be extra careful around Parrita, Ciudad Neily, and most areas on the Pacific Coast.

I suppose that’s about it for now. I could also mention that there’s awesome tanager flocks, calling antbirds, soaring Ornate Hawk-Eagles, and more but as newsworthy as they sound, when birding in Costa Rica, those and hundreds of other birds are wonderfully regular. Get ready for your trip with the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app, I hope to see you here!