The birding is always exciting in Costa Rica. Come on down, make an easy hour’s drive from the airport and you can take in the beauty of toucanets, barbets, seven hummingbird species and more without getting up from your seat. Make a little more effort and there’ll be tanagers, flycatchers, maybe a quetzal.
It’s like a birding wonderland up in here and us local birders are loving it. Even so, as with local birders everywhere, those of us in Costa Rica have our own set of wanted, rare birds that aren’t so rare in other places. That’s par for the birding course and why British birders jump to see a Scarlet Tanager, Canadian birders get excited over Great Kiskadees, and why Peruvian birders were super psyched to see a country first Scissor-tailed Flycatcher!
Rarity status has a heck of a lot to do with location and rarity opportunities are strongly related to time of year. Here in Costa Rica, that rare time of year is happening right now. We can get rare and vagrant species just about any month but November and December seem to be the best time for lost birds.
That’s right, I’m not talking about seeing monklets or other local rarities. I’m talking sparrows that fly a bit too far, wandering waterfowl, and shorebirds that took a wrong turn in Alaska. I realize these special species might not be high on the list of visiting birders but if you happen to see them, please let us know! You’ll make many a local birder happy.
You never, know, you might even find a new bird for the Costa Rica list. That’s been happening just about every year and is why I included several species in the BirdingFieldGuides Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app that are not on the list yet, but could occur. For example, in addition to making name changes to reflect eBird taxonomy, for our recent update, I also added Great Knot, Scopoli’s Shearwater, Northern Gannet, Hermit Thrush, Black-throated Mango, Terek Sandpiper, and Bar-tailed Godwit.
Although it would be a very rare and exciting moment to see any of these birds in Costa Rica, I do believe they can occur. After adding these species, the full version of the app now has around 1021 species (!).
Ducks and other Waterbirds
Yep, most ducks on the Costa Rica list are rare. Those would be common birds up north like American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, and so on. They come here too but only on occasion and usually in very small numbers.
Granted, we’ll have better chances of finding them as the dry season kicks into gear and limits their aquatic needs. However, some of those uncommon birds should be here by now, I hope I see a few before December 31st.
Oh yeah and there’s other waterbirds too, rarities to look for like American Avocet, maybe a Ruff, or other vagrant shorebirds. They are probably out there, I look forward to seeing what gets found!
Pacific Golden-Plover
Whoah! Yes, a species that should be hanging on far off islands and the other side of the ocean is here in Costa Rica. The past few years, this mega has been showing up in late winter and spring. This year, it arrived early!
As I write, birders have been ticking this cool bird on the beach at Puntarenas, pretty much in the same area as previous sightings. Where else does it go? Did it manage to convince a Red-necked Stint or Sharp-tailed Sandpiper to fly this way too? We can only wish!
Sparrows and Other Small Birds
Yep, the sparrows have also arrived. See, we got a whole bunch of sparrows on the official Costa Rica bird list but most are birds North American birders know all too well. We don’t know them very well though, hardly at all because Chipping, Savannah, Lincoln’s and various other sparrows are rare vagrants.
Very few make it all the way to Costa Rica, or, at least very few are found. I bet there’s more out there, the challenge is finding small birds scattered throughout any number of thousands of unbirded fields and pastures.
We do know there are though because Lark Sparrow showed up in Puntarenas as a one day wonder and several lucky birders got to see a Clay-colored Sparrow that appeared in the outskirts of Jaco! Sadly, neither have been refound but hopefully they are indicators of other sparrow kind having arrived to Costa Rica.
While looking for odd sparrows that don’t belong in Costa Rica, who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky finding other vagrant songbirds too. Orange-crowned Warbler and Pine Warbler would be super megas along with other birds that typically winter much further north. Will someone find Costa Rica’s first kinglet? Take a picture of a Hammond’s Flycatcher? Once again, we can only go birding, pay close attention, and wish!
Long-eared Owl in Honduras
Yeah, seriously! A first for that country and Central America! This species normally only makes it as far as central Mexico and even there it ain’t exactly expected.
So, what’s going on? Why one so far south of its typical range? Whether pure chance, lack of food in the usual spots, or weather, it would be a Costa Rican birder’s wildest dream to see one here!
The sighting is a reminder to keep an open mind when birding and to maybe check places Long-eared and Short-eared Owls might like. We’ll still see lots of other cool birds in any case.
Plenty of Rare Resident Birds Too
If you are headed to Costa Rica and would rather lay eyes on expected tropical birds, no problem there! The usual rare resident species are here and waiting to be seen, even tough ones like the Silvery-throated Jay pictured above. Recently, I saw two such species while guiding in the Sarapiqui lowlands. Near Chilamate, we had perfect looks at an adult Tiny Hawk as well as Snowy Cotinga and nunbirds.
A week later, I saw an Orante Hawk-Eagle soaring over near Virgen del Socorro and other birders have been seeing umbrellabirds, other cotingas, and other uncommon and rare species in the right places.
The birds are out there, as with any rare species, if you go birding in the right places, you’ll have a better chance of seeing them. Accurate information about where to find birds in Costa Rica also helps I hope to see you here soon, hundreds of birds are waiting!
