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Month: September 2025

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bird finding in Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica planning birding trip Costa Rica

Recent Mega Birds in Costa Rica

What’s a mega bird? Aren’t all birds intrinsically mega? Who invented the “mega” term anyways? Alas, as with much of the birding-associated lexicon, we’ll probably never know who that unintended mover and shaker was. Worse, we don’t know which bird species provoked them to coin the term nor, how they deployed it.

That doesn’t really matter but it would be nice to know. For those of us interested in birding history, we wouldn’t mind knowing if they said, “That Red-footed Falcon is a real mega”!, or if they were so beyond mind blown by focusing in on a choice elusive and unexpected species that they could utter nothing more than a hazy dazed and eye-glazed “Mega…”.

birding Costa Rica
This is my poor photo of a mega RVG Cuckoo. The blurry nature of the photo seems fitting for its highly elusive nature (at least that’s what I tell myself).

Whatever the case, we got the word and it must not be abused. Or, heck, birding is pretty much ruleless, use it however you want. This is your birding life after all, you bird how you do. However, if “we” were so inclined to define “mega”, in my opinion (decidedly not IMHO because that sounds too much like a dang pancake chain), I would say that the word refers to particularly unexpected, automatically rare, and/or especially elusive birds.

In other words, a surprise bird sighting to knock your birding socks off and give you a personal thrill. Megas would be birds like the Harpy Eagle, Yellow Rail, and the Bukidnon Woodcock (yeah, that’s real). On account of their elusive and ultra sneaky nature, the Neomorphus ground-cuckoos also fit the mega bill as do localized and ultra rare birds like the Cherry-throated Tanager (although that one might merit mega-mega or triple mega crown status, there’s like two dozen left).

The megaist of the mega birds would be species believed to be extinct, awaiting rediscovery, or that have never been previously seen. Kinglet Calyptura is a prime candidate along with maybe an unknown bird or two in remote parts of Bolivia.

As for Costa Rica, we got our own set of megas, a few of which have been recently seen.

Aplomado Falcon near Jaco

Although this lanky falcon isn’t rare on the global page, it’s always a mega for Costa Rica. We probably get a few each year and one or two might be briefly seen. They seem to be juveniles likely wandering in from the north and don’t usually stay long.

A few days ago, one of those choice cool falcons was found by Tina Van Dusen, a local birder in the Playa Hermosa, Jaco area. This isn’t the first mega she has found, we’re glad she keeps looking and reporting the birds she turns up around Playa Hermosa!

This falcon has been hanging out in the open fields near Mistico, a housing site near Playa Hermosa. Thankfully, a good number of local birders have seen it, I hope it sticks around long enough for me and Maryllen to see it too.

If you go, watch for it perched on posts, on top of lone trees, or flying around the fields. If you see a gaggle of birders, that might work too.

Crested Eagle at Pitilla Biological Station

Whoah! Yes! The just as difficult, slightly smaller version of the Harpy was seen by experienced local birders at Pitilla Biological Station. Although they don’t have a picture, their description is spot on and they have enough experience with other raptors to make the right call.

This isn’t just an automatic mega sighting by merit of the species involved, it’s also a fantastic mega sighting because we have no idea how many (few) Crested Eagles still occur in Costa Rica. One had never been seen in that area before but it’s the least bit surprising that they saw one where they did. Pitilla is one of the most remote, intact, accessible areas of lowland and foothill rainforest on the Caribbean slope. Not by coincidence, it’s also the only place where both Speckled Mourner and Ocellated Poorwill have been recently seen and not that far from a Harpy Eagle sighting in 2017.

All these species are indicators of healthy, intact habitat, the main question I have is where that Crested Eagle came from. Did it wander in from somewhere else? Are there a few hanging on in the remote forests of the northern volcanoes? Hopefully there are enough to maintain a small population.

Gray-headed Piprites at Rancho Naturalista

The piprites is another classic mega for Costa Rica. Although it used to be slightly more frequent, the mini pseudo manakin has never been common and is weirdly local. The reasons for its localization are surely not the slightest bit weird for the bird but they sure are evasive for us humans.

It has become very hard to predict where this bird might occur other than at its known and regular haunts. The best haunt seems to be a site near Turrialba where local guide Steven Montenegro regularly sees it. Other regular spots are in that same general region including one of the best known birding lodges in Costa Rica; good old Rancho Naturalista.

Yes, recently, one was seen there, hopefully, it will stick around for lots more birders to see it. If not, you could always contact Steven or try Vista Aves; the guide there also knows sites for this unassuming mega.

Migrating Swallows and other birds from the north

No, they don’t fit the mega definition but what can I say? Watching dozens of swallows fly over the house was a mega experience for me, especially after a short, successful hospital stay. I’m still alive and so are they; Cliff Swallows with deep chestnut throats, Bank Swallows looking svelte, and beautiful peach Barn Swallows zipping from the fields of Ohio straight on through Costa Rica.

Wood-pewees hawking bugs from perches, the first of many Baltimore Orioles and Summer Tanagers getting reaccustomed to their tropical side of life, and good numbers of cheerful chipping Yellow Warblers. In which forests did the flycatchers sing their lazy summer songs? Where did the orioles and tanagers flutter in June maples and oaks? Where did the warblers grace the northern willows?

I like to know but no matter right now. It only matters that they made it here and, if they stay, that they survive the winter in these tropical realms.

To learn more about birding at the sites mentioned in this post while supporting this blog, check out my bird finding guide for Costa Rica. I hope to see some mega birds with you here!

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bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica seabirding in Costa Rica

Seawatching at Puntarenas- September 20, 2025

Costa Rica is flanked by two oceans; drive quick enough, get lucky with traffic and weather and you can visit both in a day. Not stopping to look at any of the hundreds of bird species in between would be an incredible birding shame but, if you were so marine inclined, you could do it.

Or, you could do better at managing your birding time and go seawatching! Sure, in Costa Rica, you could certainly seawatch on both coasts. You might not see much but there’s always a certain degree of therapeutic benefits associated with oggling the waves. The funny thing about seawatching is that although you can technically watch for birds on any coast, not all coasts have the birds, at least not near shore, or in enough numbers to breach birding appeal.

Take Costa Rica for example, we’ve got many wonderful spots to watch those tropical waves but few of them really bring the birds. Yeah, no matter where you look, you’ll probably see something with feathers but, more variety calls for strategic spots at strategic times (just like any seawatching hotspot).

One of the best spots for seawatching in Costa Rica is an old port city situated on a narrow peninsula that points into the Gulf of Nicoya, just about where the inner and outer parts of the gulf meet. It’s a sort of a tropical headland at a joining of waters and an estuary replete with sand bars. Now if those sand bars were closer Puntarenas would be a major shorebird watching hotspot. Alas, the birds are a bit too far to properly observe them but, the port is still good for scanning the water, for getting in some good old fashioned seawatching.

Knowing that Least Terns should still be moving through and, dearly wanting to see some of those dainty birds as they make their annual journey south, yesterday, we paid a morning visit to the Puntarenas lighthouse. The drive to the coast was slowed a bit by truck traffic but we still got there by 7 a.m., still early enough to catch some of the morning seabird action.

These are some highlights and thoughts from this birding sojourn.

Take a closer look

Upon arrival, I looked at the water and saw nary a Royal Tern. Those birds are a given, not seeing them did not bode well. “At least there was the ocean” I thought, “maybe something will fly by or I’ll see a fish”.

After exiting the car and briefly conversing with the car watcher guy (aka “watcheemon”) to yes, assure that I as aware he was watching over my vehicle, despite my low bar hopes, I set up the scope and started scanning with binos. Lo and behold, the birds were there, they were just mostly horizon birds, mostly things flying way out there over distant water.

But there were a lot, they looked like innumerable gnats on the horizon.

The ferry would have been pretty darn good

Upon seeing that lots of birds were out there, I realized it would have been a good day to take the ferry. Why hadn’t I thought of that? That’s right, it was because we would have had to leave the house by 3 and weren’t too keen on going back and forth across the gulf. But, if only we had!

The birds were out there and some. It looked promising and was more or less the same time of year when I had my best birding ferry ride some years ago.

Least Terns

It didn’t take long before a few Least Terns flew by; tiny terns with quick wingbeats, all in dapper white winter plumage brushed with bits of black. Throughout my 90 minutes of seawatching, small groups flew past and foraged by the distant sand bar. Even at a distance, it was easy to pick out their distinctive, repetitive quick dive foraging.

I put down 50 for the list but there was probably more. It was fun to compare them with the most abundant bird on the scene, another small tern often found in the Gulf of Nicoya. It’s a bird that nests in northern marshes, one that brings back visions of smart-looking birds hovering and swooping over the Tonawanda wetlands.

Clouds of Black Terns

A typical feeding flock of Black Terns in the gulf.

Like I was saying, the Black Tern was the big bird on the scene, the one that ruled my seawatching day. Small numbers constantly flew past, most fairly far off shore. The largest numbers were way out there, clouds of them. In one such cloud, at a wavery 60 X magnification, as much as I tried to pick out another species, all I could see was a massive Brown Pelican plowing through the Black Tern ranks to feast on the same unseen sardine banquet.

A few other groups foraged a bit closer and in better light and those were the ones to focus on. Those were the flocks that would have been exciting to watch from the ferry deck. Although such flocks can be solely composed of Black Terns, they are also the situations that attract other, less common species, including the ones mentioned below.

I should also mention putting down 1,000 Black Terns on my eBird list. That was a pretty conservative estimate, there were probably a lot more.

A few distant pelagic birds

A Brown Noddy from another day shares a piece of driftwood with a Black Tern.

Fortunately, the scanning paid off, the seawatching revealed some of the seabird bounty from the Gulf of Nicoya. Try as I did to pick up a storm-petrel or two, no luck there. However, staring at the Black Terns and carefully panning the waves did turn up a couple Bridled Terns (!). The distant looks ruled out divining their age but that’s alright, I’m fine with ageless Bridled Terns, smiling with picking out larger, longer winged, gray backed terns that sliced through the tern flocks.

I was also alright with a Brown Noddy doing the same; a larger, dark brown bird foraging with the smaller migrants from the north. The third pelagic bird species was hardly a glimpse but I couldn’t unsee it, couldn’t deny noticing the fluttering flight and banking of another regular in these estuarine waters; a Galapagos Shearwater.

It was less than a second but it was enough to know I saw it. I bet more were out there and who knows what else? I hadn’t picked up any Sabine’s or phalaropes or jaegers but those are moving through too, might have been some visible from the ferry.

No ferry for me but the seawatching was still good, still therapeutic and highlighted with a jumping stingray and a pair of surfacing Bottlenose Dolphins. It was good stuff, I am grateful.

To learn more about birding Puntarenas and hundreds of other sites in Costa Rica, please support this blog by purchasing my Costa Rica birding site guide. I hope to see you here!

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bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

News and Tips from Recent Birding in Costa Rica

A few days ago, I returned from a week of birding in Costa Rica. This wasn’t any old week of excellent birding at commonly visited hotspots like Arenal, Sarapiqui, and Cano Negro. No, this was a target road trip, a custom birding voyage structured around “the missing”. Those hallowed species would be any birds not seen on previous trips to Costa Rica.

As such, they could only be encountered at scattered locations, typically, places too far flung to visit on previous trips. But, we had already birded the close spots, had already seen most of what could be seen relatively nearby (and even then, not all!). Reaching the far off places had become necessary, at least if we wanted to see funny sounding birds like Stub-tailed Spadebill, Elegant Trogon, and Ivory-billed Woodcreeper.

In a birding nutshell, we went from the Sarapiqui lowlands to cloud forest in the central highlands, on to Liberia in northwestern Costa Rica, and then way south to the gateway to the Osa and Ciudad Neily (and then back, as well as a day trip to Centro Manu). The following reflects some of the highlights and tips from this custom birding journey, more or less following the timeframe of the trip.

Cerulean Warblers and some other migrants

I was hoping to catch up with the annual fall passage of mini sky-blue beauties. The height of their movements coincided with our birding days, I figured we’d probably see a few but, since this is birding, you just never know!

Fortunately, it all worked out, birding probability paid off in three places. There were the brief glimpses of pleasant greenish backed females and a neatly breast banded male in Centro Manu (where they consort with Lesser Greenlets- scandalous), the bold female that uncharacteristically showed in eye level vegetation at Tirimbina, and the fantastic, very welcome male that gave perfect views at Cinchona.

Although not quite so glamorous, other migrants were around too; a handful of Red-eyed Vireos, Blackburnians, Black and white Warblers, pewees, and a few others. In southern Costa Rica, there was also a bunch of Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers. It was pretty cool and birder dreamy to see a dozen doing their hefty flycatcher thing in one special tree!

Tirimbina- still great for Great Tinamou and antbirds

We spent a morning at Tirimbina to look for various fairly challenging lowland birds. Luckily, some made an appearance. One of the best was one of the birds that this private refuge is often good for- yee friendly whistling Great Tinamou. After a juvenile had flushed, we were pleased to see an adult doing us a favor by sticking around for great views.

Other nice target birds included antwrens, antvireos, and seriously lucking out with Ocellated Antbird. In roughly the same spot where I had encountered an antswarm nearly a year before, lo and behold, I see a couple streams of Army Ants trying to sneak by!

After careful investigation and whistling like an Ocellated, thankfully, two of the wonderfully spotted, blue-faced birds appeared for some fine looks.

Fair birding on the San Rafael de Varablanca road

The cloud forest next to Braulio Carrillo National Park weren’t quite as birdy as I would have liked but, then again, I probably expect too much. No quetzal but we did have excellent views of Black-breasted Wood-Quail, had a nice mixed flock, and heard White-fronted Tyrannulet.

This site always turns up some good stuff, I cover it and lots of other places in my Costa Rica bird finding ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”.

Visiting Santa Rosa National Park

Santa Rosa National Park is an excellent, big area of tropical dry forest in northern Costa Rica. It’s around 35 minutes north of Liberia and worth the visit!

We went there hoping for several dry forest species and indeed, lucked out with Thicket Tinamou on the main road, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, and Stub-tailed Spadebill among other birds. Although it was overall fairly birdy everywhere, some of the best spots were the old growth dry forest on the drive in, and the loop trail near the Casona.

You can stop on the main road but be very careful of speeding vehicles. Also, although the entrance road doesn’t have a gate, you still need to make reservations in advance and pay the fee at the park entrance (only with cards and only from 8 to 330). Reservations were easy enough and the park rangers were also very friendly and helpful.

Las Trancas- not as accessible, not as good

Las Trancas is the name for a farming area on the road from Liberia and the airport to the Playa Hermosa area. In the past, rice fields there have been excellent for Jabiru, rails, and more. Unfortunately, as I saw from this recent sojourn, most of the rice has been converted to unbirdy sugar cane and the side roads are gated.

Needless to say, we didn’t have much there. However, the other part of the farm that still has rice fields and birds can still be visited albeit with a local guide. We paid a brief visit and managed distant Jabiru and a few other birds. To check this great area out and maybe see Spotted Rail, contact local guide Javier Perez Chaves.

BONUS SNOWY PLOVER AT CALDERA!

As befits the find, this subtitle gets the big letters. During low tide, a sand bar forms in the lagoon at Mata de Limon (aka Caldera). Sometimes it has several birds, other times no but it’s always worth checking. On September 9th, that checking paid off with a very rare for Costa Rica Snowy Plover.

The bird was distant and the sun was hot but carefully scoping that bunch of Semi Plovs was worth the sweat and staring. Ghost pale, think dark beak and gray legs…year bird success!

I doubt it will stick around that spot but you never know. I hope it turns up again, might be in Tarcoles.

Cotingas at Rincon de Osa

In Costa Rica birding circles, Rincon de Osa is known as the place to be for Yellow-billed Cotinga. Thanks to two fruiting figs, it most definitely was on our visit. Belying their scarce and possibly critically endangered status, the surreal white birds swooped back and forth, sometimes near eye level. Most were males, I only saw one, maybe two females at most.

Turquoise Cotinga was also present but, amazingly, we missed it by an inch! As we watched the white birds, another birder was taking pictures of the blue one on the other side of the tree. He assumed we had seen it and, sadly, the birds snuck off and never came back, not even on the following morning.

Quiet birding at Rincon de Osa

On another note, overall, the forest birding at Rincon was pretty quiet. Yes, we still saw Crane Hawk, Gray-lined Hawk, and some other good birds but it was pretty quiet. I only hope that’s related to season and not fewer birds but, I worry. On past visits, I have easily recorded 100 plus species in a few hours.

An absence of owls and other night birds

In general, we had every few nocturnal birds. If we would have looked more, we probably would have found some but, checking a couple nights turned up nothing, not even a Pauraque.

Ciudad Neily rocks and birding rolls

This small city in southern Costa Rica was birdy as ever. The “hospital road” had Savannah Hawk and other regulars but no dice with Paint-billed Crake (maybe too wet to concentrate them?). Unfortunately, the Coto area was too flooded and muddy to access but the birding just outside of town was good.

Parrots and other birds flew over town at dawn and dusk and roadside birding in forest just outside of town was productive for a good number of rainforest species. As a bonus, we also had great looks at Central American Squirrel Monkeys!

After Ciudad Neily birding, we made the long drive back to San Jose, thankfully, with nary an incident. Speaking of incidents, lately heavy rains have caused local flooding near Fortuna and other places, and landslides on the Route 32 San Jose-Guapiles highway. Be careful and make sure you get your birding in during the sunny morning! By 1 or 2, the weather takes a drastic turn and pours down buckets.

Happy birding, I hope to see you here! Here’s a trip report to whet the appetite.

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Birding Costa Rica migration

Reminders of Bird Migration in Costa Rica

A lot of birds winter in Costa Rica. Go birding from late October to early March and you should run into Summer Tanagers, orioles, Philadelphia Vireos and a warbler parade of winter plumaged Chestnut-sided, Black and white, Tennessee, Wilson’s, Black-throated Green, and Yellow Warblers among other species.

There’ll also be Barn Swallows zipping low over open fields, a healthy array of shorebirds probing mud flats, and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers chipping from the woods. At the moment, most of those winter birds have yet to arrive. For the most part, there’ll still entertaining birders and ravaging caterpillar populations up north. They don’t usually get their fill until later this month, making it here in bulk by early October.

Barn Swallow living it up in Costa Rica.

However, we don’t have to wait until the month of pumpkin spice to see migrants. A fair number are already here, most making a stop on their route to South America. They can sneak through and the numbers are much smaller than the October avian rush but the birds are out there, available for birders taking a closer look.

This past week saw a nice little push of transient migrants and early arrivals. These were some of the reminders that migration is happening in Costa Rica, that birds are on the move through Quetzalandia.

Pewees on perches

Lately, I’ve been checking my local patch of urban green space, hoping to notice hints of the northern migrant vanguard. If I was birding in better habitat, I’m sure I’d see more but, you’ve got to work with what you got. Around here, that means a small bit of trees on a riparian zone, and a nearby patch of a park.

At least that’s what I’ve got within walking distance. There are better vegetated spots a bit further afield (and I do hope to visit them too) but they require more time and effort than easy, early morning strolls.

During those strolls, I have noticed a few migrants but wondered where the pewees were. Those semi-crested, easy-plumaged flycatchers pass through Costa Rica in substantial numbers. I suppose it’s a tad early, most aren’t here yet but I did see my first of three migrant Contopus this past week.

Around Varablanca, an out of place thingee on the tip top of a tall snag turned into an expected Olive-sided Flycatcher. I always like seeing those conifer birds, as a kid, they were one of the “good ones” to see, one of the uncommon flycatchers. I saw my first perched on a typical tip of a snag during a summer visit to Algonquin Provincial Park, sometime 80s. A while ago now but burned into the memory banks by additional sightings from that same boggy spot; otters playing, a pair of lifer White-winged Crossbills, and a glimpse of a distant Black Bear crossing the track far ahead.

I see Olive-sideds here in Costa Rica, the tip top birds that demand three beers elsewhere, and wonder what they saw on their wild and beautiful breeding grounds. I wondered the same for the other pewees also seen this week; a Western Wood-Pewee (WEWP there it is…) on the snag in front of Cinchona, and an Eastern on the end of a stick yesterday evening.

Did they see bears too? Imagine the glittering tanager parties they’ll see once they reach the Andes!

Dickcissel whispers

Now is the time to hear Dickcissels. I heard my first of the fall yesterday morning and it was par for the course; a slight buzzy call from somewhere above, an afterthought above zinc-roofed homes, Green-breasted Mango feeding from orange flowers topping a lone tree, and White-winged Dove quickening over concrete.

Once in a while, a Dickcissel even lands around here, no doubt much to its chagrin. It won’t find food on these cinder block walls, no rice or weedy fields to visit. Most whisper and keep moving, keep flying south and east until they find suitably marshy spots to their liking.

A handful of warblers

I figured my first warbler would be aYellow Warbler. That’s usually the case although Black and whites are pretty early too. I have had a few of those but no Yellow yet. Should be one nearby, at least any day now.

The other scant early bird warblers I have seen are American Redstart, a cool female Canada Warbler in the local park, Blackburnian in cloud forest, and expected Louisiana Waterthrush near a mountain stream.

Other local birders have noticed a few other warblers, the best of the bunch being a possible Yellow-throated. Now that would be a nice find, it’s a rare bird in Costa Rica.

A push of Ceruleans

At the moment, we are in the heart of Cerulean Warbler migration. That’s one of the main birds I’m hoping to find in my neighborhood, my biggest hope while scanning fully foliaged trees. No luck yet but a few have been seen nearby, there’s probably one or more within a few miles as I write.

However, the best places to see these special birds are where other birders have been reporting them; forested middle elevations and the Caribbean slope. I might get there soon, really hope I see one.

Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Least Terns, and other coastal birds

The biggest migration news was a flock of 17 Buff-breasted Sandpipers from Chomes. Although that happens every year, you still gotta be lucky to coincide your visit to Chomes with their’s. Those seriously long distance migrants are here one day, gone the next, and there’s not a heck of a lot of them.

Least Terns are also moving through, now is a great time to see them on the Pacific coast along with other coastal migrants, shorebirds for the most part. However, if you do some seawatching, you might also get lucky and see a Sabine’s.

Swallows and other species

The first of droves of Hirundines have also shown up. I’ve seen Barns and some Cliffs, as usual, for whatever reason, flying from west to east, often low over the neighborhood houses.

I also saw one other swallow, unfortunately, a kick myself bird. It came in so low, I didn’t notice it until it was too close for binos (or I was just too early morning lazy to raise them). At first glance, I also foolishly took it to be a common and expected Blue and white Swallow. However, when it flew overhead, I realized it didn’t have a darn vent so I figured, oh, my first Bank Swallow.

BUT, while looking for the dark breast band, I realized it didn’t have one and was all white below. Um, around here, a migrant swallow like that is either a Tree or a Violet-green, both rare species for Costa Rica. Sadly, I couldn’t see anything more revealing before it flew directly into the sun and out of my life. I suspect it was a Violet-green, a major migrant prize and year bird but, I was too lackadaisical with the binos (proceeds to kick self).

Other species have included my first Eastern Kingbird of the fall (which was insisting on hanging with a pari of Tropical Kingbirds that kept chasing it away), and others have seen flocks of Swallow-tailed Kites and some other birds.

Migration is definitely happening in Costa Rica, what else is out there? I hope I get the chance to find out.