The bird list for Costa Rica is quickly approaching 950 species. Imagine that number of birds in Wales. How about West Virginia? Yeah, that many species on a bird list for such a small area!
How does Costa Rica do it? What’s going on to turn up so many bird species?
Costa Rica owes its high biodiversity to several factors but the most important could be the conjunction of several major ecosystems and bioregions. With dry forest meeting rainforest and mountains creating their own unique habitats, the country is like a crossroads for tropical life. If we take the junction south from the Tarcoles River, we enter one of the country’s most important endemic areas; the Chiriqui region or “Southern Pacific zone”.
This bioregion extends a bit into western Panama but is still fairly small. Heck, if you could drive from the Tarcoles and cross straight into western Panama, you’d essentially traverse it in 5 to 6 hours. That’s all and yet, the place is chock full of endemic flora, bugs, reptiles, amphibians, and, for the birding set, several much desired bird species.
Throw in some mountain birding and localized natural savannah in the General Valley and we come up with a fantastic array of birds. Of those birds, some are more challenging than others, and some are must-see species. Although it’s not easy to pick a top ten from the sumptuous list of birding possibilities, I’ll settle on the following.
Turquoise Cotinga
Whoah, that’s a good one! Nothing like an endemic shining blue and purple bird to whet the birding appetite. The only unfortunate thing is that it’s not common. No, you probably won’t see one driving along but, if you go to the right places, you can lay eyes on this stunning bird.
The best spots tend to be around San Isidro del General, sites near San Vito, and on the Osa Peninsula.
Yellow-billed Cotinga
Sharing the rainforest with the Turquoise Cotinga is this other cotingid star. Since it requires mangroves adjacent to rainforest, it’s even less common and likely endangered. However, once again, if you know where to go, you can see them.
Thanks to their rarity, bright shining white plumage, and almost cartoonish peace-doveish shape, seeing Yellow-billed Cotingas in the feathered flesh is nothing short of surreal.
Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager
Haunting some of the same areas as the two cotinga species, this bird would probably win the prize for being the most localized species in Costa Rica. For unknown reasons, they are essentially endemic to the Osa Peninsula and adjacent rainforests in the Golfo Dulce region.
Even there, they aren’t common! To check out the salmon highlights on this local mega, you’ll have to watch for them in rainforest in ravines and next to streams.
Mangrove Hummingbird
This country endemic also lives in the northern Pacific zone of Costa Rica but it’s such an important bird, I include it on this list. There are several sites in southern Costa Rica where it occurs, mangroves being the key.
Rosy Thrush-Tanager
What a bird this one is! Now that it has its own family and, could maybe be eventually split into a few species, seeing one in Costa Rica would be a pretty cool trick.
On account of its serious skulking ability and local distribution, it gets easily missed by visiting birders. However, once again, if you know where to go and how to see it, you have a fair chance of watching this dreamy bird.
Ocellated Crake
Whoah! Another dream bird and yet, also now feasible! Like the thrush-tanager, good local guides have worked out actually seeing and often getting good pictures of this grass crake!
It is very local in Costa Rica but fairly common in the right habitat.
White-crested Coquette
A bunch of hummingbirds live in Costa Rica’s southern rainforest habitats. This sprite is the most exquisite of them all. Notorious for escaping detection, White-crested Coquettes tend to wander in search of their choice flowering trees and bushes.
Check those food sources long enough and we can usually find them.
Baird’s Trogon
The Southern Pacific Zone sure has some beautiful birds and this trogon takes the cake! It’s fairly common in rainforest, especially in and near the Osa Peninsula.
Golden-naped Woodpecker
Yet another beauty is this fancy woodpecker. When I happily see this bird, I am often reminded of the American Three-toed Woodpecker, just one that’s dressed for a tropical parade.
Thankfully, this beauty is also fairly common in rainforest habitats and can even come to feeders!
Orange-collared Manakin
Yet another fairly common South Pacific endemic, this manakin is gorgeous. Go birding in and near forest edge and second growth and you’ll hear displaying males snap their wings. Take a closer look and you even see them display in the undergrowth!
These are my top ten for a Southern Pacific tour but really, there’s so many fantastic birds to watch, I could add several more birds. If we blend a birding tour with this region and cloud forest, we’re talking a serious bunch of fantastic birds. Speaking of fantastic birds, in keeping with my constant wish of connecting people with as many fantastic birds as possible, I designed a tour to see all the species mentioned above along with some other birds like these:
Black-bellied Hummingbird
White-bellied Mountain-Gem
Violet Sabrewing
Speckled Tanager and so on and etc.
That tour is the Hillstar Costa Rica: Pacific Specials tour. Running from March 29th to April 9th, this birding trip will turn up a fantastic array of birds often missed on other tours to Costa Rica. Although we never really know which birds will show on a tour, I would expect a wealth of uncommon species on this one! I designed it with that goal in mind, it’s gonna be good.
Would you like to see the species mentioned above and lots more in Costa Rica? And on a fun trip led by Josh Covill? Contact me at information@birdingcraft.com or, at info@hillstarnature.com today. There’s still a couple open spots left!