Up north in the temperate zone, prominent, black birds are a common part of the avian landscape. In eastern North America, take a look around and it won’t be long before you see an American Crow or Common Grackle. Similarly, birders in Europe can hardly miss seeing Rooks, Carrion Crows, Jackdaws, and Blackbirds (a thrush). In Costa Rica, although we don’t have crows, there are birds that occupy similar niches (Brown Jays and Great-tailed Grackles), as well as bird species similar in size and shape to crows (oropendolas).
When birding Costa Rica, you’ll also see plenty of four common species with black plumage. These four most common black birds in Costa Rica are the Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed Cowbird, Groove-billed Ani, and Melodious Blackbird. All are common edge species that live from the lowlands up to middle elevations, make their home in deforested areas, and often live around towns. Although their black plumages are fairly similar, these commonly seen birds have different shapes that help with their identification.
Since they occur in so many places, I won’t even say where you can see them when birding Costa Rica. I will talk about their identification, though, because a number of birders seem to have trouble in separating them.
The first on our list is often the first bird seen upon exiting the airport- the Great-tailed Grackle. This large, noisy bird has become amazingly adapted to living with people. A scavenger and opportunist of beaches, riversides, and wetlands, urban environments apparently mimic these open habitats because Great-tailed Grackles seem to be right at home as they forage on city streets, pick at garbage, and sing crazy songs from trees in a busy park. A large, black bird with a long, wedge-shaped tail seen when birding Costa Rica will be the male of this common species.
- Big and easily visible.
- Long, wedge-shaped tail.
- Hefty beak and staring pale eyes.
Melodious Blackbird. I wouldn’t call their vocalization melodious, but these birds are pretty darn vocal; you’ll hear their ringing song in gardens and most deforested areas of the country. This is pretty impressive considering that the Melodious Blackbird entered Costa Rica from Nicaragua only since the 1980s! This common, black-plumaged bird has a very generic bird shape and they sometimes occur in flocks but, are most often seen as pairs perched together at the top of a tree in edge habitats. An American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird sized, all black bird with a medium length tail, flat head, and longish beak seen when birding Costa Rica will almost certainly be this species.
Click here to listen to one of its vocalizations:
- Hefty and sort of like a large thrush.
- All black, including its eyes.
- Sharp, pointed beak.
- Rectangular tail, pot bellied in flight.
- Ringing song.
- Often flicks tail up and down.
Bronzed Cowbird. With deforestation, this has become a very common bird species in Costa Rica. Like its northern cousin with the brown head, the Bronzed Cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of a number of other birds. Unlike the Brown-headed Cowbird, few studies have been carried out to ascertain how its nesting behavior affects local bird species. When birding Costa Rica, if you see a small group of dark birds in flight that resemble “winter finches”, you have likely seen Bronzed Cowbirds. Their dumpy body and shortish bill gives them this finch-like appearance. When seen close up, they look kind of cool with those devilishly red eyes.
- Red eyes.
- Thick neck.
- Somewhat finch like in flight.
- Often with cows, around farms, can forage on ground or perch on wires.
Groove-billed Ani. The Smooth-billed is also pretty common in southwestern Costa Rica (and replaces the Groove-billed there), but the Groove-billed Ani has a larger range and is therefore encountered most often. With their odd, parrot-like bills, short wings, long tails, lanky appearance, and interesting social behavior, these animated cuckoos are always fun to watch. If you catch them in good light, their plumage can also show beautiful greenish and blueish iridescence. Somewhat similar in size and shape to the Great-tailed Grackle, Groove-billed Anis have shorter wings, are lankier, and have that short, arched bill.
- Arched, almost parrot-like beak.
- Long, slightly rounded tail.
- Look like they’re still learning to fly.
Not all birds in Costa Rica are as exotic and mind numbing as quetzals or bellbirds but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t watch other, less colorful species. You’ll certainly see the birds mentioned above!
Bonus black plumaged bird species!
Although it’s not as common as the Bronzed Cowbird, the Shiny Cowbird has ceased to be rare in Costa Rica. Like the Melodious Blackbird, this cowbird also spread into Costa Rica with deforestation, this time, from Panama. This nest parasite has greatly increased, perhaps at the detriment to some resident bird species (it may be the main reason why the formerly common Band-backed Wren has become rare).
It can show up just about anywhere, if you see a purplish cowbird that looks slender and with dark eyes, you’re probably watching a Shiny Cowbird.
- Dark brown eyes.
- Slender, no thick neck and longer tail than Bronzed Cowbird.
- More uniformly purplish than the Bronzed Cowbird.
- Not as hefty as the Melodious Blackbird and has a smaller beak.
- Females are grayish and often occur with males.
Identifying these and the hundreds of other bird species in Costa Rica can be tricky. Merlin helps but you can’t always take a picture. The best and most enriching way to identify birds in Costa Rica is with a classic field guide and the best book is The Birds of Costa Rica-A Field Guide by Garrigues and Dean. The third edition will be available in October, with the second edition of this field guide already being more than adequate, I can only imagine how good this next edition will be!
If you like apps and digital fields guides, you’ll want to also get the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app. Available for IOS devices (hopefully Android some day too), it is available as a basic version that shows over 300 species, and a full version showing all species on the Costa Rican and many more that could occur in the country. With this app, you can:
-Customize it by picking your target birds.
-Show birds by habitat and region.
-Listen to more than 800 species while studying their pictures.
-Get updated information and local expertise to help identify and find birds in Costa Rica.
-Mark birds as seen and heard.
-Take notes, learn about major habitats in Costa Rica and more.
There’s a lot of birds and birding sites in Costa Rica, I hope to see you here!
