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Top Sites for Roadside Birding in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In terms of birding, they more easily bring us to a vast variety of species, Costa Rica included. There are several birds in Costa Rica that require walks on forest trails and stalks in deep primary forest but a high percentage can also be seen right from the edge of a road, maybe even from your rental car window.

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Costa Rica on a relaxed birding pace

10,000 Birds

As some of you know, I almost made it to the Birdwatching Bliss 2021 fam trip to Costa Rica, but got sick a day or two ahead of the trip and had to cancel my participation. Yet, the organisers, Futuropa and ProImagen Costa Rica, kindly kept my ticket valid and this October I revisited Costa Rica.

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A Year of Birding in Costa Rica- Highlights and a Few Birds Missed

10,000 Birds

Another year of birding in Costa Rica has come to an end, another one begins. I bet some tanager flocks will be in the cards; birding in Costa Rica tends to deliver. In Costa Rica, seeing 48 hummingbird species means seeing nearly all of the regular ones. What will the new year bring? 48 Hummingbird Species.

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Common Hedgerow Birds of Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, we have those living fences, these planted rivulets of green. Red-billed Pigeon are common in much of Costa Rica. In addition to those birds and the Squirrel Cuckoo pictured above, the following are some of the more common hedgerow species of Costa Rica.

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Looking for Lost Warblers at Parque Rio Loro, Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

The Olive-crowned Yellowthroat is one of Costa Rica’s resident wood-warbler species. In Costa Rica, those would be the wood-warblers that do a lot more wintering in the southern USA and the Caribbean than in southern Central America. They also winter in Costa Rica and I see a few every year but not that many.

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Striking Gold in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

The birding in Costa Rica is always golden but some days, you really do strike gold. Last week in Costa Rica, I had the great fortune of finding some of that avian treasure, on this occasion, a Pacific Golden-Plover in the small coastal city of Puntarenas. Might a few occur appear in Costa Rica during migration?

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Birding in Costa Rica, August, 2022- News and Recommendations

10,000 Birds

Having lived in Costa Rica for several years, I recall those glorious August days in the 80s and can say that yes, it is rather like August, all year long. Differences exist but August in Niagara is much closer to Costa Rica than a Niagara November. Go birding in Costa Rica in August and you will find shorebirds.

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Another Bird Surprise for Costa Rica- Buff-collared Nightjar!

10,000 Birds

As far as countries go, Costa Rica is at the smaller end of the spectrum. We might have limited space but we make up for it with a massive amount of biodiversity including well over 900 bird species on the official Costa Rica bird list. I wonder what else is waiting to be found in heavily birded Costa Rica?

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Frontiers in Costa Rica Birding

10,000 Birds

Costa Rica has long been one of the more frequently visited global birding hotspots. Stable, easy to visit, and with lots of accessible habitats, its easy to see why many birders have opted to visit Costa Rica on several occasions. Several birds in Costa Rica could be endemic or near endemic species level taxa.

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I’ll fly tonight to the magical kingdom of Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Tonight I’m going to fly to the magical kingdom of Costa Rica, to reset and restart at Rancho Naturalista. This lodge has the longest checklist among the eBird hotspots of Costa Rica – over 55 % of the nation’s total, including about 40 hummingbirds. I’ll fly tonight to the magical kingdom of Costa Rica.

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Rancho Naturalista Lodge, Costa Rica, or When Harry Met Mercedes

10,000 Birds

Blue flanks, black chest, yellow head… I am in the birders’ heaven called Rancho Naturalista Lodge in Costa Rica and am observing my first Golden-hooded Tanager of the trip. While I already visited Costa Rica once, I do not feel overly-confident with its birds. Previous stage: Costa Rica on a relaxed birding pace.

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The Antics of Pewees in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, we have our pewees, 6 species of them. Three live and breed here, two migrate through the country in large numbers (one of those also breeds here in small numbers), and another migrates through and winters in Costa Rica. The WEWP is the other pewee that moves through Costa Rica in numbers.

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Mangrove Birds of Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, mangrove forests grow on both coasts but are much more common on the Pacific because there are more places where estuaries flow into bays and other shallow, coastal waters. Even better, the government of Costa Rica has stated its commitment to restoring and protecting mangrove forests as part of the Paris agreement.

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Highlights from the 2022 Arenal Christmas Count in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

December is not the ideal month for bird counts, at least not in Costa Rica. However, in Costa Rica, despite being wonderfully warm in December, the birding isn’t as straightforward as one might expect. If you go birding in Costa Rica, you’ll see a lot around Arenal! Raptors and Swifts.

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October Global Big Day in Costa Rica- an eBird Trip Report

10,000 Birds

In mountainous Costa Rica, that can translate to such disasters as flooding, landslides, and road closures. Fortunately, my partner and I had a back-up plan, one that was more relaxed than an all out Big Day and that would also bring us to one of our favorite areas of Costa Rica, the southern Caribbean zone.

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Spectacled Petrel Surprise- New Species for Costa Rica!

10,000 Birds

Despite what some outdated sources claim, the list of bird species reported for Costa Rica is much more than 860. The same can be said for Costa Rica’s first Red-breasted Merganser , a species first documented for the nation in 2020. Check out the crazy new bird for Costa Rica!

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The Wintering Wood-Warblers of Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Other birds stay in Central America and this makes winter birding in Costa Rica replete with a nice selection of wintering species including wood-warblers. Not including the vagrants, these are the warblers that regularly frequent green space in Costa Rica: Wood-warblers of Cooler Montane Habitats. Louisiana Waterthrush.

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Does Choco Screech-Owl Occur in Costa Rica?

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, since the Official Checklist Committee (something I take part in) tends to follow changes made to the official AOS list, we decided to follow suit and include Choco Screech-Owl on the country list. Because it might also occur in southern Costa Rica. So, does Choco Screech-Owl occur in southern Costa Rica?

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Rancho Naturalista Lodge, Costa Rica, or in the Land of Coffee and Chocolate

10,000 Birds

Since I wanted to buy some genuine tastes of Costa Rica, we continued to C.A.T.I.E. Into the souvenir shop for some local coffee, chocolate and cocoa, then a coffee mug with an image of a Three-toed Sloth and the Field Guide to the Mammals of Costa Rica, and off we go. 130 mature individuals, in 2019 (Monge et al.

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Rarely Seen Costa Rica Birds That Aren’t Rare

10,000 Birds

Once you get to Costa Rica, you’ll already know those birds so well, it will be like meeting distant family members and famous folks for the very first time.Over and over! In brief, you’ll be ready for those birds in Costa Rica, ready to soak them up and have a fantastic trip. Right, say what?!

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Casa Tangara dowii, Costa Rica: to claim our feathery gold

10,000 Birds

‘If we know how to conserve the forests, and work with the least impact possible,’ he later remarked, ‘Savegre would maintain both its natural resources and its visitors.’” (Slightly edited for length, from Creating Ecotourism in Costa Rica 1970–2000 by Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora).

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Gull for a Godwit in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, we enjoy healthy numbers of Whimbrels , a few annual wintering Long-billed Curlews that choose to lord over the flats of the Gulf of Nicoya, and good numbers of an equally impressive prairie bird, the Marbled Godwit. It has become apparent that a chosen few Hudsonian Godwits make occasional stops in Costa Rica.

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What do Tennesee Warblers Do in Costa Rica?

10,000 Birds

Costa Rica? If you are headed to Costa Rica for birding from now until March, you will probably see more than a few of these small, plainish, Palearctic Warblerish birdies. Typical Tennessee Warbler wintering habitat in Costa Rica. Tennessee Warblers? Pish and a dozen might flit into view.

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Costa Rica: You Only Live Twice

10,000 Birds

Indeed, you only live twice: your second life starts when you bird Costa Rica for the first time. And, yee-haw, this would be my second attempt at a second life: three weeks ago I was invited to bird Costa Rica! Still, it’s Costa Rica I am talking about: I’ll be back. Update: true.

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First Bird of the Year in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Having successfully raced to identify more than 700 species in Costa Rica during the final days of 2021 , I suppose I more or less took January 1st off. What I can say with certainty is that the first species of my new year could have been any number of birds I typically hear and see at my place in Costa Rica.

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A Guide to Easy Birding in Costa Rica at Cinchona

10,000 Birds

Birding is adventurous indeed but it doesn’t have to be, not even in far off, incredibly birdy Costa Rica. While birding in Costa Rica can be as adventurous as a birder wants, most take a much easier route and why not? Easy birding in Costa Rica is still fun birding in Costa Rica!

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Costa Rica Opens! What About the Birding?

10,000 Birds

Back in March, back when the world realized that a pandemic was happening and that it was spreading with tenacious unconscious determination, Costa Rica closed its borders. Nevertheless, given the vital role that tourism plays in the local economy, Costa Rica stuck with plans to slowly reopen. This is no longer required!

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Tips to Use eBird for Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Now, a birder could even plan an entire trip to Costa Rica with eBird data. Well, you could, BUT there are a few good reasons for maybe not going that bird planning route at least for Costa Rica. These are some things to keep in mind when using eBird before, during, and after a trip to Costa Rica: Before the trip.

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Critically Endangered Birds in Costa Rica- How to See Them, How to Help Them

10,000 Birds

Such ultra rare and imperiled biodiversity are the “ Critically Endangered “, species that, according to the IUCN, “have decreased, or will decrease by 80% within three generations” Five bird species on the Costa Rica bird list fall into this alarming category. Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata).

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Signs of Spring Migration in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Baltimore Oriole- one of the more common wintering birds in Costa Rica. Based on birding this very morning from the back of my place in Costa Rica, I can guarantee that at least some Baltimore Orioles, Tennessee Warblers , a Painted Bunting and a few other migrants are still far to the south. More Birds are Singing.

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Urban Birding in Costa Rica- Benefits of Brushy Fields and Coffee Farms

10,000 Birds

Costa Rica is more than cloud forest with mega worthy quetzals, more than rainforest with fancy Keel-billed Toucans and luscious Green Honeycreepers. Not a huge number, especially compared to forest communities, but still enough to make the birding in Costa Rica interesting. Yellow-bellied Seedeater.

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Fall Migration in Costa Rica- Six Things I Have Learned

10,000 Birds

After moving to Costa Rica in 2007, my fall migration took on a different approach. But it happened nonetheless and if you go birding in Costa Rica in September, especially during October, you can’t help but notice. Just as in the north, fall migration in Costa Rica doesn’t happen for two or three short weeks.

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Check out Birding Experiences in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Birding Experiences is a Costa Rican company owned and run by enthusiastic birdwatchers from Costa Rica. In brief, birds are our passion, and we would love to help organize your birdwatching trip to Costa Rica. Volunteer reviewer for eBird in Costa Rica. Promote bird protection and conservation.

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The Top 5 Avian Ambassadors of Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

The Rufous-naped Wren is a very animated, common species in Costa Rica. As with so many other exercises in anthropomorphism, this one is absurd as the rest, at least in this dimension of reality but if Costa Rica had to choose 5 such ambassadors, these might make good candidates: Ornate Hawk-Eagle. Scarlet Macaw.

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Highlights from a Cancelled Pelagic Trip in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

It depends on what a birder wants to see and in Costa Rica, there’s always a lot to choose from. They might be regular in South Texas but not in Costa Rica. On our fateful day, this rare vagrant for Costa Rica perched on a nearby ferry for wonderful views. You might see a White-throated Magpie-Jay.

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Costa Rica?s Almost Endemic Trogon

10,000 Birds

Crimson-fronted Parakeets- one of our city birds in Costa Rica. It’s not like when a birder is visiting Arizona and hoping for “the trogon” (aka Elegant Trogon ) because when a birder walks in Costa Rica, there are nine of these eye-catching beauties to look for. A female Baird’s Trogon.

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What I Learned in Costa Rica from October Global Big Day, 2021

10,000 Birds

Here’s some of what I learned and was reminded of from an October 9th of birds in Costa Rica: Major Birding Doesn’t Stop During a Pandemic. This is an excellent total of bird species identified in Costa Rica for one calendar day. The Number of Birders in Costa Rica Keeps Growing. and Slaty Finch.

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February Birds from Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, February is a different birding story. To give an idea of the types of birds waiting to be seen in Costa Rica, the following are a random selection of some of the many beautiful and exciting resident bird species that can be encountered while birding Costa Rica in February: Buff-fronted Quail-Dove.

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Quality Lowland Caribbean Birding in Costa Rica at Centro Manu

10,000 Birds

Go to Costa Rica and you will be looking at other birds but you can still get in some Caribbean slope birding. Despite the Central American nation being occasionally confused with Puerto Rico, Costa Rica is not an island, it doesn’t really count as “Caribbean birding”, so what gives? Nice Migration!

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Shearwater Chase in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

They covered so much water so quickly, so effortlessly, I understood how they could wander from Hawaii to Costa Rica, make steady constant progress over countless kilometers of waves and deep blue water. An expected offshore bird in Costa Rica, the small bicolored shearwater was one of many targets during our 7 hour sojourn.

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Out Birding to Help an Endemic Sparrow in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Today, along with teams in a few other parts of Costa Rica and elsewhere, I will be birding for a cause, watching birds to help one that only lives in Costa Rica, the Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow. To help protect this beautiful sparrow that only occurs in Costa Rica, please see the 2022 Birdathon GoFundMe page.

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What Flies Over Costa Rica in the Night?

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, the tenth month is when birds pass through in droves. In Costa Rica, a lot of those birds fly right overhead. In Costa Rica, a lot of those birds fly right overhead. Even while listening to nocturnal flight calls, it seems hard to assess what flies over Costa Rica.

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7 Resolutions for Birding Costa Rica in 2021

10,000 Birds

I don’t know if I can make these happen but I’m making some 2021 Costa Rica birding resolutions anyways! The more birds the better and there’s a lot to see in Costa Rica! It would be nice to visit sites that are little birded and the few places in Costa Rica I have never been.