10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2022

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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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Owls 267

10,000 Birds

MAY 14, 2022

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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Costa Rica Morals Rights Guatemala 246

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

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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Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Go to Hispaniola and a birder has the pleasure of admiring two species of tody for the price of one, checking out the odd, mono familiar Palmchat , and listening to the parrotish calls of the White-necked Crow. Go to Costa Rica and you will be looking at other birds but you can still get in some Caribbean slope birding.

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Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2021

Similar to 2020, more than 32,000 people participated, 78,000 checklists were submitted, and more than 7,200 bird species were identified. 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. The birding keeps on a happening.

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Costa Rica Species 2020 Falcons 256

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2019

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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Costa Rica Thailand Species Hawaii 298

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 24, 2022

December is not the ideal month for bird counts, at least not in Costa Rica. Yes, we do have warm, tropical weather and a fancy assortment of resident and wintering species. However, in Costa Rica, despite being wonderfully warm in December, the birding isn’t as straightforward as one might expect.

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Costa Rica Eagles Species Blackbirds 241

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

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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Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 319

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2020

Even photos of the rarest of birds can be found, even heart-wrenching images of bird species that are no longer with us. Species like the Gyrfalcon , the aerial powerhouse of the tundra, of stunning, breeding-plumaged May warblers. Posters of three groups of birds are currently available; toucans, trogons, and hummingbirds.

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Costa Rica Birds Species Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2022

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. A group (maybe 4-5 ex.)

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Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 233

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2022

The Talamanca Mountains that lie along the continental divide in the southern half of Costa Rica encompass a variety of habitats, including montane cloudforest and páramo, and contain the highest peaks of the country. I may be in tropical Central America, but at 2100 m / 7000 ft a.s.l. and afterwards stay for breakfast or lunch.

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Costa Rica Panama Squirrels Nicaragua 225

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2022

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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Costa Rica Sparrows Raised Birds 236

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2021

She also makes a mark with her small size, one of the smallest birds in Costa Rica. When you see a photo of a Snowcap, it’s easy to see why this species is a perennial top target for birding trips to Costa Rica. King Vulture is regular and various other species are also possible, hawk-eagles included.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Farming 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2019

Whatever the reason for getting involved with this massive day of birding, every GBD has been a success where literally thousands of species are found by thousands of birders. I have been able to do that in Costa Rica because literally hundreds of bird species can be accessed in a question of hours.

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Costa Rica Species West Virginia New York 208

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

Costa Rica is a tropical country but it doesn’t have to be hot. To be honest, I shouldn’t downplay the lower temperatures of Costa Rica’s high elevations. A bird of treeline and paramo habitats in Costa Rica and Panama, this wren is a main target for visiting birders.

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Costa Rica Birds Farming Litter 220

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2021

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 way over, we had one Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel and at least one Black Storm-Petrel along with Black Terns and a few other tern species.

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Costa Rica ALA Peru Texas 201

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

Even so, he still knew many species and always yearned to learn about the wildlife he encountered. Groups them by family too and by their shape” His extra long arm extended and passed me that precious book. Fast forwarding to Costa Rica, to be honest, you won’t find any grouse around here. “Check it out!”

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Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

If a list also shows the status for each species, birders on their way to Costa Rica would realize that they shouldn’t really expect vireos with white eyes nor blue heads (but would hopefully know that they should very much report those species on eBird so local birders can chase them!). Juvenile Gray Hawk.

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Costa Rica Birds Owls South America 199

10,000 Birds

MARCH 28, 2020

As the pandemic suddenly gained speed and we saw our first cases in Costa Rica, we realized that we were in for some big changes. In case you happened to be wondering, this is some of what has been happening in Costa Rica birding and otherwise during the past two weeks: We still watch birds. Not anymore. to five a.m.

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Costa Rica Birds Spain New York 223

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2020

On a short guiding trip to this classic lowland rainforest lodge this past week, as with other visits, our group was treated to a wealth of birds. Small birds can also come to the feeder including honeycreepers, Plain-colored Tanager , saltators and other species. Yellow-throated Toucan.

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Costa Rica Parrots Birds Groups 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2015

Birders head to Costa Rica to see stunners like Resplendent Quetzal , Three-wattled Bellbird , Orange-collared Manakin , fancy hummingbirds , tanagers, and literally hundreds of other birds. These and several other species might end up being armchair ticks if and when we take a closer look at their evolutionary history.

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Costa Rica Species South America America 210

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2019

A wonderful variety of bird species are waiting to be seen and among them are many a birder’s favorite avian group, the wood-warblers. Among the most desired bird species during May migration, brightly colored, beautiful and boldly patterned, how can a birder not get hooked on spring warblers? Great Green Macaw!

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Costa Rica Species Belize New Jersey 180

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2018

It was easy enough to participate, all anyone had to do was watch birds and record the number of species identified using eBird. Costa Rica is one of those places. One of my favorite birding shirts from Costa Rica, this was from a Christmas Count near Sam Ramon and yes, Speckled Tanagers were seen. Starting late.

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Costa Rica 2018 Colombia Collecting 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

There’s so much more that can be said about this group of birds but that’s the first description that comes to mind. Although most New World Barbets live in the tropical forests of South America (“the bird continent”), us birders in Costa Rica are fortunate to have two species to watch and listen to.

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Costa Rica Colombia South America Ecuador 166

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2019

In Costa Rica, we have two coasts, a pair of shorelines that touch two oceans. However, in Costa Rica, we don’t usually refer to that body of water as the Atlantic, nor even as an ocean. I was recently reminded of the rich avifauna found in the Caribbean lowlands while guiding a small group of birders from Texas.

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Costa Rica Birds Woodpeckers Owls 160

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2019

This is also why so many of the birding tribe travel to watch birds, a good number of which eventually make it to Costa Rica. Like Resplendent Quetzals … A good number of birders who make it to Costa Rica visit a small, roadside diner located in the middle elevations of the Caribbean slope. Check out the toucanets.

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Costa Rica Cooking Birds Chickens 204

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Those woodpeckers are some smart-looking birds, and Costa Rica has her fair share with 16 species that head-bang from the dry forests of the northwest to the high-elevation rainforests of the mountains. A local, brownish subspecies of the Hairy Woodpecker is one of this avian clan that resides in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Woodpeckers Honduras Panama 195

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Belonging to the Caribbean foothills biome, Rancho Naturalista has the fourth longest eBird list among the hotspots of Costa Rica: 478 species, including 36 raptors and 38 hummingbirds. Curious to see what the combined list would show, I used the eBird polygon tool to sum them all up to 502 bird species. My jaw drops.

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Costa Rica Woodpeckers Farming Owls 158

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Few if any species are as emblematic of the Neotropics as Ramphastidae, the family that includes the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris. On the trip to Costa Rica that I just returned from I was pleased to see both of those species as well as Black-mandibled Toucan and Keel-billed Toucan. Yeah, it was a heck of a trip.

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Costa Rica Horses Farming Collecting 232

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2017

In Costa Rica, October is our May. We might not get the variety of a New Jersey autumn but we do get major numbers of species that winter in South America. However, this year, we opted for a site that could also give a chance at Great Jacamar and a few other key resident species in addition to migrants.

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Costa Rica Birds Parrots Farming 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2015

There are lots of great birding sites in Costa Rica. Although most birders visiting Costa Rica hit pretty much the same sites, you could just as well go to a bunch of other, lesser known places with the same type of habitat and see most of the same birds. Nicaraguan Grackle only lives in marshes around Lake Nicaragua.

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Costa Rica Chile Nicaragua San Jose 174

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2015

Knowing how to recognize habitats and associating them with key bird species is just as essential to birding as a damn good field guide. When we checked it out, we looked for many of the the same dry forest species that tour groups search for. In Costa Rica, Northern Scrub Flycatchers only occur in mangroves.

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Costa Rica Parrots Birds Sparrows 168

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2017

Costa Rica? Although Cocos Island is halfway between Costa Rica and the Galapagos, we are still talking about hundreds of kilometers of ocean between us and the place of the big tortoises. As the ferry plodded along, small groups of shearwaters lifted off the water to flutter and glide just above the surface.

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Costa Rica Birds Tortoises Groups 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2015

“Costa Rica borders two oceans. The country has a healthy list of pelagic species. There are no pelagic trips” That ironic pseudo-haiku almost sums up pelagic birding in Costa Rica. No mere pipit, this buy breaks with tern tradition by sporting a crazy red bill and a long, white moustache.

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Costa Rica Birds Dolphins Rescue 157

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2020

Costa Rica is a country situated well south of the Tropic of Cancer and like most places without a winter, parrots are an essential part of the local avifauna. With 18 species of native Psittacids to choose from, birding in Costa Rica is always a thrill, especially for someone who grew up in parrotless Niagara Falls, New York!

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Parrots Costa Rica San Jose Endangered Species 268

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2015

In Costa Rica, since winter doesn’t exist, June is kind of like every other month except that it rains more and the little summer of San Juan is right around the corner. This break from the rain coincides with two weeks off from school, and also makes a perfect excuse for visiting Costa Rica during the summer.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2018

Ah, Costa Rica, so long I have dreamed of visiting you and your amazing birds. As many of might know by now, we have covered a lot of ground this year, with Costa Rica being our ninth country visited. As many of might know by now, we have covered a lot of ground this year, with Costa Rica being our ninth country visited.

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Costa Rica Tigers San Jose Woodpeckers 115