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. 130 mature individuals, in 2019 (Monge et al.

Costa Rica 248

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 248

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2021

A male Turquoise Cotinga from southern Costa Rica. As they make their incredible, biannual winged trek, they also pass through Costa Rica. Cliff Swallow , one of many million that migrated through Costa Rica. Yeah, I daresay those birds do pass through Costa Rica in the millions.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Nicaragua Ohio Honduras 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2019

In October, it’s what’s happening in Costa Rica. Our big month of bird movements in Costa Rica, the 10th month of the year, is when most of the swallows, Scarlet Tanagers , thrushes, and other species on the South American express push through. What Scarlet Tanagers look like in October Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Nicaragua Birds Panama 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

Costa Rica is no exception. Despite the small size of Costa Rica, more than 50 hummingbird species reside in the cloud forests and other tropical habitats of this beautiful country; we see them in our gardens, while they buzz between flowers inside and at the edge of forest, and bickering over choice spots at hummingbird feeders.

Costa Rica 224

Costa Rica Nicaragua Panama Honduras 224

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

Although it’s feasible and fairly easy to see Great Tinamou at some sites in Costa Rica, in most other places, the time investment needed to see one usually relegates it to the “heard only” category. In no particular order, these are my top 25 picks for target birds of Costa Rica. Why 25 and not ten?

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2020

However, even if songs of the avian kind are more your musical thing, you will still find them in ten innovative, unique tracks that pay homage to endangered birds from Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, and seven other countries. Oh, how nice that would be!

Costa Rica 249

Costa Rica Nicaragua Cuba Mexico 249

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.

Costa Rica 179

Costa Rica Chile Nicaragua San Jose 179

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2015

At least that’s the case for Costa Rica. The montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama are home to at least 50 species of birds that live nowhere else except for one or two that also occur in northwestern Colombia. Nope, in addition to Costa Rica and western Panama, the good old R.

Costa Rica 150

Costa Rica Panama Nicaragua Honduras 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2016

Costa Rica is situated right between two oceans. Over there on the Caribbean (that’s what we call the Atlantic Ocean in Costa Rica), the lowlands are supposed to be blanketed in lush, over-vegetated rainforests. To the north of this mountainous isthmus, we have the Atlantic. In the other direction, the Pacific.

Costa Rica 166

Costa Rica San Jose Panama Birds 166

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2015

You see, Myriam’s is located in what might be the Resplendent Quetzal capital of the world, the valley of San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica. Quetzal is THE beloved, sacred bird of Guatemala and they do live there (and in southern Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) BUT are more accessible in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 150

Costa Rica Panama Nicaragua Honduras 150

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2016

In the recent supplement, differences in song, DNA, and physical appearance played a role in several splits, including five that affect Costa Rica. Since the official Costa Rica list tracks decisions made by the AOU, we need to make some changes and count the armchair ticks! Say hello to the Lesson’s Motmot.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica 2016 South America Panama 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2016

Last weekend, I guided a trip to Laguna del Lagarto for the Birding Club of Costa Rica. The “who knows what else” comes from this site being situated among good-sized tracts of lowland forest connected to the big forest block in Nicaragua. Since the title of this post does not say, “Harpy Eagle in Costa Rica!”,

Costa Rica 136

Costa Rica Nicaragua Eagles Parrots 136

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2017

Although the few big wetland sites in Costa Rica require a bit of a trek, sun screen, and boat rides, the wetland birding is just as rewarding and acts as a welcome break from the quiet challenge of rainforest birding. This area is the only place where this species can be seen in Costa Rica. See the birds?

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Birds Ducks Pelicans 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2021

Its range extends as far as Nicaragua in Central America, where it is joined, in Costa Rica and Panama, by The Slaty Flowerpiercer. The Cinnamon-rumped Flowerpiercer is the only flower-piercing game in town if you live in North America. And yes, Mexico is part of North America, not Central or South America.)

Costa Rica 258

Costa Rica South America North America Venezuela 258

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data. 3 Costa Rica (8.6 % – 920 sp. / 9 Nicaragua (6.8 % – 781 sp. / 9 Nicaragua (6.8 % – 781 sp. / 801-1000 sp. – 801-1000 sp. –

Equatorial Guinea 207

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 207

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

When I went to Honduras in 2014, I was advised to use The Birds of Costa Rica by Richard Garrigues and Robert Dean (2014) and The Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America by Steve N.G. It has been a long time between field guides for most of these countries. Howell and Sophie Webb (a classic, but big and published in 1995).

El Salvador 234

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 234

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2013

You can also find Red-breasted Blackbirds in Costa Rica and Panama and south to Peru and Brazil. Considering that they only recently colonized Costa Rica and have since been spotted in Nicaragua, it seems that there will be Red-breasted Blackbirds for a long time to come, good news for fans of brilliant birds!

Blackbirds 167

Blackbirds Trinidad Costa Rica Nicaragua 167

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2017

In Costa Rica, we don’t get many chances to chase birds. Most times, because they don’t usually stick to one spot, you can’t really twitch the super rare residents and since they live in Costa Rica all year long, I’m not so sure if they fall into the twitchable category anyways.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Nicaragua 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rican, and Panama , just published in October, is a field guide that was ten years in the making. Press, 1989); A Guide to the Birds to the Birds of Panama, with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras, 2nd ed. , Skutch (Cornell Univ.

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

We talk about Gulls Simplified, Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, The Feather Thief, and some books I have not had a chance to review yet, like Daniel Lewis’s Belonging on an Island: Birds, Extinction, and Evolution in Hawai‘i and Birds of Nicaragua: A Field Guide.

North America 208

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 208

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2018

In addition to Spanish, several other languages continue to be spoken, the pines and cypress trees of the Guatemalan highlands only occur as introduced species once you travel south of Nicaragua, and dozens of bird species that occur in Costa Rica and Panama don’t even make it to Nicaragua. How true this was!

Costa Rica 120

Costa Rica Guatemala Birds Nicaragua 120

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2018

Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama make up Central America. Notice that had I not used the Oxford Comma there, you’d be thinking “Costa Rica and Panama” was a country like Trinidad and Tobago. Or Antigua and Barbuda. Or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Antigua and Barbuda 114

Antigua and Barbuda El Salvador America Costa Rica 114

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

Found in Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua, this tiny hummingbird is placed within its own genus microchera. Nowhere common, this wonderful hummer is found from Costa Rica to Peru and is a specific pollinator of the heliconia flowers it attends. Coming in at no. 19 is the celestial Red-tailed Comet.

Colombia 279

Colombia Ecuador Bolivia Peru 279