10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2022

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! You may say to yourself, “Ha! ” and you will know they are right. Right, say what?!

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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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10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

The muted colors of Blackburnians, Black-throated Greens, and Blackpolls fit right in with the dull greens and golden highlights of the early fall vegetation. After moving to Costa Rica in 2007, my fall migration took on a different approach. In Costa Rica, they become another sort of animal. Swallows Everywhere.

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10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2022

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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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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10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

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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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

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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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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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2020

In Costa Rica, the tenth month is when birds pass through in droves. 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. Latin America tends to be loud and Costa Rica is no exception.

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10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2020

The birds have to be correctly drawn, show the right colors, postures, and be painted with care but when it all comes together, beautiful bird art is in a category of its own. In Costa Rica, lately, I have been enjoying the class and elegance of bird poster art produced by CaraCara.

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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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10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 24, 2022

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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10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2020

” and he’s right, there’s always more birds to see than you think, even in cities. Crimson-fronted Parakeets- one of our city birds in Costa Rica. Of those, two are only found in Costa Rica and Panama, the near threatened Baird’s Trogon of which is nearly exclusive to Costa Rica.

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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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10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2022

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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10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2020

In Costa Rica, Thanksgiving isn’t an official holiday but on account of the many people from the USA who live there, a birder can enjoy turkey, mashed potatoes and authentic stuffing at any number of places. Even so, I rarely celebrated this special holiday in Costa Rica.

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10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2021

The female isn’t quite so unreal but is still a cool little bird in her own right. 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.

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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. Since our trip was meant to leave from Cabuya, we were in the right place for this fine year bird. You might see a White-throated Magpie-Jay.

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10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2020

Given the ample distribution of this species in Costa Rica, I am sure that we have more than a few folks out there who know the Sunbittern well even if they don’t watch birds at all. For some birds, just being in the right habitat results in a sighting. Is it a bittern? Nope, nothing like a bittern. Is it a rail?

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10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2020

In Costa Rica, our July birding news usually consists of interesting sightings during the mid-summer tours. No tours means much less birding, especially on my part and with further restrictions to movement having been recently declared in Costa Rica, birding outside of the neighborhood has come to a full stop.

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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2021

They don’t need to be professional bird killers either, predators only need to be in the right place at the right time. In Costa Rica, they can take the form of everything from toucans (think crows with giant shark inspired beaks) to herons and monkeys. The Collared Aracari is a small toucan with a sharp beak.

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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.

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10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2021

In Costa Rica, I’m not doing any racing nor going for any records but I have been keeping track of my year birds and yeah, I really would like to break 700 for 2021. Identifying 50 species between now and the 31st depends mostly on investing birding time in the right places and I’m already pretty busy with various projects.

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10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2021

In birding circles, Costa Rica is better known for protected areas, quetzal tours, and glittering displays of hummingbirds than the things that fly in urban spots. I mean, who comes to Costa Rica to bird on city streets? Today, in Costa Rica, I’m too far south for the Northern Bobwhite.

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Costa Rica Falcons Farming Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

Fast forwarding to Costa Rica, to be honest, you won’t find any grouse around here. Further south, several of these cool, tropical wild chickens evolved to inhabit a variety of tropical forests, in Costa Rica, we have been honored with seven of them. Fred would have been proud.

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10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

White-tailed Kite in action- a classic airport species in Costa Rica. Although Costa Rica is noted for tropical forests and their subsequent wealth of birds and biodiversity, us local birders also have our own, out of the way habitat hotspots. They also fly south- have some flown over Costa Rica?

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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.

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10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

Situated well off the beaten track and at the end of long, bumpy roads, Cangreja National Park is one of the less frequently visited protected areas in Costa Rica. The “Choco Screech-Owl” from Costa Rica, this picture is from the La Gamba area and is shown on the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app.

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10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2020

In Costa Rica, although we have some freedom of movement, most local birders are still watching from home, me included. Thousands of birds have yet to fly through Costa Rica, in particular, the “late migrants” like Canada Warbler , various tyrant-flycatchers, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos.

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10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2019

The tropical habitats of Costa Rica are home to a surprising number of raptor species. In Costa Rica, this is the case for many raptors and is why fewer than expected are found during an average birding trip. As with many areas in Latin America that boast humid tropical forest, Costa Rica has three species of hawk-eagles.

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10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2020

There are three species of crow-like cotingas with odd hairdos known as umbrellabirds, the Bare-necked Umbrellabird is the one that lives in Costa Rica. Ruffs from Israel, the one in Costa Rica kind of looked like the top bird. Emerald Tanager -one of several beautiful tanagers that live in Costa Rica.

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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!). Not every list has Great Tinamou on it.

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10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2020

By our good chance, Mary and I began our year of birding in Costa Rica at a place that combined both of these factors, a place with the promising name of “Raptor Ridge” Located in the hills of the southern Nicoya Peninsula , Raptor Ridge is the home of Larry Landstrom, Ruth Rodriguez, and their daughter Elizabeth.

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10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019

In Costa Rica, sandpipers are locally known as “correlimos”, which to me sounds something along the lines of “little runners” and that sounds about right. A rare turf farm in Costa Rica, one of the places where grasspipers have been seen in the past.

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10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2019

” During migration, I also see Eastern Wood-Pewees in Costa Rica. Living in Costa Rica, June is just as warm as the rest of the year. June in Costa Rica is the half-way point; when I figure out what I need to do, where I need to go to attain birding goals for the rest of the year.

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10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2019

I actually really hope to see this bird in 2019 in Costa Rica. Living in warm Costa Rica, I no longer need to worry about venturing into the “frio extremo” to see a Pine Grosbeak or some errant gull. But, it can only be done with the right birding in the right places. Will I keep them?

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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2019

Personally, I love the day because I know that while I am out listening for owls and watching mixed flocks in Costa Rica, countless other members of the birding tribe are doing the same over there in the windswept plains of Rajastan, in the dripping cloud forests of Peru, in birdy New York’s Central Park, and so many other special places.

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