All birding has a cost. Watching a Downy Woodpecker climb a backyard oak. Relaxing in the lazy dens of Cedar Waxwings. It’s all good and it’s all appreciated. A connection with birds is a connection with nature, and the experience is priceless.
And yet, most of us see far more woodpecker than the shadow of a Gyrfalcon. Many birds are easier to see than others, and to see most species, you need to buy several plane tickets.
Species that are rare or very hard to see also require greater investment than others. DYI a Swainson’s Warbler and you’ll likely get bitten by a mosquito, it may take several hours before you catch a glimpse of one.
In Costa Rica, it will probably cost more to see a Black-crowned Antpitta. They don’t sing like those canebrake birds, are rarer, and tend to revel in the art of concealment. It can take days to see one, even in places where they are known to occur!
Pittasoma are avian royalty but luckily, Costa Rica has many other birds. Like literally hundreds. Costa Rica is a wilderness with high birding value. Here’s why:
More Bird Species in Small Spaces
The country is really a giant hotspot. I’m not joking. I mean I can walk around an urban area ravaged by morning traffic and still see Crimson-fronted Parakeets and White-fronted Parrots flying overhead, hear the laughter of a Lineated Woodpecker, and watch the Blue-gray Tanagers in the palms.
I might also see a Short-tailed Hawk kite around, smile at a winter Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and note 30 other bird species. It’s quite beautiful and compared to the cloud-forest topped mountains seen on my hike, it ranks a little lower on the chaos ladder!
There, just an hour’s drive away, quetzals call, and Flame-throated Warblers entertain mixed flocks filled with regional endemics. Between here and there, more than a dozen species of hummingbird zip around, and three different species of nightingale-thrush sing.
I headed in the opposite direction, driving down the Pacific slope, and hundreds of other birds were waiting. Birds like Scarlet Macaws, Double-striped Thick-Knees standing in open fields, spoonbills and egrets in estuaries, trogons, motmots, puffbirds, and more (oh my!).
Yes, the birding in Costa Rica is absolutely insane. The mountains provide us with literally hundreds of bird species in close proximity to one another. You don’t have to go far to see them, it’s a heck of a lot of birds for your time and expense (when a friend of mine and I arranged a 10-day tour, we always saw more than 400 species).
A High Number of Endemics
Ok, but let’s say you don’t care how many species you see. Let’s say you are more interested in special birds, the birds only or mostly found in this little corner of the world.
Birding in Costa Rica can help you there too. Most mountain birds live only in Costa Rica and western Panama. There is even a funny bird known as a Wrenthrush. Wren? Thrush? What?
Yes. Exactly. Wren or thrush or orange-coiffed weirdo, this fun little bird is unique, it’s got its own little family thing going on! And if you know where to look, where to go birding in Costa Rica, it’s not rare!
Head to the Pacific and more endemics await. Throw in some more of the Caribbean side of the mountains, and some true country endemics, and there are plenty of special, local birds to look for. Maybe something like 90 special Costa Rica target species.
Fancy Birds such as Toucans, Macaws, Parrots, Curassows, and More are Easy to Spot
The high value of birding also takes the form of fancy birds. Birds in a dream. Birds you’ve seen in books and thought, “no, that can’t be real, it must be a mistake.”
Yes, no, no mistake, nature is always more amazing than we imagine, including birds. In Costa Rica, as in most tropical places, dream birds abound.
Toucans? Not rare! Parrots? Yes, many. Macaws? Two species and easy to spot! Yes, you still need to know where to go and a good guide always makes birding easier but in Costa Rica, dream birds are the norm.
Very Easy Birding Access
Another factor that adds value to birding in Costa Rica is birding access. Yes, for national parks, you may need to buy tickets in advance and most don’t open until eight o’clock but access is still relatively easy.
Not to mention, there’s plenty of great roadside birding, private reserves, and other scenic drive-in spots. Birding in Costa Rica is very easy, it is very easy to see more than a hundred species in a day.
Costa Rica is Relatively Close to the USA and Canada
This country is not too far away either. Fly from Texas and it’s a few hours. Fly direct from New York and it’s only about six hours away! Costa Rica is closer than you might expect and easier to visit than many places in the world.
Common Birds in Costa Rica include Brown Jay, Mottled Owl, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Golden-crowned Warbler…
Currently, many birders see this species in Texas. However, they only see them on guided trips to a private ranch, and they go to great lengths to do so.
There is nothing wrong with that. In general, people are free to charge what they want for goods and services, and people who buy decide how they want to spend their money.
Now, that being said, one could argue that if they want to see those birds in the ABA region, then they don’t have much of a choice either. There’s a point to that but if the birds are on private property, well, what are you gonna do, that’s the deal.
However, if the deal doesn’t seem so good, you might want to consider another one. Like maybe seeing birds elsewhere. Perhaps not concerned with seeing bird species within man-made boundaries, but enjoying them in places where they are common, you may even see them without a guide.
Look for those birds in Costa Rica and you will surely find them. It won’t be difficult either. Brown Jays and other species are very common birds here, so usually even though we want to see them, we don’t exactly prioritize them.
Yes, like all owls, it’s always nice to see a Mottled Owl but since that’s probably our most common type of owl, it’s not too hard to find one…
Think Blue Jays, Great Horned Owls, Tricolored Herons, and some common warblers. In Costa Rica birding terms, that’s exactly what those birds are.
So, instead of paying a hefty fee to see them in Texas, why not watch flocks of Brown Jays in Costa Rica with bonus quetzals, 40 species of hummingbirds, dozens of tanagers, and like 300 or 400 other lifers?
Yeah, the trip would cost more and I know it’s not the same thing but I daresay that the value would be hard to beat. Pay a hefty, per-person fee to see beautiful birds in one day, or pay a similar amount per day to see the same birds, dozens of Red-billed Pigeons, dream birds, hundreds of other species. ..
Yeah, that might be a better deal.
