Birding in Costa Rica can be a beautiful garden hotel with easy saltators and chattering flocks of parakeets. It can also focus on lowland rainforest birding as you search for dancing manakins and hidden woodcreepers.
Oh yeah, and birding in Costa Rica is definitely watching mixed flocks and fluttering quetzals in the cloud forest. Yes, fluttering quetzals. Fancy it!
Male avian deity messengers make their iridescent fluttering while cackling and display above the forest. If a large, shining emerald and red velvet bird fluttering and calling in plain sight seems like too much to handle, this is something! Quetzal moves are truly one of your high-level, fun birding experiences.
Recently, I had a deep taste of the Costa Rican bird. A day of birding from humid plains to highland cloud forest promised an interesting selection of birds. This is usually done and the other day was no exception.
It was a day that came from the lowlands and up the mountains to San Jose. We didn’t have much time for each birding stop but the activity was top notch, we did well.
What to expect? Read on to check out some highlights and quips from a great day of birding in Costa Rica.
Lowland Rainforest 1
The day started in the Caribbean lowlands, down to the classic birding area known as “Sarapiqui”. Starting from the edge of La Selva, there are so many birds calling, it’s almost hard to know where to look first.
Among the guttural dino-calls of a Green Ibis, the cries of kiskakee-type flycatchers and the whistling of tinamous, I heard an array of soft, humming whistles. Hello Central American Pygmy-Owl!
I whistled back at it, hoping the mini-owl would fly away, but alas, it didn’t want to play. However, my calls brought up Cinnamon Becards, honeycreepers, tanagers, White-ringed Flycatchers, and other small birds.
Meanwhile, trogons and jacamars vocalize, Great Green Macaws call, and swifts fly. “Good” swifts too. Cloudy mornings in the Sarapiqui area are usually reliable for Spot-fronted Swifts. They are present with small Gray-rumped and svelte Lesser Swallow-tailed.
After enjoying some of the cool, waterfall-dwelling birds, a distant scan revealed a suspicious pale chook perched atop a broad crown of a large bare tree. Yes, sure, girl Snowy Cotinga!
He is far away but he is sure. As a reminder that familiar birders from the north have amazing bird encounters during the winter, a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole perched next to her for a moment. If migratory birds could only talk, what stories they could tell!
As a bonus, while leaving, we saw a Laughing Falcon.
Lowland Rainforest 2
The birding on the side of La Selva is good but it is a short interlude. After grabbing a morning coffee at the local Musmani bakery, I thought we might as well stock up on another great spot. There’s more to see, might as well bird the area for another couple of hours and see what happens.
I drove back to the road behind Chilamate. With the bridge still out at the end of the road, which takes you back to the main road near Tirimbina, it was surprising to see some cars. Where are they going? Isn’t this a birders only road? No, but it seems like it should.
There in the forest, as I expected, we found a mixed flock of larger birds that I usually run into there. It usually consists of a bunch of Chestnut-headed Oropendolas, woodpeckers, Black-striped Woodcreeper, Rufous Mourner, and other species.
The best of the other species are White-fronted Nunbirds. We enjoy great views of coral-billed birds while watching other regulars. A pair of Black-crowned Antshrike also appeared, Slaty-breasted Tinamous gave a low call from the forest, and other birds sounded.
The birding is good and complete with a sweet send off-a shrieking White Hawk soaring low and translucent. Oh yeah, and as another daily bird bonus, we have two more Snowy Cotingas; distant, shining white spots high in the canopy.
Lunch Highlights
We could have stayed longer in the lowlands. Heck, the rich avian habitat is worthy of days of birding. But we have places to go, one of which is Cinchona.
The lovely old Cafe Colibri is a perfect stop for an early lunch accompanied by the birds. This classic site was not as active as other days and the birds were very nervous. We didn’t see it but there are raptors probably monitoring the area. The way the birds behaved, it must have caught something too!
However, we still saw most of the usual good stuff. Both barbet, toucanet, tanager, Black-bellied Hummingbird, and Coppery-headed Emerald. It’s better but because it seems like we’ve seen everything, we only stayed for one hour.
Cloud Forest Highlights
The next stop for this birdy day is the upper cloud forest habitats near Varablanca. Perhaps due to the cloud cover and recent rains, bird activity has also been good there.
Collared Redstart appeared, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers perched, and other cloud forest birds appeared. One of the best was the one we didn’t see but heard loud and clear. Bellbird!
There is a small population of Three-wattled Bellbirds in and near that area, probably a remnant of a larger population from a more forested period. I hear about the reports but, when birding Varablanca, I don’t seem to come across those super special cotinga. It’s nice to finally hear one there, I’m eager to go back and see if it’s still around.
The bellbird is a bonus but the prize should go to the quetzals. I often see the Resplendent Quetzal in that area. However, they move and are a little shy. I might see 6 one day and then none the next visit!
Fortunately, the other day, there were at least four quetzals, apparently two males and two females. The main birds were calling, gave a few good looks, and the males did their fluttering flight displays a few times. Can’t ask for better than that!
It was our last stop and it was less than 2 in the afternoon. The drive back was fog, some rain, and then Central Valley traffic. As a bonus, while waiting in a line of cars near the City Mall, we had a Yellow-naped Parrot flyover.
That critically endangered species was a great end to another great day of birding in Costa Rica. View the trip report on eBird. To find out about the sites we visited, search this blog and get “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”, a 900 plus page ebook guide to birding for the Costa Rica and more. I hope you see some waving quetzals, and I hope to see you here!
