Author: Petz

These days, there is a lot of talk about moving out of the USA. After the recent presidential election, Internet searches for moving abroad increased by 1,000 percent! Following any presidential election, people looking to move abroad is par for the course but this time, the interest in making the big move is unprecedented. Make no doubt about it, it’s a big step too, bigger than most people realize. I won’t go into the reasons why someone wants to stay or leave their home country but will mention that people have been retiring in Costa Rica for years. I am…

Planning a birding trip? Besides making sure that you are not birding in unstable and dangerous areas, a birder must know where to bird. When planning a birding trip to Costa Rica, you may wonder if that urban park you saw on a map is worth visiting? What about intriguing eBird hotspots like “Walmart Woods” or “Calle Viquez”? After all, they are official hotspots, must be good birding, right? Wrong! Take the fable of Walmart Woods as an example. Those “woods” are a piece of green space that meanders along a dirty creek adjacent to a Walmart near the airport.…

I slept in this morning, not even birding! That will change tomorrow when I wake up before dawn to guide in the Poas area. It will be good, in the mountains of Costa Rica, the birding is always. I experienced some unforgettable mountain birding last week along with another week of lowlands and middle elevation birding while guiding several birders from one corner of Costa Rica to the next. This is a biodiverse birding rush, an immersion in natural Costa Rica to see how much we can find in an itinerary carefully planned to experience as much Costa Rican avifauna…

This past Saturday, birders celebrated another October Global Big Day. This is a day dedicated to birding, to be part of a huge birding collective and see how many birds you can find. You don’t have to do the October Big Day like that, all you have to do is go bird watching and record your eBird lists. However, since the “Big Day” is part of the equation, a birder is forced to do a little more, such as perhaps birding all day, perhaps starting before dawn and continuing into the evening. Yes, that’s a lot but in Costa Rica,…

Costa Rica may be state-size but it still has regions! I mean this small country has unique places with its own ecological and cultural flavor. That’s a nice bonus for birding, especially in regions so close together. After watching Great Green Macaws fly through the warm and humid air of the Caribbean lowlands, you can climb and refresh with tanagers, Collared Trogons, and more in the cool mountains. Head to the southeastern part of Costa Rica and you can get your bird groove on with Purple-throated Fruitcrows, Snowy Cotingas, and a flock of toucans. Oh, and there’s also that ocean…

Going birding in Costa Rica? If your answer is “yes” but any time from January to March, you are not alone. After all, sunny days are when most people visit Costa Rica, including birders. However, if you’re heading to Costa Rica soon, the following birding tidbits and tidbits may be helpful. You can also gather some useful information if you happen to be birding in Costa Rica during the high and dry season. Rain, Local Flooding, and More Rain These past few days, we have been experiencing heavy rain. For a Costa Rican September, that’s pretty par for the course…

In Costa Rica, birding highlights are easy to come by. Most places, you don’t even have to walk outside and find something cool! Another bonus to birding is having the opportunity to see such a wonderful variety of birds at such a distance. Come to think of it, there is no other place with so many bird species in such an easy distance. In Costa Rica, there is always a lot of birding going on; a fact that can be seen in some of my recent birding highlights. Ornate Hawk-Eagles are called On September 15th, I guided someone for a…

Bird photography in Costa Rica is quite exciting. There are literally hundreds of exotic, tropical bird species, dozens of glowing hummingbirds, beautiful tanagers, trogons, and more, always more. What a beautiful Quetzal too! While it is true that mature forests hold the highest total number of species, they are not the best places for bird photography. Yes, rainforest trails can have rare and little-photographed bird species but you’ll need the right equipment, time, and stamina. I’m all for experiencing those forest denizens, I actually prefer that birding method. However, to get pictures of birds to my heart’s content, I go…

What birding day trips are possible from San Jose, Costa Rica? Is it worth birding the city itself? How far can you go in a day and, more importantly, which birds can you see? Oh yes, you can see Fiery-throated Hummingbirds. Before we start answering those questions, there are some important things to know about staying in “San Jose, Costa Rica”. If you don’t know, San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica. It is also the general name given to the Central Valley, an urbanized area that also includes several other cities and towns. However, because housing connects most…

Driving in Costa Rica. Should you do this? What does it look like? How about taking a bus? What about road issues and birding by car? If you’re thinking about driving in Costa Rica, wondering if you should take the wheel or let a local drive, this post is for you. If you don’t plan to drive but are still interested in what driving in Costa Rica is like, this post is for you too. I have written about this topic on other occasions, here is my latest take on the various aspects of driving through the land of quetzals,…