Another Global Big Day is in the books! if we birders had an official holiday, I’m sure it would be Global Big Day. In a sense, it is. After all, we put other things aside to celebrate, reminisce, and have fun by going birding.
I wish we weren’t too busy birding the Global Big Day so we could also commemorate it with cake, special refreshments, and a fun, phat and friendly party.
We can mix some of those factors with GBD birding but when you get 24 hours to work, a whole day to give yourself to the avian connection, the birds come first.
Better make it a two-day vacation; Global Big Day (GBD) followed by Global Big Day of Rest (GBDR) post. If you are 24 hours, you will need some healing and maybe some therapy as well. Well then, no problem, there will be plenty of free advice at the after GBD party. Share cake-quality birding stories (lots of bad cakes, stick to the real butter deal), praise birding accomplishments, and maybe even chase a bird or two you see on GBD.
Hopefully, we can recognize GBD as a holiday, or at least encourage it to be celebrated in double holiday fashion. In the meantime, here’s some of what happened in Costa Rica this past May 11th, 2024.
Good Total
As of writing, birders in Costa Rica have collectively identified 680 species and several more are likely awaiting eBird review approval. I daresay it’s pretty darn good. 90 percent of winter birds have already flown north and birders in Costa Rica have seen most of the rest possible.
I was also happy to see that 1,094 ebirders in Costa Rica participated. Even though I didn’t meet fellow birders in the field, it was nice to know that we were all bird watching together.
heavy rain
Those totals are also remarkable when you consider the weather. The morning was sunny but the rest of the day was very wet. I remember a few drops happening at midday and then a huge curtain of constant water for the rest of the afternoon.
Instead of counting birds, I drive north on the coastal highway, hoping to reach Tarcoles before the road is possibly flooded. Luckily, that didn’t happen and we actually saw a handful of the last birds on an afternoon break in the weather.
Such heavy rain is not surprising by the way. In Costa Rica, the rainy season has definitely begun.
Some Highlights
Overall, we did very well. Despite very little if any pre GBD settlement, enough local birders targeted the poor to find most of them! I feel it is worth mentioning the following.
Masked Duck– Outside of late summer and fall, in Costa Rica, the sheltered little duck is seriously hit or miss. Being unreliable, I was glad to see someone found one in the Cano Negro area.
Paint-billed Crake– We’ve got a fair handle on this sneaky species but it can still be tough. Someone had it in the rice field of Las Trancas.
Hudsonian Godwits– This one wins a prize! Late April and early May is the time to get lucky with this mega wader in Costa Rica but it’s still a lottery bird. Thanks to a local birder checking Colorado salt pans, he found 8!
His numbers surpassed the country’s previous high of 1. I wonder what convinced the Hudwits to come ashore? Did they feel the storm clouds were a little dark and grainy? Maybe they stopped there a while ago, just a few hours or a day. In any case, they are not there in GBDR.
Christmas Tahiti Parkinson’s– Amazingly, determined birders manage to make a pelagic trip! I say “spectacular” because the rain was so heavy, I don’t even want to imagine what it was like offshore. I don’t think it’s too bad since they found and added a bunch of birds to the total GBD country. They even made a trio of tougher birds. Tahiti Petrel is normal but Christmas Shearwater and Parkinson’s Petrel are more of a challenge.
All three hawk-eagles– None of the hawk-eagles are common but if you get enough birders in the field, some of them will notice Black and Ornate Hawk-Eagles. Black-and-white is another story.
A truly rare bird in Costa Rica, if we are lucky, there may be 20 pairs in the country (or maybe less?). Fortunately, one was spotted in the Caribbean foothill forest in Guacimo, Limon area. This is the same beautiful spot where a Crested Eagle was recently spotted.
Little Hawk– These pint-sized raptors are present in many places but are always difficult to spot. One was found in La Marta; a good site for this and another tough site also found there- Lanceolate Monklet!
Unspotted Saw-whet Owl– I’m happy to say I found this one. I’m guessing one or two people also specifically looked for and found this special little owl but we were definitely the first for the day.
It happened in a rather unexpected way on an early morning birding at Lilianas Quetzals (aka Myriam’s Cabins). While trying to see a Dusky Nightjar instead of just hearing them at dawn, I couldn’t help but whistle like an Unspotted Saw-whet Owl. I knew the bird was heard there from time to time but I didn’t really expect a response. However, as birds will do, one fricking called back!
The nightjar and screech-owl were quickly pushed aside to try this highland mega but as I did, the owl never really came in, nor did it call enough to find it. Good to hear at least I know where to look for it next time I go that way…
Pewee and Jay– Sounds like a movie or show from the 70s but no, it’s a pair of high elevation, Talamancan toughies. They still deserve their own show but it will be hard to get them into the studio.
The Ochraceous Pewee and Silvery-throated Jay are two of the more elusive high elevation endemics from Costa Rica and western Panama. Getting them on any given day isn’t quite right yet, finding them on GBD is cakeworthy.
One of the other sweet highlights is Spotted grieving. Before a few were found at the Pitilla Biological Station, this bird was usually a no-show for the country. It’s awesome to have them on the Costa Rica GBD list!
Strange Miss
After a quick review of GBD sightings in Costa Rica, I didn’t notice too many expected birds. I suppose one might be a White-chinned Swift. Unless we’re still waiting for approval or a hidden listing, I think it’s weird not being able to find this one.
White-chinned Swifts are not exactly in abundance but there is at least one known nest site, and the rainy season is the best time to see them. As expected, recently, local birders have been seeing some of the edges of the cloudy clouds, sometimes quite low over their houses.
Veraguan Mango and Sapphire-throated Hummingbird are two more species that should be on the GBD list. Because they are relatively easy to see in the area of Ciudad Neily and Lesser Kiskadee is also missing, I guess no one covers that part of the country. That, or they just haven’t submitted their lists.
Not surprising Miss
Birders found most of the expected species in Costa Rica but some were surprisingly missed. The main three birds that come to mind are Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Black-crowned Antpitta, and Gray-headed Piprites. Yes, those three are always tough. These days, thanks to the folks at Vista Aves Lodge, the piprites are a little more manageable but the other two are always tough.
Both seem to be getting rarer by the day but if you go to the right places, you can find them. Maybe we don’t have people in those specific areas.
As for my GBD, it was a day of guiding that took us from the beautiful high elevation forest at Myriams Cabinas down to Vista del Valle and then through Perez Zeledon and up the coast to Tarcoles Birding Lodge .
As I mentioned, heavy rain blotted out a good part of the day but we still managed 108 species including birds as varied as Resplendent Quetzal, Unspotted Saw-whet Owl, Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl, and Scarlet Macaws. Check out the trip report!
I hope you had a fun and exciting GBD in good company (plus a relaxing GBDR). You can learn more about the Costa Rica birding sites mentioned in this post in my Costa Rica bird finding ebook. Hope to see you here!
