Birding in Costa Rica in 2023 is 12 months of tanagers, quetzals, puffbirds, and more. There’s always more.
Living and birding in a country full of biodiversity promises good birding, almost all the time. To define “good birding”, I would say it is having a fair chance of watching a healthy variety of birds with minimal effort. If you are going to Costa Rica soon, consider yourself lucky because when you are birding in Costa Rica, good birding is common.
For me, this past year has been marked by several birding highlights including the following. I hope they give you an idea of local birding delights, where to go birding in Costa Rica, and what to expect for this special tropical place.
American Bittern
This rare winter for Costa Rica is a major highlight for local birders. In Costa Rica, we have two main bitterns and three pseudo-bitterns. The two main ones, Least and Pinnated are local and only regular in some areas. The psuedo-bittern tiger-herons are not that tough but since they are not really bitterns, I guess we have to leave them in their own vicious heron category anyways.
The other bittern that is possible in Costa Rica is the American Bittern, which is a water pumping bird of the northern swamps. With only a few documented sightings, it’s not exactly regular. This winter, one went down and chose a small marsh right next to a public road.
Perfect!
Even better, the bird stayed long enough for most of the local birders to see it! It’s great when a twitchable bird stays twitchable for more than a month. It’s a shame the avocet didn’t follow suit but an American Bittern is pretty good compensation for birding in Costa Rica.
owls
No matter when or where, every owl is a birding highlight. This year, I saw all the regular owls except the “Puntarenas Screech-Owl” and the little bird in the cold mountain night, the Unspotted Saw-whet Owl. That’s not surprising, I mean I’m not sure if I’ve tried it. Maybe just once. I may still do it before the end of the year even though it’s pretty cold and dreary up there in Irazu and the high Talamancas.
The other owls are cool though! The last Marilen and I saw was a pair of lone Black-and-white Owls on the Bogarin Trail. They should still be there, ask about them at the entrance.
All 6 Motmots
Motmots are cool birds. Long strange tail, some jade green, splash of turquoise, these birds are unique! In Costa Rica, we can also easily see four of them. Those beautiful birds are Lesson’s, Turquoise-browed, Rufous, and Broad-billed.
The other two are a little more on the tricky side of birding. However, if you know where they live, you can also see Tody Motmot and Keel-billed Motmot. We got our year Keel-billed on the Bogarin trail before we saw the owls.
Neckless Umbrellabirds
This year, I did well with the large, rare, crow-like cotinga. I only saw two of them but even seeing one was as special as sponge candy. The first was a woman my friend Alec Humann saw right from the deck of the Arenal Observatory Lodge. The second is a boy who overlooks the road to Manuel Brenes.
Major birds! Today, there should be a few of those sites, Centro Manu, and lowland rainforests like La Selva and Tirimbina.
Major Winter Birds
This year has been pretty exciting for winter birding in Costa Rica. In addition to the aforementioned American Bittern, local birders also found several Lincoln’s Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, American Avocet, American White Pelican, and several other rare species for Costa Rica. One of the selected birds was Costa Rica’s first documented Greater Scaup!
The rarest of all was a Short-eared Owl that showed up at a house in Cartago. As far as Costa Rica megas go, this would be a triple threat mega, a Steller’s Sea Eagle level mega! Other than this adventurous bird, no Short-eared Owls have been documented in Costa Rica for over a century.
It also happened to fly away from that house, probably wintering in some fields near there… Cartago’s many pastures and sedge fields seemed like a good place for it to live. Hopefully, this star owl survived and is doing well (and can be found by local birders).
Interestingly, the bittern and the owl can winter in similar habitats. There might be some other strange birds there. Is a Swamp Sparrow too much to ask for?
Puntarenas Seabirding
I told you, the birding in Puntarenas is exciting. At least for me, seawatching is. Scan back and forth and eventually something flies by, unexpected and pelagic birds flying close enough to identify.
This past year, we and other local birders were treated to sightings of the local mega Heerman’s Gull, and rare Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. One fine day we also caught a Sabine’s Gull beating the hot humid air with its patterned wings.
Other highlights included Pacific Golden-Plover (perhaps the same bird as last year?), over 200 Least Terns, and Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel. Oh, there are also mega Peruvian Boobies and Sooty Shearwater too! I wonder what’s in that water now?
New Birds for Costa Rica
Really, there are too many highlights to mention. However, I must note the new birds documented for Costa Rica in 2023. These are the Dark-billed Cuckoo and Lesser Kiskadee near Ciudad Neily, a curious Common Pochard at Lago Angostura, and an expected Cattle Tyrant currently seen in La Gamba!
The year is coming to an end but it’s not over yet! There are always more birds to see and with such interesting migrants taking place, who knows what will appear next? Happy holidays, hope to see you birding in Costa Rica in 2024!
