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Miscellaneous Bird Notes Identification Challenges - There are two major identification challenges for those birders who have no personal guide with them and who have not had much experience in the American tropics. Woodcreepers and hummingbirds. Other species (like the swifts) have particular issues for the average birder, but the woodcreepers as a family force birders to look at beaks and backs because of how they position themselves in the field. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, come in so many flavors with males, females, and immatures all posing additional variations, that the problem is largely a problem of memory.
Woodcreepers - The challenge is simple. Woodcreepers all look pretty much alike but with subtle differences, and none of them are fond of showing you their throat, breast or belly - which is unfortunate since nearly all of them can be identified much more easily by seeing their throat, breast, or belly. I have no good rules here. Most Costa Rican guides know them by their call notes... and they are vocal. A playback recording might help with this family, but constantly fooling with equipment can be annoying in the field for a fast-moving family of birds like the woodcreepers. Woodcreepers, like so many birds in Costa Rica, are picky about which elevation they spend their time. They also have peculiar behaviors that are familiar to many Costa Ricans but will not stand out to foreign birders. If you can ask a lodge-guide (or perhaps the nearest Costa Rican with a pair of Swarovski's around his neck) which woodcreepers are the most likely candidates to be found around the area, it might help you limit your inventory within this family when you're on your own. Also, if you can find local checklists or lodge-specific lists ahead of time, these can be helpful. Back in the early 1990's when I first visited Costa Rica, I used to think that I would eventually learn to properly identify woodcreepers quickly and efficiently. I was wrong. This is a family of birds where it really pays off to see them every day. It's the kind of familiarity most foreign birders and foreign guides don't get to experience when traveling for short trips to the tropics. Hummingbirds - By visiting the right locations, one can easily see 25 species of hummingbirds on a 10-day trip to Costa Rica. But hummingbirds, especially females and young birds, can be an extraordinary identification challenge. Even if one is familiar with all the habitat-specific altitudes in which hummingbirds are found, these birds are not terribly cooperative at allowing prolonged looks. It's really best if you can find places that put out hummingbird feeders.
Why more Costa Rica hotels and lodges don't put out more hummingbird feeders is one of life's great mysteries, but for whatever reason, it's not particularly common. Some of the best multi-feeder stations are at Monteverde, Rancho Naturalista and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. A few scattered lodges and restaurants may have perhaps one or two feeders. Personally, I think it's important to get a second opinion about many of the hummingbird observations. Obviously Violet Sabrewings and male Snowcaps are easily identifiable and won't need an introduction, but many others will. At Monteverde and Rancho Naturalista, one can find experts that can usually shed some light on identification. In the field, however, it might be difficult. The most conspicuous hummingbird throughout Costa Rica is the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. The one thing you're guaranteed to have time to do in Costa Rica is to familiarize yourself with this species. They usually outnumber other species by a wide margin at low elevations. As for the high-elevation species, prepare yourself for a headache. Other feeder stations, like some at Rancho Naturalista, offer fruit to several species of songbirds. A good fruit-feeder station in the mountains will get a variety of tanagers and fruit eaters. The following video is a fruit-feeder in the high mountain area of Costa Rica and includes a visitation of Golden-hooded Tanager, Passerini's Tanager, Emerald Tanager, Silver-throated tanager, and a Red-headed Barbet. Click here: Fruit-feeding station video . Other Birds - Many of the antbirds and wrens are skulkers. They will tax your patience, but when you finally get glass on them they are usually easy to identify. Most Costa Rican tour guides will quickly identify fly-over parrots by sound, but for those of us who rarely see parrots one needs to see good identifying visual marks. Other birds may be a problem because they are closely related to some other species (Tropical and Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees, Ruddy and Short-billed Pigeons, Sulphur-bellied and Streaked Flycatchers, Southern and Northern Rough-winged Swallows). The summer months are better for weeding out some species like the migratory Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees, but it's best to familiarize yourself with some habitat information. Sulphur-bellied's and Streaked flycatchers, for example, do not nest in the same areas even though the ranges overlap. Short-billed and Ruddy pigeons prefer different elevations, but at Rancho Naturalista where both are found, they cannot be identified as to species unless they call. Some bird families like the cotingas are not predictable anywhere, but you're likely to catch one or two somewhere along the way. Other birds like swifts and hawks can be problematic with too quick a glance, but that's the nature of birding anywhere. Sometimes you just have to admit ignorance. Other species difficulties, like Gray-headed and Gray-chested dove distinctions, are just a matter of knowing which distinguishing features to look for. These things are just a matter of field guide homework.
Ant Swarms - In order to have the best opportunity to observe certain antbirds, one really has to discover an army ant swarm where antbirds frequent. This is not particularly a common experience, but when someone runs across an army ant swarm it's important to know what you're seeing. When army ants march through an area, they drive a variety of insects, amphibians, and reptiles into the open where they are frequently eaten... usually by birds. The attending flock of birds may include several hard-to-see antbirds, flycatchers, and occasionally ant-tanagers. When someone runs across a small flock of antbirds, or finds army ants crossing a trail, it's important to stay with that activity for as long as possible. Over a short period, several species can be seen if one stays back a few feet from the ant swarm and quietly observes. This kind of activity does not happen with leaf-cutter ants or most of the other ant species. Only army ants generate interest from birds. Army ant behavior by itself is fascinating biology, but probably beyond the scope of this web site. What is important is for birders to know that many birds consider army ants a type of feeding territory. They follow them religiously, and finding these ants means you will also get to see several birds that are otherwise difficult to observe. A few of them, like the Ocellated and Bicolored antbirds, are extremely hard to see outside of ant swarms. Mixed Feeding Flocks - In the tropics, it's a rather common experience to walk into a deep forest habitat and not see any birds at all. Zero. None. This can be aggravating if you're on your own, and it happens more often than you might think. However, the emptiness of the forest can change rather dramatically with a mixed feeding flock - a small flock of perhaps 6-10 species of birds that move quickly though the forest. Mixed feeding flocks are not exclusively a tropical phenomenon, but in the deep forests of tropical America, they rule. A typical experience was one I had in southern Costa Rica. I walked onto a deep forest trail - the same short trail - every day for 5 days. The first two days I saw almost nothing. The next day, I saw a small flock of birds comprised of the following species: Dot-winged Antwren, Russet Antshrike, Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher, Tawny-crowned Greenlet, Plain Xenops, White-throated Shrike-Tanager, and an unidentifiable woodcreeper. They were completely gone in 5 minutes of active feeding. The next day I saw nothing again. The day after that, however, I saw exactly the same feeding flock at almost the same location. The nature of the mixed feeding flock is feast or famine. Over time, I found out this particular flock was fairly regular between 8-9 in the morning, but that's about the only pattern I could observe. As a birder, luck plays a role. Fortune has to shine on you. But one cannot assume the forest is dead just because you don't see anything your first time in. Mixed feeding flocks are comprised of several different species, sometime entirely insectivorous and sometimes mixed with frugivores. Sometimes they will feed on the forest edges and in partial clearings and sometimes they stay completely within deep forest. Eventually you will be rewarded with the rush of a mixed feeding flock even if it's brief. The mixed feeding flock, as an entity, is a fascinating study by itself. Many of the birds within it have selected roles to play. The more you understand about mixed flocks, the more you will appreciate tropical ornithology. Quetzals - The Resplendent Quetzal is a highly sought after Costa Rican species, but it's not particularly common even within the narrow zone of elevation where it is usually found. Only two major birding hot spots really advertise a good possibility of seeing the bird - Monteverde north of San Jose and the Savegre Mountain Lodge south of San Jose. Smaller lodges, like El Toucanet and Paraiso del Quetzal, also offer a good chance at a sighting if you like places off the more typical tourist path. If you are a birder actively seeking to see the quetzal at Monteverde, your chances are very good.... but it is not a slam dunk. At Monteverde or any area where quetzals are regularly seen, quetzals will frequent the edge of the canopy sometimes out in the open. It's worth asking a guide if they know where they're being seen. Hiring a guide may make your chances even more likely. The guides at Monteverde - even general natural history guides - know that most visitors at the park are eager to see a quetzal. It's not uncommon for the location a morning quetzal sighting to be passed around from guide-to-guide.
I've seen several owls in the daytime in Costa Rica, but recordings of this family could be important if you can lay your hands on them. I have never called back an owl in Costa Rica, but most of my birding experience in that country has occurred during mid-summer when the majority of owls aren't calling. However, there are a lot of night sounds in the tropics at all seasons, and having nocturnal bird recordings you can reference would certainly be helpful. Other vocalizations that might be helpful in playback are the specific tinamous, antbirds, antpittas, and wrens. Most of these birds will respond to playback most of the year. That doesn't mean you will see them, but having them call back is an engaging enterprise and helpful to learning bird calls if not over-done. Managing all the vocalizations I hear with a recording device, however, can absorb a lot of my time. At some point, my wife will start rolling her eyes. A playback mechanism is a nice toy and the iTouch and iPods are lightweight devices, but recordings are in no way critical to your birding experience in CR. This is especially true if it's your first or second time in the country. As I continue to travel in this country, however, I find playback recordings more and more useful.
If you do take a high-end camera, be vigilant about theft. There are scams that include thieves scouting out your vehicle in advance for the equipment and then making a determination on how best to separate your equipment from you at a later date. Tourism is Costa Rica's biggest industry and I've seen a lot expensive optical equipment left unattended - even my own! I've never had anything stolen in Costa Rica myself, but I know people who have. Taking A Scope - Personally, I have not found enough value in taking a spotting scope to Costa Rica. There's clearly a trade-off in weight, and you are now charged for luggage over 50 pounds on major air carriers, and 25 pounds on small aircraft. Most birds I'm looking for in Costa Rica aren't far out to sea or in distant, open-plain environments. It just never made much sense to drag along a scope and tripod. Many Costa Rican guides have them of course. I would be surprised if I hired a Costa Rican bird guide and he showed up without a scope or playback mechanism. But I can't imagine a pay-off that would warrant me dragging it on planes and lugging it around every time I got out of a vehicle. And I haven't even mentioned theft and insurance. I actually brought my oldest scope once and a very small tripod just so I could sit on my open porch at a Manuel Antonio hotel in hopes a Fiery-billed Aracari or some other stunner flew into a tree. It didn't. I think that was the only time I used it during the entire stay. Bird Guides - Without a personal bird tour guide, birders in Costa Rica will likely lose some species no matter how much they know about the avifauna. It would be very hard to see and identify several antbirds, antpittas, rails, and most woodcreepers without a guide knowing their location in advance or at least being very well-versed in their vocalizations. Only good birding guides can provide you with this (see my page on guide services). A good bird guide will also know where a manakin lek can be found or where a specific owl or potoo is known to roost in the day time. This will always be the trade-off of birding Costa Rica on your own. To counter this problem, I occasionally contact bird guides in advance for one day around a specific park or refuge or sometimes for two and three day trips. I've had good success with local professional bird guides within Costa Rica, and I won't hesitate to hire one for a specific day trip. I have a more thorough discussion of guides on the "Guides" page.
In my opinion, Costa Rica can be far more enjoyable if you're not officially "on tour." Tour groups can sometimes make you feel as if you're learning about a new place only through a bus windshield. I enjoyed my first birding tour to Costa Rica, but I knew I wanted something different. When you drive Costa Rica by car and stop at your leisure, it becomes more real, more interesting, and more familiar. The feelings you'll have about Costa Rica will become more personal. Finally, I recommend spending as much time as you can with local checklists and field guide range maps before you leave for Costa Rica. And as long as you don't bother other guides while they are on tour, I find most Costa Rican birders and guides friendly and helpful if you see one birding in the same patch as you. I also suggest looking over Richard Garrigues Costa Rica Birding Web Site. Richard maintains a country-wide checklist and some photos of specific birds. I think the "Provincial Overviews" at the bottom of the page are particularly good. New in November of 2009, is Barrett Lawson's Bird Finding Guide to Costa Rica. This book is a new site guide to finding Costa Rican bird species by region. This is a nice book that gives the reader an outline of expected species at many of the standard Costa Rican birding locations. The location trail maps are particularly helpful. Several places in this recent publication have not otherwise received much publicity in print form. Barrett also maintains a website about the book. I also recommend the "Costa Rica Living and Birding" blog by Pat O’Donnell which has relevant articles and pictures of Costa Rica birds, lodges, and habitats. |
Photography
- Photography in Costa Rica can be done anywhere with almost
anything, but bird photography is another matter. A few places like
Rancho Naturalista can bring hummingbirds to your room porch and
make photography easy with the smallest digital camera. Deep forest
birding, however, requires special lenses and better camera
equipment. Bird photography now has become so specialized that there
are several companies now doing nothing but bird photography in
Costa Rica. A Google search can usually pick up 2-3 tours specific
to bird photography. I personally take a rather average digital
camera with a zoom lens because I am more interested in seeing a lot
of birds than spending time photographing a few birds well. Bird
photography, however, is now a big deal in Costa Rica and avid
photographers should have no trouble finding places that cater to
bird photography.