10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2022

Such ultra rare and imperiled biodiversity are the “ Critically Endangered “, species that, according to the IUCN, “have decreased, or will decrease by 80% within three generations” Five bird species on the Costa Rica bird list fall into this alarming category. Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata).

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Costa Rica Parrots Albatross Protection 239

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2022

The Talamanca Mountains that lie along the continental divide in the southern half of Costa Rica encompass a variety of habitats, including montane cloudforest and páramo, and contain the highest peaks of the country. I may be in tropical Central America, but at 2100 m / 7000 ft a.s.l.

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Costa Rica Panama Squirrels Nicaragua 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

In Costa Rica, February is a different birding story. To give an idea of the types of birds waiting to be seen in Costa Rica, the following are a random selection of some of the many beautiful and exciting resident bird species that can be encountered while birding Costa Rica in February: Buff-fronted Quail-Dove.

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Costa Rica Birds Panama Bats 216

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2022

Today, along with teams in a few other parts of Costa Rica and elsewhere, I will be birding for a cause, watching birds to help one that only lives in Costa Rica, the Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow. To help protect this beautiful sparrow that only occurs in Costa Rica, please see the 2022 Birdathon GoFundMe page.

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Costa Rica Sparrows Raised Protection 218

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2021

Even better, this site near San Ramon, Costa Rica is almost too accessible. This important site also acts as the perfect, outdoor teaching lab, a place where people can learn about birds from local guides who are invested in the appreciation and protection of the cloud forest. That is one seriously crazy looking bird!

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Costa Rica Birds Eagles America 256

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2020

In Costa Rica, official, enforced quarantine hasn’t happened yet. At the moment, thanks to the government getting serious about this darn thing earlier rather than later, the number of new cases per day in Costa Rica has been very much linear in nature. Rufous-naped Wren. The South Pacific.

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Costa Rica Birds Mississippi Woodpeckers 237

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2020

Crimson-fronted Parakeets- one of our city birds in Costa Rica. It’s not like when a birder is visiting Arizona and hoping for “the trogon” (aka Elegant Trogon ) because when a birder walks in Costa Rica, there are nine of these eye-catching beauties to look for. A female Baird’s Trogon.

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Costa Rica Panama Arizona Protection 192

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2021

In birding circles, Costa Rica is better known for protected areas, quetzal tours, and glittering displays of hummingbirds than the things that fly in urban spots. I mean, who comes to Costa Rica to bird on city streets? Today, in Costa Rica, I’m too far south for the Northern Bobwhite.

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Costa Rica Falcons Farming Woodpeckers 261

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

“Gamebirds” to some, cool, cryptic understory birds to the birding people, grouse crouch protected as unfettered winds sway the top of the tall prairie grass. Fast forwarding to Costa Rica, to be honest, you won’t find any grouse around here. Grouse are the chickens we would love to lay eyes on.

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Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2019

In October, it’s what’s happening in Costa Rica. Our big month of bird movements in Costa Rica, the 10th month of the year, is when most of the swallows, Scarlet Tanagers , thrushes, and other species on the South American express push through. What Scarlet Tanagers look like in October Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Nicaragua Panama North America 252

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2019

Costa Rica is well known for national parks and other protected areas than offer access to tropical ecosystems dripping with biodiversity. Our birding was particularly productive for the Central Valley but still gives an idea of what can be found in and near urban areas of Costa Rica. Have flowers in Costa Rica?

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Costa Rica Parrots Birds Blackbirds 184

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

Situated well off the beaten track and at the end of long, bumpy roads, Cangreja National Park is one of the less frequently visited protected areas in Costa Rica. The “Choco Screech-Owl” from Costa Rica, this picture is from the La Gamba area and is shown on the Costa Rica Birds Field Guide app.

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Costa Rica Owls Birds Protection 184

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

If a list also shows the status for each species, birders on their way to Costa Rica would realize that they shouldn’t really expect vireos with white eyes nor blue heads (but would hopefully know that they should very much report those species on eBird so local birders can chase them!). Spot-bellied Bobwhite bites the dust.

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Costa Rica Owls South America Panama 192

10,000 Birds

MARCH 28, 2020

As the pandemic suddenly gained speed and we saw our first cases in Costa Rica, we realized that we were in for some big changes. In case you happened to be wondering, this is some of what has been happening in Costa Rica birding and otherwise during the past two weeks: We still watch birds. Not anymore.

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Costa Rica Birds Spain New York 206

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

Welcome back to the paradise of birding in the Arenal region of Costa Rica! The post Come to Finca Luna Nueva Lodge in Costa Rica! Please consider using the services described in this post or any of the other posts we are sharing this February. We like to take very good care of our birders at Finca Luna Nueva Lodge !

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Costa Rica San Jose Liberia Farming 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

Although it’s feasible and fairly easy to see Great Tinamou at some sites in Costa Rica, in most other places, the time investment needed to see one usually relegates it to the “heard only” category. In no particular order, these are my top 25 picks for target birds of Costa Rica. Why 25 and not ten?

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Costa Rica Panama Birds Nicaragua 199

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2018

December is a busy time in Costa Rica. “Cangreja” means crab in Spanish and refers to the shape of the mid-sized peak at the center of the protected area. There’s usually one or more common euphonia species at any given site in Costa Rica but they seemed to be especially diverse at Cangreja.

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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Birds 159

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

In Costa Rica, it’s also happening, not as in full force mode as the temperate north but that will change in a month when we see thousands of Eastern Wood-pewees , flocks of Eastern Kingbirds , and other species hurrying their way to South America. Millions of Cliff Swallows pass through Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Tennessee South America 2019 138

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

In Costa Rica, although I did spend a memorable one years ago in the Osa Peninsula where flocks of parrots flew into the mangroves while we feasted on turkey, pie, and the works, we have no actual Wild Turkeys , nor an official Thanksgiving. That last little bit is also why we call it “Turkey Day”! Ain’t I great?

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Costa Rica Turkey Ecuador Hunting 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Belonging to the Caribbean foothills biome, Rancho Naturalista has the fourth longest eBird list among the hotspots of Costa Rica: 478 species, including 36 raptors and 38 hummingbirds. I found the snow in Costa Rica, the endemic Snowcap hummingbird, that is. Part three: The Scarlet Pacific of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Woodpeckers Farming Owls 144

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2019

Costa Rica is a small yet very birdy country (readers may have gotten that impression on previous posts I have written for 10,000 Birds, at least I hope that has been the case!). With that in mind, it’s always a pleasure to see more books and information available about birds and birding in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Parrots West Virginia Birds 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2017

In Costa Rica, we have more than our fair share. This basically means that it’s not easy being a raptor in Costa Rica. While there’s a lot of protected habitat, with so many other raptors and birds to compete with, each species has a pretty small population. King Vulture. Barred Hawk. Black Hawk-Eagle.

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Costa Rica West Virginia Eagles Monkeys 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2017

That was my first ever beach on the Pacific Ocean (Costa Rica offered me so many easy ways out of that molesting question that I sometimes ask myself: When was the last time I did something for the first time?). Part one: An Absolute Beginner in Costa Rica. Part two: The Great Green Caribbean Lowlands – Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Pelicans Owls Woodpeckers 142

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

When Costa Rica becomes a topic of conversation, we don’t usually hear the word “extinction” being thrown around. But how about when the Costa Rica conversation involves a birder? It’s easy to bedazzle the bins with this one when birding in Costa Rica. Must be a joke, right?

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Costa Rica Species Panama Falcons 207

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

Thanks to fortunate foresight, a lot of land was set aside in Costa Rica as national parks and protected areas (and some of these are easily accessed) but the best forest still happens to be at the terminus of the road and en route, you will be treated to species deficit birding in plenty of pastures.

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Costa Rica San Jose Sharks Monkeys 232

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2016

Carara National Park isn’t just any old protected area. It’s one of the top birding hotspots in Costa Rica and Central America. Raptors : Hawks and their like are not all that common in Costa Rica. Rufous-tailed Jacamar : Fairly common in many areas of Costa Rica, including Carara.

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Costa Rica Malaysia Birds Protection 173

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2017

In Costa Rica, October is our May. Most of them fly on the Caribbean side, especially along the coast south of Limon, and that’s why I guided the Birding Club of Costa Rica down that way this past weekend. Some of the Birding Club at Selva Bananito. Some were feeding on the ground. Black Swift!

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Costa Rica Parrots Farming Birds 144

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2016

Costa Rica is situated right between two oceans. Over there on the Caribbean (that’s what we call the Atlantic Ocean in Costa Rica), the lowlands are supposed to be blanketed in lush, over-vegetated rainforests. This small antbird species is common in Panama to Ecuador but rare in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica San Jose Panama Nicaragua 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2019

However, fortunately for birders in Costa Rica, we also have an important wood-warbler hotspot. For 13 years, this organization has carried out a bird-a-thon to raise funds for such projects as reforestation in Ecuador and protecting nests of the Harpy Eagle in Brazil.

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Costa Rica Species Belize New Jersey 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2017

As for myself, since I live in Costa Rica, I usually put the focus on birding and/or birds in this small yet very bio-rich country. These disclosures are related to a recent Christmas Bird Count that took place in Costa Rica, the 2017 Arenal Bird Count to be exact.

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Costa Rica Owls Birds Tennessee 132

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2022

” One of very many Eastern Wood-Pewees that fly through Costa Rica. Right now, based on recent birding, a heck of a lot of them are in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is just the half way point, I’m glad to see them, happy to see Red-eyed Vireos finding food in protected forests. Red-eyed again.

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Costa Rica Buffalo Sparrows Rights 191

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2020

Costa Rica is a country situated well south of the Tropic of Cancer and like most places without a winter, parrots are an essential part of the local avifauna. With 18 species of native Psittacids to choose from, birding in Costa Rica is always a thrill, especially for someone who grew up in parrotless Niagara Falls, New York!

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Parrots Costa Rica San Jose Endangered Species 254

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2015

In Costa Rica, since winter doesn’t exist, June is kind of like every other month except that it rains more and the little summer of San Juan is right around the corner. This break from the rain coincides with two weeks off from school, and also makes a perfect excuse for visiting Costa Rica during the summer.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2016

Then I wake up, eventually realize that I am back in Costa Rica, and find myself thinking about birding here and birding there. Here are some: Mega migration : We bear witness to some serious migration in Costa Rica. In tropical Costa Rica, we have our fair share of exotic, cool-looking creatures.

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Costa Rica Israel Jordan Birds 101

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2020

Speaking of Costa Rica, any purchase of tracks, the digital album, tee-shirts and other merchandise will help with conservation of the Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager. An endemic species restricted to southern Costa Rica, the tiny range of this local bird makes it susceptible to any alterations to its already limited habitat.

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Costa Rica Nicaragua Cuba Mexico 215

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2016

Witnessing the Champions of the Flyway race, seeing social media coverage of the World Series of Birding, participating in the Global Big Day, and doing my own on April 24th has got me thinking about strategies for better Big Days in Costa Rica. They got all three potoo species in Costa Rica. Targets or habitat?

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Costa Rica Birds Israel Research Center 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2011

Costa Rica enjoys an international reputation as an iconic birding location, bursting with epic Neotropical species and breathtaking natural attractions. Understandably, certain lodges have, over the years, come to be associated with the Costa Rican birding circuit.

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