10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2020

A bird of the high elevation cloud forest, this stunner only occurs in Costa Rica and western Panama. Yes, the same species as the ones that birders pine for in the borderlands even though the ones in Costa Rica have yellow bellies. In Costa Rica, this species is common in various middle elevation forest habitats.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Panama Nashville Baltimore 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2020

Of those, two are only found in Costa Rica and Panama, the near threatened Baird’s Trogon of which is nearly exclusive to Costa Rica. Like several other species, this fancy one evolved to live in the humid forests of southern Costa Rica and adjacent Panama. I can’t wait to see you here.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Panama Arizona Protection 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands.

Equatorial Guinea 239

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Central African Republic Guyana 239

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

It would be uber cool to lay eyes on a rare lifer, on species that only seem to live on the pages of a field guide but isn’t that somewhat discriminatory? And why spend time only looking for one or two species when those hours could be used to put binos focused on a few dozen? Aren’t all birds worth watching?

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Panama Birds Nicaragua 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

In light of spring’s recent arrival, do you ever find yourself wondering how some species are able to withstand freezing, wintery days and yet still thrive in summer’s heat? This kind of detailed genetic and developmental work has traditionally relied on model species in the lab (aka chickens). Thanks for your support! Maria’s Project.

Panama 252

Panama Chickens Investigation Research 252

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

Just about anywhere a birder ventures, the miniscule members of the latter family can be seen, and in most tropical locales, it’s not just one species. Unlike much of the eastern United States, a dozen or even two dozen species of hummingbirds can be present in habitats south of of the Tropic of Cancer. The female.

Costa Rica 235

Costa Rica Nicaragua Panama Honduras 235

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2024

Fitz used his free time to observe the many hummingbirds in his mother’s flower garden and soon, with the help of the internet he was able to identify the various species. His interest soon grew to include other species of birds developing a love for wildlife and especially bird photography.

Trinidad 246

Trinidad Costa Rica Panama Whales 246

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2014

Fortunately, like most birders, we like hummingbirds, and having eight species buzzing around was very very nice. Black-bellied Hummingbirds can only be found in Costa Rica and western Panama. Which makes me very glad to have seen this species. Because, honestly, when am I going to get back to Costa Rica again or go to Panama?

Costa Rica 231

Costa Rica Panama Humane Species 231

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong.

Sparrows 279

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

8%: Brazil, Panama. Although it has a few more birds than Costa Rica (including reliable Harpy Eagles ) and some great lodges, in ecotourism terms, Panama seem to be Costa Rica’s “little brother” (there’s a hidden message to its tourism board). 4%: Mexico, West Papua (Indonesia), New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya. 17%: Ecuador, Peru.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2020

Will the threatened species make it through if there are no birding tourists to make those birds and their habitats valuable to local people just the way they are (as opposed to tropical timber)? Here’s an example: in 2015, American birder Noah Strycker broke the global Big Year record with 6042 recorded species. Brazil 1847 sp. 3.

Uganda 264

Uganda Bolivia Ecuador Thailand 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Those woodpeckers are some smart-looking birds, and Costa Rica has her fair share with 16 species that head-bang from the dry forests of the northwest to the high-elevation rainforests of the mountains. It’s also one of the most common and easily seen species, and the most likely woodpecker in urban areas of the Central Valley.

Costa Rica 251

Costa Rica Woodpeckers Honduras Panama 251

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2020

There are 17 species of Becard. Eight occur only in South America, three spill over from there just into Panama, and one reaches from South America through much of Central America. Just one species of Becard spills across the border into the U.S., Species seen? Oh no; you should never underestimate my shallowness.

South America 264

South America Mexico America Panama 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

The idea is that some finches from what is now Ecuador ended up on the Galapagos Islands, and subsequently diversified into a number of different forms … they speciated … filling various niches that on the mainland would have been filled by a number of different species. They did it before the Panama Land Bridge formed.

Tortoises 250

Tortoises South America Panama Culling 250

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Next to me was a copy of “Birds of Central America” with a somewhat longish subtitle “Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama” by Vallely and Dyer from 2018. In over 200 plates, this field guide covers more than 800 regularly occurring bird species found in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 279

Costa Rica El Salvador Belize Nicaragua 279

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2019

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. How do they compete with resident species? In October, it’s what’s happening in Costa Rica. What do they eat?

Costa Rica 266

Costa Rica Nicaragua Panama North America 266

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

It’s also the high season for birding and with good reason; there are hundreds of birds waiting to be seen, some of them migrants from the north but the majority resident tropical species that are easy on the eyes. One of six toucan species in Costa Rica, fairly common at sites with rainforest. Red-headed Barbet. Masked Tityra.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Panama Bats 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2021

The trees that occur, that thrive in such places are various species of mangroves and as is typical of so many other tropical microhabitats, mangrove forests have their own suite of birds. It’s ironic because even though it doesn’t live anywhere else, even in perfect habitat, the Mangrove Hummingbird is not an abundant species.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Protection Birds Panama 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Actively birding in Costa Rica as well as Nicaragua and Panama as well as the USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. Degree in Natural Resources Management, former part of Board of Directors for the Ornithological Association of Costa Rica, and involved with Bird Monitoring Projects and Sustainability Consulting.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Experience Experiments Nicaragua 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rican, and Panama , just published in October, is a field guide that was ten years in the making. Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. SPECIES ACCOUNTS.

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2022

It consists of a small reserve with a well maintained in site trail (over 195 species recorded, many endemic and rare birds accessible), cozy lodging and a dining room. The consolation prize came in the form of two Prong-billed Barbets , chunky ochre birds with thick silver bills, a local endemic that Costa Rica shares with western Panama.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Panama Squirrels Nicaragua 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

Bird species with big eyes and small bills tend to be labelled like so because those anthropomorphic features can trigger an emotional response but so what? Go birding in Costa Rica to get these avian examples of cuteness on the life list: Collared Redstart – cute and common in the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama.

Costa Rica 225

Costa Rica Emotional South America Panama 225

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2015

At first glance, every single species seems to be nothing more than an eye-ring and pair of wing bars. Ok, given the large number of flycatcher species, that fear is easy to understand but to be honest, their identification tends to be easier than the ones up north. The Yellow-olive Flycatcher is one such species.

Costa Rica 246

Costa Rica Panama Species Sparrows 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

But my failure to find a rare species doesn’t mean that I saw nothing of note. One bird in particular got my pulse racing for a bit before I figured out I was looking at the most common species on the beach, albeit in a form that is exceedingly odd.

Florida 244

Florida Panama Wildlife 2014 244

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2015

Stop at any bit of forest en route and you might see species like Flame-throated Warbler, Yellow-winged Vireo, Ruddy Treerunner , and other birds that only live in the high elevations of Costa Rica and western Panama. A couple of local guys are actually studying the species on Irazu. but it’s not common in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica San Jose Birds Panama 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2019

Dawn broke somewhere on the way down and was accompanied by two species of caracaras patrolling the roads, a motmot or two on the wires, and early morning on the edge of the ocean. Other dry forest species made appearances, Stripe-headed Sparrows being especially common. Pishing brought out a couple of White-lored Gnatcatchers.

Costa Rica 197

Costa Rica Morals Panama Parrots 197

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2020

Now is when we can venture into the closest park and see birds of the deep woods, species that breed far from town. It’s the other species hiding out there, the ones that can be here from one day to the next that I am really hoping for. Now is the special time that birders look forward to all year long.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica 2020 Spain Panama 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

Above is a photo that I got with my Wingscapes BirdCam when I visited Canopy Lodge in Panama last year. They are species that breed in the US and then spend the winter in Central and South America, eating what’s avialable–especially fruit. Is it a convenience issue?

Nigeria 252

Nigeria Belize Birds South America 252

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

12 species of cuckoos are on the Costa Rica bird list. This Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo was seen and captured on camera by Josh Beck in Panama, the most reliable place to connect with this rare species. Tortuguero- one of many excellent birding areas in Costa Rica. Another, the Cocos Cuckoo requires a looong (but pelagic filled!)

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Panama Cats Washington 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2018

When you compare the species richness not per country, but per square kilometre, that is when you get a more realistic picture, and then those tiny tropical countries rightfully stand out in the spotlights. No, I am not talking of Brazil or Columbia, they are not just in the tropics but more importantly, they are officially huge.

Rwanda 240

Rwanda Equatorial Guinea El Salvador Costa Rica 240

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2024

Black-tailed Trogon ( Trogon melanurus) Mainly a species of the Amazonian lowlands (two other disjunct populations exist from central Panama to northern Colombia and in western Ecuador and northwestern Peru) they are heard more often than seen as they tend to remain well above the ground, favoring the forest canopy to subcanopy.

Ecuador 242

Ecuador Colombia Panama Peru 242

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

This being an uncommon species in upstate New York, I appreciate having an abundance of Cliff Swallows to look at. Bank and Barn Swallows also migrate through in huge numbers, maybe even the majority of the individuals of these common species that breed in North America. By morning, they are probably in Panama.

Costa Rica 338

Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 338

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

Although most New World Barbets live in the tropical forests of South America (“the bird continent”), us birders in Costa Rica are fortunate to have two species to watch and listen to. A common resident of cloud forest, this species is often seen in pairs as it forages in mixed flocks or feeds at a fruiting tree.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Colombia Ecuador South America 203

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2015

Although marching up and down and up and down can be a literal pain, the feathered rewards come in the form of super cool local species that rarely or never make it down to lower elevations. Here are ten of those special species: This yellow-eyed bird is a Volcano Junco. At least that’s the case for Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 150

Costa Rica Panama Nicaragua Honduras 150

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2022

In Costa Rica, we have our pewees, 6 species of them. A common bird of hot, tropical habitats, it is very much an edge species. This high elevation pewee only occurs in the mountains of Costa Rica and a smidgeon of western Panama. This appropriately named bird is just what its name says. Yes, a cool endemic pewee!

Costa Rica 279

Costa Rica Pennsylvania South America Panama 279

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2019

The Yellowthroat group is an odd collection of bird species. The one migratory species, aptly named the Common Yellowthroat , can be seen almost anywhere in North America. Both are marsh-dwelling species. The first can be found from Mexico to Panama, while the second is endemic over a fairly large part of eastern Mexico.

Mexico 203

Mexico Bahamas South America Panama 203

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

Passing through the high oak dominated rainforests of Quetzal National Park, this road can also turn up Unspotted Saw-whet Owls and other species of the night but is much more birdy during the day. A bird of treeline and paramo habitats in Costa Rica and Panama, this wren is a main target for visiting birders.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Litter Farming 264