Everyone knows that there are lots of amazing birds in Costa Rica. But despite taking many of hikes with our binoculars, we have seen the most spectacular birds at our house! Let me introduce you to some of them here!
Wilson’s Warbler
This bird migrates and has a huge range! They spend the summers as far north as Alaska and the Northeastern U.S. and spend the winter in Mexico and Central America, as far south as Panama. I’ve seen both male and female warblers in the hedge outside our kitchen window, often while I am washing dishes!
Montezuma Oropendola
This bird has a really unique call that makes it stand out from the other birds. You always know when one is nearby. For several days this month we had one visiting the woods behind our house. One morning, I saw him in the nispero tree in our front yard. There are epiphytes (air plants) growing on the branches of the tree and he was either eating bugs or drinking water that was caught in the leaves of the plants. We wish he would come to visit again!
Summer Tanager
I happened to look up from my computer and glanced out the window when my eye was caught by this beautiful flash of red. At first I thought I was looking at a cardinal, but the little pointy hat that cardinals have was missing. It turns out this is another migratory bird that spends summers in the southern U.S. and winters in Central and South America, as far south as Brazil.
Great Kiskadee
These birds are everywhere, and often perch on the power lines. With their bright yellow bellies they are easy to spot, except when they sit on the nispero tree when it has ripe fruit on it – because they are exactly the same shade of yellow!
Blue-Capped Motmot
This handsome fellow is harder to spot because he likes to hang out in shady trees. We have often seen one on our walk to Sophie’s school, and in the trees at the bottom of our driveway.
Interestingly, I had become very familiar with it’s cousin, the Turquoise Browed Motmot when I lived in El Salvador. This is the national bird of both El Salvador and Nicaragua, though it is known by different names: torogoz (in El Salvador) and guardabarranco (in Nicaragua).
White-Fronted Parrots
Despite their name, these birds are mostly bright emerald green. When they fly, you can see beautiful red patches on their wings. But they are mostly noticeable for the noise they make when the get together in flocks of up to 30 birds. One day at Meeting for Worship at Sophie’s school, a flock of them held their own meeting in a tree behind the school – let’s just say it wasn’t very quiet!
Keel-Billed Toucan
You may know these from the front of a cereal box, but they are actually a real bird that is quite common here in Monteverde! We have seen several of these from a distance but Pat saw one up close in the nispero tree in our front yard and managed to make this video!
Sun Bittern
In October as we were leaving for an early morning trip we spotted a Sun Bittern out in our driveway displaying its beautiful wing pattern. It was facing off with an agouti who had all its rump hair standing on end, a trick they use to try to look bigger and more threatening. I think the Sun Bittern won this battle though!
And more!
There are other more common birds like sparrows, grackles (zanates), brown jays, chachalacas, and guan that we see all the time.
But by far the most frequent birds we see are hummingbirds. They love the Porterweed hedge around our house and we see them zipping around the flowers there every time we look outside! We have seen several different species, but because they are so small and move so fast, I am not confident in any of our identifications.
