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Costa Rica: Ornithology
Few places in the world can boast of so many different birds in such a small area: 820 species of birds — more than all of the United States and Canada combined — have been reported in Costa Rica, a country the size of West Virginia. Bird watchers are delighted when they hear that there are 75 bird families represented here that include 51 species of hummingbirds, 48 warblers, and 45 tonagers.
Not only is Costa Rica’s avifauna diverse, but also well protected by a world-renowned national park system and well studied by a long series of investigators. Living between two great continents each with its peculiar avifauna, Costa Rica is a land bridge where the faunas of the two continents meet and intermingle. Largely due to its geographical position and diversity of its habitats, Costa Rica’s avifauna is exceptionally large. In order to get a good sampling of the birds of Costa Rica, you should plan a visit to each of its four major avifaunal zones. Each zone has its own distinctive avifauna as well as vegetation and climate.
1- Northern Pacific Lowlands - Lying in the rain shadow of the central mountains, this region in northwestern Costa Rica, principally the Guanacaste province, is covered mainly by tropical dry (and moist) forests. Being the southernmost segment of the Central American dry forest avifauna, the zone consists primarily of birds of northern origin rather than southern. Two outstanding bird watching sites occur in the zone: Santa Rosa National Park and the Palo Verde National Park and Dr. Rafael Lucas Rodriguez Caballero Wildlife Refuge. Santa Rosa, located in the extreme northwestern part of the country, protects one of the few dry tropical forests remaining in Central America. Among its ten different habitat types are wooded savannahs, mangrove swamps and gallery forests. Birds are particularly easy to see in the dry season months (from December to April), when they are clustered near waterholes and in shady parts of the forest. Some of the most interesting of the park’s 260 birds are the magpie jay, long-tailed manakin, turquoise-browed motmot, and the blackheaded trogon. The other area, Palo Verde and the adjacent wildlife refuge, becomes the winter home for up to 75,000 migratory birds that arrive yearly between December and March. Located in the Tempisque river basin, the zone contains an extensive system of seasonal swamps and lagoons that support the richest freshwater avifauna in Central America. About 260 bird species have been reported from the area. Among the migratory birds are the roseate spoonbill, blue wing teal and northern shoveler. One particular bird of interest is the jabiru, a stork whose population in the country has been reduced to 30-35 individuals.
2. Chiriqui Highlands - Another distinct zone is the highlands, which form the backbone of Costa Rica and contain the cloud forests. Here the avifauna contains a rich representation of Southern or Andean types. The level of endemism is amazingly high. Some 50 species and 75 subspecies, well over half of the zone’s avifauna, are endemic to these highlands. Situated high in the mountains of the Central Cordillera, Monteverde Cloud Preserve, administered by the Tropical Science Center, is the choice site in this zone. Of its 235 species, which include the wrenthrush, three-wattled bellbird, fiery-throated hummingbird and the emerald toucanet, the resplendent quetzal is doubtless the most famous. The best time to see them is March and April, when they are breeding.
3. Caribbean Lowlands - The entire eastern half of the country is composed of lowlands where rainfall is high and uniformly distributed throughout the year. Most of the birds here are also found in South America, with such Neotropical groups as the antbirds, jacamars, toucans and tanagers well represented. Perhaps the best birding site in the zone is “La Selva” Biological Station, owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies and located where the Atlantic lowlands meet the foothills of the Central Cordillera. The species diversity is incredible (385 species!) and you’ll encounter the great tinamou, northern jacana, aztec parakeet, pale billed woodpecker, great curassow, rufous-tailed jacamar and the chestnut mandible toucan.
4. Southern Pacific Lowlands - The avifauna here is much the same as the Caribbean. Although there are numerous forms endemic to this zone, it has fewer resident land birds than the Caribbean. Corcovado National Park is the best side to view birds in this zone. With eight habitats, Corcovado, located in the extreme southwest on the Osa Peninsula, is one of the country’s most diverse parks. Within this classic jungle are 360 species which include the scarlet macaw, fiery-billed aracari, slaty-tailed trogon and blue-crowned motmot.
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