Costa Rica - bird watching

Natural History, March, 2000 by Kathryn Brennan

A WEALTH OF FLORA AND FAUNA ABOUND

NO WONDER MANY NATURALISTS SET their sights on Costa Rica. Many birders have made their first Neotropical trip to sample the varied habitats in this breathtaking natural aviary. Home to an astonishing number of diverse ecosystems, Costa Rica is one of the biologically wealthiest nations in the world. From the lush, forested slopes of its volcanoes to the coral reefs off both coasts, Costa Rica offers a sweeping panorama teeming with colorful birds.

During the past few decades, more and more Costa Ricans have come to realize the value of their natural heritage and biodiversity. Their exemplary National Conservation System is ensuring the survival of endangered species while The Costa Rica National Biodiversity Institute catalogues and studies the country's nearly overwhelming varieties of flora and fauna.

About 9,000 different kinds of flowering plants grow in Costa Rica, including more than 1,300 species of orchids. The country is also home to 209 species of mammals, 383 kinds of reptiles and amphibians, about 2,000 species of butterflies and at least 4,500 different types of moths. Although Costa Rica covers only 3.4 percent of the surface of the earth, about 5 percent of the planet's plant and animal species are found here. Nearly 850 species of birds have been identified within the country's borders, more than are found in all of the United States, Canada and the northern half of Mexico combined.

Costa Rica's forests offer a breathtaking visual backdrop for birders. Giant tropical trees create a canopy over a deep tangle of epiphytic vegetation as varied and naturally harmonic as the birds that live in their midst. Biologists have classified the diversity of forests in this region into a dozen different life zones. However, most of those forests fall into three more general groups: rain, cloud and dry forests. Rain forests, with their massive trees, very high canopies and little growth on the dimly lit forest floor, can be found in the Atlantic lowlands and the southwest.

Northwest Costa Rica contains some of the last remnants of the tropical dry forest, a less exuberant life zone that shares much of the diversity of the rain forests. Cloud forests, which cover the upper slopes of most mountains and volcanoes, are the most luxuriant of the tropical forests, with mosses and other small plants covering the trunks and branches of trees. All the forests are beautiful, and in many ways similar, but each offers glimpses of plants and animals that won't be found in the others.

Visitors to Costa Rica without wings of their own most often fly into the capital city of San Jose. Most avid birders will want to stay on the edge of town and rent a car for excursions to the surrounding countryside. Trips farther afield may be made by car or air via domestic flights. Travel packages providing transportation make touring around easiest, but intrepid self-tourists armed with reliable, up-to-date maps can easily drive themselves around most of the country.

ON A NARROW BAND OF MOIST LOWLAND forest running from Carara southeast to the Panamanian boarder, the Pacific lowlands offer some of the best birding in Costa Rica. A number of species unique to this region make this zone essential for the visiting birder. Idyllic beaches and a range of accommodations add to its allure. Near the beach town of Jaco, about two hours from San Jose lies the Carara Biological Reserve, home to a large population of scarlet macaws and acres of unspoiled Pacific lowland forest. Many tourists make this area a daytrip from San Jose, but birders will want to either get a very early start or stay over in Jaco or in Tarcoles/Playa Azul. The scarlet macaws can be seen early or late in the day as they fly between the reserve and roosting areas to the northwest. Well over 100 notable species can be easily spotted in the Carara Reserve, including the great tinamou, red-lored parrot, crimson-fronted parakeet and scarlet-rumped cacique. Other good spots for birding in the Pacific lowlands include Rio Tarcoles Estuary, the Tivives Mangroves, Manuel Antonio National Park, Corcovado National Park and the Golfito National Wildlife Refuge.

The northwestern province of Guanacaste offers easy access to the dry forest typical of western Mexico and the Pacific slope of Central America. Most of the area is deforested and carpeted with African savanna grasses, but various parks preserve patches of remnant or second-growth forest. The tropical dry forest has the most pronounced dry season of the various Costa Rican life zones, and many trees drop their leaves during the driest period, from December until March. Throughout the year, it's generally easy to spot birds in this open, sparsely vegetated country. Most species can be found in a relatively short time. Among this region's best conservation areas are the Guanacaste Conservation Area and the Santa Rosa, Palo Verde, and Barra Honda National Parks. The Hacienda La Pacifica resort complex, adjacent to these preserves, is popular with birders for the natural habitat along the river right on its grounds, where boat-billed herons come to roost. The Santa Rosa National Park offers a nice expanse of tropical dry forest, with the best birding by its beaches on the Gulf of Papagayo. Among the nearly 200 species found here are thicket tinamou, brown pelican, osprey, king vulture, and laughing gull. The marshes at the mouth of the Rio Tempisque at Palo Verde National Park are the last stronghold of the jabiru in Central America. Barra Honda National Park is known for its well-preserved limestone caves as well as consistently good birding along its trails. Relatively sparse vegetation make species like thicket tinamou, lesser ground cuckoo, and long-tailed manakin easy to observe and photograph.

The volcanic ranges that form the spine of Costa Rica -- the country's most striking geographical feature -- are the source of great biodiversity. Many of the best birding sites are within easy reach of San Jose. Most of the best sites are on the middle-elevation Caribbean slope, which has a distinctive avifauna with substantial numbers of otherwise difficult-to-find species. Braulio Carrillo National Park offers outstanding scenery and a good transect of Caribbean slope forest populated by local birds such as yellow-eared toucanet, lattice-tailed trogon, purplish-backed quail-dove, and ashy-throated bush-tanager. Other mountain sites well worth visiting include Tapanti National park, Volcan Irazu National Park, and Guayabo National Monument, the most significant pre-Columbian archeological site in the country. The Monteverde Biological Reserve is one of the most popular natural history destinations in Costa Rica, renowned as a magnificent example of cloud forest with several discernible bird habitats.

THE ATLANTIC SLOPE OF COSTA RICA offers a fine view of its avifauna along easily accessible foothills and beaches. Owned by OTS, a consortium of universities dedicated to tropical rainforest research, the Finca La Selva Reserve has an excellent trail system and a huge birdlist of well over 200 species. On the Caribbean coast south of Limon, the tourist areas of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo are good starting points for birders, and Tortuguero National Park provides a rare look at nesting sea turtles, sungrebe, green and rufous kingfisher, and rufescent tiger-heron.

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