Whether you’re a seasoned birder seeking the world’s top birding locations, an eco friendly nature lover, or trying to find a way to entertain the kids, birdwatching in Costa Rica is an obvious choice. With over 890 species recorded to date, the neotropical environment boasts the greatest density of bird species of any continental American country. The jungles, rainforests, mountains, mangrove swamps, and coastlines of the country offer a rich birding experience unlike any other. You can book a guided tour or take your sweet time ambling among the vegetation to discover the birds of Costa Rica.
Resplendent Quetzal
Touted as one of the most beautiful birds in the world, the quetzal has a shimmering emerald green body, red belly, and blue back, along with a long blue and green tail, nearly twice as long as its 15 inch body. Representing freedom and wealth, the bird was the Aztecs’ and Mayas’ most sacred symbol, and the tribes often traded the quetzal’s feathers.
Quetzals call the mountainous cloud forests of Costa Rica their home, spending most of the year alone, until they mate between March and June and produce two blue eggs. They feed on fruit, especially avocados, insects and even lizards and frogs. Because the quetzal’s existence is threatened by the destruction of its habitat, Costa Rica’s protected land preserves provide habitat for the birds and give ecotourists and birdwatchers the opportunity to marvel at its magnificence.
Scarlet Macaw
The macaw is a sheer explosion of color: the plumage is mainly scarlet, with light blue tail feathers, yellow and darker blue on the wings, and dark red with metallic gold iridescence on the wing and tail flight feathers.
These birds prefer to live in the humid, evergreen forests of the tropical regions, and can live between 30 and 50 years in the wild. They eat mostly fruits and seeds and generally travel alone or in pairs. Very vocal, you will hear the distinctive loud, low pitched, throaty squawks, squeaks, and screams of the macaw overhead.
Toucans
Costa Rica has six different toucan species found in the lowlands and tropical rainforests. Each has the hallmark bright billed beak that it uses to forage into holes within trees and to pick fruit. The color and size of the toucan vary among the species, but all toucans like to eat fleshy fruits such as papaya, berries, and palm.
Toucans are very playful birds and provide hours of entertainment for birdwatchers as they use their bills to tussle with each other in the trees. They nest in tree holes and lay two to four eggs up to three times a year.
Hummingbirds
Currently, there are 51 species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica. These birds are often described as tiny high speed machines. The hum they are named for is made by the beat of their wings, which move so rapidly that the human eye cannot detect it. And they can even fly backwards!
In the tropical lowlands and cool cloud forests, you can find them hovering around flowers, where they extract nectar and insects with their long, hollow tongues. Their vibrant, shimmering colors and ability to magically hover in mid air for long periods of time, makes the hummingbird a crowd favorite.
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