21 February 2020

The Edges of Costa Rica -- Deep South

Last fall, my back-to-back Jamaica tours were my last of the year.  I had a quiet December that transitioned into 2020 and a busy start of the year for me.  Next destination?  Costa Rica!

The "Birding the Edges" tours that we run there take birders to less-traveled parts of the country.  Of course, as always, you can find a lot more info about the tour here.

After arriving and looking out from the room balcony, it was hard not to contrast where I just came from with what I was seeing:

Further exploration of the back gardens yielded a few gaudy avian prizes like this LESSON'S MOTMOT:

One of the main targets in central Costa Rica is the now-endemic CABANIS'S GROUND-SPARROW which I found nicely near the hotel:

The Edges Part 1 tour was quite good for hummingbirds and we tallied about 30 different species.  Included was this WHITE-THROATED MOUNTAIN-GEM:

... and this STRIPE-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD:

This is a MANGROVE HUMMINGBIRD and it's another species that's only found in Costa Rica.  As you can see, we saw it quite nicely!

This charming hummingbird is a CHARMING HUMMINGBIRD at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge:

As is typical with much of the Neotropics, one can expect a fun variety of tanagers and included in that list was the aptly-named SILVER-THROATED TANAGER:

And although this stunner is called a GREEN HONEYCREEPER, it's also a tanager:

Nearly endemic to Costa Rica, one of the tougher species to find in the country is the COSTA RICAN BRUSHFINCH.  We were sweating it until, finally, we found a couple!

A lot of birders really like the trogons.  This is a COLLARED TROGON:

And who doesn't like a GREEN HERON when they pose so nicely?

Anyway, Edges Part I was a success and I think we all enjoyed our time exploring the southern reaches of the country.  I'll leave you with this view to help melt your frozen winter blues: