Costa Rica - Forty Life Ticks in a Day

I treated myself to a day out with a local bird guide. It is not something that I have ever done before (although my birding buddy Dave might disagree with that statement) and I wasn't sure if I would really enjoy it. I am happy to do a lot of research when I go abroad and to pick peoples brains but I like to carry out the search and to find the birds myself. I get more of a sense of achievement that way, even if I do usually come back with less than half the number of birds that an organised tour would find.

The trouble is, that when faced with somewhere like the Santa Rosa National Park, with about 50,000 hectares of tropical dry forest, where do you start. There are no obvious birding hotspots and I could easily walk around all day and not see or hear a single bird.

Easy solution, half a day birding the Santa Rosa dry forest and half a day in the nearby rain forest with bird guide Laurens Hidalgo from Natural Discovery Costa Rica. I expected to see a lot of birds but I was just amazed at Laurens ability not only to recognise the bird calls but also to be able to mimic them and seemingly call the birds down for me to photograph.

I was picked up at 5am to start a dawn till dusk birding trip with just a couple of quick breaks for refreshment. As soon as it became light we stopped by the side of the road and Laurens pointed out Mangrove Swallows, Southern Lapwings, Double-striped Thick-knee, and a White-fronted Parrot.

Mangrove Swallows

Double-striped Thick-knee

Southern Lapwing

White-fronted Parrot

Further along the road we had Streak-backed Oriole, Gray Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Blue-black Grassquit, Rufous-naped Wren, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Yellow-naped Parrot, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and fly overs from a Harris's Hawk and a Great Blue Heron.

I soon realised that I was losing track. Did I manage to see that Harris's Hawk or not, I can't remember. There was no time to take quality pictures, I just needed to grab a record shot to look at later. Even then, I missed a few along the way.

Rufous-naped Wren

Crested Caracara

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Yellow-naped Parrot

As we pulled up in the Santa Rosa National Park a pair of Great Curassow crossed the road in front of us. By the time I got out of the van they were in the bush and although you could see movement, there was no chance of a picture. Later in the walk we had a Thicket Tinamou. All you could see was a vague outline and a pair of red legs moving through the undergrowth.

Photography under the canopy was again difficult with high ISO levels and slow shutter speeds but there were still some good picture opportunities.

Tennessee Warbler

Banded Wren

Rufous-capped Warbler

Yellow-olive Flycatcher

White-lored Gnatcatcher

Northern-beardless Tyrannulet

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Barred Antshrike

Under pressure again. I could hear Laurens calling American Redstart but I hadn't got a picture of the  Barred Antshrike yet or of its mate or of the Rufous-capped Warbler I could see out of the corner of my eye. Switch and risk missing them both or stay with the Antshrike and hope I got another chance at the Redstart later. I did stick and I didn't get another chance, so that's one for another day.

I also remember missing out on a Squirrel Cuckoo somewhere around this point but I did at least manage to catch sight of that a bit later.

Female Barred Antshrike

Rufous-capped Warbler

Streak-headed Woodcreeper - the only woodcreeper I had already seen

Black-and-white Warbler  -  should have got it sharp

Stripe-headed Sparrow

Orange-fronted Parakeets

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Western Wood-Pewee

Yellow-throated Vireo

Long-tailed Manakin

Just a few of the mornings birds. A short journey over to the other side of the Pan-American Highway and up into the wet forest area, a quick lunch and we were birding again.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Bronze Cowbird

Green Honeycreeper

Gray-capped Flycatcher

Common Tody-Flycatcher

Yellow-throated Euphonia

Grey-crowned Yellowthroat

House Wren

Thick-billed Seed-Finch

Female Thick-billed Seed-Finch

Blue-black Grosbeak

Tody Motmot  -  a rare bird for Costa Rica

Common Pauraque

The Parauque obviously thought we could not see it and it was nearly right. Well camouflaged behind undergrowth - 420mm lens  ISO3200  f6.3 at 1/3 of a second. The Schiffornis below a little easier at 1/15 of a second.

Northern Schiffornis

Keel-billed Toucan

We finished off in the wet forest area at a hummingbird lek. Fascinating to watch but unfortunately in a very dark part of the forest. I don't use flash so there was no real chance of any pictures but I did at least get to see one new Hummingbird, the Long-billed Hermit.

Time to head home but we still managed to pick up three new birds on the way.

Eastern Meadowlark

American Kestrel

And as the sun was setting one final bird to close the day on a high.

Jabiru

A long day but really rewarding. I recorded more than seventy birds, managed to photograph most of them,  and am currently standing at 39 life ticks, far more than I could have hoped to find by myself.
I did miss a few, Laurens was trying his best, but there were a couple that I just could not get onto and there were others that I saw but where I just couldn't get a picture. I still have a couple of birds to identify so I may yet make it to 40.

Would I get help from a bird guide again? Yes definitely, it was well worth the money. Laurens was great company but also very professional in the way he was able pitch the tour to my skill level.


Overall on my two weeks in Costa Rica I have seen 137 new birds. Not too bad for a non-birding holiday and without a single complaint from my wife (yet).


Thinking of contacting a bird guide in Costa Rica? Get in touch with Laurens via

Birding in Costa Rica - Natural Discovery Costa Ricaa

Birding in Costa Rica - Natural Discovery Costa Ricaa Natural Discovery organises and leads birding and nature tours around the Costa Rica

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