Introduction:
We spent two weeks in
We did have to alter our original itinerary as the devastating earthquake of January 2009 wiped out the highway passing through La Paz Waterfall Gardens-Cinchona-Virgen de Socorro, in addition to obliterating a number of homes and business and claiming over 20 lives.
We had birded in
Areas Visited:
Santo Domingo (suburb of San Jose)
Carara National Park and
surroundings
Monteverde
Arenal Volcano
Bijagua
Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui
Lodging:
Hotel Bougainvillea (3/27-3/28 & 4/8-4/9)
Made reservations over the web. Very nice hotel and fabulous gardens. Good dining and a nice pool.
Villa Lapas (3/28-3/30)
Made reservations and prepaid over the web. Perhaps pricey but all meals are included, some nice trails and very convenient location. Rooms basic.
Trapp Family Lodge (3/30-4/1)
Made reservations and paid over the web.
Convenient location, good restaurant.
Observatory Lodge (4/1-4/3)
Made reservations over the web. Fantastic views of volcanos, a number of nice trails and nice gardens.
Heliconias Lodge (4/3-4/4)
Made reservation through e-mail. Had heard about this place in a trip report. Basic accommodations, on site dining, trails which I really liked. We would have liked to stay one more day, but time doesn't stop.
La Selva OTS Research Station (4/4-4/6)
Reserved via the web and sent them a check to an office in the United States. They only wanted two persons in a room and we're going to charge us for two rooms. After some back and forth e-mail that the resulting price didn't reflect that our daughters are so young, they cut us a deal. I was pushing towards all four of us staying in one room and paying a little more than the one room price, but they actually gave us two rooms.
Hotel Gavilan (4/6-4/7)
I made reservations via e-mail for two nights and the hotel was fine, though a little basic.
Selva Verde (4/7-4/8)
My wife was under the impression we would stay at Selva Verde and not Hotel Gavilan, so after one night at the latter we checked at the Selva Verde to see if they have a room for one night and they did.
Car Rental: We had heard from a couple sources that Adobe rental was good and booked with them a couple months in advance via the web. We should have received a confirmation via e-mail but didn't. A couple weeks later we called and spoke in English with someone and they said they would send an e-mail and we were told a price about $15 higher, which was nothing to complain about. We didn't get an e-mail and I called again a couple of weeks later and spoke with someone else who told me a price a couple hundred dollars higher and when I said this wasn't agreeable they gave an e-mail address. I sent the e-mail, a lady from Adobe apologized and they gave me a discount of over one hundred dollars. Needless to say I ws content. We rented a Hyundai Tucson 4-wheel drive. It worked out very nice for the four of us and our luggage. Air conditioning worked well and we never put it in 4-wheel drive. The Adobe folks met us at the airport and took us to pick up the car, and when we were done they stopped by the Hotel Bougainvillea to pick it up. We checked the prices of a few other rental agencies and Adobe's price was very competitive, if not the lowest for some of the car categories.
Guides: We benefitted from some of the guides at Carara who were guiding others, in particular for pointing us to a manikin lek as well as a scarlet macaw nest. The guides on the Jungle Crocodile Safari, while focusing a good deal on crocodiles, were kind enough to look for birds while not facing down a croc. We did a free guided tour at Arenal Observatory Lodge, but it didn't add much to birding on our own. Donald, at Heliconias Lodge in Bijagua, and who can be contacted through the lodge, was very knowledgable, considerate and hard working. I'd definitley recommend him. The guide who conducted the free tour at La Selva, Edgardo, was surprisingly knowledgable regarding not only birds, but plants, mammals, insects and just about everything there. He used a red laser pointer to point near birds in the trees at times. At Braulio Carillo we were guided by Gerardo Vega Chavarria ( baryphthengus at gmail.com ) who met us at our hotel early and we returned at about 1pm. Gerardo was excellent, knowing both flora and fauna, very knowledgable about the bird songs and where to see the different species in the Puerto Viego de Sarapiqui area. I highly recommend him. He made use of a green laser and it was neat to see how fish congregated around it when he shined it in a small pool. We appreciated the young guide at Selva Verde who lead a nice trip and pointed out two nests. The operator/guide on the Sarapiqui River Boat Tour was very good, pointing out birds and getting some excellent looks at some roosting bats; all with no binoculars!
References:As far as bird books, I found The Birds of Costa Rica by Garrigues and Dean to be quite nice and just brought this one along. We found Moon Handbooks Costa Rica by Christopher Baker very informative. The waterproof map of Costa Rica from mapcr.com was very good both for the country and the detailed city maps, though it's not easy to write on with pens as it is waterproof. I also relied on a number of trip reports, the generation and posting of which I appreciate very much; it was the first five which I benefited most from, though all were of interest: Mark Gurney's report from 2007; Birdfinders' tour to Costa Rica 2007; Birdfinders' tour to Costa Rica 2008; John Keep's Birding Costa Rica 2006 report; Cotinga tours tour to Costa Rica 2006, by Paco Madrigal; Anna Galles' report from 2008; Martyn Anderson and Liz Naughton's report from 2005; VENT advertisement for Best of Costa Rica II 2009; Nick Kontonicolas's Birds of Costa Rica.
Birding/Counting Approach: We were not attempting to see/count every species we came across. There were some species we didn't really look at: we passed some gulls and never lifted our binoculars, and some swallows were clearly ones we knew already so we passed on them. Perhaps a dozen species went uncounted. We also make it a point to only count as seen those that we got proof-positive looks at. We did hear the crested owl, ferruginous pygmy-owl and nightingale wren for extended periods of time and are certain they were nearby. The other heards were perhaps deemed definitive by a guide near us, but we couldn't be sure.
Detailed account:
March 27, Friday
We arrived in
March 28, Saturday
We birded the grounds of Hotel Bougainvillea in the morning and also spent a little time in the pool. We saw: inca dove, squirrel cuckoo, rufous-tailed hummingbird, blue-crowned motmot, rufous-naped wren, plain wren, clay-colored robin, blue-gray tanager, rufous-colored sparrow, grayish saltator, melodius blackbird, baltimore oriole, tennessee warbler, yellow warbler, blue-and-white swallow, and turkey vulture. Also had a fly over of some parrots and saw a thrush looking quite like a veery, but was uncertain. The swallows were cruising the pool area. Hoped to see at least one more sparrow species but was unable to locate any other than the rufous-collared.
Before lunch we headed out towards Orotina. We missed the turn off to Hwy 3 and were on Hwy 1 instead. We took the paved road 131 over to Orotina from Hwy 3, after stopping at a large lunch/snack operation on Hwy 3. It was warming up nicely and there was a parade with vigorous bands in full swing around the central square in Orotina. Having read of the black-and-white owl pair in the central square in front of the main church I set out to 'find' them. It turns out the central square is full of many very large, leafy trees. I asked three people if they knew of the whereabouts but only had one man point out the sloth(s) sleeping up in one tree. I then asked a shaved-iced proprietor and he knew exactly where they were and precisely where I had to stand to see them. I then went back to the car while my wife went to the owls and I waited in the car. We gave the proprietor a tip. The noise of the bands was overwhelming and the square and streets were full of onlookers, so I was not very optimistic we would succeed. Some other birders were present, apparently with a guide, and also benefited from the information gleaned from the shaved ice proprietor.
We then headed to the Villa Lapas hotel, near the mouth of the Rio Tarcoles and
We went to the mouth of the Rio Tarcoles to enquire about a boat trip with Jungle Crocodile Safari the next day; you make a right off the highway instead of the left which would bring you to Villa Lapas. On the dirt road we saw gray hawk, while a quick stop at the beach yielded magnificent frigatebird, brown pelican, some terns and blue-gray tanager.
We got to Villa Lapas a little before dark and birded briefly, seeing rose-breasted grosbeak, summer tanager, kiskadee and social flycatcher. We also glimpsed a creeper and were serenaded by pauraque. We thought we heard vermiculated screech owl, but it was probably frogs which we later heard in Saripique.
March 29, Sunday
We birded the grounds of Villa
Lapas in the morning before breakfast.
We stayed in room 150 near the end of the road.
There was a guided group of birders outside
our room as we started to bird around the grounds. We saw:
red-legged honeycreeper, buff-rumped warbler, white ibis, spotted
sandpiper, green honeycreeper, golden hooded tanager,
From 8am to 11:30am we birded
Back at Villa Lapas we had lunch, utilized the pool and then headed over to the mouth of the Rio Tarcoles for the Jungle Crocodile Safari boat trip which started at 3:30. There were about four parties on the boat and most seemed interested in seeing birds but we were the only people really focused on birding. One of the boat operators got out on two occasions to feed chicken to a couple of huge crocodiles and also some smaller ones. The operator doing the narrating we had earlier seen as a guide at Carara and he was very knowledgable of the birdlife. We headed upriver a little, then out to the salt water of the ocean and then inwards into some mangroves. A very good relaxing trip in the roofed boat. We saw: black-bellied whistling duck, anhinga, neotropic cormorant, brown pelican, frigatebird, great egret, snowy egret, cattle egret, great blue heron, little blue heron, green heron, tricolored heron, boat-billed heron, barn swallow, mangrove swallow, amazon kingfisher, great-tailed grackle, mangrove hawk, turkey vulture, osprey, yellow-headed caracara, northern jacana, southern lapwing, black-necked stilt, spotted sandpiper, yellow-naped parrot. The barn swallow and southern lapwing were considered 'bonus' birds by the operator as they are not so commonly seen.
March 30, Monday
We birded the grounds, including the river, of Villa Lapas in the morning before breakfast, had breakfast and then birded the trails at Villa Lapas. It was a couple hours in total. In the trails, which start after crossing the hanging bridge at the end of the road we had great looks at a red-eyed tree frog and a black and blue frog as well as our first blue morpho butterfly. During our romp around the grounds we saw: red-crowned woodpecker, bare-throated tiger heron, streaked flycatcher, buff-rumped warbler, long-billed hermit, green kingfisher. On the trails we saw: white-tipped dove, fiery billed aracari, blue-crowned motmot, black-faced antthrush, orange-billed sparrow, yellow-throated euphonia, brown jay, blue-black grosbeak, rufous-naped wren, common tody flycatcher, blue-gray tanager, golden-crowned spadebill and some type of creeper. We then took a trip up the hill to the Pura Vida Gardens, which are for sale. These are fantastic gardens with many of the paths paved. We saw: rufous-tailed hummingbird, yellow-bellied flycatcher, yellow-faced grassquit, rufous-naped wren, king vulture, orange-chinned parakeet, scarlet macaw and ruddy ground-dove.
After lunch we drove to MonteVerde where we checked in and had a nice meal at the Trapp Family Lodge. We didn't find the dirt roads to MonteVerde to be too rough to result in any stress, but the prospect of encountering a head on car in a tight spot was a little stressful. On the drive we saw: brown jay, groove-billed ani, white-throated magpie jay and white-fronted parrot.
March 31, Tuesday
We had breakfast and headed over to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. They suggested a route and indicated which trails were closed and we headed out. We got some great looks at howler monkeys and while the birding was not fast paced, saw some real beauties. We saw: slate-throated redstart, purple-throated mountain gem hummingbird, black-faced solitaire, streak-breasted treehunter, three-striped warbler, yellow-bellied flycatcher, common bush-tanager, spangle-cheeked tanager, collared redstart, stripe-tailed hummingbird, gray-breasted woodwren, white-throated robin, silver-throated tanager. The treehunter gave us great views for several minutes.
We went to the hummingbird garden/cafe just outside the entrance and watched in amazement the hummers, and had a nice coffee and piece of cake. We saw: violet sabrewing, green-crowned brilliant, green violet-ear, purple-throated mountain-gem and magenta-throated woodstar. We then went to stella's bakery for lunch and did the cheese factory tour, which was very interesting. In driving around to these locations and walking around the hotel grounds we saw: emerald toucanet, great-tailed grackle, hoffman's woodpecker, house wren, blue-gray tanager, rufous-collared sparrow, brown jay, turquoise-browed motmot and black guan.
April 1, Wednesday
We skipped breakfast and headed to the parking area of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, arriving at about 6am. We had heard that quetzals are often seen here before the 7am opening time. Sure enough, at 6:30am a pair of quetzals flew in and perched in a tree in the parking lot. When we left at about 7am they were still in the area. We also saw: black guan, plain wren, white-throated robin, mountain robin, clay-colored robin, grackle, slate-throated redstart and yellow-faced grassquit.
We made a stop at the
We headed out to Arenal via Tilaran and found the drive gorgeous. En route to Tilaran we saw: Baltimore oriole, yellow-faced grassquit, white-winged dove and eastern meadowlark. From Tilaran to Arenal, going around the lake, and including a stop at the delicious Macademia Cafe which had a nice big deck to bird off of, we saw: collared aracari, passerini's tanager, grey-crowned yellowthroat, yellow-crowned euphonia, montezuma's oropendula, house wren, bronzed cowbird, yellow-bellied elaenia, great egret, cattle egret, grey-headed chachalaca, brown jay, white-throated magpie jay and in the evening we were serenaded by common pauraque. Up to this point we've seen 53 new species.
April 2, Thursday
We woke up in room 15 of the Smithsonian part of the Arenal Observatory Lodge with fantastic views of the
Arenal Volcano, and also had heard our first howler monkeys of the
trip.
We took a walk down the nearby waterfall
trail, but bypassed the steep stairs to the waterfall and instead went to the
footbridge across the river and crossed over it and returned.
We then had breakfast and spent some time by
the pool.
Before taking a late lunch we
took the 'easy' trail behind the restaurant down to another river.
This was very steep and we saw no birds.
The birds were seen on the waterfall trail,
eating the fruit put out around the restaurant and in the surrounding area, as
well as in the gardens between the pool and the Smithsonian section of
rooms.
In particular, the Jamaican
vervain generously growing in the gardens attracted a number of hummingbirds
which were active throughout the day.
We
saw:
crested guan, semiplumbeous hawk, red-billed
pigeon, collared aracari, black-cheeked woodpecker, spotted antbird, blue-and-white
swallow, house wren, stripe-breasted wren, golden-crowned warbler, passerini's
tanager, blue-gray tanager, green honeycreeper, red-legged honeycreeper, variable
seedeater, black-striped sparrow, rufous-collared sparrow, bronzed cowbird, montezuma's
oropendola, bananaquit, white-necked Jacobin, violet-crowned woodnymph, rufous-tailed
hummingbird, black-crested coquette, fiery-throated hummingbird, crimson-collared
tanager, keel-billed toucan, bay-headed tanager, tropical parula, palm tanager.
We heard nightingale wren and a tinamou.
We had now been in
April 3, Friday
We decided today was going to be the least intensive day of birding. We birded just outside the room, went to breakfast and set out with the free guided birding at 8am. We didn't complete the walk as the second part went down the waterfall trail where we had been the day before. We went to the pool and then went to lunch, where there was a loud report from the volcano followed by a rather large puff of smoke: great stuff but humbling. We then set out to go through La Fortuna to get on Highway 4, go up to Upala and then down to Bijagua and then to Heliconias Lodge for only one night. The drive was much less stressful than anticipated and the scenery once again delightful. At Arenal we saw: blue-throated goldentail, purple crowned fairy, chestnut-sided warbler and southern rough-winged swallow. En route to Bijagua we saw: white-throated magpie jay, great egret, stork, red-billed pigeon, white-winged dove and variable seedeater. We did part of a loop trail at Heliconias Lodge at the end of the day and saw: red throated ant tanager, house wren, black-throated trogan, blue-crowned motmot, one of the toucans and almost certainly a mountain thrush though the light was quite poor when viewing the latter. The red throated ant tanagers were a nesting pair.
April 4, Saturday
We had indicated in our e-mails that we would like a birding guide and on Friday night confirmed that we still wanted one and the lodge made arrangements for a local guide. In the morning we met our guide, Donald, from Bijagua and birded the hanging bridges trail at Heliconias Lodge. Donald is an excellent birder and I highly recommend him. He uses his hearing a lot and the trails were full of screaming cicadas. Donald indicated he didn't recall hearing it so loud ever before; apparently conditions were ideal for the cicadas. We birded from 6:30am for over three hours, with the cicadas quieting down after the first hour. The bridges were bigger than any others we had been on and the height was impressive. Whereas we typically bird by sight, we now entered a situation where some of the birds we heard could be positively id'd by Donald but we would not see them. After the trail we had a big breakfast, slowly packed up and left the lodge to drive to La Selva. At Heliconias we heard a crested owl near our cabin the night before and before Donald arrived we saw: rufous-tailed hummingbird, swallow-tailed kite, green honeycreeper and a saltator. With Donald we saw: brown-hooded parrot, blue-throated goldentail, violet-crowned woodnymph, black-throated trogon, olive-backed euphonia, blue-black grosbeak, olive tanager, three-striped warbler, white-breasted woodwren, collared aracari, scale crested pygmy tyrant, white-ruffed manakin, lesser greenlet, stripe-breasted wren and a toucan. We also heard with Donald: great currasow, spotted antbird, broad-billed motmot, black-headed nightingale thrush and song wren. The pygmy tyrant gave wonderful views.
On the drive to La Selva we saw: yellow-faced grassquit, white-collared seedeater and crested caracara. Arriving at La Selva one had the sense this was a special place. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Outside our rooms, which were Arriera 3 and 4, as night was coming on we saw: masked tityra, chestnut-mandibled toucan, palm tanager and house wren. We were serenaded by pauraque and what appeared to be an owl was heard in the distance.
April 5, Sunday
We had breakfast in the cafeteria at La Selva and went over by the reception area and met Edgardo, our guide for the free 8am guided walk. Also present were a couple from New Hampshire. Edgardo was knowledgeable regarding a number of areas, and was very good with the birds. As with Donald, we had some heard-but-not-seen birds. We birded the trail that goes from the reception to the Arriera complex and then crossed the bridge and birded an area of primary forest. The first trail was quite birdy, but when it was quiet Edgardo lectured on various topics as we walked. It was around 3 hours of walking. We saw: collared aracari, boat-billed flycatcher, rufous mourner, passerini's tanager, plain brown creeper, black-crowned tityra, olive-backed euphonia, summer tanager, blue dacnis, chestnut-mandibled toucan, cinnamon woodpecker, bright-rumped attila, broad-billed motmot, gray-chested dove, great currasow, green macaw, turkey vulture, black vulture, gray-capped flycatcher, rufous motmot. We heard: white-ringed flycatcher, streak headed creeper, white-winged becard, rufous piha, slaty-tailed trogon, black-throated wren, rufous-tailed jacamar, white-collared manakin, scarlet-rumped cacique, black-headed saltator, red-throated ant-tanager, stripe-breasted wren, paltry tyrannulet, blue-black grosbeak, olive-throated parrot, squirrel cuckoo, black-capped pygmy-tyrant. 87 new species seen so far; not counting heard ones.
noAfter the walk we saw groove-billed anni and long-tailed tyrannulet at the Arriera building.
We then went to the Pali supermarket in Sarapiqui and relaxed for a while. We then took a walk on nearby trails before dinner, seeing: green honeycreeper, black-cheeked woodpecker, white-collared manakin, scarlet tanager, blue dacnis, long-tailed tyrannulet, band-backed wren, bananaquit, cinnamon becard, smoky woodpecker, cinnamon woodpecker, red-throated ant-tananger, rufous-tailed jacamar, crimson-fronted parakeet, barred hawk. The jacamar was taking a dust bath in the road, providing excellent views, and the barred hawk was soaring in circles.
April 6, Monday
We had breakfast in the cafeteria at La Selva and went then headed out to Sendero Tres Rios for a walk, having read an account that this is a birdy trail. The river trail itself was quite quiet, and the area around the buildings before and after the walk on the trail provided most of the birds. We saw: common tody flycatcher, golden hooded tanager, neotropic cormorant, collared aracari, montezuma's oropendula, keel-billed toucan, green ibis, broad-billed motmot, rufous-tailed hummer, long-billed hermit, orange-chinned parakeet, white-crowned parrot baby in nest a guide pointed out to us, cinnamon becard at nest, great currasow, chestnut-sided warbler, hooded warbler, black-cowled oriole. We also saw a rather small coiled up snake with a diamond shaped head and a large 7+ foot snake which crossed the path right in front of us.
We had lunch and checked out of La Selva and headed over to Hotel Gavilan a few kilometers away in Sarapiqui for the night. They were very kind and filled up a small pool for us and we birded the grounds for a couple of hours. The area by the river was scraped away quite a bit by the river after the earthquake in January. We saw on the grounds: white-crowned parrot, common tody flycatcher, palm tanager, passerini's tanager, blue and gray tanager, dusky-faced tanager, yellow-bellied eleania, clay-colored robin, bananaquit, yellow warbler, house wren, social flycatcher, black-cheeked woodpecker, pale-vented pigeon, black-cowled oriole and shiny honeycreeper. A number of the birds were seen while soaking our legs in the pool and we saw a few nests being attended to.
April 7, Tuesday
We had made arrangements with Gerardo to bird 1/2 day at
After about three hours we headed to the no-longer-running butterly farm at El Tapir, just before Braulio Carillo. There is a considerable amount of Jamaican vervain there and this attracts a number of hummingbirds. We saw: white-shouldered tanager, chestnut-sided warbler, black-and-white warbler, black-and-yellow tanager, blue-gray tanager, house wren, violet-crowned woodnymph, rufous-tailed hummer, long-billed hermit, violet-header hummer, green thorntail.
We returned to the Hotel Gavilan where Gerardo's truck was parked at about 12:45.
The night before we had checked with Selva Verde about availability and booked a room for one night. We headed over for lunch. During the earthquake of January the river had knocked out the foot bridge across the river and heavily modified the borders of the river. I asked a young man about the possibility of sunbittern, and he turned out to be one of the guides who did the free guided walks two times a day: Alejandro. He and I took a walk along the river and made a quick visit to the botanical garden across the street. Later I spent some time by the pool with my family. We saw: great kiskadee, social flycatcher, montezuma's oropendola, chestnut oropendola, buff-rumped warbler, summer tanager, spotted sandpiper, northern barred creeper, sulphur-bellied flycatcher, chestnut-mandibled toucan, bright-rumped attila, and stripe-throated hermit. The attila was nesting in the area where the rooms are and the hermit was nesting in the botanical garden.
April 8, Wednesday
We decided to do the free 6am birdwalk at Selva Verda and headed out with Alejandro and about eight other guests at the lodge. On the grounds we saw: bare-throated tiger-heron, clay-colored robin, buff-rumped warbler, passerini's tanager, bright-rumped attila, rufous-tailed hummer, social flycatcher, white-crowned parrot, blue-gray tanager, orange-billed sparrow, toucan, crimson-fronted parakeet, stripe-throated hermit, kiskadee, red-legged honeycreeper, violet-crowned woodnymph, olive-throated parakeet and just before leaving the hotel at the end of the day we got great looks at a female white-collared manakin.
We had breakfast and afterwards, based on the fact that we'd
be heading back to
After the boat trip we packed up an made our way to
Arrived at the Hotel Bougainvillea and just before sunset birded the gardens a little, seeing: melodius blackbird, gray saltator, clay-colored robin, rufous-naped wren and rufous-collared sparrow.
Adobe car came by to pick up the rented car.
April 9, Thursday
Left Hotel Bougainvillea at about 3:45 am, arriving by taxi
to the airport at about 4:30. We paid
$26 per person visitor fee and departed back to
The list:
We saw + heard 229 species; 210 were seen; 116 of the seen were new for us; 132 of the seen + heard were new for us.
black-bellied whistling duck
great-currasow
gray-headed
chachalaca
black guan
crested guan
brown pelican
neotropic cormorant
anhinga
magnificent frigatebird
wood stork
bare-throated tiger-heron
little blue heron
great egret
great blue heron
cattle egret
snowy egret
green heron
tricolored heron
boat-billed heron
roseate spoonbill
white ibis
green ibis
sunbittern
black vulture
turkey vulture
king vulture
osprey
swallow-tailed kite
semiplumbeous hawk
barred hawk
gray hawk
mangrove black-hawk
bat falcon
crested caracara
yellow-headed
caracara
northern jacana
sungrebe
southern lapwing
black-necked stilt
spotted sandpiper
white-winged dove
inca dove
pale-vented pigeon
red-billed pigeon
ruddy ground-dove
white-tipped dove
gray-chested dove
crimson-fronted
parakeet
olive-throated parrot
orange-chinned
parakeet
brown-hooded parrot
white-crowned parrot
great green macaw
scarlet macaw
white-fronted parrot
mealy parrot h
yellow-naped parrot
squirrel cuckoo
smooth-billed ani
groove-billed ani
crested owl h
black-and-white owl
ferruginous pygmy-owl h
common pauraque
stripe-throated
hermit
long-billed hermit
white-tipped
sicklebill
violet sabrewing
fiery-throated
hummingbird
green-crowned
brilliant
purple-crowned fairy
white-necked jacobin
violet-crowned
woodnymph
blue-throated
goldentail
rufous-tailed
hummingbird
green violet-ear
stripe-tailed
hummingbird
purple-throated
mountain-gem
black-crested
coquette
green thorntail
violet-headed
hummingbird
magenta-throated
woodstar
black-headed trogon
black-throated trogon
resplendent quetzal
slaty-tailed trogon h
blue-crowned motmot
rufous motmot
broad-billed motmot
turquoise-browed motmot
ringed kingfisher
green kingfisher
amazon kingfisher
rufous-tailed jacamar
emerald toucanet
chestnut-mandibled
toucan
keel-billed toucan
collared aracari
firey-billed aracari
black-cheeked
woodpecker
hoffman's woodpecker
red-crowned
woodpecker
smoky-brown
woodpecker
cinnamon woodpecker
buff-throated foliage-gleaner h
streak-breasted
treehunter
northern barred-creeper
wedge-billed creeper
plain brown
woodcreeper
streak-headed creeper h
cocoa creeper
chestnut-backed antbird h
dull-mantled antbird
spotted antbird
dot-winged antwren
black-faced antthrush
golden-crowned
spadebill
paltry tyrannulet h
yellow-bellied
elaenia
piratic flycatcher h
common tody
flycatcher
black-capped pygmy-tyrant h
scale-crested pygmy
tyrant
bright-rumped attila
rufous mourner
long-tailed tyrant
yellow-bellied flycatcher
boat-billed flycatcher
great kiskadee
white-ringed flycatcher h
social flycatcher
gray-capped
flycatcher
streaked flycatcher
sulphur-bellied
flycatcher
eastern kingbird
rufous piha h
cinnamon becard
white-winged becard h
masked tityra
black-crowned tityra
white-collared manakin
orange-collared
manakin
white-ruffed manakin
lesser greenlet
green shrike-vireo h
white-throated magpie-jay
brown jay
blue-and-white
swallow
mangrove swallow
southern rough-winged
swallow
barn swallow
tawny-faced gnatwren
long-billed gnatwren
rufous-naped wren
band-backed wren
stripe-breasted wren
riverside wren
plain wren
black-throated wren
house wren
song wren h
white-breasted woodwren
gray-breasted woodwren
nightingale wren h
black-headed nightingale-thrush h
black-faced solitaire
white-throated robin
clay-colored robin
mountain robin
tennessee warbler
tropical parula
yellow warbler
chestnut-sided warbler
black-and-white warbler
hooded warbler
buff-rumped warbler
gray-crowned yellowthroat
collared redstart
slate-throated redstart
three-striped warbler
golden-crowned warbler
bananaquit
red-throated ant-tanager
common bush-tanager
olive-tanager
dusky-faced tanager
white-shouldered
tanager
tawny-crested tanager
blue-and-gold tanager h
black-and-yellow
tanager
summer tanager
scarlet tanager
passerini's tanager
crimson-collared
tanager
golden-hooded tanager
bay-headed tanager
spangle-cheeked
tanager
silver-throated
tanager
blue-gray tanager
palm tanager
blue dacnis
green honeycreeper
shining honeycreeper
red-legged
honeycreeper
white-collared seedeater
variable seedeater
yellow-faced grassquit
orange-billed sparrow
black-striped sparrow
stripe-headed sparrow
rufous-collared
sparrow
grayish saltator
black-headed saltator h
blue-black grosbeak
rose-breasted grosbeak
painted bunting
eastern meadowlark
melodius blackbird
great-tailed grackle
bronzed cowbird
black-cowled oriole
baltimore oriole
scarlet-rumped cacique
montezuma oropendola
chestnut-headed
oropendola
olive-backed euphonia
yellow-throated euphonia
yellow-crowned euphonia