Bird Watching on the Osa Peninsula

Fiery-billed Aracary

¨Biodiversity¨ is often the first word that comes to mind when describing Costa Rica, this tiny country contains an incredible diversity of ecosystems thanks to its varied geography and climate. Tropical dry forest, wet lowland, mountain cloud forest, and just everything in between can be found in Costa Rica. Each of these ecosystems is home to an exciting and unique set of organisms, which leads to the amazing biodiversity found within the country.

Costa Rica boasts a bird list 921 species long, nearly as many as occur in all of North America. To put this in global terms about 10% of the earth’s bird species have been found in Costa Rica, a country smaller that the state of West of Virginia and occupying only 0.03% of the world’s land mass! For this reason, Costa Rica clearly tops the wish list of the international birding community

Why the Osa Peninsula?

Thanks to Costa Rica’s excellent National Park System the south Pacific low land subregion still retains a few large tracts of protected land, most notably the magnificent Osa Peninsula. The forest that covers most of this untamed peninsula is one of the largest lowland primary forests remaining in the entire neotropics.

The south Pacific slope is of special interest to visiting birders because of its many endemic species. The Osa Peninsula has two of the 4 continental endemic species (Mangrove Hummingbird and Black-cheeked Ant-tanager). And the Mangrove Hummingbird can even be seen right from Crocodile Bay Resort’s property!

Ecosystems of the Osa Peninsula and some target birds you will see on your birding excursion to Crocodile Bay Resort;

Primary Forest

Baird’s Trogon

 

White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora)
Gray-headed Kite (Leptodon cayanensis)

Double-toothed Kite (Harpagus bidentatus)
Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)
Crested Owl (Lophostrix cristata)
Slaty-tailed Trogon  (Trogon massena)
Gartered Trogon (Trogon caligatus)
Baird’s Trogon (Trogon bairdii)
Lesson’s Motmot (Momotus lessonii)
White-necked Puffbird (Notharchus hyperrhynchus)
Great Tinamou (Tinamus major)
Mealy Parrot (Amazona farinose)

 

 

 

Secondary Forest

 

Scarlet Macaw

 

Fiery-billed Aracari (Pteroglossus frantzii)
Yellow-throated Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus)
Chestnut-backed Antbird (Poliocrania exsul)
Black-hooded Antshrike (Thamnophilus bridgesi)
Dot-winged Antwren (Microrhopias quixensis)
Red-lored Parrot (Amazona autumnalis)
Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis)
Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao)
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper (Glyphorynchus spirurus)
Cocoa Woodcreeper  (Xiphorhynchus susurrans)
Masked Tityra (Tityra semifasciata)
Riverside Wren (Cantorchilus semibadius)
Orange-billed Sparrow (Arremon aurantiirostris)
Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus)

 

Open Fields

Bananaquit

Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
Palm Tanager  (Thraupis palmarum)
Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata)
Scarlet-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii)
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila minuta)
Variable Seedeater (Sporophila corvina)
Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
Buff-throated Saltator (Saltator maximus)
Clay-colored Thrush (Turdus grayi)
Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus)
Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)

 

 

 

Shore Lines, Mangroves and Rivers

Ringed Kingfisher

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus)
Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumos)
Mangrove Hummingbird (Amazilia boucardi)
Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)
Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)
Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster)
Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus)
Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius)
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum)
White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)
Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata)
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona)
American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea)
Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana)


 

Bird Gallery