Whenever we've gone for hikes, one or both of us would bring a camera. When we've seen birds, at Mud Lake or in the Gatineau Hills, we'd naturally capture them, or attempt to capture them, through our lenses.
When we got into kayaking, we'd often see or hear birds that we don't normally see on trails. DW, with her Canon camera and zoon lens, would listen for these birds and try to photograph them, if possible. She's captured some amazing shots.
Last year, we both downloaded a birding app, Merlin, so that we could identify the sounds we heard while hiking or kayaking. Merlin has been pretty accurate and has helped us identify so many birds.But still, we don't consider ourselves to be birders.
When we left for Costa Rica, last month, we knew that this mountainous country was full of diverse wildlife, including myriad birds. We were excited to think that we'd see and hear birds that we've never even heard of, in addition to toucans and parrots. So, when we arrived in La Fortuna, we downloaded the Costa Rican bird pack onto Merlin and put it to work.
It didn't disappoint.
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| Buff-throated Saltator |
There were so many bird species in La Fortuna that at times it felt hard to keep up. Though we hadn't intended to spend much time watching and listening to birds, we couldn't help ourselves.
In Monteverde, it was the same, as we wandered the cloud forest. We even ran into some young birders, with their binoculars, looking into a dense patch of woodland. Faster than Merlin, they'd identify the sounds and point the birds out to us.
Of course, the one bird that we thought would be great to see but didn't think we'd actually see it was the Resplendent Quetzal, which is a sacred bird and is rare to spot. And we were lucky enough to see several, in both Monteverde and in the Quetzal National Park.
Sitting on the patio, outside our Airbnb house, in Dominicalito, we'd hear so many different birds. I would activate Merlin, set my phone on the table, and in a few seconds the app would pick up half a dozen different species. It was hard not to be fascinated by the songs surrounding us.
Though we're not birders, we were certainly excited.
Upon our return, I started listing all of the birds that DW and I either heard or photographed, and I was shocked to discover that we saw and heard at least 70 different birds. Here they are, in alphabetical order:
- Acorn Woodpecker
- American Redstart
- Bananaquit
- Black Guan
- Black-hooded Antshrike
- Black Phoebe
- Blue-and-white Swallow
- Blue-black Grassquit
- Blue-black Grosbeak
- Blue-gray Tanager
- Boat-billed Flycatcher
- Bright-rumped Attila
- Brown Jay
- Buff-throated Saltator
- Chestnut-backed Antbird
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
Clay-coloured Thrush
Clay-coloured Thrush - Collared Forest Falcon
- Collared Redstart
- Collared Trogon
- Common Pauroque
- Common-tody Flycatcher
- Crested Guan
- Crimson-fronted Parakeet
- Dot-winged Antwren
- Gray-breasted Wood Wren
- Great Crested Flycatcher
- Great Curassow
- Great Kiskadee
- Great Tinamou
- Green-crowned Brilliant (hummingbird)
- Hairy Woodpecker*
- House Wren
- Indigo Bunting
- Keel-billed Toucan
- Laughing Falcon
- Lesser Greenlet
- Lesser Violetear (hummingbird)
- Melodious Blackbird
- Montezuma Oropendola
- Mountain Elaenia
Northern Emerald Toucanet
Northern Emerald Toucanet - Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush
- Orange-billed Sparrow
- Piratic Flycatcher
- Red-billed Pigeon
- Red-crowned Woodpecker
- Red-lored Parrot
- Resplendent Quetzal
- Ruddy Gound Dove
- Ruddy Pigeon
- Rufous-browed Peppershrike
- Rufous-collared Sparrow
- Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
- Scaly-breasted Hummingbird
- Scarlet-rumped Tanager
- Social Flycatcher
- Squirrel Cuckoo
- Summer Tanager
- Three-striped Warbler
- Townsend's Warbler
- Tropical Kingbird
- Violet Sabrewing (hummingbird)
- Western Flycatcher
- Western Tanager
- White-fronted Parrot
- Yellow Warbler
- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
- Yellow-headed Caracara
- Yellow-throated Toucan
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| Keel-billed Toucan |
We may not be birders but we're bird admirers. Which reminds me: I've got to replenish the seeds in our backyard bird feeder.
Happy Monday!
* We get these birds in the Ottawa area. Maybe it was on vacation, too.
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