E-mail: font@focusonnature.com
Phone: Toll-free in USA 1-800-721-9986
or 302/529-1876; Fax: 302/529-1085
|
PO
Box 9021, Wilmington, DE 19809, USA E-mail: font@focusonnature.com Phone: Toll-free in USA 1-800-721-9986 or 302/529-1876; Fax: 302/529-1085 |
THE FOCUS ON NATURE BIRDING & NATURE TOUR IN COSTA RICA
March 2010
"With over 400 species of birds, some big, some small, many colorful"
The male Flame-colored Tanager
was one of the birds we enjoyed
in southern Costa Rica in March 2010
Links:
List of Birds during our Costa Rica Tours - March 2010
Cumulative List of Birds during our Costa Rica Tours (with photos)
Upcoming FONT Birding & Nature Tours in Costa Rica
The following, relating to the FONT March
2010 Costa Rica Tours, was
written by Armas Hill, the tour leader:
During the FONT tours in Costa Rica in March 2010, over 400 species of birds were found.
Mammals, during the tour, included: the Northern Tamandua (or Collared Anteater), the White-nosed Coati, 3 kinds of Monkeys (the Central American Spider, the Mantled Howler, and White-faced Capuchin), and a wild cat called the Jaguarundi.
Among the more than 400 bird
species, there were many highlights.
During our Northern Costa Rica Tour, there
were both Great Green and Scarlet
Macaws, the Agami Heron, 2 Jabirus (in the large bird
department), while
in the small bird department there a number of antbirds, including
the Ocellated, Bicolored,
and the Spotted.
Some of the birds had the
adjective Great, and they were these, all seen:
Great Tinamou, Great Potoo, and Great Curassow, with both male and
female nicely seen of the
last of these.
In far-northern Costa Rica, not far from Nicaragua, 2 species of birds were seen with the adjective Nicaraguan: the Nicaraguan Grackle and the Nicaraguan Seed-Finch, with its huge pink bill.
During our Southern
Costa Rica Tour, certainly outstanding were the Resplendent
Quetzals that we saw so nicely on tree branches in the cloud forest,
when it was not cloudy or misty, but rather as the sunshine accentuated
all the more the beauty of the birds.
27 species of hummingbirds were seen during the March 2010 FONT Costa Rica
tours, mostly in the southern part of the country. Truly there was a collective
splash of color with the half-dozen or so Fiery-throated Hummingbirds, at
one time, at one feeder, in the mountains. A throat or a gorget could not be
more colorful anywhere than were those of bright red, orange, and yellow.
Elsewhere, during our Southern Costa Rica tour, another hummingbird was a
showstopping star as a solo. It was the small, brilliantly attractive, mostly
maroon-colored male hummingbird known as the Snowcap.
Also in Southern
Costa Rica, we visited the home of the renowned naturalist, Alexander
Skutch, for the first time for us since he died, after living a century.
He passed away shortly after the current century began. We visited his
place and him, during some of our previous tours, but until now, in 2010,
we did not go back after he passed away.
Three times during our previous
visits with Mr. Skutch, we enjoyed, with him,
the sight of a Turquoise Cotinga atop a tree. This time, in March 2010,
when we went to the same porch as we had in the past, there, once again,
was a Turquoise Cotinga at the top of a tree. With that, for us, the
spirit of Alexander Skutch lived
on.
The Fiery-throated Hummingbird
If there's this much color on one bird,
imagine how much with 6 or more of them together!
FONT tour participants birding at breakfast
at Laguna del Lagarto, Costa Rica, in March 2010
(photo by Britta Biebach of Berlin, Germany)