BIRDING ROAD TRIP - Costa Rica 2018
Here are some photos from the epic road trip thru Costa Rica with Tropical Feathers and founder Noel Ureña
(January 21 - February 12, 2018)

Hummingbirds, Owls & Night Birds
 - Bird List from trip by location is on Page 5 -

 

Itinerary:
Jan 21 Arrive in Costa Rica - Hotel Bougainvillea Part One (link)
Jan 22-24 La Selva Biological Station
Jan 25-26 Poas Volcano Lodge
Jan 27-28 Natural Lodge Caño Negro Part Two (link)
Jan 29-30 Celeste Mountain Lodge
Jan 31 Hotel Fonda Vela – Monteverde
Feb 1 La Ensenada
Feb 2-4 Cerro Lodge – Carara National Park - Tarcoles River Mangrove Part Three (link)
Feb 5-7 Esquinas Rainforest Lodge
Feb 8-10 Suenos del Bosque Lodge – Talamanca - Savegre Hotel
Feb 11 Hotel Bougainvillea
Feb 12 Flight Home
Bonus Hummingbirds & Owls/Night Birds & List of Birds by location Part Four (below)
 
There are 52 hummingbird species in Costa Rica.  We've seen 45 of them so far and managed to take pictures of 32 - sometimes getting both male and female.  While I'm giving numbers about hummingbirds, there are 355 known hummingbird species, all in the Western Hemisphere.  Only 16 make it into the US and just 7 of those go beyond the border region into the interior and up to Canada.  The country with the most hummingbird species? Columbia with 163; followed by Ecuador (132) and Peru (124).
As a birder, there are different ways to "keep score".  The primary way is visual, but hearing is also part of detecting that a bird is present.  And as digital photography became more accessible, many folks like to take on the extra challenge of trying to record the bird in a photo.
 

Here's a few from both of our Costa Rica trips... followed by some Owl & Night Birds photos...
 
 
 
Fiery-throated Hummingbird (Endemic)
     
 
Black-crested Coquette
     
 
Black-bellied Hummingbird (Endemic)
     
 
Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer (bronze tail and pink feet)
     
 
Charming Hummingbird (Endemic)
     
 
Green Hermit
     
 
Long-billed Hermit   Stripe-throated Hermit
     
 
Green Thorntail (m)   Green Thorntail (f)
     
 
Lesser Violetear
     
 
Magenta -throated Woodstar (Endemic)   Mangrove Hummingbird (Endemic)
 
Purple-throated Mountain-Gem (m / f)
     
 
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
     
 
Green-crowned Brilliant (m / f)
 
Green-crowned Brilliant (m - face on)   Green-crowned Brilliant (m - immature)
     
 
Scaly-breasted Hummingbird
     
 
Snowcap (Endemic)
     
 
Snowy-bellied Hummingbird (Endemic)
     
 
Steely-vented Hummingbird
     
 
Stripe-tailed Hummingbird
     
 
Talamanca Hummingbird (m / f) (Endemic)
 
Talamanca Hummingbird (m)
     
 
Volcano Hummingbird (m / f) (Endemic - Talamanca sub-species)
     
 
White-crested Coquette (m) (Endemic)
     
 
White-throated Mountain-Gem (m / f) (Endemic)
     
 
White-necked Jacobin (m / f)
     
 
Green-breasted Mango
     
 
Crowned Woodnymph (female in bad light)   What the male Crowned Woodnymph looks like - pic from Ecuador)
     
 
Purple-crowned Fairy   Scintillant Hummingbird (f) (Endemic)
Similar to the Volcano Hummingbird, but with more rufous on the sides
     
 
Coppery-headed Emerald (m) (Endemic)   Coppery-headed Emerald (f)
Coppery-headed Emerald harassing a Black-bellied Hummingbird
     
 
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
     
     
     
 
Violet Sabrewing (m)   Violet Sabrewing (f)
     
     
     
     
Owls & Night Birds 
     
There's 13 owl species in Costa Rica.  We've been fortunate to have seen 12 of them (all the ones we've seen are pictured below except the Spectacled Owl).  Three of them are Pygmy-Owls that are active during the day and located in different parts of the country - with the most abundant being the Ferruginous.  The others are found at night by luring them with recordings.  Have had some excellent views because they usually land nearby.

The only Costa Rica owl we haven't seen is the Unspotted Saw-Whet Owl.  We tried and tried but were unsuccessful... next time.
     
 
Central American Pygmy-Owl 
     
 
Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl (Endemic)
     
 
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl 
 
Black and White Owl
     
 
Pacific Screech-Owl    Tropical Screech-Owl 
     
 
Vermiculated Screech Owl    Bare-shanked Screech-Owl (Endemic)
     
 
Striped Owl    Crested Owls 
 
Mottled Owl  (looking down at us)
     
     
     
Potoos and Nightjars 
 
We found all three Potoos this trip - Great, Common and Northern.  The Great was photogenic, the Common did a very close fly-by circling around us before flying off and the Northern called from a distance - we could see its eyes in a flashlight beam about 150 yards away, but wasn't moving closer.
     
 
Great Potoo
     
     

We've been able to see 5 of the 6 nightjars / nighthawks in Costa Rica - most of them are seen as they're flying around.  We managed to get photos of a couple through the years.  The endemic Dusky Nightjar was seen on this trip, the Chuck-Wills-Widow was seen last trip at La Selva and the Poraque is seen everywhere, usually flying off from the edge of a dirt road while driving just after nightfall. 

Dusky Nightjar (Endemic)
 
Chuck-Wills-Widow   Poraque
     

Itinerary:
Jan 21 Arrive in Costa Rica - Hotel Bougainvillea Part One (link)
Jan 22-24 La Selva Biological Station
Jan 25-26 Poas Volcano Lodge
Jan 27-28 Natural Lodge Caño Negro Part Two (link)
Jan 29-30 Celeste Mountain Lodge
Jan 31 Hotel Fonda Vela – Monteverde
Feb 1 La Ensenada
Feb 2-4 Cerro Lodge – Carara National Park - Tarcoles River Mangrove Part Three (link)
Feb 5-7 Esquinas Rainforest Lodge
Feb 8-10 Suenos del Bosque Lodge – Talamanca - Savegre Hotel
Feb 11 Hotel Bougainvillea
Feb 12 Flight Home
Bonus Hummingbirds & Owls/Night Birds & List of Birds by location Part Four (above)

 

For the birders who may be curious, here's the list of the birds we saw at each location:

Page 5