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Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra)

If there is one bird that represents migration in Costa Rica, is the Summer Tanager. The bright red coloration of the male is marvelous, and the orange of the female is equally striking. I have seen males in Santa Ana while riding my bike, perched on the electricity wires. I have seen the females on a number of places, including El Copal (Tucurrique), Estación Biológica La Selva (Sarapiquí), my parent’s home (Río Frío), and most recently at Laguna del Lagarto Lodge (Boca Tapada), during a birdwatching tour with Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica, on November 25th and 26th, 2017. The pictures below were taken at the lodge, where the Summer Tanager shared the feeders with Honeycreepers, Orioles and other Tanagers.

It also became apparent to me that the Summer and Scarlet Tanagers are very much alike. Female Summer Tanager’s resemble a lot the Female and non-breeding male Scarlet, however the Scarlet has black wings, which render them unmistakable if seen side by side. Body size and shape are almost identical, so depending on the posture it was difficult to identify them accurately.

Summer Tanager
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Gray-capped Flycatcher (Myiozetetes granadensis)

The Gray-capped Flycatcher is one of the birds with yellow chest that can easily be mistaken by one another. Size and a gray cap (as the name implies) are the main identification marks, tough it can be difficult to recognize the gray cap if the bird is perched above eye level. They look very similar to the Social Flycatcher, although it is more streamlined and the gray head is diagnostic, along the song more similar to the Great Kiskadee’s. It also resembles both the Great Kiskadee and Boat-billed Flycatcher, but both of those species are bigger and stockier, featuring different songs as well. The Tropical Kingbird is also similar, given its gray head, but it is bigger and has grayish upperparts, while the Gray-capped’s upperparts are brownish.

Gray-capped Flycatcher
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Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus)

The Barred Antshrike is a beautiful bird. The male for one part is entirely barred, with white and black lines covering the whole body. The female is not barred, but the brown coloration is pretty in itself, with a tuft that looks the most elegant. I have seen them in Rio Frio and also in El Rodeo, near Ciudad Colón. Their song is also very intriguing, with a series of accelerating, high-pitched chirps that then end abruptly on a harsher note. While they sing, they also incline their bodies up and down, presumably on a display to show ownership of their territory.

Barred Antshrike
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Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus)

The Keel-billed Toucan is the one bird we all know about. It is featured in all brochures and advertising around tourism in Costa Rica. It’s colorful beak is amazing. As with all Toucans species though, this bird will raid other species’ nests, so it is common to see that other birds harass them, trying to scare them away. In particular, I have seen Great Kiskadees acting aggressively towards them in an effort to divert them from their nest. They are smaller than the Yellow-throated Toucan, which has a duller beak than the Keel-billed. Both species are very common in the Caribbean lowlands, and both like to eat a variety of fruits, readily coming to fruit feeders. One of the most interesting traits of this bird is its song, which resembles the croaking of a frog. They move their heads very slowly from one side to the other, then remains motionless for a few seconds, and suddenly jumps and turns around 180 degrees before falling in the same branch, an entire spectacle.

Keel-billed Toucan
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Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa)

The Northern Jacana is a waterbird that inhabits swamps and marshes, where the water is not too deep. The bird walks in the shallows, looking for small fish and crustaceans. It can even walk over some water plants whose leafs are big enough to sustain this delicate bird, thanks to very long toes that help to distribute the weight across a greater extent of water surface. Another unique behavior is its polyandrous nature, meaning that females will mate with many males, and it is the males that prepare the nest and care for the eggs and chicks. It is brown overall with black throat and head, with a yellow shield on the front (Wattled Jacana’s and Common Gallinules have a red shield). The juvenile has white underparts and lacks the shield seen in the adult.

Northern Jacana
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Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

The Great Blue Heron is one of the largest birds that occur naturally in Costa Rica. They can be found in watery environments like rivers and ponds, even artificial ones like the one in Concasa, which has been visited by a juvenile bird almost every morning from January 2018 to March of the same year. The name is misleading though, as the blue is color is rather dull on this bird. The juvenile is mostly grayish, with a darker cap, yellow eye and lower mandible, and black upper mandible. The adult shows a light dull blue on the back and wings, with brownish neck and white cheeks, maintaining the dark cap and yellow eye, but the upper mandible changes to yellow. They stalk prey from the edge of water ponds and lakes, and launch a forceful attack as fish pass by, able to snatch fish of considerable size and swallow them in one go.

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Yellow-faced Grassquit (Tiaris olivaceus)

The Yellow-faced Grassquit is a seedeater found on grasslands. I have seen this species a few times at Fincas Bambuzal, Rio Frio where my parents live. The yellow face is diagnostic when trying to identify versus other seedeaters that may inhabit the same zone. They like to perch both on grass branches and in fence wires at the edge of trails and gravel roads; they will usually share space with Variable Seedeaters and Thick-billed Seed-Finches, although they are not confused easily with those species. Small juveniles take the risk to abandon the nest and call for their parents to feed them. It is very difficult to locate them in the tall grass.

Yellow-faced Grassquit
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Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata)

The Golden-hooded Tanager, known as “Seven Colors” (direct translation from Spanish) in Costa Rica, is indeed a colorful bird, in my opinion one of the prettiest. In direct sunlight, the contrast of the deep black with the different shades of blue, white underparts and golden hood just looks amazing, like a very saturated painting, but it is real. They are small birds, similar in size to the Honeycreepers, and belong to the Tanager family. Juvenile birds lack the golden hood, but are just as colorful as the adults. Golden-hooded Tanagers do come to fruit feeders, but they prefer to stay on seed-bearing plants.

Golden-hooded Tanager