My recent Costa Rica trip has been on my mind today because Richard, one of my traveling companions, consolidated the listing of birds we saw in Costa Rica in each of our past three visits there. This year’s visit was a bit different because we went in late May instead of January so we were there in the rainy season, not the dry season. We did notice differences in the number and type of birds we saw there, and when we saw them but I was surprised to see that this year’s visit came close to the number of species we saw in 2015 on our first visit. In 2015 we saw 87 species and this year we saw 83 species. Last year’s visit, however, was far ahead of the other years because we saw 99 different species of birds in 2016.
I spent a little time on the balcony of my bungalow hoping to photograph hummingbirds but none came to visit. I did photograph this Black-hooded Antshrike as it searched for food near my balcony. Although it made the list the last two years, this is the first year I photographed it.
