12 Threatened Birds to See on Birding Tours in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has an incredible variety of birds. Toucans, tanagers, hummingbirds, curassows...and the list goes on! More than 930 bird species are on the official bird list and, with the right birding tour, yeah, you can see a heck of a lot.

Costa Rica has a lot of protected areas and that helps because several bird species are much easier to see in Costa Rica than other places, even rare birds and threatened with extinction. The following are ten such species.

Great Curassow

This fancy, "tropical turkey" is as photogenic as a bird can get! Thankfully, in Costa Rica, it has also become remarkably tame and frequent in a number of areas. I wish I could say the same for other parts of its range but, sadly, Great Curassows have disappeared or become rare in many places. Family groups live in tropical forests from eastern Mexico to northwestern Ecuador but have often become restricted to remote regions that hunters can't reach.

It used to be the same in Costa Rica. When I first started birding in Costa Rica in the early 90s, Great Curassows were a pretty difficult bird to see mostly restricted to large national parks. Happily, since then, protections and conservation awareness have boosted Great Curassow populations in many parts of Costa Rica. We show clients this fantastic bird at a number of sites.

Ornate Hawk-Eagle

Big raptor species tend to be naturally uncommon or rare, especially in Neotropical forests where they have to compete with various other large raptors species. It's why you can visit the Amazon for several days and still not see an Ornate Hawk-Eagle even though they range throughout the Amazon basin! Despite ranging from eastern Mexico to northern Argentina, this spectacular eagle tends to be pretty scarce.

Although Ornate Hawk-Eagles aren't exactly common in Costa Rica either, they still seem to be more numerous and much easier to see here than many other places. On birding tours, we look for this powerful bird at a number of sites including the Arenal area, Sarapiqui, and other areas.

Mangrove Hummingbird

Costa Rica is home to a large number of regional endemics but has very few country endemics. That's no surprise, heck, Costa Rica is only as big as West Virginia! However, we do have a few bird species that live nowhere else including a hummingbird that only lives in mangrove forests on the Pacific coast.

On our birding tours, we look for this scarce and endangered endemic at several sites with mangrove forest.

Great Green Macaw

Costa Rica is a great place to see this highly endangered species. In fact, it's probably the most reliable place to see it anywhere! Sadly, Great Green Macaws have decreased in most parts of their range and it seems that Costa Rica may be their biggest stronghold.

We love showing this majestic bird to folks in the Sarapiqui region, Tortuguero, and other parts of the Caribbean slope.

Yellow-naped Parrot

The Yellow-naped Parrot is a bird in decline. Habitat destruction and capture for the local pet trade is steadily driving this bird to extinction. If current trends continue, it could disappear from the wild in 30 years! The bright side of this knowledge is that we still have time to save it through conservation education, habitat protection, and nest box programs.

We show this beautiful, special bird to clients at various key sites in the Pacific lowlands.

Yellow-billed Cotinga

If I had to pick the most endangered bird species in Costa Rica, it would probably be this species. Although it is officially "Red listed" as Near Threatened, it seems much rarer and deserving of Endangered status.

Yellow-billed Cotingas have become rare because they only live in places where rainforest meets mangroves on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and western Panama. There aren't many sites with this junction of habitats and, despite the range maps at the IUCN site showing otherwise, Yellow-billed Cotingas are gone from several parts of their former range. Their strongholds are certainly sites at and near Osa Peninsula but even there, these breathtaking birds aren't exactly common.

Fortunately, they can still be seen at Rincon de Osa; one of the main places where we show them to clients.

Turquoise Cotinga

This stunning bird can be a tough one but since it's mostly restricted to Costa Rica, we do our best to make sure clients see it! Turquoise Cotingas frequent the rainforest canopy from Carara south to Panama but are always local and easily missed.

To boost our chances on birding tours, we keep track of sightings at various spots including the General Valley and Rincon de Osa.

Three-wattled Bellbird

The Three-wattled Bellbird is a fantastic bird with small and local populations. Since it also migrates to lowland sites, it can be a challenge to find outside the March-August breeding season. At that time of year, we bring people to Monteverde and other sites that host amazing singing males of this special species.

Bare-necked Umbrellabird

This endangered species is one of the toughest birds to see in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, it has a small population that requires large areas of cloud forest for breeding, and adjacent foothill and lowland rainforest at other times of the year. These factors make it very unreliable but there are a few places where it's more regular than other sites and that's usually where we show them to clients.

Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow

Sparrows don't usually garner as many oohs and ahhs as tanagers but this special bird is an exception! The Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow is a pretty little towhee with a striking pattern on its face. It's also pretty uncommon and has a very small range mostly restricted to the Central Valley.

Its skulking behavior can make it a tricky bird to see but, luckily, we know several good sites to admire this endemic beauty.

Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager

Speaking of restricted ranges, the Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager is a very local bird that only occurs in rainforest habitats in and near the Osa Peninsula. It was also recently found in Panama but just barely across the border. We help clients see this endangered species at a few, well-known sites in its small range.

Blue-and-Gold Tanager

Most tanagers in Costa Rica are pretty easy to see. However, there are a couple uncommon species that can be tough to find. One of those birds is the beautiful Blue-and-Gold Tanager.

This chunky, near threatened bird is mostly restricted to lower middle elevation cloud forest in Costa Rica and western Panama. Fortunately, it does travel with other tanagers and visits fruiting trees. We show it to clients at a few key spots.

I could have added other birds to this list, especially Golden-winged Warbler, Resplendent Quetzal, and Baird's Trogon. Which birds would you love to see on a birding tour in Costa Rica? Tell us at sharpbill@lifertours.com !