Watching areas
What magnificent creatures these birds are. No protective coloration. No creeping about trying to blend in with the countryside. Macaws--the largest of the neotropical parrots--are dazzlingly colored in jackets of bright yellow and blue, green, or scarlet. Although macaw is the common name for any of 15 species of these large, long-tailed birds found throughout Central and South America, only two species inhabit Costa Rica: the scarlet macaw (lapa roja) and the great green or Buffon's macaw (lapa verde). Though the scarlet ranges from Mexico to central South America and was once abundant on both coasts of Costa Rica, today it is found only in a few parks on the Pacific shore, and rarely on the Caribbean side, which is the home of the Buffon's macaw. |
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Both bird populations are losing their homes to deforestation and poaching. The scarlet macaw population has declined so dramatically that it is now in danger of disappearing completely: there are only three wild populations in Central America that have a long-term chance of survival--at Carara Biological Reserve and Corcovado in Costa Rica, and Coiba Island in Panama--although macaws can also be seen with regularity at Palo Verde National Park, Santa Rosa National Park, and other forested parts of the Gulf of Nicoya and Osa Peninsula. There are an estimated 200 scarlets at Carara and 1,600 at Corcovado, where as many as 40 may be seen at one time. |
Although Costa Ricans don't worship the quetzal with the same fervor as pre-Columbian Guatemalans, the bird is most easily seen in Costa Rica, where it is protected in four national parks--Braulio Carrillo, Poás, Chirripó, La Amistad--and the Monteverde and Los Angeles cloud forest reserves. Everywhere throughout its 1,000-mile range (from southern Mexico to western Panama) it is endangered due to loss of its cloud-forest habitat. This is particularly true of the lower forests around 1,500 to 2,000 meters to which families of quetzals descend during breeding season (March-June), and where they seek dead and decaying trees in which to hollow out their nests. This is the best time to see narcissistic males showing off their tail plumes in undulating flight, or launching spiraling skyward flights which presage a plummeting dive with their tail feathers rippling behind, all part of the courtship ritual. |
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The bright-billed toucans--"flying bananas"--are a particular delight to watch as they pick fruit off one at a time with their long beaks, throw them in the air and catch them at the back of their throats. Costa Rica's six toucan species are among the most flamboyant of all Central American birds. That loud froglike croak is the Swainson's toucan; that noisy jumble of cries and piercing creaks could well be a congregation of gregarious chestnut-mandibled toucans. |
List of birds
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