In my introductory post of this series about my recent trip to Costa Rica I may have downplayed the risks. It is time for a truthful evaluation. We spent the entire trip on the slopes of active volcanoes. While no bullets flew, we did encounter a venomous snake, the Mexican Jumping Viper, and I slipped into a caiman-filled pond. A very large tarantula was also spotted but these spiders are as harmless as they are big. The only other natural hazard, or hazard of any sorts, was the flooding due to massive thunderstorms on the last day. For the rest of the trip, no obvious dangers presented themselves. This begs the question: is this general safety a good thing? Do we want to be comfortable?
The answer depends very much on who is asking the question. If this is your first time birding in the tropics, than Costa Rica is the place for you. Same if you want good infrastructure, excellent guides, English spoken everywhere and comfortable places to spend the night. However, if you want to explore and maybe even discover exciting new places and birds, than there may be more interesting locations.
My personal opinion of Costa Rica is rather ambivalent to the point of being confusing. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this lovely country. However, my preferred landscape is savannah; I like trees but not too many. Birding in the rainforests and cloud forests of Costa Rica’s volcanoes is not my cup of tea. Observations are very difficult and for those interested in behaviour the challenges are significant. Significant, but not insurmountable. I witnessed manakin lekking behaviour, and I even managed to make a (qualitatively poor) photograph of a Pileated Woodpecker’s third eyelid (haw) closing for protection while the bird hammered on a snag. This eyelid is also called the nictitating membrane; a fact I had to look up. While researching the membrane I learned that polar bears use the membrane to prevent snow blindness, a factoid so cool it is ice cold (pun fully intended and I do realise I am the only one laughing). But I digress. My impression of Costa Rican birding is that the longer one stays the more one enjoys the birding. A week’s too short. Worthwhile or worthless? Absolutely worth your while, but you should try to stay as long as possible.
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