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Manuel
Antonio Bird Paradise
Anyone
visiting Manuel Antonio National Park will surely notice flocks
of brown pelicans gracefully soaring overhead, plunging headlong
into the sea after fish, or maybe even "wind surfing"
as they playfully glide along the face of a wave with a wingtip
almost skimming the wall of water. Magnificent frigate birds
- large dark birds with long pointed wings and forked tails
- will probably grab your attention, too, as they effortlessly
cruise on the slightest breeze.
If you
are at all interested in birds, you know that most species
are not as easily seen as pelicans and frigate birds. But
for those who make an attempt to find them, the Manuel Antonio
area harbors hundreds of surprises. More than 270 species,
including migrants, can potentially be observed in the park
and the surrounding area extending to Quepos and the local
airstrip.
Despite
the image of beautiful beaches that the name Manuel Antonio
conjures up in most peoples' minds, the majority of its bird
life is to be found in the forest - whether inside the park
proper or in any decent patch of vegetation around your hotel.
Screeching flocks of parakeets and parrots impart a decidedly
tropical air to the birding here, as do the comings and goings
of at least 15 different types of hummingbirds, including
purple-crowned fairies, violet-crowned woodnymphs, white-crested
coquettes, and blue-throated golden-tails.
If you
come across a fruiting tree or shrub, you might be treated
to a riot of color from a visiting parade of
birds that could include scarlet-rumped, blue-gray, golden-hooded,
and bay-headed tanagers; green,
shining, and red-legged honeycreepers; and yellow-crowned,
spot-crowned, and thick-billed euphonias, among others.
One of
the biggest thrills in tropical birding is encountering a
mixed-species foraging flock, because the action can really
get fast and furious as the birds stream past, each one seemingly
different from the next. In the forest understory at Manuel
Antonio, insectivorous flocks form around pairs of black-hooded
antshrikes and dot-winged antwrens, and the entourage can
contain plain xenops, long-billed gnatwrens, chestnut-backed
antbirds, rufous-breasted wrens, russet antshrikes, buff-throated
foliage-gleaners, sulphur-rumped flycatchers and, in winter
months, any of a dozen or so species of migrant warblers,
vireos, andflycatchers.
Of course,
trying to identify all those fluttering creatures can be terribly
frustrating to the novice. But what's worse, too much or too
little?
After a flock has moved on, it can often seem as though there
are no birds left in the forest. But even when you can't see
them, if you listen, you're likely to hear birds. Perhaps
my favorite singer in the Central Pacific forests is the black-bellied
wren. From its preferred microhabitat of dense vine tangles,
this difficult-to-see bird advertises its presence with an
outpouring of rich liquid notes that are sure to stop any
passersby in their tracks. Likewise, the clear tremulous whistles
of great tinamous and the mellow phrases of blue-black grosbeaks
are apt to please any human listener.
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