Costa Rica II Bird List

We've seen over 375 species of birds along this route in Costa Rica (Selva Verde Lodge, Cano Negro, Arenal Observatory Lodge and Virgen del Socorro), including the following. As usual, some are common, some less common, and some fairly rare. I've also included short lists of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians seen.

  • Little tinamou

  • Great tinamou

  • Black-bellied whistling-duck

  • Muscovy duck

  • Gray-headed chachalaca

  • Crested guan

  • Great curassow

  • Squirrel cuckoo

  • Groove-billed ani

  • Red-billed pigeon

  • Pale-vented pigeon

  • Short-billed pigeon

  • Blue ground-dove

  • Gray-headed dove

  • Gray-chested dove

  • Olive-backed quail dove

  • Buff-fronted quail-dove

  • Great potoo

  • Common pauraque

  • Lesser nighthawk

  • Gray-rumped swift

  • White-collared swift

  • Stripe-throated hermit

  • Green hermit

  • Long-billed hermit

  • Bronzy hermit

  • White-tipped sicklebill

  • White-necked jacobin

  • Brown violetear

  • Green-breasted mango

  • Purple-crowned fairy

  • Crowned woodnymph

  • Scaly-breasted hummingbird

  • Rufous-tailed hummingbird

  • Black-crested coquette

  • Green thorntail

  • Violet sabrewing

  • Bronze-tailed plumeleteer

  • Green-crowned brilliant

  • Blue-throated goldentail

  • Blue-chested hummingbird

  • Boat-billed heron

  • Bare-throated tiger-heron

  • Fasciated tiger-heron

  • Pinnated bittern

  • Least bittern

  • Green ibis

  • Jabiru

  • Wood stork

  • Northern jacana 

  • Sunbittern 

  • Uniform crake

  • Yellow-breasted crake

  • Purple gallinule

  • Sungrebe

  • Russet-naped wood-rail

  • Collared plover

  • Southern lapwing 

  • Swallow-tailed kite

  • Hook-billed kite

  • Barred hawk

  • White hawk

  • Crane hawk

  • Black-collared hawk

  • Great black hawk

  • Roadside hawk

  • Broad-winged hawk

  • Short-tailed hawk

  • Ornate hawk-eagle

  • King vulture

  • Lesser yellow-headed vulture

  • Pacific screech-owl

  • Black-and-white owl

  • Mottled owl

  • Striped owl

  • Spectacled owl

  • Crested owl

  • Ferruginous pygmy-owl

  • Central American pygmy-owl

  • Black-headed trogon

  • Garteredtrogon

  • Collared trogon

  • Slaty-tailed trogon

  • Northern Black-throated trogon

  • Lattice-tailed trogon

  • Rufous motmot

  • Broad-billed motmot

  • Lesson's motmot

  • Ringed kingfisher

  • Amazon kingfisher

  • Green kingfisher

  • American pygmy kingfisher

  • Rufous-tailed jacamar

  • White-necked puffbird

  • White-fronted nunbird

  • Collared aracari

  • Yellow-eared toucanet

  • Keel-billed toucan

  • Yellow-throated toucan

  • Northern emerald toucanet

  • Prong-billed barbet

  • Red-headed barbet

  • Black-cheeked woodpecker

  • Hoffman’s woodpecker

  • Golden-olive woodpecker

  • Rufous-winged woodpecker

  • Olivaceous piculet

  • Cinnamon woodpecker

  • Chestnut-colored woodpecker

  • Lineated woodpecker

  • Pale-billed woodpecker

  • Laughing falcon 

  • Collared forest-falcon

  • Scarlet macaw

  • Great green macaw

  • Crimson-fronted parakeet

  • Olive-throated parakeet

  • Mealy parrot

  • Red-lored parrot

  • White-fronted parrot

  • White-crowned parrot

  • Blue-headed parrot

  • Brown-hooded parrot

  • Fasciated antshrike

  • Barred antshrike

  • Great antshrike

  • Black-crowned antshrike

  • Russet antshrike

  • Streak-crowned antvireo

  • Dot-winged antwren

  • White-flanked antwren

  • Checker-throated stipplethroat (antwren)

  • Slaty antwren

  • Dusky antbird

  • Chestnut-backed antbird

  • Dull-mantled antbird

  • Bicolored antbird

  • Spotted antbird 

  • Bare-crowned antbird

  • Ocellated antbird

  • Streak-chested antpitta 

  • Thicket antpitta

  • Plain xenops

  • Fawn (Buff)-throated foliage-gleaner

  • Buff-fronted foliage-gleaner

  • Lineated foliage-gleaner

  • Plain-brown woodcreeper

  • Olivaceous woodcreeper

  • Wedge-billed woodcreeper

  • Cocoa woodcreeper

  • Spotted woodcreeper

  • Streak-headed woodcreeper Piratic flycatcher

  • Social flycatcher

  • Gray-capped flycatcher

  • Great kiskadee

  • Boat-billed flycatcher 

  • Tropical kingbird

  • Dusky-capped flycatcher

  • Great-crested Flycatcher

  • Bright-rumped attila

  • Snowy cotinga

  • Masked tityra

  • Black-crowned tityra

  • Red-capped manakin

  • White-collared manakin

  • White-ruffed manakin

  • Cinnamon becard

  • White-winged becard

  • Yellow-throated vireo

  • Lesser greenlet

  • Green shrike-vireo

  • Brown jay

  • Gray-breasted martin

  • Blue-and-white swallow

  • Mangrove swallow

  • Band-backed wren

  • Rufous-backed wren

  • Nightingale wren 

  • Canebrake wren

  • Cabanis' wren

  • Spot-breasted wren 

  • Black-throated wren

  • Stripe-breasted wren 

  • Bay wren

  • Song wrenWhite-breasted wood-wren

  • Gray-breasted wood-wren

  • Long-billed gnatwren

  • Tawny-faced gnatwren

  • White-browed gnatcatcher

  • Black-headed nightingale-thrush

  • Swainson’s thrush

  • Wood thrush

  • Clay-colored thrush 

  • Black-and-yellow tanager

  • Tawny-crested tanager 

  • White-throated shrike-tanager 

  • Crimson-collared tanager

  • Scarlet-rumped (Passerini's) tanager

  • Blue-gray tanager 

  • Palm tanager

  • Emerald tanager 

  • Speckled tanager 

  • Spangle-cheeked tanager 

  • Silver-throated tanager 

  • Bay-headed tanager 

  • Rufous-winged tanager

  • Golden-hooded tanager

  • Plain-colored tanager

  • Blue dacnis 

  • Scarlet-thighed dacnis 

  • Green honeycreeper 

  • Shining honeycreeper

  • Red-legged honeycreeper 

  • Morelet's (White-collared) seedeater

  • Variable seedeater 

  • Yellow-bellied seedeater 

  • Thick-billed seed-finch 

  • Nicaraguan seed-finch

  • Yellow-faced grassquit 

  • Bananaquit

  • Buff-throated saltator

  • Cinnamon-bellied saltator 

  • Black-headed saltator 

  • White-naped brushfinch

  • Chestnut-capped brushfinch

  • Orange-billed sparrow

  • Black-striped sparrow

  • Rufous-collared sparrow

  • Common chlorospingus

  • Sooty-faced finch

  • Summer tanager

  • Scarlet tanager 

  • Red-throated ant-tanager 

  • Carmiol's (Olive) tanager

  • Black-faced grosbeak 

  • Rose-breasted grosbeak 

  • Blue-black grosbeak

  • Black-thighed grosbeak 

  • Northern waterthrush

  • Golden-winged warbler

  • Black-and-white warbler

  • Tennessee warbler

  • Olive-crowned yellowthroat

  • Tropical parula 

  • Kentucky warbler 

  • Mourning warbler 

  • American redstart 

  • Yellow warbler 

  • Chestnut-sided warbler 

  • Magnolia warbler

  • Black-throated green warbler

  • Blackburnian warbler

  • Chestnut-capped warbler

  • Golden-crowned warbler

  • Canada warbler

  • Slate-throated redstart

  • Buff-rumped warbler

  • Montezuma oropendula

  • Chestnut-headed oropendula

  • Yellow-billed cacique

  • Scarlet-rumped cacique

  • Nicaraguan grackle

  • Shiny cowbird

  • Black-cowled oriole

  • White-vented euphonia

  • Olive-backed euphonia

  • Yellow-crowned euphonia

  • Tawny-capped euphonia

Mammals

  • Common opossum

  • Nine-banded armadillo

  • Northern tamandua

  • Silky anteater

  • Brown-throated three-toed sloth

  • Hoffman's two-toed sloth

  • Honduran white bat

  • Pygmy round-eared bat

  • Vampire bat

  • Long-nosed bat

  • White-lined sac-winged bat

  • Geoffrey's spider monkey

  • Mantled howler monkey

  • White-throated capuchin monkey

  • Red-tailed squirrel

  • Variegated squirrel

  • Central American agouti 

  • Brazilian rabbit

  • Northern raccoon

  • White-nosed coati

  • Kinkajou

  • White-tailed deer

Reptiles and Amphibians

  • Spectacled caiman

  • Emerald basilisk

  • Helmeted basilisk

  • Brown Basilisk

  • Central American whiptail

  • Black river turtle

  • Common slider

  • White-lipped mud turtle

  • Red-eyed leaf frog

  • Jumping leaf frog

  • Strawberry poison frog

  • Green-and-black poison frog

  • Savage's bullfrog

  • Masked treefrog

  • Wet forest toad

  • Eyelash pit viper

  • Northern cat-eyed snake