This Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos swainsonii) is one of the first birds I photographed during my first trip to Costa Rica back in 2002 with my first digital camera. I was thrilled, and I felt so lucky to have gotten a clear snapshot of such an exotic-looking creature! The Chestnut-mandibled Toucan is the larger of two toucan types in Costa Rica, and the only one on the Osa Peninsula.
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The Green Page Moth (Urania fulgens), also called Green Urania, is commonly mistaken for a butterfly, but it is actually a diurnal moth. Every four to eight years there is a massive migration of these moths from the Osa Peninsula in the southwest, over the central plateau, to the Caribbean lowlands. This one was photographed on the Pacific side, in the Corcovado National Park.
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Turkey Vultures sport a red head, and have a distinct black-and-white pattern under their wings. Although Turkey Vultures are relatives of storks and ibises, they can be found all over Costa Rica, including high in the mountains. This one doesn’t seem to have a pale blue nape, suggesting that it is a migratory rather than a resident example.
A Turkey Vulture lands in a tree on the Osa Peninsula.
Turkey Vultures have a keen sense of smell and a hooked bill that help them locate and rip apart carrion.
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Northern Tamanduas (Tamandua mexicana), also called Collared Anteaters, are the most common of the three anteater species in Costa Rica. These fuzzy mammals eat termites and ants that they find in trees or in the ground, where they use their long front claws to tear open insect colonies.
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A Mangrove Black-Hawk enjoys the spray of Pacific waves breaking on volcanic rocks near Corcovado.
Before I started writing this post, I didn’t realize that there are two types of Black-Hawks in Costa Rica that look just like the bird in this picture: the Common Black-Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) and the Mangrove Black-Hawk (Buteogallus subtilis). According to one of my bird books, Common Black-Hawks live along the Caribbean coast, while Mangrove Black-Hawks live along the Pacific, especially to the south. The two species may be conspecific, meaning they’re really the same bird. Perhaps time and a little science will tell. I commonly see these large raptors on the Osa Peninsula, where I snapped this photograph during a hike.
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A patient Golden Orb-weaver waits for flies, moths, butterflies, or beetles, to be caught in its large web.
At around two-and-a-half inches including legs, female Golden Orb-weavers (Nephila clavipes) like this one are among the largest spiders in Costa Rica. Males of the species are only about one-quarter inch, legs and all. Golden Orb-weavers build their strong webs fairly low to the ground in open forests where there is enough sunlight to foster plenty of insects to eat.
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I found this green and black poison-dart frog (dendrobates auratus) rummaging around among the damp ground cover of the forest floor near La Leona on the Osa Peninsula.
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A Mangrove Swallow roosts on the ruins of an old dock in Tortuguero.
Mangrove Swallows are handsome little birds that fly fast. They flit and swoop over water, nabbing bugs that frequent rivers, marshes, and creeks, on both the Caribbean and Pacific sides of Costa Rica.
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A Great Kiskadee pauses in the morning sun along the Tortuguero River.
At around 23 cm, the Great Kiskadee is one the biggest members of the large Flycatcher, or Tyrannidae, family in Costa Rica. These strikingly handsome birds frequent the open, brushy areas of the Pacific forests and the Caribbean lowlands, where they eat insects and small vertebrates. I took both of these photographs during my first visit to Tortuguero in 2004.
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There are four types of monkeys that live in Costa Rica. The Capuchin, or White-Faced, Monkey can be found all over the county, but I photographed this one from a boat while visiting the Pacific coast.
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