Costa Rica, a country of which almost half is rainforest, is a true birding paradise. More than 900 species of birds can be found here. One of the most beautiful and special birds that has its habitat in Costa Rica, however, is the Resplendent Quetzal. A good reason to go bird watching in Costa Rica!
The most beautiful bird in the world
The Quetzal has been called the most beautiful bird in the world by many bird lovers. Unfortunately, the Quetzal is endangered and extremely rare. This is mainly due to the loss of habitat due to deforestation. In addition, Quetzales were often killed in earlier times because of the males’ beautiful long tail feathers. These tail feathers the male develops only during the breeding season, and can grow about 80-100 cm long. With this, the Quetzal is also called the king of the cloud forest.
The Quetzal lives only in the cloud forests of Central and South America which are located at high altitudes about 1,500 – 3,000 meters above sea level. In Costa Rica, these are the cloud forests of Monte Verde, and the cloud forest near San Gerardo de Dota. The latter is also next to the Parque Nacional de Quetzales, the name says it all!
Local Bird Guide
When visiting the cloud forests of Costa Rica, at least try to go out with a guía local. They know exactly where to find the breeding sites of the Quetzales. By the way, you do have to go early because the Quetzal are mainly active in the early morning.
Therefore we were ready at 6:30 a.m. to go out with a guide. Our guide’s name was Michael, spoke good English and was able to tell us a lot about the Quetzales’ way of life, what they eat, etc. And also about the many other birds that can be spotted there.
Of course, we were not the only early birds at this spot. A whole row of enthusiasts had gathered, all with guides. And after some waiting, our patience was rewarded! The guides recognize the specific call of the bird and know they are nearby. And suddenly you see it! Very special to see this beautiful bird suddenly fly by. Both male and female are feeding the young and therefore fly back and forth.
Threats
The Quetzal feeds mainly on avocados, which they swallow whole. They defecate the seeds, thus helping to propagate the avocado trees. Nature is well constituted, and without human interference, these and many other birds would not be threatened with extinction. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to protect the specific habitat of these and many other birds. And also that local people learn how to live with and in nature, without causing harm. Local NGOs like Adopt Rainforest play an important role in this.
Other Bird Species
In addition to the Quetzal, there are numerous other special, sometimes rare, birds to spot in Costa Rica. Think of the toucan, many species of hummingbirds, various tanagers, flycatchers and, of course, the beautiful macaw. All can be found abundantly in the rainforests of Costa Rica, a true bird paradise.
My youngest daughter Iris is studying Applied Biology in Den Bosch. I visited her at her internship site in Costa Rica, where she stayed for 5 months. I am writing a piece about this because in addition to visiting my daughter, I had the opportunity to provide first aid training for the foundation’s staff and […]
Many people are a bit creeped out by vultures because of their specific appearance and the fact that they eat cadavers. However, vultures are indispensable to nature; they are real cleaners. Read all about vultures and why they are indispensable to the ecosystem here.
Despite uncertain economic times and the impact of Corona, the Foundation has some fantastic news to report. Over the past few months, we had to pull out all the stops and negotiate hard to acquire an important piece of land. And we succeeded! We were able to expand the reserve by 65 hectares, or 650,000 square meters!
It’s World Rainforest Day today (June 22)! A day to put our world’s rainforests in the spotlight because it’s mega important to protect them. Do you know which are the largest rainforests in the world? In this blog we will show them to you. We start at spot 10. (more…)
Did you know that 5% of all species of flora and fauna in the world live and grow in Costa Rica? Also, Costa Rica is in the global top 20 countries with the greatest biodiversity! Are you a real nature lover? Then put Costa Rica on your bucket list. But… before you pull your backpack and passport out of the closet, we want to give you a lesson about biodiversity. Maybe you have what it is, but to refresh your memory we’ll explain it to you in this blog. (more…)
In recent years we have already seen many rare and unusual animals in our reserve such as the Northern Nacked-tailed Armadillo, Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle and several felines. However, what we recently encountered is many times more interesting to scientists. In 1989, Epigomphus houghtoni, the Limon Knobtail, a dragonfly species was described by Stephen Brooks based on […]
Anyone who has traveled through the Americas knows them anyway, a stream of ants all carrying leaves with them. It looks like a mini highway that can go on for 30 meters. We’re talking about leaf-cutter ants of course. For tourists a source of amazement, for local farmers and vegetable gardeners a real plague that […]
This beautiful blue butterfly, measuring up to 15-20 cm, seems to appear and disappear with every flick of its wings. In fact, its underside is a clever trick of Mother Nature. On the underside, it is inconspicuous reddish-brown, with eyes to deter attackers. The bright iridescent blue, in turn, is to deter competition and attract females.
The mantle howler monkey is one of the largest monkeys in Central America, with males reaching a height of nearly a meter and a weight of up to 10 kg. It is one of 15 species of howler monkeys. Unfortunately, some of those species are endangered, mainly because of habitat loss and capture, for instance […]
In Costa Rica, you can’t ignore them: the Oophaga pumilio. Pumilio means dwarf, and although they are barely 3 cm tall, it is hard to miss the poisonous strawberry frogs. In English, they are called Strawberry Poison Dart frogs because indigenous peoples used to use their poison to makepoison darts. They are also affectionately called the “blue jeans frog,” because they often look like red frogs in jeans. Although they are by no means all the same colors. There are some that are completely red or blue, rather yellow, green or orange, or with black stripes or dots. In total, there are some 15 to 30 color variations.
What’s with the fur? Why do sloths sleep so much? This month, the three-fingered sloth is the animal of the month at Adopt Rainforest. And what’s more fun than hearing from one of the founders of Adopt Rainforest some fun facts that you won’t find in a standard biology book. Maarten van der Beek is one of the biologists at Adopt Rainforest and lives on the Work With Nature reserve in Costa Rica. (more…)
And then there you are, atop a hilltop, having a good cry. Or frantically trying not to let your fellow volunteer see how touched you are. My name is Zoë, I live near Hasselt in Belgium. I am an adult education teacher, and enthusiastic but very novice when it comes to nature. I would like to tell you about my wonderful experiences as a volunteer in the reserve of Adopt Rainforest.
What is deforestation anyway? This term is used to describe the process by which trees give way to agriculture and livestock. Deforestation takes place in large numbers every day, especially in the Amazon rainforest. Not a pretty thing! The consequences? Cutting down trees not only means loss of our beautiful nature and biodiversity. It has an effect on the ambient temperature: it rises. This increase is caused by burning trees and because oxygen (O2) gives way to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Trees store a lot of CO2 and this is released during deforestation. The numbers? Don’t be alarmed: around 13 million hectares of forest disappear on Earth every year, according to the FAO. To make it a little more tangible: this equals 18,207,280 football fields. Approximately 34 soccer fields per second! (more…)
More than 11 years ago, the founders of the Adopt Rainforest foundation visited this beautiful area for the first time. What a beautiful area with giant big trees, several rivers and an enormous biodiversity of plants and animals. Yet there was something they both noticed immediately. There were no monkeys at all. (more…)
Critically endangered parrot species Yesterday the research program of Adopt Rainforest participated in the Censo Internacional de la Guacamaya Verde 2022. Or in English the International Sensus of the Great Green Macaw. Throughout its distribution, dozens of organisations participate in the next days to get an understanding of the current state of this parrot species. […]
When a butterfly flies by, most people do stop for a moment to follow it with their eyes. They often have beautiful colors and the large soft wings compared to the small body make them look almost cuddly. In Costa Rica there are more than 1200 species of butterflies and of course we are very curious about the species that occur in the reservation of Adopt Rainforest.
In recent years, the reserve of the Adopt Rainforest Foundation has been easy for project manager Maarten to oversee. Two or three times a week he and the students make his rounds through the project area for the biodiversity research. For this research they visit several plots of the area, giving them a good insight into what is happening. Should any illegal logging occur, it is immediately noticed. The same goes for illegal hunting. In addition to the local presence, camera traps are hung at various places in the reserve. These are checked weekly. Should hunters or poachers walk through our reserve, this is quickly noticed.
In July we told about the expansion of Adopt Rainforest’s reserve through the purchase of 48.5 acres of land. This parcel is very important because it forms a land bridge between the foundation’s current reserve and Barbilla National Park. Much of the new plot is existing forest, but there are also several acres of pasture […]