Costa Rica's National Bird

[Ely Teehankee]

The most popular bird in Costa Rica is the Resplendent Quetzal. Thousands of birdwatchers go there every year with the desire to see or photograph the bird. I was one of them and very lucky to have seen it on the first day of my birding trip with Ariel. The national bird of Costa Rica is the Clay-colored Robin (Turdus grayi). It hops on the groundin typical robin fashion. Because it tirelessly whistles melodic phrases that are resposible for its status as the national bird of Costa Rica.


Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Canon EF 300mm
f/2.8L IS USM
Gitzo GT3530LS tripod, Wimberley WH200 head. Manual exposure in available light.



1/1000 sec., f/2.8, ISO 400




1/800 sec., f/8, ISO 400




1/200 sec., f/5.6, ISO 800





The Black Guan (Chamaepetes unicolor) has a blue facial skin, red legs and red eyes. It looks to eat the avocado just like the Quetzals. You can see the small avocados on this tree where it ate several of them very rapidly before flying away. There are plenty of fruit trees like this so the birds are never wanting in food.
1/200 sec., f/2.8, ISO 800




The Large-footed Finch (Pezopetes capitalis) is not really a finch and is much larger at 20 cm. long. It has a hooded mask over its head and dark olive body.
1/640 sec., f/2.8, ISO 400




1/400 sec., f/2.8, ISO 400




One of the nice things about Costa Rica is that the birds are not very shy especially if there are feeders in the area. Some hotels do not have feeders because they would like to earn their badge of complying with the green environment policy. The Rufous-collared Sparrow is like our Eurasian Tree Sparrow as they are always where people are and where there is food for them to eat. It gives me the chance to take their pictures really close and gives me the satisfaction of seeing their feathers in detail.
1/500 sec., f/5.6, ISO 800 Subject distance 2.42 meters




1/640 sec., f/8, ISO 800 Subject distance 3.38 meters








There are plenty of Hummingbirds in Costa Rica especially where there are feeder with sugared water. In some places, some tourist are given a small feeder and they would hold it in front of them and the hummingbirds would feed on it with no fear at all of the person holding it. One of the more common ones is the Green Violet-ear (Colibri thalassinus). I am still sorting out the hummingbird pictures and will share them when I have more varieties.
1/640 sec., f/5.6, ISO 800

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Beautiful captures as always, Ely. I especially love the last shot of the hummingbird.

[Ely Teehankee]

May 1, 2012 23:17:54 GMT Ramon Quisumbing said:

Beautiful captures as always, Ely. I especially love the last shot of the hummingbird.

Thank you Ramon. I think the hummingbirds are the smallest bird in the world. I am gathering the pictures of my other hummingbirds to have them properly identified. I will have a series of them plus a short write up about their nature and behavior.

[Neil Konrad III]

Love the hummingbird photo sir! Outstanding, as usual!

[Ely Teehankee]

May 2, 2012 10:10:05 GMT Neil Konrad III said:

Love the hummingbird photo sir! Outstanding, as usual!

Thank you Neil. I have separated some of the Volcano Hummingbird which is supposed to be the worlds' smallest hummingbird. I will soon be posting it as there are so many other hummingbirds that still needs to be identified before I can share them.

[William Lim]

All great captures, Ely.

[Ely Teehankee]

May 3, 2012 13:40:12 GMT William Lim said:

All great captures, Ely.

Thank you William. Have not seen any of your bird pictures lately. It is always a delight to see your pictures.

[Ariel Matias]

Lovely sets with tons of details! Several weeks ago I had an opportunity to observe a pair of this Clay-colored Robin made a nest and laid eggs inside our garden. Unfortunately, I noticed few days ago that the nest had been abandoned and that the eggs did not develop fully.

[Ely Teehankee]

May 3, 2012 23:32:20 GMT Ariel Matias said:

Lovely sets with tons of details! Several weeks ago I had an opportunity to observe a pair of this Clay-colored Robin made a nest and laid eggs inside our garden. Unfortunately, I noticed few days ago that the nest had been abandoned and that the eggs did not develop fully.

Thank you Ariel. "Sayang" how would you say that in English. Maybe what a pitiful waste? Maybe the birds were still young. I think you probably forgot to go back to the Fiery Aracari nest to see the hatchlings being fed. Next time.

[Burr Patterson, Jr.]

I enjoyed looking, Thanks for sharing!!!

[Ely Teehankee]

May 4, 2012 8:59:30 GMT Burr Patterson, Jr. said:

I enjoyed looking, Thanks for sharing!!!

Thank you Burr. I am glad that you enjoyed looking at the pictures of the birds of Costa Rica.

[tina mallari]

My favorite is the hummingbird. Excellent shot Ely :-)

[Ely Teehankee]

May 7, 2012 17:56:05 GMT tina mallari said:

My favorite is the hummingbird. Excellent shot Ely :-)

Thank you Tina. Maybe by next month I will have some more as I am trying to get the correct ID of those hummingbirds.

[Bobby Kintanar]

Very nice photos Ka Ely! I'm really impressed :-)

[Mick Harris]

Great set Ely. The Clay Coloured Robin looks a little like our female European Blackbird in shape and colour.

[Ely Teehankee]

May 8, 2012 15:05:59 GMT Bobby Kintanar said:

Very nice photos Ka Ely! I'm really impressed :-)

Thank you Bobby. We have to appreciate that we also have a variety of birds to photograph here. If the birdwatchers of the world who go to Costa Rica will come here we will not be able to accomodate all of them for lack of hotel, transportation, and bird guides. We can all be thankful that we can do birding here with the minimum amount of facilities that are available.

[Ely Teehankee]

May 8, 2012 16:55:43 GMT Mick Harris said:

Great set Ely. The Clay Coloured Robin looks a little like our female European Blackbird in shape and colour.

Thank you Mick. It is possible that they belong to the same species especially that both of them have melodious songs.

[Eric Patdu]

The Clay-colored Robins are superb. I like the details. Focus is spot on.

[Ely Teehankee]

May 18, 2012 19:44:18 GMT Eric Patdu said:

The Clay-colored Robins are superb. I like the details. Focus is spot on.

Thank you Eric. The nearest one was 3.55 meters and the farthest was 5.52 meter. It really is an advantage to be close to the bird.

[Tonji Ramos]

I really like the hummingbird.