Birdwatching in Costa Rica

A recent study by the Fish and Wildlife Service found that a surprising one in six US citizens are birdwatchers—That's 48 million fellow birders in the US alone! While many of us plan our birding trips to the northern parts of the country (Montana, Maine, Vermont, Minnesota and Iowa are top birding destinations), we highly recommend traveling south to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has less than 0.03% of the planet's surface, but you'll find some 875 bird species, more than the United States and Canada combined. The sheer variety and abundance of birds here makes bird-watching a daily pastime.

You don't have to stray far from your hotel or even need binoculars to spot, for instance, a kaleidoscopic-colored Keel-billed Toucan. But armed with a pair of binoculars and a birding guide, the sky is literally the limit for the numbers of birds you can see.