The Osa Penninsula is home to roughly half of all the bird species found in Costa Rica. The birding community that visit Drake Bay, instantly transform into the children of their youths, with so much diversity to behold.
To say that we have informative birding guides in Drake Bay would be accurate- but to understand what that means is something that is difficult to comprehend for the common birder, such as myself. To me, knowing many common bird names is impressive enough, let alone knowing their calls and feeding habits, and I doubt that I’ll ever know all the scientific names. A lot of experience is required to gain the skill of spotting a bird with the naked eye so that the guide can show it to their birding clients through a scope.
In many instances, visitors rarely see the thing they want. With all this biodiversity, how can we expect see the one thing on our bucket list? Of course, birders will see a huge variety of species on these tours but the disappointed visitor commonly had something specific that they wanted to experience. Drake Bay is most amazing when one simply goes into “counting mode” and since this is a common mentality of birders, we get them in flocks.
I would say that I first became passionate about birds when I began placing fresh bananas on a bird feeder at the restaurant in 2013. When Gringo Curt’s Seafood was open, roughly 50 bananas per day were distributed to our local avian friends. I have personally counted 62 bird species within the span of one month! That’s a lot of birds!
Because the restaurant was located in the center of town, it is reasonable to state that bird watching tours in the area can experience all of these species and more. Add to that the numerous micro-climates and ecosystems of the region, and the bird watching opportunities in Drake Bay become seemingly endless.
