Birds of Costa Rica: All the rest pt. 2

Last week I promised you guys we'd finish with these birds this week. While my heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not. It just turned out to be more birds than I thought you guys,  and identifying all of them proved tricky. Let's take this as good news, as it means we have even more cool birds from Costa Rica to observe. Check out part one of our coverage here! We'll start today with known flappy-bird-resembler Yellow Warbler


Yellow Warbler aka Summer Yellowbird (colloq.) (reinita de manglar)
Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Member of the Wood-Warbler Family
§A Trepidation of Warblers§

~true bird fact~ Yellow Warblers are famous for their 'sweet sweet' song. Males staking out a new territory will often have sing-offs with each other to assert dominance. Generally if one bird 'gets served' then 'it's on'. 

Doesn't like to let things go. Has dramatic opinions about people.

Great Kiskadee (benteveo (lit. I see you well!))

Playa Tamarindo, Guancaste, Costa Rica
Member of the Flycatcher Family
§A Shower of Kiskadees§

~true bird fact~ This guy is described as 'bold' almost every where you look, but there's one thing he's not bold about: Coral Snakes. In what must border on a phobia, Kiskadees will stay away from anything that shares his most feared predator's black-yellow-red color pattern. Really, who can blame him?

A great quote about Kiskadees from naturalist William Henry Hudson "(The Great Kiskadee) seems to have studied to advantage the various habits of the Kestrel, Flycatcher, Kingfisher, Vulture, and fruit-eating Thrush; and when its weapons prove weak it supplements them with its cunning.”

A cool anti-hero bandit type. We all root for him in his struggle against 'The Man'.

Roadside Hawk (gavilán pollero(lit. Chicken Hawk))
Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Member of the Kites, Eagles, and Hawks Family
§A Tower of Hawks§

~true bird fact~ The smallest member of his family. Attacks people more often than most birds, as he does well in urban areas, and becomes aggressive when nesting.

Is the owner of a dive bar, where he is also the bouncer