The first bird I saw in Costa Rica was… a grackle! Great-tailed Grackles were zooming around just outside the airport in Liberia, C.R.

At our condo in Tamarindo, a White-winged Dove was nesting on the fourth-floor balcony.

And howler monkeys were hanging around in the trees just outside.

Pacific Ocean and beach across the street.

Magnificent Frigatebird above.

Great Kiskadees were nesting on the rooftops of the condo.

We saw a lot of them in Costa Rica. They live as far north as south Texas.

These are bold, loud birds that quickly make their presence known. They sit on exposed branches near the tops of trees, often above water, where they give a piercing kis-ka-dee call and dart out to catch flying insects or pluck food—often small fish—from the water. They also eat fruit and sometimes come to feeders.

I took a walk in the morning and found Black Vultures lurking.

These birds are uniform black except for white patches or “stars” on the underside of their wingtips (this can be hard to see in strong light or from far away). The bare skin of the head is black.

Their strong beaks made it easy to rip into garbage bags.

I never did figure out what this little bird was, hopping around like a sparrow in the underbrush.

And I think, but I’m not sure, that this flycatcher is a Tropical Kingbird.

Probably Brown Pelicans.

Good morning, Sanderlings.

Sanderlings breed on the High Arctic tundra and migrate south in fall to become one of the most common birds along beaches. They gather in loose flocks to probe the sand of wave-washed beaches for marine invertebrates, running back and forth in a perpetual “wave chase.”

Grackle time.