Tanagers at the San Luis Adventure Park, Costa Rica

We watch birds for a number of reasons, but no matter how much a birder may enjoy staring at the primary extensions of small brown birds and discussing the tone and quality of their chip notes, that same birder will breath a happy sigh of relief when confronted with a tanager or two. This big, happy family of Neotropical birds is high on the list of any birder on their way to Ecuador, Brazil, Costa Rica, and other places where literally dozens of glittering tanagers brighten the pages of the field guide. In Costa Rica, we have got a bunch, and several can now be seen at super close range at a site known as the San Luis Adventure Park – known as such and not as the “Birder Adventure Park” because the focus is on zip-lining and other adventure activities. Nevertheless, while the kids go flying through the canopy, the people with binoculars and a need to see tanagers and other cloud forest goodies can do so just behind the restaurant. Pay the $35 entrance fee for an excellent trail with hanging bridges and you might also see a Bare-necked Umbrellabird, White Hawk, and a bunch of other quality species.

But, even if you don’t have time to walk the trail, you should have time to take a gander behind the restaurant and see…

Tanagers feeding at arms length!

A Bay-headed Tanager at any distance is nice. It sort of knocks you out of your birding socks at close range. Speaking of “birding socks”, does anyone have those? Please tell us about them in the comments (don’t worry, birding sock confessions can be anonymous).

There’s always time for tanagers, especially when some of them feed on the ground!

Um, I didn’t expect to see Emerald Tanager planting its feet on the forest floor. This was a first for me.

Speckled Tanager was another bird I normally see in trees.

The Crimson-collared Tanager is always nice.

Sharing a branch with a Passerini’s Tanager and a Blue Gray Tanager.

The local name for the Golden-hooded Tanager is “Siete Colores” or “Seven Colors”.

Tawny-capped Euphonia– not a tanager but its still got the colors!

If you can drag yourself away from making friends with super close tanagers, you might see some other nice birds moving through the trees, including Black-and-yellow Tanager, Blue-and-gold Tanager, and Golden-olive Woodpecker. To visit this site, take the road between San Ramon and La Fortuna, you can’t miss it.