It seemed like every bird we encountered in Costa Rica was more colorful than the birds that are resident here in the midwestern United States. I won’t get into why tropical birds tend to be very colorful (if you would like to learn about this fascinating phenomena CLICK HERE) but suffice it to say it’s hard to find such vibrant colors on birds that reside year-round in Chicagoland. So today I would like to share some images of some colorful tropical birds from Costa Rica.
Let’s start off with a few Euphonia species. These small birds were often found on and around feeders. Here is an Olive-backed Euphonia that has a bright yellow patch on the top of its head, a beautiful olive colored body, and a striking rusty-orange on its rump.
Here’s another euphoria with a yellow patch on its head, but the extensive yellow on the throat and underbelly led them to name this one a Yellow-throated Euphonia. We saw this one fairly frequently while in Costa Rica.
This next cutie looks pretty plain at first glance, until you look at its feet – a bright orange. This is a female White-collared Manakin.
The Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant has a rather plain olive-colored body but the head is very unique, with orange feathers dotted in black! The orange extends around the eyes so this one has a mystical look to it.
You can’t get much more colorful than this Streak-backed Oriole! It was munching on a seed when we saw it just around sunset, which made its yellow body positively glow in the light.
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