Dominical: Part 1 - Estuary Birds

At the weekend I went on a trip to Dominical to celebrate my birthday. Dominical is a small tourist town/village on the Pacific coast and has a small estuary, making it of interest for waders, or perhaps I should say shorebirds since I am in America.

This post will focus on the birds seen on this estuary since I have far too many photos for one post.

The highlight was an all too brief view of a Sun Bittern flying behind some reeds, a species that is likely near the top of most birders wish lists visiting Costa Rica. Both mornings, I headed for the river mouth for 5:45am, before the roosting waders were disturbed by tourists. Combined totals from both days included 6+ Willet, 50+ Spotted Sandpipers, 15+ Sanderling, 2 Least Sandpipers, 20+ Semipalmated Plovers, 1 Wilson's Plover, 1 Turnstone, 5 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Green Herons, 12+ Little Blue Herons, 8+ Snowy Egrets, 20+ Cattle Egrets, 1 Great Blue Heron and 10+ White Ibis.

An Osprey was seen on both days, fishing in the estuary, flying back and fourth along the coast line, and perching in a tree by the rivers edge. Although not seen on the estuary, two Southern Lapwings flew over, likely feeding in some cattle grazing pastures bordering the beach. A pair of Green Kingfishers were also fishing from perches along the estuary's edge as I enjoyed a river side birthday breakfast.

Wilson's Plover - check out the size of that black beak. This bird always remained distant.

Least Sandpiper - strikingly yellow legs in morning sunshine.

Spotted Sandpiper - this had brighter than average leg colour.

Semipalmated Plover (left), Sanderling (right)

Willet - this one was catching small crustaceans in the surf along the beach. This species has distinctive white markings in the primaries of the open wing.

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs (Spotted Sandpiper right)

Great Blue Heron - a very large bird, towering above a Black Vulture.

White Ibis - this one flew in and landed right in front of me in a muddy channel.

Green Heron - this bird again allowed for an extremely close approach.

Brown Pelican - two of 30+ birds present in the area. These birds would fly up and down the beach, soaring over the waves.

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron and White Ibis (second from left)

Osprey

Green Kingfisher (male: top, female: bottom) - compared to the kingfisher we get in the UK, this was about double in size, so it's extraordinary that the Ringed Kingfisher exists in Costa Rica which is more than double the Green Kingfisher's size!