Costa Rica has long been known as a destination for bird enthusiasts looking for exquisite avifauna. The mainland and its territorial waters host more than 840 species, and more than 850 when including Cocos Island and its waters. The plumage of a single species can vary with sex, age, and time of year; such variability, added to high species diversity, results in the likelihood that a bird-watching tour in any part of the country will show off some spectacular plumage.
High bird species diversity also reflects one of the effects of Costa Rica's land formation. After millions of years of volcanic and earthquake activity, the previously separate American continents eventually connected. The stretch of land between the continents—now Central America—thus contains what might be expected of a bridge: a representation and mixture of species from both continents. This is partly why species richness is so high in Costa Rica: birds began migrating here many millions of years ago. Species such as jays came from the north while hummingbirds appeared from the south. Today, birds that feed mostly on nectar or fruit are increasingly rare away from the equator. Such birds, like the Violet Sabrewing or Great Green Macaw, with their vibrant colors and fascinating life cycles, have many kindred species in Costa Rica. With trees fruiting all year, birds like the Resplendent Quetzal can survive on diets that are nearly exclusive to certain fruits. Here the abundant fruits and flowers not only provide birds with food, but many also rely on the birds' mobility. In the neotropics, hundreds of bird species fill the important ecological role of dispersing fruits and pollinating flowers.
Birds' mobility makes them greatly important ecologically, as well as strongly affected by alterations and fragmentations of the forest by humans. Bird communities require large areas of land to survive. In turn, many plants rely on certain birds to access adequate habitat within the forest mosaic. Isolating a forest fragment thus causes a positive feedback in species reduction of birds and plants, making deforestation a serious problem, and conservation of large areas very important in the Tropics.
High bird species diversity also reflects one of the effects of Costa Rica's land formation. After millions of years of volcanic and earthquake activity, the previously separate American continents eventually connected. The stretch of land between the continents—now Central America—thus contains what might be expected of a bridge: a representation and mixture of species from both continents. This is partly why species richness is so high in Costa Rica: birds began migrating here many millions of years ago. Species such as jays came from the north while hummingbirds appeared from the south. Today, birds that feed mostly on nectar or fruit are increasingly rare away from the equator. Such birds, like the Violet Sabrewing or Great Green Macaw, with their vibrant colors and fascinating life cycles, have many kindred species in Costa Rica. With trees fruiting all year, birds like the Resplendent Quetzal can survive on diets that are nearly exclusive to certain fruits. Here the abundant fruits and flowers not only provide birds with food, but many also rely on the birds' mobility. In the neotropics, hundreds of bird species fill the important ecological role of dispersing fruits and pollinating flowers.
Birds' mobility makes them greatly important ecologically, as well as strongly affected by alterations and fragmentations of the forest by humans. Bird communities require large areas of land to survive. In turn, many plants rely on certain birds to access adequate habitat within the forest mosaic. Isolating a forest fragment thus causes a positive feedback in species reduction of birds and plants, making deforestation a serious problem, and conservation of large areas very important in the Tropics.
