YOU CAME FOR THE BEACH, THEN NOTICED THE BIRDS
Maybe this is how it happens. You are eating breakfast on a terrace somewhere in Guanacaste, half paying attention to your coffee and half paying attention to whatever is on your phone, when something flashes past in turquoise and rust. It lands on the railing four feet away and just sits there, completely unbothered by your existence, swinging a long tail from side to side like a tiny pendulum. Whoever you are with stops mid sentence. Someone whispers, what is that.
That is a turquoise browed motmot, and it just turned your breakfast into a wildlife encounter you never planned for.
Or maybe nothing landed on your railing at all, but you have been noticing things anyway. A parrot screeching overhead on the walk to the beach. A woodpecker working a fence post. Something large and black gliding in slow circles that turns out to be a vulture, and somehow that is fascinating too, in the way that anything alive and visible becomes fascinating once you actually start looking.
Either way, you are already here. You did not come to Guanacaste to learn the names of birds, and you almost certainly do not own binoculars. None of that matters. If you did not plan for this but want to give it a real try, this guide walks through the questions you would actually need answered: where to start, what time of day actually matters, what to bring if you came with nothing, and what you are likely to see depending on where you look. By the time you finish reading, you should feel ready to head out the door for your first real walk.
IS GUANACASTE GOOD FOR BIRDWATCHING?
Yes, and the numbers back it up more than most visitors expect. Costa Rica as a whole has confirmed 948 bird species according to the official list maintained by the Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica's records committee, a figure that continues to grow as more sightings get verified through citizen science platforms. That is an extraordinary number for a country roughly the size of West Virginia.
Guanacaste carries its own weight within that total. Rincón de la Vieja National Park alone, in the northern part of the province, is home to around 300 documented bird species, a number that rivals entire countries many times its size. The province sits inside a habitat type found almost nowhere else in Costa Rica, which is exactly what makes its birdwatching distinct rather than a smaller version of what you would find in a rainforest further south.
The short answer to the question, then, is not just yes. It is yes, for reasons that have nothing to do with rainforest postcards and everything to do with a much rarer kind of ecosystem.
WHAT MAKES BIRDWATCHING IN GUANACASTE DIFFERENT?
Most people picture Costa Rica as wall to wall rainforest, dense, green, and dripping year round. Guanacaste breaks that picture entirely. This province holds the largest stretch of tropical dry forest remaining in Central America, an ecosystem defined by a pronounced dry season, roughly December through April, during which many trees lose their leaves entirely.
That sounds like it should make for worse wildlife viewing. It does close to the opposite. Tropical dry forest is, by several measures, one of the most endangered ecosystem types on the planet. Research published in conservation literature estimates that more than 60 percent of the world's original tropical dry forest extent has already been lost to agriculture and development, making the patches that remain in places like Guanacaste considerably rarer, ecologically speaking, than the rainforest most visitors expect to find in Costa Rica.
For birdwatching specifically, the leafless dry season canopy works in your favor. Birds that would stay hidden behind dense foliage elsewhere become visible at a distance, perched openly on bare branches or moving along open ground. The dry forest here is also home to Costa Rica's national tree, the guanacaste, along with flowering species like the corteza amarilla that bloom in brilliant yellow during the driest months, drawing nectar feeding birds into clear view right when visibility is at its best.
The geography runs from the Tempisque River valley north to the Nicaraguan border, and it supports species that specialize in exactly this kind of seasonal, open canopy habitat. Many of them are loud, large, brightly colored, or all three, which makes this one of the more forgiving regions in the country for beginners and for kids with short attention spans.
COMMON AND ICONIC BIRDS YOU MAY SEE IN GUANACASTE
This is not an exhaustive list, but it offers a set of species that show up reliably enough, across multiple sources and multiple sightingsl. You have a genuinely good chance of encountering several of them within a few days in this region, whether you are looking for them or not. A few patterns are worth noticing before diving in: almost everything below is a year round resident rather than a seasonal visitor, which is part of what makes Guanacaste forgiving for travelers who did not plan their trip around migration timing, and sound matters as much as sight for several of these species, so it helps to listen as much as look.
White throated Magpie Jay (Calocitta formosa)
This is usually the bird that announces itself before you see it: a burst of harsh, chattering calls moving through the treetops, followed by a procession of pale blue bodies and long, curling black crests. What looks like a noisy family squabble is, biologically speaking, exactly that. Magpie jays live in small social groups built around one dominant breeding female, and the arrangement runs almost backward from how most cooperative birds operate. Her daughters stay behind to help raise the next generation rather than leaving to breed on their own, bringing food to the nest and defending the territory, while her sons disperse to find other groups. Researchers studying populations in Guanacaste's dry forest have found that males, who contribute nothing to the actual work of raising young, compensate with an almost theatrical vocal range, sometimes producing dozens of distinct calls, much of it performed during encounters with predators as a way of getting noticed by females who are paying close attention to anyone sounding the alarm. Present year round, with the main breeding push from January through April.
Turquoise browed Motmot (Eumomota superciliosa)
Few birds reward patience the way this one does. Find a motmot perched low and still in dry forest shade, and it will often stay put long enough for a genuinely good look, swinging its tail slowly from side to side like a pendulum. That tail is not decorative in the casual sense. The two long central feathers end in bare shafts that open into small racket shaped tips, and the swinging motion is now understood by researchers as a signal directed at predators, essentially the bird announcing that it has already noticed you and pursuit would be a waste of effort. It nests in burrows it digs into earthen banks rather than in trees, often along the same trail cuts and roadsides that make it so visible to walkers in the first place. Present year round.
Hoffmann's Woodpecker (Melanerpes hoffmannii)
Usually heard before it is seen, a steady, mechanical tapping against dead wood, fence posts, or palm trunks that carries further through the open dry season canopy than it would through denser rainforest. The black and white barred back and red crown patch on males make it easy to confirm once you track the sound to its source. This species has adapted unusually well to the human edges of its habitat, showing up as readily in town gardens and along fence lines as deep in protected forest, which makes it one of the most reliably encountered birds in this entire list. Present year round.
Orange fronted Parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis)
Small, bright green, and almost always traveling in fast, loud flocks that are easier to track by sound than by sight, particularly at dawn and dusk when they move between roosting and feeding sites in noisy waves overhead. The flocking itself is a defense strategy as much as a social habit, since a moving group of dozens of birds calling constantly makes it considerably harder for a hawk to single out any one target. Present year round.
White fronted Parrot (Amazona albifrons)
Stocky and green with a small white patch on the forehead, typically announced by loud screeching well before the bird itself comes into view overhead or settles into a fruiting tree. Like most parrots, it is highly social and largely monogamous, often seen in pairs flying in close formation even within larger flocks, a habit that becomes a useful identification shortcut once you start noticing it. Present year round.
Rufous naped Wren (Campylorhynchus rufinucha)
Known as much for its construction projects as its voice. This wren builds large, domed stick nests in the thorny branches of acacia trees, in some cases taking advantage of the acacia's own defensive relationship with stinging ants to deter nest predators, a small piece of ecological partnership playing out in plain sight along the trail. The call is a harsh, repetitive chattering, loud enough that it usually gives away the bird's position in low brush before the nest does. Present year round.
Streak backed Oriole (Icterus pustulatus)
Bright orange with black streaking down the back, and a builder of distinctive hanging, woven nests that dangle from the tips of branches in open woodland and garden trees. The nest is frequently the first thing visitors notice, an intricately constructed pouch swinging in the wind well before the oriole itself appears. Present year round.
Groove billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris)
All black with an oversized, awkwardly curved bill and a clumsy, fluttering flight that looks almost effortful compared to the smoother birds around it. Anis are unusual among birds for practicing communal nesting, where multiple breeding pairs in a single small group share one nest, take turns incubating a combined clutch of eggs, and raise the resulting young together, a cooperative arrangement that is rare enough among birds worldwide to make this scruffy looking species more biologically interesting than its appearance suggests. Present year round.
Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)
A long, rust colored tail and an unhurried, deliberate way of moving through the mid canopy, climbing and hopping along branches in a manner that genuinely does resemble a squirrel more than it resembles most birds in flight. It feeds heavily on large insects and caterpillars, including hairy species that many other birds avoid, picking them apart against a branch before eating them. Present year round.
Black headed Trogon (Trogon melanocephalus)
Black head, yellow belly, and a habit of sitting motionless in shaded understory for long stretches that makes it remarkably easy to walk straight past without noticing. Trogons as a family are weak fliers built for short, controlled movements rather than sustained flight, which is part of why this species relies so heavily on stillness and camouflage instead of speed to avoid predators. A slow, deliberate scan of quiet, shaded perches along any trail is usually rewarded more than fast walking ever is. Present year round.
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
All black with a short, fan shaped tail, typically soaring in slow circles, often in loose groups, riding thermals high overhead with barely a wingbeat. Unlike turkey vultures, black vultures have a comparatively weak sense of smell and rely more on keen eyesight and on watching other scavengers, including each other, to locate carrion, which is part of why they are so often seen circling in numbers rather than alone. Worth comparing directly against the crested caracara below, since the two are frequently confused at a distance. Present year round.
Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus)
A long legged relative of the falcon family that behaves far more like a vulture than a typical raptor, just as comfortable striding across open fields and roadsides hunting insects and small reptiles as it is soaring overhead. The black cap and bold orange facial skin make it distinctive at close range, but the easiest way to tell it apart from a circling vulture at a distance is in the flight itself: the caracara holds its wings flat and steady, while vultures rock and teeter on a slight dihedral. It is also, unusually for a falcon, known to gather nest material and build rather than simply occupy an old nest, a habit shared by very few of its relatives. Present year round.
Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)
Unmistakable once the silhouette clicks: an enormous wingspan paired with a long, deeply forked tail, soaring high over the coastline for long stretches without a single visible flap. Frigatebirds have the lowest wing loading, relative to body weight, of almost any bird, which is what allows them to stay aloft on rising air for hours, but it comes at a cost on land and water, since their feathers are not fully waterproof and their legs are too weak to take off easily from the surface of the ocean. That tradeoff is why they are almost always seen in the air rather than resting on the water itself. Present year round.
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
Large and gray brown, flying low and direct over the waves in loose formation before folding into a sharp, near vertical dive after fish. That dive is more violent than it looks from shore, and the species has evolved internal air sacs beneath the skin of its chest that cushion the impact, allowing it to plunge from significant height without injury. Present year round.
Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)
Bright yellow belly, a black and white striped head, and a loud, unmistakable three syllable call that gave the bird its English name and inspired nearly identical nicknames across the region, including bem-te-vi in Portuguese and bienteveo in Spanish, both translating roughly to "I see you well." It is a notably bold and opportunistic feeder, willing to snatch insects from the air, pluck small fish straight from the water's surface, and steal food from other birds' nests when the chance arises, behavior unusual enough among flycatchers that early naturalists struggled to classify it. Usually perched in the open near water or gardens, and hard to miss once you know the call. Present year round.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO START BIRDWATCHING IF YOU DIDN'T COME PREPARED?
If you did not come prepared for birdwatching, the good news is that you already have the most important thing with you: curiosity. And curiosity leads to the most important practice in birdwatching: stopping long enough to notice.
When it comes to gear, birdwatching literally includes the word “watching,” so it is easy to assume that the first thing you need is a good pair of binoculars. Binoculars help, of course, but the first skill to practice is often listening. Many experienced birdwatchers hear a call or song before they ever see the bird. From there, they pause, look toward the sound, watch for movement, and only then use binoculars to see more detail.
Most of what you need to begin, you probably already own, and almost everything that makes a difference fits in a day bag.
A phone is one of the most useful tools you already have. Before heading out, especially while you still have Wi-Fi, download Merlin Bird ID, a free app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Merlin can help identify birds through a few simple questions, photos, sounds, and regional bird lists. Its Sound ID feature can listen to nearby birds and suggest possible matches in real time, which is especially helpful for beginners who often hear far more birds than they manage to see. Just keep in mind that Sound ID does not identify every species everywhere, so it should be used as a helpful guide rather than a final answer. Its Photo ID feature can also help identify common birds from a clear photo. If you want to go a step further, eBird, also from Cornell, lets you record what you saw and explore nearby birding hotspots where other birders have recently reported sightings.
If you do not have access to binoculars, your phone camera can still help. Many modern smartphones have enough zoom to let you get a closer look at a bird’s shape, color, or behavior, especially if the bird is perched and there is good light. For comparison, some recent iPhone Pro models offer up to 5x optical zoom and up to 25x digital zoom, while a common beginner-friendly pair of birding binoculars might be 8x. That does not mean a phone and binoculars offer the same experience. Optical zoom on a phone can be useful, and digital zoom can help you inspect or photograph something from farther away, but binoculars usually make it easier to find, follow, and watch birds in real time because they are designed for steady viewing with both eyes and a wider field of view.
Still, a phone can be a practical first step if you are not ready to buy gear for a hobby you are only beginning to explore. It can help you document what you saw, zoom in on a perched bird, or take a photo to identify later. If you or your family enjoy the experience, a simple pair of binoculars can be a worthwhile next step, especially if you like the idea of spending less time looking through a screen while you are in nature.
Beyond that, dress for the dry forest rather than for the beach. A hat and sunscreen matter here because Guanacaste’s dry season can bring strong sun and a more open canopy than you might expect from a tropical destination. Closed shoes are helpful on uneven trail surfaces, and a small bottle of water goes a long way once the morning heat sets in, which can happen quickly along the coast. Repellent is also worth bringing, especially during the green season or near water.
WHAT IS THE BEST TIME OF DAY TO GO BIRDWATCHING?
Early morning is usually the best time of day to go birdwatching in Guanacaste, especially during the first one or two hours after sunrise, when the air is still cooler, the light is softer, and many birds are more active and easier to hear.
There is also real biology behind this. The early morning bird activity many people notice is part of what scientists call the dawn chorus, a period when many birds become especially vocal around sunrise. For a long time, one common explanation was that birds sang more at dawn because sound traveled better through cool, still air. More recent research suggests the picture is more complex. A 2025 study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Project Dhvani, focused on tropical forest birds in India’s Western Ghats, found that territorial behavior and diet helped explain why some species were more dawn-biased in their vocal activity. In other words, dawn singing is not only about acoustics. It is also connected to how birds communicate, defend space, stay aware of one another, and prepare for the day’s foraging.
For a beginner in Guanacaste, the practical takeaway is simple: morning gives you the best chance of hearing and noticing birds before the heat of the day begins to build. Birds may be calling from trees, moving between branches, crossing open spaces, or becoming active along dry forest edges, gardens, and shaded trails. This is also when the experience tends to be most comfortable for visitors, since walking is easier before the sun becomes stronger and the landscape begins to feel hotter.
Late afternoon can also be a good time to look for birds, especially as temperatures begin to drop again. However, for families and first-time birdwatchers, morning is usually the most enjoyable place to start. A short walk between 6:00 and 8:30 a.m. can offer enough activity to feel rewarding without turning the outing into a long or demanding excursion.
HOW TO MAKE BIRDWATCHING FUN FOR KIDS
Birdwatching can be especially rewarding for children because, at a beginner level, the most important skill is not memorizing species names, but learning to notice. Children are often naturally good at this. They see movement, color, shape, and small changes in their surroundings with a freshness that adults sometimes overlook.
For a family outing, it helps to turn birdwatching into a simple game rather than a formal lesson. Before heading out, choose a few colors and invite everyone to look for birds that match them. In Guanacaste, this might mean watching for turquoise, orange, yellow, white, black, or bright green, all of which can appear in the birds commonly seen around dry forest, gardens, trails, and open areas. Counting can work just as well: how many different birds can the family notice before breakfast, even if no one knows their names yet?
The goal of a first birdwatching outing with kids is not to build a long list of confirmed species, but to create one or two moments of genuine excitement through a simple, playful experience: a colorful bird on a branch, a loud call from a nearby tree, a tiny hummingbird near a flower, or a flock passing overhead. Those small experiences are often what make children want to look again the next morning.
DO YOU NEED A GUIDE?
For the kind of beginner birdwatching described in this guide, a local guide is helpful, but not required. If your goal is simply to begin noticing common and memorable birds during a family trip, you can start with a quiet morning walk, a few places to look, and a simple identification app such as Merlin Bird ID.
A guide becomes especially valuable when you want to look for specific or harder-to-find species, visit more specialized habitats, or make the most of a dedicated birdwatching outing. Experienced local guides know which trails, times of day, and habitat conditions are more likely to produce certain sightings, including the ones that casual visitors may easily miss.
For many families on a beach vacation, however, the first step does not need to be a formal tour. Many of Guanacaste’s common and exciting birds can appear in gardens, along open trails, near coastal vegetation, around plazas, and at the edges where town and dry forest meet. If a few days of self-guided walking, listening, and using Merlin or eBird leaves you wanting to learn more, that is often the right moment to book a guided outing and turn a casual interest into a deeper experience.
EASY BIRD SIGHTINGS IN LAS CATALINAS
If you are staying around Potrero, Flamingo, Brasilito, or even Tamarindo, Las Catalinas is a great place to start birdwatching in coastal Guanacaste. It has the convenience of a walkable Beach Town, while also offering direct access to more than 42 kilometers of trails set within more than 900 acres of protected green area. That combination makes it easy to begin with a short, casual outing rather than a full birdwatching expedition.
Las Catalinas is also close to two beaches, Playa Danta and Playa Dantita, and within Town itself, visitors can find plazas, gardens, shaded corners, coastal vegetation, and green spaces where birds may appear throughout the day. Just beyond the built environment, the trails move into Guanacaste’s tropical dry forest, creating a natural transition between beach, town, and forest habitat.
For beginners, this variety is part of what makes birdwatching here approachable. You do not have to choose between staying in Town or going deep into the trails. A morning walk through plazas and gardens, a quiet pause beneath a shaded tree, a few minutes near the beachfront, or a short trail outing can all offer chances to see or hear birds. Some are easiest to notice by color, others by movement, and many by sound before they are ever seen.
The table below includes a short selection of easy or common sightings around Las Catalinas and coastal Guanacaste, based on species featured in Richard Hoeg’s The Birds of Las Catalinas, written and photographed by Hoeg and published in its second version in 2023. The species were selected for beginner-friendly observation, with most being resident or commonly possible throughout the year. As always with wildlife, visibility can vary depending on weather, time of day, flowering and fruiting cycles, and simple luck.
| Common name | Scientific name | What to look or listen for | Where to look near Las Catalinas |
|---|---|---|---|
| White-throated Magpie-Jay | Calocitta formosa | Large blue-and-white bird with a long tail, white throat, black crest, and loud social calls | Open trees, plazas, gardens, trail edges, and trees near homes or restaurants |
| Great Kiskadee | Pitangus sulphuratus | Bright yellow belly, brown wings, black-and-white head pattern, and a bold call that sounds like its name | Garden trees, exposed branches, rooftops, open edges, and areas near water |
| Social Flycatcher | Myiozetetes similis | Smaller than a Great Kiskadee, with a yellow belly, dark-and-white head pattern, and active movement between branches | Open branches, garden trees, dry forest edges, and trees around Town |
| White-tipped Dove | Leptotila verreauxi | Soft morning cooing, warm brown body, and a white-tipped tail that is easiest to notice in flight | Shaded trees, low branches, quiet trail edges, and forested areas near Town |
| Brown Pelican | Pelecanus occidentalis | Large coastal bird gliding low over the water or diving into the ocean for fish | Beachfront, just offshore, rocky coastal edges, and open water views |
| Magnificent Frigatebird | Fregata magnificens | Large dark bird soaring high with long angular wings and a forked tail, often barely flapping | High above the coastline, beach, and open sky |
| Orange-fronted Parakeet | Eupsittula canicularis | Small green parakeets in noisy, fast-moving groups; orange forehead may be visible if close | Tall trees, palms, forest edges, and flying overhead around dawn or dusk |
| Turquoise-browed Motmot | Eumomota superciliosa | Turquoise brow, green-blue body, warm orange belly, and a long tail with racket-shaped tips | Low shaded perches, dry forest edges, quieter trail sections, and open clearings |
| Rufous-naped Wren | Campylorhynchus rufinucha | Small brown-and-patterned bird with a pale eyebrow, rufous nape, and loud chattering song | Low scrub, acacia trees, cactus, gardens, bushes, and dry vegetation near paths |
| Hoffmann’s Woodpecker | Melanerpes hoffmannii | Barred back, red on the head, and steady tapping on trunks or dead wood | Trail-side trees, fence posts, dead branches, and open woodland |
| Cinnamon Hummingbird | Amazilia rutila | Tiny bird with warm cinnamon tones below, green upperparts, and fast hovering near flowers | Flowering shrubs, gardens, landscaped areas, and forest edges |
| Spotted Sandpiper | Actitis macularius | Small shorebird with a distinctive bobbing walk along rocks, wet sand, or water edges | Beachfront, tideline, wet sand, rocky areas, and nearby coastal water edges |
A few species are also worth watching for on quieter trail walks, even if they may be easier to miss. Richard Hoeg’s The Birds of Las Catalinas, written and photographed by Hoeg and published in its second version in 2023, features birds such as the Black-headed Trogon, White-necked Puffbird, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Squirrel Cuckoo, and White-lored Gnatcatcher as part of the area’s birdlife. These species tend to reward slower observation. Some sit nearly motionless, some move through shaded canopy, and others are small enough to disappear quickly into low brush. For beginners, they are best treated as bonus sightings rather than birds to expect on every walk.
To make the experience easier to take with you, we have also created a downloadable PDF that can be used during your walk. It is designed as a simple beginner’s companion, helping you look for specific colors, shapes, sounds, and behaviors so you can begin identifying some of the common or easy bird sightings around Las Catalinas and coastal Guanacaste.
A SIMPLE FIRST MORNING BIRDWATCHING PLAN IN LAS CATALINAS
If this is the morning you decide to actually try it, here is a version that does not require any planning beyond the night before.
Set an alarm for around 5:30, early enough to be outside within the first hour after sunrise without dragging anyone out of bed in the dark. Grab a light snack and water rather than waiting for a full breakfast, since the best activity window closes faster than most people expect once the heat builds. Have Merlin open and ready, or a printed checklist if you would rather keep phones out of small hands for the morning. Head for the trail network rather than the beach for this first hour, since the dry forest canopy holds more activity earlier in the day than the open shoreline does.
Walk slowly and stop often. The instinct is to keep moving to cover ground, but birdwatching rewards the opposite. A few minutes standing still near a flowering shrub or a fruiting tree will usually produce more sightings than twenty minutes of steady walking. Let Merlin's Sound ID run in the background and check in periodically rather than constantly, so the actual experience of looking and listening does not get lost behind a screen.
After an hour or so, when the morning activity naturally starts to quiet down, head back toward breakfast. The Santarena Hotel sits directly on Playa Danta with the trail network immediately behind it, which makes the transition from forest walk to breakfast table a five minute walk rather than a planned outing, and a genuinely pleasant way to compare notes on what everyone saw before the day's other plans take over.
FINAL THOUGHTS: LET GUANACASTE AND LAS CATALINAS BE YOUR STARTING POINT
Maybe birdwatching never felt like something for you. Maybe it seemed too specialized, too quiet, or it sounded like a hobby reserved for retirees with expensive binoculars and and a level of patience that does not usually belong to a few relaxing days at the beach or a family vacation. But in Costa Rica, birds have a way of making the experience feel much more immediate than that.
This is one of the most remarkable birdwatching countries in the world, with more than 900 bird species recorded in a country small enough to cross in a day. That number is higher than the official checklist for California and higher than the number of bird species that occur regularly in Canada, which helps explain why even a casual morning walk can feel surprisingly rich. The experience is not exceptional because it requires expertise. It is exceptional because so much life is gathered so closely around you.
That is what makes a first morning of birdwatching in Guanacaste worth taking seriously, even if you approach it lightly. You do not have to turn it into a full expedition or become an expert before you begin. You only have to pause long enough to notice what is already happening: a call coming from a shaded tree, a flash of turquoise between branches, a hummingbird moving near a flowering shrub, a pelican gliding low over the water, or the shape of a frigatebird moving almost still above the coast.
Birdwatching creates a different rhythm within the day. It asks you to slow down, not as an idea, but as a practical way of seeing more. You listen before you identify. You look for movement before you reach for a camera. You begin to notice color, sound, shape, distance, and habitat, and with that, the landscape becomes more layered. The beach is still the beach, the trails are still the trails, and the town is still a town, but each one begins to hold more life than it did at first glance.
So start where you are. Take one morning, walk slowly, look up often, and let the sounds, colors, and movement of Guanacaste guide your attention. You may still spend the rest of the day at the beach, by the pool, or around Town in Las Catalinas, but after noticing the birds, the place may feel different. Larger, livelier, and more connected than it did before. Sometimes, that is the value of birdwatching: it does not take you away from your trip, but it helps you see more of the place you already came to experience.