Do you have any impressions about changes in CR avifauna since the early 90s?
Guanacaste has taken a man-made beating with the new airport and all the new infrastructure, but I can't say the parks seem any worse for wear. There are a few birds, uncommon birds like Spot-breasted Orioles, which were hard back then and seem next to impossible now. But I'm not sure I can attribute that to habitat loss.
Some of the avifauna seem to have spread out a little. Jabirus recently nested at Cano Negro and you mentioned Pearl Kites already. The Tropical Mockingbird and Southern Lapwing were big things three years ago, but I get the impression now people might be thinking they'll grow in numbers rather than retreat.
Sometimes I can't always tell about these things though because there are more eyes in the field now. Or maybe habitat changes and weather systems are dictating these subtle movements. For several years, Tropical Kingbirds were reliably seen at certain places in Texas and Arizona, but they apparently have retreated back to their more standard ranges in Mexico. The same could be happening for a few species in Costa Rica. It's hard to know if something is a temporary shift or a long-term change in a species entire range.
A Costa Rica bird guide told me that he thought that the raptor numbers were down considerably in the last decade, but I'm there too infrequently to notice those changes. I also understand some warming trends at Monteverde are effecting the smaller poison arrow frogs and other amphibians, so there may be a bigger fluctuation in which only a decade or two might be too insignificant to tell the story. You may know more about that than I do.
On the good side, I think the growth of the ecotourism industry has created a positive awareness of habitat. New community-based eco-friendly places like Heliconias Lodge are big additions since I was first here. The new Costa Rica Birding Birding Route seems really interesting too if they can get that going. The Texas Birding Trail added a lot of tourism dollars here in Texas.
I'm in a constant worry about the Pacific coast getting too over-built, but that's been going on so long now I'm almost glad there's a recession just to slow everything down.
