Seawatching on the pacific coast?! (1 Viewer)

[alexash]

Hi All,
I'm going to be moving to the Nicoya peninsula from the UK in early April (Playa Islita, just south of Samara) and although I'm aware of pelagic trips recording a good range of seabirds offshore I haven't found any info on land based observations. Has anybody tried this or is it a waste of time? Would strong offshore winds at any particular time of year result in any passage? Do wildfowl and waders hug the coast during migration periods?
Hopefully someone can help, if not I'll probably give it a go anyway!
Cheers,
Alex

 

[Birdingcraft]

Hi All,
I'm going to be moving to the Nicoya peninsula from the UK in early April (Playa Islita, just south of Samara) and although I'm aware of pelagic trips recording a good range of seabirds offshore I haven't found any info on land based observations. Has anybody tried this or is it a waste of time? Would strong offshore winds at any particular time of year result in any passage? Do wildfowl and waders hug the coast during migration periods?
Hopefully someone can help, if not I'll probably give it a go anyway!
Cheers,
Alex

I suggest you definitely give it go and let us know what you see! I get the impression that one doesnt see too much but maybe birders in Costa Rica just havent found the right location or have watched during the right weather conditions. I bet that you would see some interesting migration at the right time of year in any case.

 

[JJP]

Hi All,
I'm going to be moving to the Nicoya peninsula from the UK in early April (Playa Islita, just south of Samara) and although I'm aware of pelagic trips recording a good range of seabirds offshore I haven't found any info on land based observations. Has anybody tried this or is it a waste of time? Would strong offshore winds at any particular time of year result in any passage? Do wildfowl and waders hug the coast during migration periods?
Hopefully someone can help, if not I'll probably give it a go anyway!
Cheers,
Alex

I do believe there are occasional shearwater sightings along the peninsula... usually around the tip of Nicoya. But I suspect it is entirely weather related.

However, this information is largely old book information. I've never known anyone in Costa Rica to see something outside of Brown Booby from the coastline.

On the other hand, there are very few birders with good seabird experience setting up a scope on the Nicoya Peninsula to look at pelagics. It just doesn't happen very often.

I'm with Birdingcraft. Try it anyway. I think the concept may just be missing some interest.

 

[alexash]

Thanks for the quick replies, I'll certainly have a go and report back with anything interesting. I'd imagine there will be a lot of time looking looking at frigatebirds and pelicans but hopefully something more interesting will turn up.
All the best,
Alex

 

[JonesOhio]

I took the ferry from Puntarenas over to the Nicoya peninsula in December a few years back and had some immature Jaegers. Other than that only Brown Boobies and Magnificent Frigatebirds.

Spending some time seawatching with a scope would certainly be fruitful!

 

[njlarsen]

JonesOhio, I see this is your first post, Welcome to birdforum!

Niels

 

[alexash]

A quick update from Islita, I've only started looking at the sea in the past couple of weeks and on a very casual basis, it's been slow going but amongst the odd pelicans, frigates and Royal Terns I've had a couple of Brown Noddies heading north and on 19th had a Ist year Masked Booby, also heading north. Enough to keep me interested but there are long periods of staring at nothing but the sea! Hopefully things will pick up a bit over the next few weeks, I'll keep having a look every now and then.
Other birds of note have been a pair of Southern Lapwing in Samara and a pair of Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts here at Islita which look to be fairly out of range, I let Richard Garrigues know but I guess there isn't really anywhere else to report sightings these days? I'll put anything of interest on here and let Richard know about anything really interesting (he's working on a new edition of the field guide).
Cheers,
Alex

 

[njlarsen]

There is Ebird, which is a good place to start for making records more permanent and usable for others.

Niels

 

[simple]

I too took the ferry from Puntarenas over to the Nicoya peninsula and back again twice during my stay and apart from the usual suspects I did have a shearwater spp but couldn't nail the ID nor did I get any photos so its the one that got away!