Red-billed Oxpecker

A very slender gray-brown swift with a long, deeply forked tail that is often held closed, making it look needle-like and pointed. The erratic flight pattern, with frequent direction changes and rapid wingbeats on long, scythe-shaped wings, is distinctive. Less gregarious than other swifts; usually found in pairs or small flocks, and association with other swallows and swifts is usually only fleeting. Forages over a wide variety of habitats with palms, including savanna, coastal scrub, towns, villages, cultivated areas, forest edge, and clearings, from sea level up to 1100 meters of elevation, preferring lowlands. Nests and roosts in palms, especially Hyphaene, Bismarckia, and coconut palms. Gives a high-pitched, metallic “tre-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit” call, solitarily or in unison with others. Separated from other swifts by its longer and thinner tail. Further separated from the larger Madagascar Swift by its much weaker and more fluttering flight.

Small hummingbird with restricted range in Costa Rica and western Panama. Male is mostly glittering emerald with a bright white lower belly and outer tail feathers. Female similar, but white extends up to the throat. Both sexes have relatively short and very slightly decurved bill. Compare with Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, which has coppery shoulders and rump and lacks white in tail. Found in the foothills of the Pacific slope, from around 800–2,200m, where it occurs in forest, edges, and gardens.

Colorful, chunky waxbill with a massive, conical bill. Both sexes have a red hood and tail, but males have a black base color and more red, and females a brown base color. Found in a variety of lush habitats, including forest edge and understory, moist scrub, marshes, and plantations. Shy and inconspicuous. Often in pairs. The call is an explosive, metallic “zink” and the song a quick, explosive jumble. Similar to bluebills, but separated by the all-bluish bill.