The Beautiful Birds Of Costa Rica | Animalogic Wild

Costa Rica is home to an amazing variety of wildlife, but perhaps none are more beautiful than the birds. I'm Danielle and you're watching Animalogic. Central and South America have a disproportionately large number of avian species. 3,500 out of 10,000 avian species live here. In Costa Rica alone, you can find 920 different species of bird. That's 10% of the entire world's bird life, found in a country smaller than West Virginia. Here in Corcovado, you can see birds such as toucans, macaws, and curacao. Toucans are probably the most iconic of the country's avian residents. Their bills can be four times the size of their head, and often as long as their bodies. These long, colourful bills are not only an effective way to attract mates, but they use them to intimidate other birds, grab fruit at the end of branches too weak to support their body weight, and to dig meals out of small crevices. They have incredible control over their beaks, and during mating, they will pass fruit to one another as a form of courtship. Or they'll tap their long bills together. Unfortunately, toucans probably don't follow their noses all that much, as like most birds, they have a very poor sense of smell. Yellow-throated toucans are the largest of the toucans found in Costa Rica, and are known to be bullies. These two aracaris are enjoying a meal, when the toucan stops by. Down on the jungle floor struts the most stylish bird of Costa Rica, the great curacao. Standing up to 91 centimetres tall, these dapper cressids rock a mohawk of curled feathers. They also have bright yellow bills and long tails to attract potential mates. Vulnerable, great curacaos face increasing threats every day from deforestation and from being hunted for food. Their relatives, the crested guans, are usually found in the trees, but this one stalks the jungle floor in search of fallen fruit and insects. Pale-billed woodpeckers are the largest of the eight woodpeckers found in the Osta Peninsula, and they can be found knocking into trees in search of the larvae of wood-boring beetles. Down by the shore, herons have to share their territory, not only with kingfishers, but with crocodiles. Little blue heron spends its days stalking small fish and amphibians in the shallows. His patience pays off. Kingfishers employ a similar strategy, but instead of standing in the water, they've mastered the dive. This amazon kingfisher perches and waits. He sees a fish and dives. He takes into account the refraction of the light in the water and is successful. The fish struggles, but a few smacks take care of that. The jungles of Costa Rica are home to a variety of parrots, and perhaps the most talkative are the yellow-naped parrots. These parrots are particularly famous for their amazing ability to talk and are often kept as pets. As a result, they can make some pretty creepy sounds. Possibly the most beautiful bird in all of Central America is also one of its most elusive, the resplendent quetzal. These beautiful birds go to extremes during courtship. The male will grow gorgeous twin-tail feathers that can be up to a meter long. Then he will hollow out a den in a rotten tree, keeping it as clean as possible with the hopes of attracting his chosen mate. Only time will tell if she agrees to his offer. Rivaling the quetzal for its beauty are Costa Rica's hummingbirds. There are dozens of species of hummingbird found in Costa Rica, and they come in a wide variety of sizes and colours. Many are even iridescent. Hummingbirds can beat their wings up to 200 times a second, and because of this they can hover in place, and they're the only bird that can fly backwards. They are known as nectivores, as their diet is made up almost entirely of plant nectar. Their hovering allows them to easily collect this nectar, especially from flowers that are too small to support their body weight. Their extreme control of their body movement is also very helpful when avoiding other hummingbirds gathered at a single flower. It's estimated that hummingbirds visit 20 flowers a minute. In order to eat all of this nectar, they have super long, split tongues which are about double the length of their bills. Hummingbirds feed every 10 to 15 minutes, and in a day they will consume half their body weight in sugar. Their hearts beat around 1,000 times per minute, and due to their high metabolism, if a hummingbird went without food for a few hours, they would die. To make it through the night, they enter a hibernation-like state called torpor, during which their metabolism is lowered significantly, and they don't need as much energy to keep going. 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