One of the main reasons for traveling to Costa Rica and Panama is to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Sure, visitors to these tropical paradise countries also partake in zip-lining, hiking, birding, and other fun outdoor activities but let’s face it; a vacation is a vacation and there should always be time to sit back, rest, and watch the clouds go by.
If you happen to be watching those clouds near rainforest, you can bet that some beautiful birds are going to fly into view. Their bright colors and exotic appearance are going to be hard to ignore so you might find yourself watching one or two. You might also notice that certain birds seem to be relaxing just as much as yourself!
That seemingly easy-going attitude is shown by a surprising number of species that live in tropical places and this fits in perfectly with those hot, relaxed surroundings. In fact, motmots can be so relaxed that the local name for these rather stationary birds is “dumb bird” because they sit still for long periods of time instead of spending most of their time moving through the vegetation and flying around.
Puffbirds are even easier going than the motmots and love to spend most of their time just hanging out on top of a tall tree or sitting very still in the dim understory of tropical rainforest.
Some colorful birds will also sit still long enough for photos. The manakins in particular love to hang out in the understory of forest between bouts of dancing! They might be more active than motmots or puffbirds but still have the right attitude.
Although these sit and wait birds actually use this strategy to surprise prey items and watch for predators, it still seems like they have the same vacation attitude as people who are lucky enough to experience Costa Rica and Panama.
Learn more about these and hundreds of other bird species in Costa Rica and Panama with our bird field guide apps. Check out the lite versions for free!
