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It’s early morning in Costa Rica. Tiny bats nestle in a tree after a night on the wing. A Great Kiskadee calls. Gray-capped Flycatchers sally forth from willow-like shrubs to catch insects in mid-air. White Ibis forage at the water's edge. Deep in a thicket, Black-hooded Antshrikes call. By noon, Chestnut-mandibled Toucans will shift lazily from one tree to another. In the evening, the sounds of cicadas give way to the sounds of crickets and a chorus of Marine Toads pours forth like no other. The land is pulsing with life!
BirdNote®
Costa Rica Pulses With Life
Written by Chris Peterson
This is BirdNote.
[Early morning near tributary to e.g. Tarcoles River]
It’s early morning in Costa Rica. We’re in a mixed tropical and temperate forest, where a stream runs to the Pacific. Tiny bats nestle in a tree after a night on the wing. A Great Kiskadee calls [Great Kiskadee call]. And Gray-capped Flycatchers sally forth from willow-like shrubs, to catch insects in mid-air.
[Bring up the river – day sound]
Now a dozen White Ibis, large graceful birds with curved pink bills, fly by in silent formation, low to the water. Deep in a thicket, two Black-hooded Antshrikes call.
[Two Black-hooded Antshrikes calling]
It’s only 8:00 AM, yet the heat and humidity are rising. By noon, a few Black Vultures will be eating the remains of an iguana. Chestnut-mandibled Toucans will shift lazily from one tree to another.
[One call of a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan aka Black-mandibled Toucan]
We’ll lie low until the sounds of cicadas give way to the sounds of crickets. In the tropics, darkness falls quickly. Tonight, however, the moon is full. And a chorus like no other begins to pour forth – the calls of bufo marinus, Marine Toads. The land is pulsing with life.
[Marine Toads calling from the river]
For BirdNote, I'm Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Call of Great Kiskadee [105553] recorded by G.A. Keller; Call of the Black-hooded Antshrike [55191] by D. L. Ross; Black-mandibled Toucan [184525] by D.L. Ross. Crickets from the Black-mandibled Toucan track.
Stream Nature SFX Essentials #18 recorded by Gordon Hempton of QuietPlanet.com. Morning ambient recorded by C. Peterson on site. See Costa Rica disk Groups 10, 4, 5. Marine Toad chorus recordist unknown (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/pestsweeds/canetoad.mp3). BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org December 2013 & November 2025 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# costarica-01b-2013-12-17 costarica-01b
Chris Peterson
Writer
Michael Stein
NarratorSights & Sounds
