The wild west of Costa Rica 

Gray Hawk of Guanacaste 

Quite a sensational reward, following the challenges experienced with this bird species in New Mexico, USA

Published May 26,2017 in my newspaper column " for the birds " in the Las Cruces Bulletin:  
The Gray Hawk in the Southwest US is at the northern most end of its range with a few pairs breeding in Arizona. The arrival in 2016 of this Hawk for 6 weeks at the Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park - was a sensation - and presented quite a personal dilemma. Do I, as resident ornithologist, make its presence known in order to promote the validity of the park, encouraging more paying visitors, or should I not mention it and keep it secret in order to protect the bird from pursuing birders and enthusiasts? I kept it relatively quiet by not publishing it, and answered visitors enquiries honestly, but inevitably the word got out and many people got their tick or lifer. This is the preferred method, much better than the old mentality of shoot and take it to the taxidermist. Unfortunately the bird moved off onto nearby agricultural land, outside of the park. To my knowledge no other Gray Hawk was seen that year. Although display flights and whistling calls were recorded - in breeding criteria classification - this is logged as a possible breeding. In 2017, there were a few isolated sightings of a passage migrant at the state park. This current year, no birds were seen at all at the park in New Mexico.

Imagine my delight when I discovered this handsome raptor once again! Costa Rica is in the middle of its distribution range, allowing me to continue studying the species and explore my fascination, here in Central America on the land bridge between North and South America.

Whilst photographing Parrots (Crimson-fronted Parakeet and White-fronted Parrot)

this individual arrived 

Discovering Gray Hawk at home here in the tropical forest. Whilst photographing Parrots - guess what flew onto the uppermost branches? A magnificent specimen of a Gray Hawk. This rekindled my enthusiasm and later I would hike the whole area, which proved to be rewarding, providing an opportunity to observe a pair performing display flights and hear the notorious whistling calls: See and listen to video below

 

Other species that share this open woodland are Grove-billed Ani below

 and the Pale-billed Woodpecker above  - see next blog post