Guide to the Birds of Cocos Island. Guia de las aves de la Isla del Coco

Book by Serge Arias & Michel Montoya.
With the support of the Costa Rica Birding Board and Costa Rica Birding.  2025.  238p.  paperbound. $25.00.

Located 570 kilometers (c. 354 miles) SW of mainland Costa Rica, rugged, heavily-forested Cocos Island comprises 9.21 square miles (5,894.4 acres) with a maximum altitude of 1,888 feet .  If one keeps going southwesterly similar mileage will reach the Galapagos Islands.  Fittingly, Cocos Island is the sole home of one of Darwin’s finches, the cocos finch (Pinaroloxias inornata), common and endemic here.  Also endemic to Cocos Island are the cocos tyrannulet (abundant) and the cocos cuckoo (common).

This guide lists 181 species recorded here, groups with the most species include shorebirds, larids, seabirds and sulids, and heron types.  Many of the birds are strays, especially North American migrants (incl. 22 of “our” warblers), and are termed “accidentals” (108 species).  Species accounts are predominantly descriptive for identification.  One would be better off using the several good guides to Costa Rican birds along with a ranking North American guide.  It would have been an improvement to state how many records there are for the vagrant species.

Localities are listed for where the birds occur or have occurred.  Twenty-one “birdwatching and hotspots” are described and numerically listed, but the texts go up to as many as 51 with no key as to what those above 21 are.  Cocos Island has few human residents, but is a key destination for divers and marine life.  There is a helpful list of references.

A big plus are the more than 500 color photographs as well as several excellent maps and scenic shots.  Many of us find island birdlife fascinating.  This fine regional guide will stimulate such an itch.  The book has a certain charm, with descriptions such as the Swainson’s thrush’s “notorious” eye ring.  Cocos Island has ten or so mostly tiny satellite islands, breeding sites for sulids, terns, and frigatebirds.

Tour boats leave from Puntarenas, C.R. and the ensuing 540 km trip nets many seabirds.  There is no information on how to hook up with such tours.  “The most beautiful island in the world.” - Jaques Cousteau.  There are abundant waterfalls.  A pleasure to recommend.