Lovely Cotinga

How to find it

Scan the canopy and watch fruiting trees, since figs and trees of the laurel family are especially good for cotingas generally. Go early, when a bird is often perched on a protruding branch above the canopy. Around Arenal it might turn up at fruiting trees along the road in, around the lake or at the hanging bridges. Near Turrialba, a guided outing to Silent Mountain is a long uphill walk, and even without a cotinga you might see Sharpbill or Rufous-rumped Antwren. The Cinchona and Virgen del Socorro road is an easy day trip from the Central Valley, where it is very rare but always possible. The Socorro road needs a four wheel drive vehicle.

How to recognise it

The male is bright turquoise blue with a dark purple throat and upper breast and a purple patch on the belly. The wings are black with blue edges. In poor light the deep purple of the throat and breast can look black.

The female looks completely different. She is dark grayish brown above with pale scalloping. Her underparts are dull white with dusky brown spots, heaviest on the breast and sides. That big difference in plumage can cause confusion with other species.

Across its range it is a small, plump cotinga about 18 to 20 cm long, weighing roughly 66 to 75 g.

Behaviour and diet

Early in the morning it is often seen perched on a protruding branch above the canopy. It is usually seen alone or in small groups near fruiting trees.

It feeds mostly on fruit, especially from trees of the laurel family, and it also takes small lizards and insects.

One Costa Rica guide first took a bird for a Blue-gray Tanager against cloud. When it crossed green leaves it turned into a flying chunk of turquoise and swooped to a treetop, flying before the scope was ready.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives in the interior and edges of lowland evergreen forest, and also in open areas with scattered trees. It reaches 1,700 meters, and forest at roughly 1,000 to 1,400 meters seems especially good for it.

Its home here is the Caribbean slope, where birders concentrate on large tracts of middle elevation forest. The Tenorio and Bijagua area, El Copal and the Turrialba foothills are all named, and it should also occur on the Caribbean slopes of Tenorio, Miravalles and Rincon de la Vieja volcanoes.

When to see it

Staff at a Turrialba-area lodge told a birder it is present there from January to April, though never easy to see. At El Copal it was reported appearing briefly in August to eat Melastome fruit, and Skutch found a pair nesting near Varablanca at the start of the wet season.

Similar birds

Turquoise Cotinga is very similar but found on Costa Rica's Pacific slope. The Lovely male has a smaller belly patch and lacks black spotting on the wings. Blue Cotinga has a black eye-ring, a less purple bib and a much smaller purple breast patch, and its female looks scaly rather than grey spotted below. Its range does not overlap with Lovely Cotinga.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Spanish name used for Costa Rica is Cotinga Linda. Elsewhere it is also called Cotinga Azuleja, Cotinga Bella and Cotinga Adorable.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as R, a resident, and it is considered rare in Costa Rica, with the IUCN rating it Least Concern.

Photography tips

The male's dark purple throat and breast can look black in low light, so wait for good light on a treetop perch. Early morning, when it sits on a protruding branch above the canopy, is the time to be ready. One guide's bird flew before the scope was set, so have it focused on a fruiting tree in advance.