Birdwatch: a mesmerising Costa Rican encounter with the sunbittern

The only member of its zoological family, this curious creature almost seems to have been designed by AI"Garza del sol! Garza del sol!" I speak some Spanish, but even so, I struggled to understand what I was being told. Ella - the sister of José, owner of the Hotel Quelitales in Costa Rica - impatiently beckoned me down the path, until we reached a small, tree-canopied creek.Then I realised what she was so excited about: the "sun heron" - in English, a sunbittern - was posing motionless as a statue, just a few metres in front of me. Continue reading...