Husband-and-wife filmmakers Jim and Kelly Watt, who have hatched a number of Costa Rican travelogues, here concentrate on the tropical-paradise nation's abundant and colorful bird species, numbering up to 900 varieties. It will offer ornithology types multiple bird-gasms indeed, though don’t necessarily expect a NatGeo approach.
Adopting a travel-journal format and usually staying on the ground with other birders (not flaunting fancy hidden-camera or drone stuff), the Watts visit select eco-tourism hotspots that particularly cater to avian fanciers. The viewer meets the guides and has the opportunity to witness the emblematic Resplendent Quetzel, with a small science lesson on its iridescent, light-refracting plumage. There are also toucans, colorful parrots and parakeets (with a clear explanation of the difference), herons, Whistling Ducks, the surprisingly aggressive Rufous Tailed Hummingbird, and the Ornate Hawk Eagle.
An extremely rare close-up appearance by a Rufous Vented Ground-Cuckoo brings out flocks of birders, clearly and amusingly torn between getting a great sighting for their list or approaching too closely in the verdure and scaring the visitor away. The bird sightings here, though recorded on high-powered optics and HD video, are often limited by shadowy rainforest foliage or overcast skies—all of which add up to a more convincing experience of a Costa Rican birding hike, perhaps, than a postcard-perfect, the blue-skies-and-sunny presentation would have.
The documentary deserves a perch on birding and nature library shelves, as well as travel film collections. Buyers might note that some of this ground/air/trees are also covered by the same producers’ Discoveries Costa Rica: Ecotourism.
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