Every evening in Coco, the sky fills with green and the noise starts. Most of it is orange-fronted parakeets, small and fast and constantly arguing. The bigger, slower pairs with the deeper squawk are these, and they are the ones worth knowing about.
Where you’ll see it
Across the dry forest of Guanacaste, in town and out of it, almost always in pairs and heading somewhere with purpose at dawn and dusk. They nest in cavities in large trees, which is one reason they are in trouble: the trees are going too.
What to know
It is a talented mimic, which is exactly the problem. Chicks are taken from nests and sold, and the species is now listed as critically endangered with Guanacaste one of its last strongholds. So enjoy the evening fly-past, and if anyone offers you a parrot, understand where it came from. A wild one over the garden is the whole point.
