I have been coming to Dominical beach here in Costa Rica for over 13 years now and this is the first year I have ever seen scarlet macaws in town. Everyone in town is excited to have our colorful friends feeding from the abundant almond trees that line our beaches. Theres no mistaking the sound of a macaw once you here them you will never forgot their high pitched yells again. At times they can actually be quit annoying however the beauty of these creatures makes up for those awkward squarks.
When traveling to Pavones (third longest left break in the world), you will see macaws everywhere in the tree tops. I would always wander why in Dominical where we have almond trees all over the beach there were no macaws. To my surprise and to the surprise of all the locals living in Dominical there are now three macaws that have been in town for over a month! Looks like they hit the jackpot and now they are here to stuff themselves and hopefully stay around for everyone to enjoy!
I spoke to a few locals and they were telling me because of stricter laws that the fewer people were trapping the macaws to sell in illegal pet trades leading to a come back in numbers. There are also a few non profit organizations that look over injured macaws and hand raise them to release back into the wild. Its because of things like this that Costa Rica has a special place in my heart. Sure we have our problems however this is one of the last and few countries in the world that has such a huge biodiversity and fights to protect its natural resources for our future generations. It is such a great feeling when your out in the ocean catching some waves with your friends, looking up at the jungle covered mountains, and seeing these red, yellow, and blue scarlet macaws flying over your head, that is until they scream out! 🙂