ABSTRACT
Unlike the big Keel-billed Toucan (or Rainbow-billed Toucan) (Ramphastos sulfuratus), Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) and Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) portrayed in the tourist literature promoting Costa Rica, one of the birds local people most often mention with great affection is the small brown Clay-coloured Robin Turdus grayi, or yigüirro (from the Huetar language of Costa Rica; M. Bozzoli, pers comm, 2007). This robin has a lovely song; but what is significant is that it ‘calls the rains’ at the end of the dry season. For this, the Clay-coloured Robin has earned its status as the national bird of Costa Rica. When the rainy season is late in arriving, people complain that the robins need to sing and bring the rain. Some people say that both parrots and the Emerald Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) also call the rain.
