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Figure 12. Away from national parks and private reserves, which represent isolated islands of forest, most

of the Caribbean slope lowlands are deforested, comprising an ocean of pasture, crops, and scattered trees.

This rolling green landscape is often notably depauperate for birdlife. Alajuela Province, July 2021.

Figure 13. Not all agriculture is bad for birds. Rice fields can provide surrogate wetlands for crakes and other

wading birds (such as these Jabirus), as well as for various seed-eating songbirds. Guanacaste Province, July 2021.