Rainforest Publications' Costa Rica Cloud Forest and Highland Birds Fold-out Pocket Field Guide shows 166 of the 870 bird species recorded for Costa Rica. It includes almost all species found above 1,450 meters (many of which also occur at lower elevations).

"North American migrant" birds arrive in Costa Rica about September and stay until April, when they return north to breed.

"South American migrant" birds include a small number of species that come from South America to Costa Rica to breed.

"Passage migrant" birds pass through Costa Rica about September and around April but do not stay.

The birds which are not marked as "migrants" in the Costa Rica Cloudforest and Highland birds fold-out pocket field guide from Rainforest Publications, can be found in Costa Rica throughout the year, although many of them migrate attitudinally such that their presence or abundance at any given site can vary seasonally.

The illustrations on this fold-out field guide from Rainforest Publications were created by British naturalist, Robert Dean, who has lived and worked in Monteverde, Costa Rica, since the early 1990s.

Measurements are the total average length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, of an adult bird.

The illustration of each species on the field guide is accompanied by the name of the species in English, Spanish, and Latin. On the Rainforest Publications' Costa Rica cloud forest and highland birds field guide, the letters after the English name represent the distribution with Costa Rica:

• N: birds typically found in northern (Guancaste and/or Tilarán) mountain ranges; includes the upper parts of Monteverde and Ricnón de la Vieja.
• C: birds typically found in the central mountain range; includes Poás and Irazú volcanoes and the upper parts of Braulio Carrillo.
• T: birds typically found in the Talamanca mountain range. Includes Cerro de la Muerte, San Gerardo de Dota, and the upper parts of Tapantí .