The only member of its zoological family, this curious creature almost seems to have been designed by AI

“Garza del sol! Garza del sol!” I speak some Spanish, but even so, I struggled to understand what I was being told. Ella – the sister of José, owner of the Hotel Quelitales in Costa Rica – impatiently beckoned me down the path, until we reached a small, tree-canopied creek.

Then I realised what she was so excited about: the “sun heron” – in English, a sunbittern – was posing motionless as a statue, just a few metres in front of me.