Observations of birds eating the figs of a single F. continifolia (H.B.K.) tree in a Costa Rican lowland deciduous forest indicate that a crop of .apprx. 100,000 figs was exhausted in 5 days, of which 95,000 were removed during the first 3 days. Birds processed an estimated average of 20,828 figs/day (65.1% of the total daily consumption), and the difference (34.9%) represented fruits consumed by mammals and/or those falling to the ground. Parrots were responsible for 78% of the total taken by birds and 50.6% of the figs leaving the tree/day. Use by these seed predators represents fruit (and seed) waste. The true avian dispersers (e.g., orioles, tanagers, trogons and flycatchers) took only .apprx. 4600 figs/day. An estimated 4.42 .times. 106 fig seeds were lost each day, 36.2% of them to parrots and 63.8% to destruction by invertebrates (mostly agaonid wasps). Only 6.3% of the seeds leaving the tree/day are actually dispersed undamaged by birds.