Bird watching Program Costa Rica

The tour begins in the evening after dinner with an orientation at our hotel, possibly finding Prevost’s Ground-sparrow in the hotel grounds. Night in San José.

After birding the hotel grounds, we head for the dry tropical forest biome of Guanacaste where we have our first introduction to several neotropical families – trogons, toucans, motmots, puffbirds and antbirds. We visit several different habitats in this area: evergreen forest, tropical dry forest, savanna pasture, mangroves, saline ponds and lakes, and freshwater marsh. Species typical of dry forests include Thicket Tinamou, Collared Forest-Falcon, Yellow-naped Parrot, Banded Wren, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Scrub Euphonia, White-lored Gnatcatcher, Olive Sparrow, Streak-backed and Spot-breasted Orioles, and Lesser Ground-Cuckoo. Night near Canas.

We spend the morning birding various habitats; salt pans support a rich assortment of shorebirds, terns and skimmers, savannah pastures have Double-striped Thick-knee and Spot-bellied Bobwhite, freshwater marshes are home to nesting Jabirus as well as Wood Stork, Limpkin, many herons, Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling-ducks, Muscovy Duck, and Snail Kite. Pacific Screech-owls occur in gardens. After lunch, we depart for Villa Lapas and the marvelous park at Carara. Night at Carara.

Carara preserves a large tract of beautiful and bird-rich tropical semi- evergreen forest. It is an amazing place and birding can be marvelous. The site offers a wonderful array of woodcreepers, trogons, and manakins including the stunning Orange-collared, likely displaying when we are there. We could see several species of woodpeckers, flycatchers, antbirds, antwrens and antpittas— the possibilities seem endless! We may find American Pygmy Kingfisher by a woodland pool, or a Boat-billed Heron perched in a tree along the lagoon, or a Long-billed Gnatwren busily hunting insects—or a troop of coatimundis seemingly oblivious to our presence. We look for Baird’s Trogon, Black-hooded, Giant and Barred Antshrikes, Yellow-billed Cotinga, Golden-crowned Spadebill, and many more. We also visit mangroves along the Rio Tárcoles to look for the endemic Mangrove Hummingbird, Panama and Northern Scrub Flycatchers, Mangrove Black Hawk, and shorebirds and waders such as Roseate Spoonbill. We stay at a hotel only a few minutes from the preserve. Trails close to the hotel lead to leks of Long-tailed and Orange-collared Manakins, as well as Rufous-and-white Wren, Black-faced Antthrush and much more. In the evening we travel to a spot where Scarlet Macaws and other birds fly over on their way to their roosts and American Crocodiles loaf along the river bank. Nights at Carara

Leaving Carara we drive south along the Pacific Coasts where we should encounter species such as Red-crowned Woodpecker, Pearl Kite and American Swallow-tailed Kite. We stop at Hacienda Baru for lunch, and birding the trails and ocean shore could produce specialties such as Snowy-bellied Hummingbird and Fiery-billed Aracari, whilst offshore Brown Boobies should be fishing. We then head to our lodge near San Isidro del General. Here we encounter yet another suite of birds, such as Smooth-billed Ani, Turquoise Cotinga, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Lesser Elaenia, Cherrie’s Tanager and Streaked Saltator. Night near San Isidro

In the morning we head to the cloud forest and páramo of the Cordillera de Talamanca. Along the way we stop at a location for White-tailed Emerald and Red-headed Barbet, and visit the high paramo for Volcano Junco and Timberline Wren. Then it is off to our lodge in the Valley of the Quetzals. Here, along dirt roads and forest trails passing among trees draped in epiphytes, we find a new suite of birds such as Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Ruddy Treerunner, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Black-capped Flycatcher, Long-tailed and Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatchers, Collared Redstart, Large-footed Finch, Silvery-throated Jay, and the magnificent Resplendent Quetzal. Nights at Savegre Lodge.

Transfer to the international airport in San Jose for return flight. (Approx. 3 hour drive)
Breakfast included