Trip
Information
Date: March
12 - 26, 2010
Duration: 15 days
Leaders: Richard
Knapton
Limit: 12 people
Cost: TBA
From:
San Jose, Costa Rica
Featured birds:
• Snowcap
• Resplendent Quetzal
• Scarlet Macaw
• Coppery-headed Emerald
• Spectacled Owl
• Snowy-bellied Hummingbird
• Fiery-billed Aracari
• Volcano Junco
• Black-crested Coquette
• Three-wattled Bellbird
• Black-hooded Antshrike
Trip Summary:
• Diverse
birding habitats
• Easy to moderate
walking, some hill climbing
• Tropical and temperate climates
• Good to very
good accommodation
• 400 + bird species
• 4 to 8 participants with one leader
• 9 to 12 participants with two leaders
• Air-conditioned bus with driver
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Costa
Rica – the
Rich Coast! Over 870 species of birds have been recorded from this
small country, renowned for its relatively easy birding, good accommodation,
comfortable and pleasurable infrastructure and peaceful policies.
Costa Rica with neighbouring western Panama is a major centre of
avian endemism, with nearly 70 species found nowhere else! This
small country hosts tremendous diversity and we visit all major
habitats to sample its amazing variety of birds. We spend two great
days birding the lush Caribbean foothill forests around Rancho Naturalista,
a very special place with an impressive list of birds and other
forms of wildlife - our stay here will be one of the highlights
of the trip. We bird the amazing Carara and Rio Tarcoles, and the
incredibly bird-rich foothills of Braulio Carillo and lowlands of
La Selva which has some of t he best Caribbean lowland forest remaining
in Costa Rica with many unique birds. We visit cloud forests at
the Tapanti Reserve and the high elevation forests and paramo of
Cerro de la Muerte in search of Resplendent Quetzal, Silver-throated
Jay and many others. Finally, we explore the dry forest regions
of the Pacific Northwest, which hold a whole new suite of birds.
As many participants comment, each day just keeps getting better
and better!
See detailed itinerary
below
Past checklists from
our Costa Rica tour:
2009
Costa Rica tour (199 k pdf)
2007
Costa Rica tour (pdf)
2006
Costa Rica tour (148k pdf)
2004
Costa Rica tour (pdf)
2002
Costa Rica tour (pdf)
Click here to download
a registration form
Photos by
Cam Gillies |
Itinerary
Day 1 - Arrival
in San José
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.
Day 2 - Dry Forest Birding
After birding the hotel grounds in the early morning, we head for
the dry tropical forests of Guanacaste where we will have our first
introduction
to several neotropical families – trogons, toucans, motmots, maybe
puffbirds and antbirds. We stop at Sardinal and Chomes to look for Turquoise-browed
Motmot, Lesser Ground-Cuckoo, White-throated Magpie-Jay and dozens of
species of wading and shore birds. Night in Liberia.
Day 3 – Palo Verde
We spend the morning at the superb Palo Verde Park. Palo Verde contains
one of Costa Rica’s best-preserved tropical dry
forest as well as one of Central America’s most important wetlands.
Here we look for Double-striped Thick-knee, Black-headed Trogon,Muscovy
Duck, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, the superb Jabiru and thousands of
whistling ducks. After lunch, we depart for Villa Lapas and the marvelous
park at Carara. Night at Carara.
Days 4 - 5 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 stay at a hotel only a few minutes from the preserve,
and in the evening we travel to a spot where Scarlet Macaws and other
birds fly over on their way to their roosts.
We also take time to visit the mangroves along the Rio Tárcoles
to look for the endemic Mangrove Hummingbird, Panama Flycatcher, Mangrove
Black Hawk, and shorebirds and waders such as Roseate Spoonbill. Nights
at Carara.
Day 6 - San Isidro
Leaving Carara we drive south along the Pacific Coasts where we should
encounter species such as Red-crowned Woodpecker and American Swallow-tailed
Kite, and we head to our hotel in San Isidro del General. Here we encounter
yet another suite of birds, such as Smooth-billed Ani, Turquoise Cotinga,
Pearl Kite, Fiery-billed Aracari, Lesser Elaenia, Cherrie’s Tanager
and Streaked Saltator. Night in San Isidro del General.
Days 7 & 8 - Cordillera de Talamanca
In the morning we head to the cloud forest and páramo of the
Cordillera de Talamanca. 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, Black-capped Flycatcher,
Long-tailed and Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatchers, Collared Redstart,
Large-footed Finch, Silvery-throated Jay, and the magnificent Resplendent
Quetzal. On the páramo, we look for specialties such as Volcano
Junco and Timberline Wren. Nights at Savegre Lodge.
Days 9 & 10 - Tapantí and Rancho Naturalista
We leave very early in the morning and head for the Tapantí Reserve,
where we spend most of the morning. The Reserve is a great example of
middle to high elevation Caribbean forest. Here we look for Black Guan,
Brown-billed Scythebill, Streak-breasted Treehunter, Black-bellied Hummingbird
and Green-fronted Lancebill.
We then drive to Rancho Naturalista, a 125-acre ranch and preserve located
in premontane rain forest at 300 feet. Rancho has a rich diversity of
mid-elevation species and is a location for some exceptionally scarce
birds.
We spend the early mornings on the balcony of the lodge at leisure,
enjoying an astonishing parade of exceptional birds, and then explore
the nearby rich forests, searching for such local species as Snowcap,
Black-crested Coquette, Dull-mantled Antbird, Tawny-throated Leaftosser,
Whistling Wren (an amazing singer!) and many other goodies. Nights at
Rancho Naturalista.
Days 11 to 13 - Caribbean Lowlands
We pay an early visit to Braulio Carrillo Park, where, with luck, we
could pick up Yellow-eared Toucanet and Lattice-tailed Trogon. After
a picnic lunch, we’ll head our lodge along the Río Sarapiquí.
We make the lodge our central point for birding several diverse locations
in some of the richest areas in Costa Rica. During our stay, we spend
a whole day at La Selva, a wonderful tract of wet lowland rainforest
where some 400 species of birds have been reported. We’ll see
a fine array of neotropical fauna—tinamous, motmots, puffbirds,
cotingas, trogons, toucans, chachalacas, maybe ant-followers at an ant
swarm or a Great Curassow walking stealthily on the forest floor, lots
of tanagers, as well as monkeys and who knows what else. At Selva Verde,
we may be lucky enough to find Fasciated Tiger-Heron or Sunbittern!
Nights at Selva Verde.
Day 14 – Virgen del Socorro and back to San Jose
We leave Selva Verde and spend the rest of the morning at mid-elevation
forest at Virgen del Socorro, where birding can be fabulous! We will
likely encounter our first mixed-species flocks here, sometimes containing
over 25 species, especially tanagers. White Hawks soar over the valley,
Violet-headed Hummingbirds sing endlessly from open perches - the list
seems endless.
We leave the Caribbean Lowlands and head across the Central Plateau
along the forested slopes of Volcan Poas. Along the way, we make stops
by scenic canyons and magnificent waterfalls, looking for specialties
such as Sooty-faced Finch, Torrent Tyrannulet and several species of
hummingbirds. Night in San Jose.
Day 15 - Departure
Our tour concludes in San José after breakfast.
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