Costa Rica Birding with Canadian Geographic

Our Costa Rica Caribbean birding tour begins with dinner and an orientation at our hotel near the airport in Heredia. Participants arriving early can enjoy the beautiful hotel grounds, welcomed by motmots, parakeets and Costa Rica’s national bird, the Clay-colored Thrush. The hotel has a list of nearly 300 species just from the grounds alone! Night in San José.

After an early walk around the hotel gardens, we head we head off to the cloud forest and páramo of the Cordillera de Talamanca. Along the way we stop at locations for White-tailed Emerald, Fiery-throated Hummingbird and Red-headed Barbet, and visit the high paramo of Cerro de la Muerte for Volcano Junco and Timberline Wren. Then it is off our hotel in the highlands. Night in San Gerardo de Dota.

Here, along dirt roads and forest trails passing among trees draped in epiphytes, we find a new suite of birds such as Ruddy Treerunner, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Black-capped Flycatcher, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Collared Redstart, Large-footed Finch, with luck Silvery-throated Jay. Our primary target is the magnificent Resplendent Quetzal, certainly one of the most beautiful birds in the world. Night in San Gerardo de Dota.

Today we depart for Irazú Volcano. Working our way up the slopes of Irazú Volcano we will look for several highland endemics such as Flame-throated Warbler, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Volcano Junco and with a little luck we might find the spectacular Resplendant Quetzal. Later in the afternoon we will descend back down into the valley to spend our first night near Orosi.

The next morning we head to Costa Rica’s second largest national park: Tapantí. This reserve is a great example of middle elevation Caribbean forest with every branch and trunk absolutely covered in moss, bromeliads and orchids. Incidentally, Costa Rica hosts over 1500 species of orchids and we will take some time to look at some up close. Back to birds: some target species include: Black Guan, Brown-billed Scythebill, Streak-breasted Treehunter, Wrenthrush, Black-bellied Hummingbird, Green-fronted Lancebill and even the elusive Sharpbill. More common but no less wonderful sightings may include: Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Golden-bellied Flycatcher, Collared Trogon, Common Chlorospingus, Spangle-cheeked Tanager, Slate-throated Redstart and the all-around weird Prong-billed Barbet. We will also be looking closely for any other raptors such as Ornate Hawk-Eagle that may be soaring in the valley below us.

After lunch we will visit our lead guide Ernesto’s family coffee farm to see how organic coffee goes from the plant to your cup! A large part of what happens on the farm revolves around producing top quality coffee and providing habitat to as many species possible, making for fantastic birding as well. Collared Aracari, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Yellow-throated Euphonia and the handsome White-eared Ground-Sparrow are generally part of the tour. Nights near Orosi.

A paradise frequented by beachgoers, surfers, and snowbirds alike, the Puerto Viejo area also happens to be an untapped and underrated birding destination. From the white sands, turquoise waters and intact forest of Cahuita National Park to the indigenous reserves higher in the Talamanca Mountains, we’ll explore a variety of terrain. One of our objectives will be to observe the spectacular raptor migration that occurs here at this time of year, and the natural bottleneck created as the mountains push closer to the coast make the region a prime site for this. We will visit different forested roads and walk at a relaxed pace to enjoy the forest birding where we may find Spotted and Bicolored Antbirds, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Snowy Cotinga, Black-chested Jay and maybe even a Slaty-breasted Tinamou. Below our feet we’ll hope to spot two brilliant species of Poison-Arrow frogs!

The majority of migrating raptors are Swainson’s Hawks, Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged Hawks, but there are also Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Osprey, Mississippi Kite, Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks. Hundreds may pass by in a minute. There may also be thousands of migrating swallows and swifts present, in a spectacle that will surely capture our attention, but we cannot forget the forests around us. Looking around, we can find resident species such as Collared Aracari, Blue Dacnis, Shining Honeycreeper, Red-capped Manakin and Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher. Here and elsewhere several other raptors are possible including: King Vulture, Double-toothed Kite, Hook-billed Kite, White-tailed Kite, Common Black Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, White Hawk, Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, Bat Falcon and Laughing Falcon.

In and around Cahuita National Park we will encounter migrants such as Bay-breasted Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush and Summer Tanager, and more parrots, tinamous, owls, antshrikes, woodcreepers, and trogons. Wetland birds could include Green Ibis and Green-and-rufous Kingfisher. We look for Sulphur-rumped Tanager, which is a near-endemic found only in this corner of Costa Rica. Nights in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.

We make our way northwest towards Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, birding along the way. Here 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 visit 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! We will also keep and eye and ear out for the endangered Great Green Macaw. Both its size and brilliant plumage make it a very impressive bird. Nights at La Quinta Sarapiquí Lodge.

Today we make our way to La Fortuna, a tourism hub at the foot of Arenal Volcano. After some leg-stretching we arrive at Arenal Observatory Lodge on the other side of the volcano. This location at the northern fringe of the Caribbean slope offers the most species diversity of any site in Costa Rica and it is a fun place to end a trip. The outdoor jacuzzi, canopy lookout tower and a busy feeder setup are all nice touches, too.

Around the lodge grounds we have the potential for some good birds. Yellow-eared Toucanet, Lovely Cotinga and Semiplumbeous Hawk require some luck. Army ant swarms are common and can offer exciting viewing of Spotted, Ocellated and Bicolored Antbirds, among many other species. Rufous-tailed Jacamars sally out to catch butterflies and odd grunting noises come from Masked and Black-tailed Tityras. Mammals include Three-toed Sloth, Spider Monkey, Tamandua and Coatimundi. If it is clear, the view of the volcano is breathtaking!

We spend our time here exploring trails and roads through excellent forest, looking for more Caribbean-slope specialties. This is a great place to find Keel-billed Motmot, Ornate Hawk-Eagle and Black-crested Coquette. Conspicuous species like White-necked Puffbirds and Long-tailed Tyrants perch on exposed dead snags, and manakins will be displaying at their leks on the forest floor. Mixed-species flocks pass by with a dozen or more species: foliage-gleaners, flycatchers, dacnis, euphonias, warblers, woodpeckers and more. The birding is nothing short of exceptional in this area! Nights at Arenal Observatory Lodge.

We spend a final morning enjoying the feeders and grounds of the lodge, we travel from Arenal down the Caribbean slope, across the lowlands and over the mountains to the Central Valley. There will be several key stops along the way depending on what we have seen so far. We may stop in at more hummingbird feeders for scarcer hummingbirds such as Coppery-headed Emerald, a Costa Rican endemic, and Purple-throated and White-bellied Mountain-Gems. We arrive at our charming hotel for a final dinner to celebrate a rewarding and productive journey through this beautiful country. Night near the San José airport.

Our tour concludes today and you can take the short transfer to the airport anytime today for flights home.