Our Costa Rica Highlights birding tour is designed to see the most species of birds possible during the 7 days we're out birding. We fully expect to exceed 300 species with this itinerary. The tour covers the central Pacific lowlands and Carara National Park, Selva Verde, La Selva Biological Station, Braulio Carillo National Park, and a variety of other locales on the Caribbean slope, San Gerardo de Dota, Cerro de la Muerte, and the Talamanca Mountains. Likely highlights include Pacific lowland specialties such as Scarlet Macaw, Black-and-White Owl, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Fiery-billed Aracari, and White-throated Magpie-Jay, numerous Caribbean slope specialties including the endangered Great Green Macaw, the oddly different Sunbittern, possibly Agami Heron, and highland specialties such as Resplendent Quetzal, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, and Yellow-thighed Finch.
CARARA NATIONAL PARK
We'll spend our first morning birding en route to Carara National Park. We usually see Turquoise-browed Motmot and often the beautiful White-throated Magpie-Jay. We'll stop at a known roost of Black-and-white Owls in the Orotina town square. We should arrive at our lodge about mid-day. Villa Lapas is a comfortable upscale lodge preferred by most birding tour companies because of it's convenient location near Carara National Park. Our preference is to eat breakfasts at the lodge but lunches and dinners at nearby restaurants where we feel the food is superior.
Following check-in and lunch, we'll go birding in Carara National Park, most likely along the Laguna Meandrica Trail. This trail courses through secondary forest and offers the greatest diversity of bird species at Carara. It's difficult to bird the entire trail in one excursion because there is so much to see. Since we'll be well rested after a first morning of road birding, we will likely visit the ponds at the far end of the trail first. The ponds are an excellent place to see Boat-billed Heron, Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, and other aquatic species. We'll also be looking for forest birds along the trail in both directions. In late afternoon we'll return to the road to look for Scarlet Macaws flying to roost along the Rio Tarcoles River.
Early next morning we'll be back on the Laguna Meandrica Trail. We'll likely see Scarlet Macaws again since they nest in the area and often fly through the forest. This will be an exciting morning of forest birding. We should see several species of trogons which may include Black-headed Trogon, Baird's Trogon, Northern Violaceous Trogon, Black-throated Trogon, and Slaty-tailed Trogon. We regularly see Orange-collared Manakin and sometimes the more elusive Lance-tailed Manakin. We can expect to see a variety of tanagers and euphonias such as Gray-headed Tanager, White-lined Tanager, Cherrie's Tanager, Thick-billed Euphonia, and Yellow-throated Euphonia. We'll be looking for antbirds such as Barred Antshrike, the near endemic Black-hooded Antshrike which we often see along this trail, Dot-winged Antwren, and Chestnut-backed Antbird. We should see a good variety of flycatchers as well as wrens such as Rufous-breated Wren and the range-restricted Black-bellied Wren. We should see some parrots such as Orange-fronted Parakeet and Red-lored Parrot and maybe even a Three-wattled Bellbird. Other interesting possibilities we have seen before include hummingbirds such as Stripe-throated Hermit and Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, White-whiskered Puffbird, Linneated Woodpecker, and Thick-billed Seed-Finch.
At mid-day when birding has slowed down, we'll take a boat trip up the Rio Tarcoles. This trip is always one of the highlights of the tour. Aside from crocodiles, we should see a variety of interesting birds such as Mangrove Black-Hawk, Mangrove Swallow, perhaps Scarlet Macaws, and a variety of herons and egrets. We may also see Red Spider Monkeys along the river. Another possiblity is the Panama Flycather which nests in the mangroves and thickets around the river delta.
After lunch at a local restaurant we'll be back birding in Carara National Park, this time on the Headquarters Trail. This trail winds through primary rainforest and offers quite different habitat compared to the Laguna Meandrica Trail. The species diversity is lower in this mature forest, but we'll be looking for specialty species such as Great Tinamou, Black-faced Antthrush, Streak-chested Antpitta, and Riverside Wren.
LA SELVA AND SARAPIQUI RIVER BASIN
En route to the Caribbean slope, we'll stop at an overlook to beautiful San Fernando Falls. Our primary interest is the bird feeders at a local restaurant, where we should see the endemic Coppery-headed Emerald. Other hummingbirds typically seen here include Green Hermit, Violet Sabrewing, Brown Violetear, Green Violetear, Green Thorntail, White-bellied Mountain-gem, and Green-crowned Brilliant. Farther up the road we'll stop at a small patch of forest along the access road to Colonia Virgen del Socorro. Our primary target bird there is the Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant. Other species we have seen there on prior tours include Hoffmann's Woodpecker, Torrent Tyrannulet, Rudous-naped Wren, Bay Wren, Black-and-yellow Tanager, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Bay-headed Tanager, and Blue Grosbeak.
After check-in in at lovely Selva Verde Lodge followed by lunch, we'll have the afternoon to do some birding in the area. We may visit a nearby wetland where Green Ibis are regularly seen and where we spotted a Pinnated Bittern on one tour. Our guide knows of a secret location where the very hard-to-find Nicaraguan Seed-Finch is regularly seen. Endangered Great Green Macaws can often be seen in a favored roosting area across the road from the lodge, and the Rio Sarapiqui adjacent to the lodge restaurant is one of the most reliable places in Costa Rica to see the oddly different Sunbittern.
The following morning we'll leave early for some of the best birding in Costa Rica at La Selva Biological Station. Over 400 species have been seen there, and some of the best birding is along the access road and entrance area. Some of the notable birds we have seen there include Pied Puffbird, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed Toucan, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Northern Barred Woodcreeper, Fasciated Antshrike, Great Antshrike, Rufous Piha, White-collared Manakin, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Bright-rumped Attila, White-ringed Flycatcher, Band-backed Wren, Long-billed Gnatwren, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Crimson-collared Tanager, Olive-backed Euphonia, Golden-hooded Tanager, Thick-billed Seed-Finch, Orange-billed Sparrow, Black-striped Sparrow, Black-headed Saltator, Black-cowled Oriole, and Chestnut-headed Oropendola. We usually see a few hummingbirds but the species of particular interest is the Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer which can often be seen in plantings around the resident quarters. Sometimes Great Curassow can also be seen in the parking area around the dining hall.
Access to the primary forest trails at La Selva has become increasingly limited in recent years because so many groups visit, but our guide can often obtain special access for us because he still works there when not guiding tour groups. One trail in particular is excellent for seeing the prized and hard-to-see Three-wattled Bellbird. Other target species include Great Tinamou, Agami Heron, Crested Guan, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Linneated Woodpecker, various flycatchers, tanagers, and other species.
From La Selva we'll drive southwest to the Talamanca Mountains. En route we'll stop to view hummingbirds at El Tapir Nature Reserve, looking especially for prized Snowcap and Black-crested Coquette hummingbirds that frequent the area. We also plan to stop at Quebrada Ranger Station in Braulio Carillo National Park. The birding there can often be quite spectacular. We hope to see some local specialties such as Yellow-eared Toucanet as well as mixed-species tanager flocks and a variety of antbirds that are major attractions of the park. On one tour we were fortunate to see the secretive Collared Forest-Falcon along the trail. We've also seen Lattice-tailed Trogon, Collared Aracari, Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner, Bicolored Antbird, Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Black-and-yellow Tanager, Dusky-faced Tanager, White-throated Shrike-Tanager, Tawny-crested Tanager, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Golden-hooded Tanager, Slate-colored Grosbeak, and Subtropical Cacique there.
TALAMANCA MOUNTAINS
We'll spend 2 nights at wonderful Savegre Mountain Hotel in the valley of San Gerardo de Dota. This is the best place in Costa Rica to see the Resplendent Quetzal, and we'll be there at the peak of their mating season. We often see a dozen or more quetzals while there. In addition to quetzals, we'll be looking for high-elevation specialties such as Black Guan, Spotted Wood-Quail, Sulphur-winged Parakeet, Scintillant Hummingbird, Gray-tailed Mountain-gem, Volcano Hummingbird, Common Tufted Flycatcher, Yellowish Flycatcher, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Flame-throated Warbler, Collared Redstart, Zeledonia, Spangle-cheeked Tanager, and Yellow-thighed Finch.. We'll visit 10,000 ft. Cerro de la Muerte and other high-elevation sites to look for Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Timberline Wren, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, Large-footed Finch, and Volcano Junco.
