COSTA RICA MEGA BIRDING TOUR
Tour Overview
COSTA RICA
BIRDING TOUR
ANY TIME*
| Duration: | 20 days, 19 nights |
| Group Size: | 2-4 |
| 2-3 Price: | $7850 |
| 4+ Price: | $7550 |
| Single Suppl: | $650 |
| Est #Species: | 550-625 |
| Pace: | Moderate |
| Difficulty: | Moderate |
| Best Time: | January-March |
| * This tour is available for any dates of your choosing provided guide services and accommodations are available. | |
Our Costa Rica Mega Tour visits the most important birding locales on the Pacific and Caribbean slopes from nearly the border with Panama to nearly the border with Nicaragua. This is the ultimate tour for serious birders. Sites covered include Ceiba-Cascajal Road, Carara National Park, Osa Peninsula, Wilson Botanical Gardens near San Vito, San Gerardo de Dota, the Talamanca highlands, Reserva El Copal, Hotel Quelitales grounds, La Selva Biological Station, Celeste Mountain Lodge and nearby Tapir Valley Nature Reserve near Bijagua, Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge in the far north, Arenal National Park area, Monteverde, and La Ensenada. The tour has the potential of recording over 600 species in 20 days. The best time to take this tour is during early dry season from January-March. During this time birds are in full breeding plumage and are most active. Accommodations are good to excellent throughout the tour.
The tour begins with a transfer from our hotel near the international airport to the Pacific lowlands with a morning of birding along the productive Ceiba-Cascajal Road through dry forest and open areas. During a two night stop at Cerro Lodge, a full day will be devoted to birding nearby Carara National Park. A transfer south that includes a couple birding stops leads to Osa Peninsula and Danta Corcovado Lodge near the Yellow-billed Cotinga Reserve and Corcovado National Park. Most of two days birding these southern lowland forests is followed by a transfer to Wilson Botanical Gardens near San Vito. After an afternoon and next morning birding there, we'll transfer to the Talamanca highlands with a birding stop in wetlands near San Vito and later stops in the mountains including Cerro de la Muerte before arriving in the valley of San Gerardo de Dota.
One morning during our stay there will be devoted to seeking Resplendent Quetzals at a finca in the highlands followed by an afternoon birding highland areas above our lodge. We then continue on to a productive forest site full of tanager species at Reserva El Copal. We'll spend that night and the following morning at nearby Hotel Quelitales where over 70% of all hummingbird species in Costa Rica occur. From there we move on to the Sarapiqui area for a two-night stay. During our first day there we'll bird the bird-rich trails in Braulio Carillo National Park and then spend the afternoon visiting a reliable site for viewing the critically endangered Great Green Macaws. Next morning we'll bird the Caribbean middle elevation site at La Selva Biological Station. That afternoon we'll transfer northward to Bijagua for a two night stay at Celeste Mountain Lodge. We'll bird several excellent sites looking for 6 species of trogons and some special antbirds as well as the very localized Lovely Cotinga. We then drive to the far north town of Los Chiles near the Nicaragua border, where we'll enjoy an afternoon boat trip on the lagoons of Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. The following morning we'll take a boat trip along the Rio Frio and into some marshy areas at Caño Negro. Later that morning we'll do some birding around town to look for Nicaraguan Seed-Finch and then transfer south to Arenal Observatory Lodge located adjacent to Arenal National Park. After birding the productive forest there, we move on to the middle elevations of the Pacific slope at Monteverde for birding at Selvatura Reserve, best site for Three-wattled Bellbirds, and Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. The tour ends with an afternoon and following morning birding the dry lowlands of La Ensenada Reserve before returning to Alajuela and end of the tour.
Tour Considerations
PACE - The pace of this tour is easy.
DIFFICULTY - Birding during the tour is along roadsides and mostly relatively flat trails The tour also includes a boat trip through marshy areas in the far north. There are some moderately steep trails through the forest at Arenal Observatory Lodge and Monteverde. Much of the birding at Selvatura is along an easy canopy walkway. The optional trail in Arenal National Park that leads down to the river is quite steep so it's not usually included on the tour itinerary. One higher elevation site is included at Cerro de La Muerte, which reaches about 3450 m (11,300 ft) at the radio towers.
CLIMATE - Rainy season is during May-June and September-November. A mini dry season occurs during July-August. Temperatures in the lowlands are generally warm but comfortable except in the south, where days can be very hot beginning in late March. For this reason the best months for birding are January and February. In the Talamanca Mountains, temperatures are moderate with cool nights.
BIRD ACTIVITY - Breeding activity of birds in Costa Rica is best from December through April. One of the key species, Resplendent Quetzal, is in nesting holes and less frequently foraging during April but with patience can still be seen. The mini dry season during July and August can also be good for birding, though the quetzals and other species are not in their best plumage during those months.
PHOTOGRAPHY - Photo opportunities at bird feeders is quite good at several of the lodges. Getting photos of the quetzals and other forest birds is generally easy with a little patience except along the Headquarters Trail in Carara National Park that goes through primary rainforest.
ACCOMMODATIONS
We'll be staying in comfortable, moderately priced hotels except on the Osa Peninsula and at Bijagua and La Ensenada, where we'll stay in comfortable ecolodges.