Costa Rica Birding Tour

Birding Program

Day 01. Arrival and transfer to the hotel.

Day 02. Today we leave after breakfast to La Ensenada Lodge,
This is a region where we can see many specialties of birds that will be unique during our trip, the roads and trails in the dry forest of the hotel's property are excellent habitats to find birds like Crested Bobwhite, Turquois-browed Motmot, White-fronted Parrot, Lesser Ground-Cuckoo, Scrub Euphonia, Spot-breasted and Streak-backed Orioles, at night we search for Ferrugineuos Pygmy-Owl and Tropical Screeach-Owl! Night at La Ensenada Lodge.

Day 03. Leave the hotel after breakfast to the central pacific area of the country.
Arrive to the hotel for lunch. Afternoon to explore and birding the town and beach of tarcoles. Night at Hotel Carara.

Buff-throated Saltator
Day 04. Fullday to visit Carara National Park.
In the town of Tarcoles we are just 20 minutes away from Carara National Park, home to the amazing Scarlet Macaw. Some target birds that we will be looking for are Rufous-naped Wren, Baird´s Trogon, Royal Flycatcher, Inca Dove, White-shoulder Tanager, Riverside Wren, Black–hooded Antshrike, Spot-crowned Euphonia, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Dot-winged Antwren, Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher just to mention some of them. Night at Hotel Carara.

Day 05. Morning visit Carara National Park.
Lunch at the hotel. Afternoon Boat Tour at the mangrove forest at Tarcoles River. Night at Hotel Carara.

Tarcoles River is full of wildlife, some animals we will see here are, American Crocodile, Green and Spiny-tailed Iguanas, Boat-billed Herons, Mangrove (yellow) Warbler, Mangrove Black Hawk, Green, Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers, Yellow-crowned and Black crowned Night Herons, Magnificent Frigatebird, Cherrie´s Tanager, Double-stripe Thick-Knee, Southern Lapwing etc.

Day 06. Am birding around the lodge.
Leave after breakfast to Esquinas Lodge. Lunch in a restaurant in route. Night at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge.

Cherrie´s Tanager
Days 07 and 08. Fulldays at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge.
The rainforest in Esquinas is full of surprises, some of the birds in this area are Brown-throated Parakeet, Blue-ground Dove, Laughing Falcon, Uniform Crake, Marbled Wood-Quail, White-throated Shrike-Tanager, Spectacled Owl, Crested Oropendola, Scrub Greenlet, Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager (endemic) and many more! Esquinas Rainforest is a wonderful area where we can also see many birds found only at the south-pacific slope of the country such as Yellow-billed Cotinga, Fiery-billed Aracari and Spot-crowned Euphonia among other . Night at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge.

Day 09. Transfer to Las Cruces Botanical Garden.
Today we drive from the tropical rainforest to the cludforest of the Southern Pacific Slope, stopping on route for birding opportunities some of the birds we may find are Masked Yellowthroat, Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, Costa Rican Swift, Cherrie´s Tanager, etc. Lunch at the Botanical Garden. Pm Birding around the lodge´ trails. Night at the Botanical Garden.

Green Violet-ear
Day 10 and 11. Fulldays at the Botanical Garden.
Las Cruces Botanical Garden is operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies. Here you will see the biggest collection of palm trees in the country. Located between 5 and 6 thousand feet in elevation we will find very local species of birds found at this elevation for example Black-headed Brush-Finch, Elegant Euphonia, Eye-ringed Flatbill. Other birds of the area are Speckled Tanager, Turquios Cotinga, Whistling Wren, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Lesser Elaenia, Brown-billed Scythebill, White-tailed Emerald, Lesser Goldfinch, etc. We will also explore the grasslands around the town of San Vito for Brand-colored Flycatcher, Slate-colored Seedeater, Mouse-colored Tyrannulet and many more species of open habitats etc. Nights at Las Cruces Botanical Garden.

Day 12. Transfer to Cerro de la Muerte.
We leave early in the morning towards the most impressive mountains of Costa Rica, Cerro de la Muerte is problaby the best place to see the amazing Resplendant Quetzal! And many of the target birds there are only found in this mountains and little bit into Panama's border.

Resplendent Quetzal
Day 13. Full day at Cerro de la Muerte.
We will leave after breakfast to Cerro de la Muerte. We are stopping along the way for birding opportunities, our main goal will be to bird the area of the Paramo habitat at he top of the highway before descend to Savegre Mountain Lodge to look for Slaty Flowerpiercer, Volcano Junco, Volcano Hummingbird, Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager, Mountain and Sooty Robins. On our way down to the lodge we may find Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Black-capped Flycatcher, Flame-colored Tanager, Flame-throated Warbler, Resplendent Quetzal and more highland species. Night at Savegre Mountain Lodge.

Day 14. Morning at the lodge.
After lunch leave to our hotel in Alajuela. Night at the hotel in Alajuela.

Day 15. Transfer to the international airport. WONDERFUL TRIP-