Costa Rica Birding (UK)

Day 1

We depart from London on a scheduled flight to arrive at San José in the evening. San José is situated in the central valley of Costa Rica, an area with the best climate in the world, according to the United Nations! At this time of year the days are warm, like an English summer's day, while the nights can be pleasantly cool.

Overnight San José.

Days 2 - 3

We transfer back to the airport for a flight to the south of Costa Rica. From the airstrip we travel the short distance to our lodge at Drake Bay on the Corcovado peninsula. The lodge is situated on the Pacific Ocean shore; the rustic cabins are simple, but clean and comfortable, with en suite facilities.

The rocky shoreline may host waders, while Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds may fish offshore. Here in the south-west of Costa Rica there is a decided South American influence to the birdlife, with an excellent variety of landbirds in the forests, as well as monkeys and sloths.

The remote and rugged Corcovado National Park on the Osa peninsula protects the largest expanse of Pacific Lowland Rainforest in Central America. We travel into the park by boat, and spend a whole day exploring the trails, with a picnic on the palm-fringed beach, no doubt accompanied by the Scarlet Macaws that are such a feature of the park.

Here we can enjoy a swim in the amazingly warm sea, or in the cooler river pools. The trails around Drake Bay also offer some fine birding, with Blue-crowned Motmots, Orange-collared Manakins and several antbirds to be found.

Two nights Drake Bay Wilderness Lodge

Days 4 - 5

We travel in a small boat along the coast to Sierpe, where we meet our minicoach and driver, and head for Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, one of our favourite lodges in Costa Rica. The lodge was financed by the government of Austria as part of a model project combining development aid, nature conservation and rainforest research. All profits from the lodge go to the local community - some of the employees are former loggers who have turned to ecotourism as an alternative! Set in a beautifully landscaped garden, the lodge is surrounded by rich lowland rainforest. Even the garden can be alive with toucans, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, woodcreepers and tanagers. Just along the road is an area of open pastureland which can also be good for birding, with some southern specialities including Red-breasted Blackbird.

We'll also be including a boat trip to the Golfito mangroves, where we hope to see local specialities including Central American Squirrel Monkeys and Boat-billed Herons.

Two nights Esquinas Rainforest Lodge

Days 6 - 7

After breakfast we tear ourselves away from the delightful Esquinas Lodge, and drive up the steep road into the coastal highlands, with superb views along the Pacific coast into Panama. Here, at over 1,000m, are the idyllic Wilson Tropical Gardens, where we stay for two nights. Wilson is primarily a research station, but offers guests some of the best birdwatching in Costa Rica. Birds are really accessible - the banana bunches on the main balcony can hold three or four species of tanager at once, and the gardens themselves are alive with a range of species. One of the more surprising things about Wilson is the range of species from both high and low elevations that seem to meet here - Emerald Toucanets from the highlands can be seen side-by-side with lowland Fiery-billed Aracaris, for example.

Two nights Wilson Tropical Gardens

Days 8 - 9

We leave the southern hills, and head north towards San Isidro del General. In this area we shall visit the remarkable private reserve of Dr Alexander Skutch, who co-wrote the Costa Rica Field Guide. This 'garden' hosts an excellent variety of birds, especially around the house with its feeders, but also in the protected surrounding forest area.

We drive up to the Cerro de la Muerte highlands where we stay at a lodge, superbly situated in a wonderful sheltered mountain valley, with a mountain stream, complete with American Dippers, tumbling over rocks just below. Collared Redstart, Magnificent and Fiery-throated Hummingbirds are among the gems here.
One of the most sought-after birds of any trip to Costa Rica must surely be Resplendent Quetzal, a bird that many consider the most beautiful in tropical America. We rise early to see them at their most active - sometimes right outside the rooms! We go on to visit an area of mature highland forest with huge oak trees, and finally climb to over 3,000m to visit one of the most distinctive ecosystems - the strange, stunted "paramo" vegetation.

Two nights Cerro de la Muerte

Days 10 - 11

After breakfast we head down the northern slope of the Cerro de la Muerte, heading for the dense forest of Tapanti Wildlife Refuge, with its tanagers, hummingbirds, parrots and grackles, and wintering warblers and orioles from North America. This is a rich Caribbean-slope forest, and we should also see several middle-elevation specialities including Spangled-cheeked Tanager.

We continue to the superb Rancho Naturalista for a two-night stay. Overlooking the Turrialba Valley east of San José Rancho Naturalista offers some of the most varied forest birding in Costa Rica. The morning bird feeding is an amazing spectacle, with throngs of tanagers, oropendolas and other fruit-eating birds coming to the garden - even Little Tinamou comes to feed on the lawn! The hummingbird feeders here and in the forest attract the incomparable Snowcap. This is certainly a place to bring a camera!

Further afield, the middle-elevation forest is very rich in species, and should provide an excellent variety in just a few days.

Two nights Rancho Naturalista

Day 12

Don't laugh, but we'll end the tour with - a visit to a coffee plantation! Here we'll have a bit of a rest from birding, but the visit is highly entertaining - and you can't go home from Costa Rica without a few packets of coffee!

We end the day with a farewell dinner in one of San José's excellent restaurants.

Overnight San José

Day 13

We catch our return flight to London to arrive on Day 14.

• If you would like more details and price information on this trip, please contact The Travelling Naturalist by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• If this trip is not the right fit, tell us what kind of travel experience you are looking for. To get started, click here.
  
• If you would like general information that does not relate to trip planning, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .