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Costa
Rica has a well-deserved reputation among
birders as a must-see destination. This
little country has a list of over 850
species and a developed infrastructure
that makes getting around easy. Though
many of the birds found here are
widespread throughout the Neotropics,
there are also over 60
endemics shared only with neighboring
Panama. Our weeklong tour will aim to take
in as many of these as possible. The Osa
Peninsula Extension gives you a taste of
remote Costa Rica and a chance to pick up
rare and localized species like
Yellow-billed Cotinga and the Costa Rican
endemic Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager.
Day
1: Arrival. After arrival in
San José you’ll be transported to our
comfortable hotel for the night.
Day 2: The Highlands. We’ll start with a
bit of birding on the grounds of our San
José hotel, where the main target will be
the localized Prevost’s Ground-Sparrow.
Afterwards, we’ll drive up into the
mountains southwest of San José to begin
looking for birds of the Chiriquí
Highlands. Along the Providencia Road we
hope to find Sooty Robin and perhaps a few
skulkers like Zeledonia (Wrenthrush) and
Large-footed Finch. Our base for the next
two nights will be the excellent Savegre
Mountain Hotel, set amid lush cloudforest
at 2700m. Around the lodge we’ll look
for Mountain Elaenia, Scintillant
Hummingbird, and the dapper Long-tailed
Silky-Flycatcher. After dark, we have an
opportunity to try for Dusky Nightjar.
Day 3: Savegre. We
bird the trails at Savegre today, in
search of Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl,
Silvery-throated Jay, and of course the
spectacular Resplendent Quetzal. We’ll
concentrate on mixed flocks, which should
produce Spangle-cheeked Tanager,
Flame-throated Warbler, Ruddy Treerunner,
and Buffy Tuftedcheek.
Day 4: Cerro de la Muerte to Las Cruces. This
morning we’ll leave Savegre and drive
south along the Continental Divide,
stopping in at a roadside café to check
the feeders for Fiery-throated
Hummingbird. If the weather cooperates,
we’ll also drive up to the páramo to
look for Volcano Junco and Timberline
Wren. Descending
from the heights of Cerro de la Muerte,
we’ll enter the endemic-rich Pacific
slope rainforest. We’ll make a few quick
stops for localized species such as
Crested Oropendola before arriving in the
foothills near the Panama border. In the
marshy areas near San Vito we’ll look
for Chiriquí Yellowthroat, Scaled Pigeon,
and Bran-colored Flycatcher. By dinnertime
we’ll check into the Wilson Botanical
Gardens at Las Cruces, our accommodation
for two nights.
Day 5: Wilson Botanical Gardens. Birding
around Las Cruces should bring us quite a
few Pacific rainforest endemics, like
Rufous-breasted Wren, Snowy-bellied
Hummingbird, and the striking Fiery-billed
Araçari.
Other targets include White-ruffed
Manakin, Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, and
Scarlet-thighed Dacnis. This area also
seems to have one of the highest
concentrations of Blue-crowned Motmots
anywhere.
Day 6: Travel to Carara. After
some more early morning birding around Las
Cruces, we’ll drive along the coast
toward Carara National Park, looking for
open-country species like Pearl Kite along
the way. Carara is one of the birdiest
areas of Costa Rica, due in no small part
to its position at the interface of two
very different forest types: humid
rainforest and dry deciduous forest. After
checking in to our lodge, our base for the
next two nights, we’ll do some birding
locally.
Day 7: Carara NP. Early
in the morning we’ll bird the Tarcol
River Trail, a wide, easy track absolutely
teeming with birds. This is a great place
to look for Baird’s Trogon, Royal
Flycatcher, Black-bellied and Riverside
Wrens, Streak-chested Antpitta, and
Stub-tailed Spadebill, as well as roosting
colonies of the bizarre Boat-billed Heron.
After lunch (and depending on the tides),
we’ll take a boat along the Tarcol River
Estuary, looking for denizens of the
mangroves like Panama Flycatcher and
Mangrove Vireo, and with luck, the Costa
Rican endemic Mangrove Hummingbird.
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and Roseate
Spoonbill are among the waterbirds we’ll
see.
Day 8: Return to San José. On our last
full day of birding, we could visit
another trail in the national park, or
possibly bird drier forest for gems like
Black-headed Trogon, Turquoise-browed
Motmot, and the inquisitive White-throated
Magpie-Jay. In the afternoon we’ll
return to San José for our final night,
making a detour along the way to look for
a pair of Black-and-white Owls. Time
permitting, we’ll make a short afternoon
excursion to check some hummingbird
feeders near San José for the Costa Rican
endemic Coppery-headed Emerald.
Day 9: Departure. You’ll be transferred
to the airport for international departure
or an early morning flight from San José
to Puerto Jimenez for the Osa Peninsula
Extension.
Osa
Peninsula Extension
Owing
to its remoteness and its large expanses
of protected habitat, the Osa is without a
doubt the wildest area left in Costa Rica,
and it’s home to the largest population
of Scarlet Macaws in the country. It’s
also loaded with Pacific rainforest
endemics just barely shared with Panama,
and the Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager, an
endemic found in this little part of Costa
Rica and nowhere else. The trip is based
at the fantastic Bosque del Río Tigre
Lodge, a family-run naturalist’s
paradise set at the edge of a rocky
foothill river.
Day
1: After arriving in Puerto Jimenez
from San José we’ll travel to the
little village of Dos Brazos and and check
into our accommodations at Bosque del Río
Tigre Lodge. En route, we can check
mangroves along the beach for the endemic
Mangrove Hummingbird. After settling into
the lodge, we’ll spend the afternoon
birding open areas nearby, looking for
Scrub Greenlet, Plain Wren, and Costa
Rican Swift.
Day
2:
We’ll begin the morning with a visit to
a lek of Orange-collared Manakins. After
watching their animated display, we’ll
continue to bird the forest around the
lodge, where we might encounter
Black-hooded Antshrike, Eye-ringed
Flatbill, Golden-naped Woodpecker,
Red-capped Manakin, and Marbled
Wood-Quail. In the afternoon we’ll walk
up the Piedras Blancas River to check
flowering trees for the diminutive
White-crested Coquette. We’ll also be on
the lookout for a secretive Fasciated
Tiger-Heron hunting the rapids.
Day
3: This morning we’ll head out
before dawn and drive to Rincón, where
the Osa Peninsula joins the mainland. Our
main target will be the sought-after
Yellow-billed Cotinga, though we’ll also
likely see Scarlet Macaws and a host of
other species. Red-breasted Blackbirds are
sometimes found in the cleared fields that
line the road. After returning to the
lodge, we’ll relax and watch the various
feeders for local specialties like
Charming Hummingbird, Black-cheeked
Ant-Tanager, Gray-chested Dove, and
perhaps even a Little Tinamou.
Day
4: On our last morning in the Río
Tigre area, we’ll plan to take another
walk up the river, looking for
Black-bellied Wren, Slate-headed
Tody-Flycatcher, Great Antshrike, and
anything we may have missed.
Around midday, we’ll fly back to
San José for the final night.
Day
5: You’ll be transferred to the San
José airport for international departure.
TOUR
INFO:
CLIMATE: Hot and humid in the lowlands, cooler in the higlands. (Nights at
Savegre can be chilly.) Rain is seasonal
on the Pacific slope; call our office for
details on the best timing for this trip.
DIFFICULTY: Easy. There is only one long travel day (Las Cruces to
Carara) and the walking is mostly easy,
though a few trails at Savegre are
somewhat steep.
ACCOMMODATION: Good to excellent throughout.
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