Greates 15 days of Birding in Costa Rica

Day 2

After breakfast, we are going to travel to Los Quetzales National Park. We are going to stay a couple of days walking the forests located in the central mountain of Costa Rica for our main target bird: the Resplendent Quetzal. Lunch in a typical restaurant along the way. We will stop at Los Quetzales National Park for our 1st birding tour before reaching the hotel.

Arrive at the hotel late in the afternoon. The chosen hotel will be Hotel Savegre Lodge or a similar category, we are going to sleep there for 2 nights.

Day 3

Our birding hotspots will be in San Gerardo de Dota. We are going to spend as much as possible time visiting a few important birding hotspots, looking for prime local and seasonal birds. Our experimented local guides, which are always up to date, they're going to advise on the best spot during a specific time of the year.

Targets birds: Resplendent quetzal, Long-tailed Silky- flycatcher, Black and Yellow Silky-flycatcher, Azure-hooded jay, Red-headed barbet, Prong-billed barbet

Day 6

Soon in the morning, we have some spare time before breakfast to birding a little bit more.

And after breakfast, we are heading to visit the hills of Tarcoles and Carara National Park. This is the central pacific coast.

Soon in the afternoon, we will be at Tarcoles, where we are going to take an afternoon birding tour for a few our until dusk. We are going to spend the night at the hotel Cerro Lodge.

Target birds: Scarlet Macaw, Red-capped manakin, Cherrie’s tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii costaricensis), White-throated shrike tanager, Black-bellied wren, orange collared manakin, Black-tailed flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet

Day 8 & 9

We do not like wasting our time, so let’s have breakfast very early and point to our next birdwatching hotspot in Monteverde: Curicancha private reserve. Here is the place for a great morning exploring the wet high forest of Monteverde.

Targets birds in Monteverde will be: again the Resplendent quetzal (or just in case we couldn't see at Los Quetzales National Park), the Three wattled Bellbird, and if we are lucky we will have the possibility to see the Bare-throated umbrella bird.

After lunch, we drive to Arenal, where we are going to spend 2 nights enjoying a lot of wildlife.

The chosen hotel will be the Arenal Observatory lodge with 400 hectares of private forest reserve.

In our program for the Arenal area we have:

• Night walk for frogs (and other reptiles if you are interested), and of course some night birds.
• Walking trails at the Observatory Lodge.
• Bogarín trails in La Fortuna. This is a great and easy place for sloths.
• Sky bridge walking tour

Target birds for Arenal: Lesser goldfinch, Red-winged blackbird, Passerini tanager (Scarlet-rumped Tanager), Crimson tanager, rufous Piha, Red-capped manakin, white collared manakin, Ocellated antbird, Cinnamon woodpecker, chestnut colored woodpecker, Yellow eared toucanet, Great jacamar, Rufous motmot, Common potoo, Bicolored hawk, king vulture

Day 11

Target birds for the morning will be the Tody Motmot and the Yellow-eared toucanet, which we are going to search before breakfast in the private forest of the hotel.

And then, the rest of the morning will be at Tenorio National Park, where we are going to enjoy also a beautiful blue water river and waterfall.

After a late lunch, we travel to Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge, where we are going to stay for 2 nights at Hotel de Campo.

Day 12

Let's change the ecosystem, and let's stop walking.
Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is a wetland ecosystem, and all the action is along the river. All our tours will be by boat. Just relax, and enjoy spotting birds and wildlife comfortably seated on the boat.

In Caño Negro we are going to have 2 boat tours. One in the very morning, and the second one late in the afternoon. Those are the 2 bests moment of the day.
The rest of the day is free. You can enjoy the pool of the hotel or birding around. We will coordinate together.

Target birds for Caño Negro Refuge are: Lesser yellow-headed vulture, Russet-naped wood rail, white-throated crake, purple gallinule, Southern lapwing, Jabiru, Wood stork, Limpkin, Roseate spoonbill, the majestic Agami heron, Yellow-crowned night heron, Black-collared hawk, Peregrine falcon, Mangrove cuckoo, Nicaraguan grackle, Black-throated trogon, Snowy cotinga.

This last day will be organized according to your schedule and the rest of the vacation.
If we have time, we can organize a last excursion at La Selva Biological Station. Or pointing to San José, where you will continue whatever your journey will be.