International arrivals to Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO).  Tour leader Joshua Covill will meet you at the airport and coordinate transfers to our arrival hotel. We recommend planning flights that arrive by 5pm in order to attend the kickoff dinner and orientation with the group.

Depending on arrival times, we may have the afternoon to enjoy a first taste of Costa Rican birdlife on the grounds of the hotel.

Night at Hotel Robledal.

After some light birding and a filling breakfast at Hotel Robledal, we will start our drive to the Pacific coast, and check into our accommodations, the fabulous Villa Lapas Resort. "Lapa" means macaw locally in Costa Rica, and Villa Lapas is well-named, as the Lapa Roja - Scarlet Macaw - is a common sight along the Pacific coastal region!

After checking into our rooms, we will have an exciting afternoon birding by boat along the Tárcoles River! There's a big list of possible birds for the afternoon, including Boat-billed Heron, Turquoise-browed Motmot, and Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Mangrove Hummingbird, and Collared Plover.

Night at Hotel Villa Lapas.

We will start the morning at Carara National Park, a rich park situated at the meeting point of the "dry pacific forest" and the "humid pacific forest" offering us a nice mix of species. We will spend 3 - 4 hours on foot walking the easy trails of the park.

After lunch and a short midday break, we will resume birding in the dry forest at local hotspots. We will also have the opportunity to do a night walk around the grounds of Villa Lapas, looking for interesting frogs, bugs, and if we are lucky, a few birds and mammals too!

Night at Hotel Villa Lapas.

After some final birding along the trails of Villa Lapas (and breakfast), we will drive from the coast into the mountains of the Cordillera Talamanca. This massive mountain range that runs down the middle of the country is the main driver of biodiversity in Costa Rica, holding dozens of regionally-endemic species.

Lunch will be at the fabulous Casa Dowii, a cozy birding and foodie destination. Locally grown coffee, home-cooked lunch, and active bird feeders make this spot a triple threat of birding pleasure.

Night at Paraiso Quetzal Lodge.

The Talamanca highlands hold nearly 60 endemic species, shared between Costa Rica and western Panama. 

On our two full days in the mountains, we will focus on finding as many as we can while enjoying the crisp mountain air and gorgeous vistas. Some targets include: Slaty Flowerpiercer, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Yellow-thighed Brushfinch, Collared Redstart, Flame-throated Warbler, Large-footed Finch, Streak- breasted Treehunter, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, and Black-capped Flycatcher.

One of the classic targets up here is the Resplendent Quetzal, and while it itself isn’t a Talamanca endemic, it is one the world’s top birds and these mountains are one of the best places to see one!

Hummingbird feeders are particularly exciting up here with Talamanca, Volcano, and Fiery-throated Hummingbirds, White-throated Mountain-Gems, and Lesser Violetears to name a few.

While in the highlands, we will also go owling for a shot at Bare-shanked Screech- Owl and Dusky Nightjar.

The highlands are a really special place, and anyone who enjoys an excellent cup of coffee on a chilly morning in the mountains will enjoy spending a few days up there.

In addition to the cloud-forest species, we will visit the highest point along the Panamerican Highway 2, where it breaks free of the forest to a stunted habitat similar to the páramo in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. In this habitat above 10,000ft, we will look for the hyper-endemic Timberline Wren and Volcano Junco, the latter being the furthest south species of Junco.

2 Nights at Paraiso Quetzal Lodge.

After a final morning of birding the area, we head back down from the mountains to the Sarapiquí area of the Caribbean slope lowlands. This area is incredibly rich in biodiversity, and is a totally new eco-region for the trip as the Caribbean slope hosts a whole different suite of birds from the Pacific slope. 

After lunch and checking in to our lodge, we will have a nice afternoon of exploring the network of trails, seeking out dozens of new species like Fasciated Antshrike, Olive-backed Euphonia, and White-collared Manakin.

Night at Selva Verde Lodge

We will spend the morning birding at La Selva Biological Station, with dozens of new species for the trip at this primary rainforest site. Along with the birds, we will try to find some unique fauna in the area like the Strawberry Poison Dart frogs that are common in the Caribbean lowlands.

A few target species include Great Tinamou, Scaled Pigeon, Great Green Macaw, Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, Semiplumbeous Hawk, Middle American Screech-Owl, Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Snowy Cotinga, Black-capped Pygmy-tyrant, and Dusky-faced Tanager. 

After dinner, we will have the option for some night birding, looking for Middle American Screech-Owl, Mottled and Spectacled Owl.

Night at Selva Verde Lodge.

Wrapping up our morning at Selva Verde, we will head north to an area known as Refugio de Vida Silvestre Caño Negro; the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge.

After lunch, we will stop at the Medio Queso wetlands just south of the Nicaraguan border. Here, we will look for Pinnated Bittern, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Nicaraguan Grackle, Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, and a few other birds harder to find any further south.

At dusk, we will search for night birds, with Great Potoo, Striped Owl, Black-and-White Owl, and Pacific Screech- owl as our targets.

Night in Caño Negro.

The main focus of our time in Caño Negro will be the boat tours. Working with an expert local river and bird guide, we will spend the evening and full morning exploring the diverse birdlife of the area via a comfortable river boat!

We will have an early morning in order to board our river boat at sunrise, and start what will likely be our most species rich day of birding! Our river guide will take us on the search for dozens of specialty species including American Pygmy Kingfisher, Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher, Nicaraguan Grackle, Pied Puffbird, Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, Black-collared Hawk, Green Ibis, and Jabiru. 

The list of species we can see just on this 4 hour boat tour is far too long to list all of them here! Often our checklist for the morning boat ride approaches 100 species!

While this is not a ‘photography tour’, this boat tour will allow for many great photo ops. Not only will we see birds, but we will likely get to see several Spectacled Caiman up close as well.

After lunch, we will drive southwest to another famous destination within Costa Rica, the area around the stunning Arenal Volcano!

Night at Arenal Observatory Lodge.

We will spend 3 nights at the Arenal Observatory Lodge, birding and exploring the mid-elevation forests from the trails on the grounds of the lodge, and at nearby hotspots.
The Arenal Observatory Lodge is a birder’s paradise, with busy bird feeders that attract Emerald and Golden-hooded Tanagers, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Crested Guan, and Montezuma Oropendola. Hummingbird gardens with Violet-headed Hummingbirds and the chance for Black-crested Coquette line the back patio.

One morning, we will visit the hanging bridges of a nearby hotspot, a site that offers canopy-level suspension bridges and trails through great forest. This gives us an amazing opportunity to see canopy species at eye-level! We will have the chance for some localized specialties like Black-and-Yellow Tanager, Yellow-eared Toucanet, and Blue-and-Gold Tanager. Watching for raptors soaring above the canopy in the mid-morning sun, we may spot Ornate and Black Hawk-Eagles, and White Hawk among others.

Antbirds will also be a main focus here along the forest trails, with Bicolored, Spotted, Ocellated, Dull-mantled, Zeledon’s and Dusky Antbird possible.

2 nights at Arenal Observatory Lodge. 

After a morning around the lodge, we depart for an area tucked in the mountains on our way back to the city. Here we search for the enigmatic Three-wattled Bellbird. This spectacular and unique species is the only Bellbird in Central America!

After lunch, we will drop out of the mountains and into the Central Valley, where we will check into our hotel in Alajuela near the international airport.
We will go over the tour checklist at our final dinner, and exchange our favorite experiences of this epic Costa Rica tour! Time to celebrate!

Night at Hotel Robledal.

International departures. Depending on flight times, we will do some light birding in the morning around the hotel grounds. Transfers to the airport provided by the hotel.