Bienvenidos a Costa Rica! Welcome to Costa Rica!

International flights arrive to Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO), and we transfer to our lodging for the night. Welcome dinner and orientation in the evening. Please plan arrivals before 4pm local time to allow time to attend the welcome dinner.

Night in San Jose.

After a filling breakfast at Hotel Bougainvillea, we will start our drive to the Arenal area, but not without a few birding stops along the way. Stopping at the famous Soda y Mirador Cinchona along the way will break up the drive and give us our first experience with busy neotropical bird feeders. Several hummingbird species, from Violet Sabrewings to Coppery-headed Emeralds, Northern Emerald-Toucanets, and Prong-billed Barbets are a few of the birds we will get to see at this cozy roadside stop. After our lunch at Cinchona, we will head for the Arenal area. Afternoon birding on the grounds of the lodge, enjoying the active bird feeders.

Night near Arenal.

We will spend 3 nights in the Arenal area, birding and exploring the mid-elevation forests from the trails on the grounds of the lodge, and at nearby hotspots. Busy bird feeders 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.

In the morning, we will visit the canopy towers of the nearby Sky Walk Arenal, a site that offers adventure-seekers exciting activities like zip-lining! Although for us, the canopy towers give 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 all possible. Our afternoon birding will be at nearby sites where we will leisurely enjoy a whole suite of Caribbean species like Long-tailed Tyrant, Broad-billed Motmot, and Bay Wren.

Night at Arenal Observatory lodge.

Wrapping up our morning at Arenal, we will head north to an area known as Refugio de Vida Silvestre Caño Negro; the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. After checking into our lodge, we will stop at the Medio Queso wetlands just south of the Nicaraguan border. Here we will take our first of two boat trips! With a local expert guide, we will look for Pinnated Bittern, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Yellow- breasted Crake, Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, and a few other birds harder to find any further south. After the boat trip, we will search for night birds on our drive back to Caño Negro, 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 is over 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 southeast to an area of amazing lowland rainforest, the Sarapiquí region, where we will be staying at La Selva Biological Station.

Night near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí.

Staying for 2 nights at “La Selva” affords us the opportunity to soak in the glorious biodiversity of this world-famous birding site. Our morning birding at La Selva Biological Station should be fantastic, 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 fun Strawberry Poison Dart frogs that are common in the Caribbean lowlands. A few target species for our time in La Selva include: Great Tinamou, Great Green Macaw, Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, White-necked Jacobin, Long-billed Hermit, Gray-headed Kite, Semiplumbeous Hawk, Middle American Screech-Owl, Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Fasciated Antshrike, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Snowy Cotinga, Black-capped Pygmy-tyrant. After dinner, we will have the option for some night birding, looking for Middle American Screech- Owl, Mottled and Spectacled Owl.

Night near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí.

After a final morning of birding around the highlands, we will head towards the highlands of the Cordillera Talamanca; the Talamanca mountain range. Along the way we will make a few birding stops, checking out hummingbird gardens for one of Costa Rica’s most famous species, the Snowcap. The Cordillera de Talamanca, a mountain range that runs down the middle of Costa Rica and western Panama, is host to a whole suite of regionally endemic species. The high elevations, over 11,000 feet above sea level in some areas, are the main driver of species diversity in the area. We will spend the next 3 days exploring the cloud-forests ranging from 6,000ft to 11,000ft, targeting as many of the Talamanca species as possible, including the world-famous Resplendent Quetzal!

Night at near Parque Nacional Los Quetzales.

An early morning for our quest for the Quetzal! We meet local land owners and guides who will take us to a special area predawn to see Quetzals which are coming to feed on fruiting trees. With any luck, we can get some great looks at these fantastic birds. This will be our coldest morning, so be sure re to bring a warm hat and gloves, and multiple layers. We will return to the hotel for a late breakfast and late morning birding nearby. Afternoon birding at local hotspots.

Night at near Parque Nacional Los Quetzales.

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. To look for many of these species, we will explore the trails at our hotel or visit nearby hotspots. 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. Night at near Parque Nacional Los Quetzales.

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. Lunch will be at the fabulous Casa Dowii, a cozy birding and foodie destination. Locally grown coffee, homemade craft beer, and active bird feeders make this spot a triple threat of birding pleasure. After lunch, we will head back over 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.

After breakfast, shuttle transport to Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) for international departures.