We booked this as a Natural Splendours of Costa Rica trip through Cox and Kings and travelled as part of a group of 20, mostly non/inexperienced birdwatchers. It was our first trip to Costa Rica but some of the birds were familiar from Florida and elsewhere in North America/the Caribbean.
Staying first in San Jose for two nights, we travelled on to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast, based at Mawamba Lodge for a further two nights and taking boat trips on the waterway system. This turned out to be one of our favourite parts of the holiday.
There are two birds you will definitely see in Costa Rica: the Great tailed Grackle and the Great Kiskadee, both new to us. They were everywhere. Mawamba Lodge has a colony of nesting Montezuma's Oropendolas, also a life bird. The beautiful beach, unfortunately, was almost devoid of bird life. There was a Whimbrel, described as being out of area in my bird book, a Bare-throated Tiger Heron skulking in the bushes and some Black Vultures feeding on I know not what.
The waterways were teeming with birds: Anhinga, Neotropical Cormorant, Great, Snowy and Cattle Egrets, Yellow-crowned, Tri-coloured and Little Blue Herons, Purple Gallinule, Northern Jacana. An Osprey flew over.
Moving on from Tortuguero, we travelled to La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano via the Biological Station at La Selva. This included a boat trip of 3.5 hours and a walk at the Biological Station. We added several more birds to the list, including Magnificent Frigate Bird, Black headed and Slay tailed Trogon, Broad billed Motmot, Passerini's Tanager, Black mandibled Toucan, Amazon Kingfisher, Black cheeked Woodpecker, Black crowned Antshrike and Great Curassow.
A boat trip at Cano Negro to the Nicaraguan border on the following day brought us additionally Pygmy and Green Kingfishers, Green and Black crowned Night Heron, Mangrove Swallow, Rufous collared Sparrow, Sungrebe, Gray necked Wood Rail, Crested Caracara, Prothonotary Warbler. There was a small flock of Southern Lapwings in the grounds of the hotel.
Transferring the following day to Monteverde, Slate throated Redstart, Green crowned Brilliant Hummingbird and both Crested and Black Guan boosted the list.
Monteverde itself did not disappoint in terms of quality, if not quantity. We found the Resplendent Quetzel very quickly and enjoyed the hummingbirds in the Hummingbird Garden at the end of the walk.
Our final few days were spent at Manuel Antonio at Hotel Si Como No. We did well in the grounds of the hotel, which has fabulous views of the Pacific Ocean. Birds included a pair of Golden-naped Woodpeckers, which were in the tree outside our room several times and a Streak-headed Woodcreeper in the same tree. The Manuel Antonio Reserve itself, though beautiful, is a dreadful, busy tourist trap. The guided walks, which we did not take, seemed to be a one-way route march, with little to look at and you have to make your own way back. The beach is crowded and we saw not a single seabird nor wader. However, our final glimpse was of a Yellow headed Caracara in a palm tree.
Despite this not being strictly a bird watching trip, I saw 90 species of birds and 66 of those were life birds. This number would have undoubtedly increased had I been able to identify the many raptors we saw and had we visited an area that hosted waders and seabirds. It staggers me that such a small country has 900+ species and that there are such differences between say, the Caribbean slopes and the Pacific slopes.
Staying first in San Jose for two nights, we travelled on to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast, based at Mawamba Lodge for a further two nights and taking boat trips on the waterway system. This turned out to be one of our favourite parts of the holiday.
There are two birds you will definitely see in Costa Rica: the Great tailed Grackle and the Great Kiskadee, both new to us. They were everywhere. Mawamba Lodge has a colony of nesting Montezuma's Oropendolas, also a life bird. The beautiful beach, unfortunately, was almost devoid of bird life. There was a Whimbrel, described as being out of area in my bird book, a Bare-throated Tiger Heron skulking in the bushes and some Black Vultures feeding on I know not what.
The waterways were teeming with birds: Anhinga, Neotropical Cormorant, Great, Snowy and Cattle Egrets, Yellow-crowned, Tri-coloured and Little Blue Herons, Purple Gallinule, Northern Jacana. An Osprey flew over.
Moving on from Tortuguero, we travelled to La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano via the Biological Station at La Selva. This included a boat trip of 3.5 hours and a walk at the Biological Station. We added several more birds to the list, including Magnificent Frigate Bird, Black headed and Slay tailed Trogon, Broad billed Motmot, Passerini's Tanager, Black mandibled Toucan, Amazon Kingfisher, Black cheeked Woodpecker, Black crowned Antshrike and Great Curassow.
A boat trip at Cano Negro to the Nicaraguan border on the following day brought us additionally Pygmy and Green Kingfishers, Green and Black crowned Night Heron, Mangrove Swallow, Rufous collared Sparrow, Sungrebe, Gray necked Wood Rail, Crested Caracara, Prothonotary Warbler. There was a small flock of Southern Lapwings in the grounds of the hotel.
Transferring the following day to Monteverde, Slate throated Redstart, Green crowned Brilliant Hummingbird and both Crested and Black Guan boosted the list.
Monteverde itself did not disappoint in terms of quality, if not quantity. We found the Resplendent Quetzel very quickly and enjoyed the hummingbirds in the Hummingbird Garden at the end of the walk.
Our final few days were spent at Manuel Antonio at Hotel Si Como No. We did well in the grounds of the hotel, which has fabulous views of the Pacific Ocean. Birds included a pair of Golden-naped Woodpeckers, which were in the tree outside our room several times and a Streak-headed Woodcreeper in the same tree. The Manuel Antonio Reserve itself, though beautiful, is a dreadful, busy tourist trap. The guided walks, which we did not take, seemed to be a one-way route march, with little to look at and you have to make your own way back. The beach is crowded and we saw not a single seabird nor wader. However, our final glimpse was of a Yellow headed Caracara in a palm tree.
Despite this not being strictly a bird watching trip, I saw 90 species of birds and 66 of those were life birds. This number would have undoubtedly increased had I been able to identify the many raptors we saw and had we visited an area that hosted waders and seabirds. It staggers me that such a small country has 900+ species and that there are such differences between say, the Caribbean slopes and the Pacific slopes.
