Any special spots for birding in Costa Rica? (1 Viewer)

My husband and I are going to Costa Rica for our second visit in mid-January. We are going to spend most of our time on Osa Penninsula. Any great birding opportunities in that area that we shouldn't miss? We consider ourselves soft core birders, we love watching them and try to find the best places all over the world to see birds but usually do not even keep a list. Is it keeping a list so important?

Only if keeping a list is important to you.

I did a little looking around, and it sounds like the Osos peninsula is fabulous for birding! Rainforest, 350 species of birds, etc.

The link I'm attaching is a commercial link, but had some good information, I thought, about what you might expect to see.

http://www.osaadventures.com/birding.htm

This might at least get you started on where to go and what to see.

Please do come back after your trip and tell us all about it.

Don't know exactly where this peninsula is located, but hope you can get to the Arenal volcano -- my sister was in Costa Rica last summer, and the best part of all, to her, was seeing the volcano and fresh lava flows. Guess it's really spectacular, especially at night.

Have a great time on your trip, and please report back! (with pictures, I hope!!)

Wildflower,
I'm not familiar with the Osa Peninsula (yet) but have a few general suggestions for birding in C. Rica. First is a fantastic Field Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica by Gary Stiles and A. Skutch. (title from memory so could be slightly different). Next would be a suggestion to keep a list at least of this trip. Then if you decide later to start a life list, you'll at least have these properly recorded. And lastly, C. Rica seems to have more nature guides per capita than anywhere I've ever been so take advantage and look for a good birding guide for at least one of your birding days.

Hope you have a great trip and I'll look forward to any trip report you post as I'd also like to go to the Osa Peninsula some day.

Thank you beverlybaynes and Dave. This is going to be our second trip to Costa Rica because of birds and people as well. Our goal this time is to take more photos of the Resplendent Quetzal. Is there any way to use a spotting scope with my SLR camera to take photos? I promise to post my trip report. However, I am not certain about including photos. I only recently learned how to scan them. Downloading , uploading, resolution, too big? I am not there yet! I do not have a digital camera and not planning to get one in the near future. I enjoy traveling with my SLR Nikon.

Beverlybaynes, belive it or not but we are staying for four nights in Bosque del Rio Tigre (you posted their website address above) and we heard that Abraham suppose to be the best guide in Osa area. We hope so.

Dave, we are going to be in Mexico (Durango Highway and San Blas areas) birding in the end of February/March with a group of 5 or 6 other people. Would appreciate any tips regarding birding in Mexico. I only have the Peterson's "Mexican Birds."

Dave, I forgot to add that we do have a number of lists from different areas (Belize, Costa Rica, Arizona, Seychelles). How do I make one out of those few?
I know, I know this must be a very silly and immature question but because we always travel independently often we are not able to identify small birds. Only when we hire private guide we keep a list. Yet, we love watching birds.

Wildflower -- your travels sound marvelous, and I'm envious!

For putting together your lists, you might consider checking into the various birding software packages available. I don't have one myself, but two names that come to mind are Thayer and Avisys. And neither one would be difficult to locate, I'm sure.

The kind of lists you keep are completely up to you. For myself (with only North American birds, unfortunately), I just jot a note or two in my field guide, date, location, etc. Others keep much more detail, like habitat, weather conditions, etc.

The important thing to remember is that it's your list and you can do whatever you want with it. People keep all kinds of lists: life, world, state, county, backyard, seen while in the car, etc.

A good source for birding books and guides of all kinds is the American Birding Association. They have a very wide-ranging bookstore and I believe everything they have is available for ordering on-line. They have software packages, too, I think. And you don't have to be member of the ABA in order to purchase, although I think they offer member discounts.

My last question for you is -- with all your travels, what birding have you done in the US? If you have traveled as extensively 'at home' as you seem to do internationally, I'll bet your 'domestic' list is awesome!

Lonely Planet actually has a Wildlife guide to areas South of Mexico. down thru Panama. Lists all preserves and parks.

See amazon.com etc.

Thank you Beverlybaynes and Tero. I do appreciate your help.

Beverly, to answer your question regarding traveling. This year we spent five days in Nome, AK and we saw some amazing birds and animals. Then around Homer, Alaska we counted bald eagles by dozens.
In April we spent two weeks in Southeast part of Arizona with our focus mainly on hummingbirds. We are planning to go to Nebraska in March just to see sandhill cranes on Platt River before their migration North. We saw a number of them last July in Homer area. As you see wherever we go we try to find places for watching birds. Sometimes we have a guide book with us but most of the time we just like to spot them and silently observe them

Costa Rica is well set with Parque Nacionals
http://www.infoweb.co.cr/turismo/parques/parquesnac.html
also
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Parque+Nacional+Costa+Rica&btnG=Google+Search

(just the Google search)

Thanks Tero
Tonight I am dedicating a whole evening for searching. I would like to find an ideal spot for watching and photgraphing scarlet macaws.

The book I leafed thru is by Luke Hunter and one other, described here.

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/product_detail.cfm?productID=2120

The forum may not want that advertisemnet here, but you can look up under author and Watching Wildlife Central America.

Wildflower:

You should also check out Carara national park and boat tours along Rio Grande de Tarcoles. And as mentioned earlier, try for a trip to Arenal volcano. On our trip earlier this year, we were disappointed at not seeing the volcano, but that was more than made up for by an amazing array of different species of birds at feeders outside the restaurant at Arenal Observatory Lodge.

cheers,
jim