Visiting Costa Rica in Mar/Apr (Caribbean side). Best Places? (1 Viewer)

[gardinerlife]

I'll be staying at a Villa not too far from Limon in an area called Punta Uva beach near Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge.

Has anyone done any birding in that area? Are there other must see birding spots within a couple of hours drive?

 

[Birdingcraft]

The birding is great for lots of lowland species around there. You don't even have to drive anywhere, just try birding at your hotel. Lots of nice habitat on main road there as well.

I love birding that area, here is a blog post I wrote about it.

 

[gdhunter]

You don't even have to drive anywhere, just try birding at your hotel. Lots of nice habitat on main road there as well.

As Patrick notes, you'll find superb birding along the highway toward Manzanillo; during a one-month stay in that region (described here: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=254920) the single highest daily count coincided with our full-day coverage of that road & a couple of side roads.

You can also find some relevant information (and descriptions of accessible birding sites) at the BirdForum Opus article devoted to Manzanillo (http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Manzanillo).

One very promising transect is a road (described as "forest road" in the Opus article), probably about 1.3 km from Punta Uva. I vividly recall encountering a Double-toothed Kite engaged in "textbook behavior" (following a troop of Capuchin monkeys).

Gary H

 

[ManakusCR]

Try Cahuita National park as well, as suggested before Manzanillo reserve is really good, we had goot luck with dusky faced tanagers, tawny crested tanagers, red throated anttanager was common, the Margarita road in punta uva yielded me slate colored grossbeak. As others have said the road down from punta uva towards Manzanillo is really good.

 

[gardinerlife]

This is great. I'm overwhelmed.

Thanks everyone. This looks more promising than I would have imagined.

I did some birding in Panama in the Soberania and Anton (cloud forest) regions.

A lot of the birds listed will be life for me.



All the best

 

[Nohatch]

Fantastic place, amazing beaches and amazing birding! I'm sure you'll have a great time, been twice and loved it both times. I was thinking for some variety you could visit some higher altitude reserve, like Hitoy Cerere or Barbilla. You should get quite a different set of mid-altitude Caribbean slope species there - anyone have any experience with those two places?
Have a great trip!

N

 

[Birdingcraft]

Fantastic place, amazing beaches and amazing birding! I'm sure you'll have a great time, been twice and loved it both times. I was thinking for some variety you could visit some higher altitude reserve, like Hitoy Cerere or Barbilla. You should get quite a different set of mid-altitude Caribbean slope species there - anyone have any experience with those two places?
Have a great trip!

N

Actually, Hitoy and Barbilla are really good for lowland birds as they harbor some of the best tracts of terra firme lowland forest on the Caribbean slope. They also have foothill and (Barbilla) middle elevation forests but those areas are tough to access. Access in general is tough. For Hitoy, one can get there by 4 wheel drive or bus and taxi over a rough road. Sort of same for Barbilla. There are a couple of trails at Hitoy but I have heard that there aren't any official trails for Barbilla. Both sites are exciting though. I haven't been to Hitoy in more than 10 years but back then, it was the best Caribbean lowland forest I have seen in Costa Rica- Great Jacamar (rare), Black-eared Wood Quail, V Quail Dove, nunbird, fruitcrows, Verm Screech Owl, small groups of Snowy Cotinga, and so on all present. Others had Black-crowned Antpitta recently. Really want to go back!

 

[gardinerlife]

I would be interested in taking a day trip from our destination, but not so interested in going a long way through 4-wheel terrain. Is there elevations to travel to within a couple of hours that are worth seeing in the area? Any recommendations?

 

[Nohatch]

Braulio Carrillo NP is only a 2.5 h drive away, otherwise the Orosi area/Tapanti NP, but that's at least 3.5-4 h one-way. Perhaps worth visiting on your way over from the airport/San Jose?

N

 

[Hamhed]

If you can access Google Maps, use the Terrain feature to see what is close to Punta Uva and what is accessible. Looks to me like a long ride to anything other than what has been already mentioned. There is supposed to be access to Hitoy Cerere from Bribri via a track that goes by a waterfall. That might get you a little higher up.

Steve

 

[gardinerlife]

Great suggestions. Thanks so much.