La Paz Waterfall Gardens (1 Viewer)

JJP said:

Can anyone inform me about the nature of visiting the La Paz Waterfall Gardens hummingbird feeders? What is the fee to get in? Is there a time of day that's better? Do you have to take a shuttle to the hummingbird feeders? Are there are other species to look for on the trails?

Now that the restaurants around nearby Cinchona are no longer in operation (2009 earthquake), it seems to me that the La Paz feeders will likely absorb the birding business. However, both the road conditions from La Selva and the nature of the La Paz Gardens themselves remain a bit of a mystery to me.

If anyone has input, I'd appreciate it.

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Jos Stratford said:

All is now operating, except the shuttle. Price to get in is expensive, in my humble opinion, all species can be seen elsewhere.

The road from La Selva is destroyed I believe, you must go via San Jose.

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Motmot said:

Besides the hummers some good forest birds (my first Ochre-breasted Antpitta is an excellent example) can be seen on the trails but you'd better be there when the gates are open, loads of tourists scare the best off. The hummers can be seen at the feeders at any time so it is better to focus on the trails early morning when the flocks are more active. Agree most species can be seen elsewhere (hard to say where to find Solitary Eagle outside this region though) but still is a nice place for a half day visit albeit expensive (as quite a few costarican birding hotspots unfortunately).

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Birdingcraft said:

Yes, the place is up and running again and the road open at least to there. Road work is taking place along the stretch that passes by Cinchona- this road still being officially closed.
Yes, birding is good around the La Paz gardens but they are too expensive for a day visit in my opinion (35$ entrance fee). I'm not sure how the logistics work although it looks like you park your car at their car park near the highway.
Yes, it could be visited as a day trip by car from San Jose but the road there is pretty much a dead end until the new road past Cinchona is completed (who knows when).
I would be extremely surprised if Prevost's Ground Sparrow occurred there as the habitat for this species is drier, scrubby areas of the Pacific slope in the Central Valley as opposed to the wet cloud forests around the La Paz gardens.
Alternatives to the La Paz area with similar birds might be Tapanti and especially the Bosque de Paz lodge found along the Grecia-Rio Quarto road near Bajos del Toro.

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power2thepeaceful17 said:

As Patrick so correctly mentioned, Tapanti is a good alternative to La Paz Waterfalls. While you won't get the hummer feeders, the overall birding is simply astounding. I have spent about 5 months in Costa Rica over the last three winters, and I consider it my favourite (along with Dos Brazos, Osa penn.) birding spot in the country. I have heard some desribe the birding as difficult, I have not found it to be so. The road is undulating, but not overly so and there are trails of varying difficulty which take you a bit higher, or lower than the road. As far as the birds go, I have seen tons of great stuff here. For Hummers, you should see Black-bellied Hummer and White-bellied Mountain-Gem, Green-ronted Lancebill is seasonally (I presume as on my first two visits I had no luck but this past late march, I saw a few in one day!) fairly common. Green Thorntail is also around. Other great birds I've seen here include Ochre-breasted Antpitta, twice, in nearly the same spot (Arboles Caidos(???) trail, about 200m up the higher entrance); Immaculate Antbird, once; Chiriqui Quail-dove, once, listen for them though; Black-banded Woodcreeper,once; Ornate Hawk-eagle, once; probable Bicolored Hawk, heard once; black-breasted Wood-quail, heard a few coveys early in the morning, tough to track down though; Scale-throated Foliage-gleaner, once; Sooty-faced Finch; Elegant Euphonia, most days; White-winged Tanager, fairly common; Rufous Mourner, fairly common; Sharpbill!!!, once, one of the best spots in the country for this very tough bird; Black-and-white Becard, once.
And thats just off the top of my head! There are plenty of great birds that I missed there, including Scaled Antpitta, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo (higher elevations in the park) and Barred Hawk amongst others.
You'll notice that a lot of the birds I saw were just one offs, but a lot of those are tough birds in CR, the point is - the place has enormous potential!

Enjoy CR!

Avery Bartels

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