Best hour for Mangrove Birding Tour - Tarcoles (1 Viewer)

Has anyone done this tour? Going to Carara in 2 weeks, staying 2 nights at Cerro Lodge. Our inclination is to take the 9am trip rather than the 6am so we might bird some earlier (not sure when Carara opens??) and then be able to sit down in the boat as the day warms up. I saw some folks getting on the airboat version (not what we are after) 11ish the other day and the sun was already getting pretty hot for us. We are after birds not croc close-ups. Thanks for any.

I was there a couple of weeks ago and did the 6am tour; I believe that was what we had been adviced, and what I would also advice to you. If you are really good at bird voices, then the early forest birding is unsurpassed, but it lasts a while before the light really penetrates down inside the forest. On the other hand, on the river, you will have all the light from the start.

We saw lots of good birds, but because we had not really gotten any of the real mangrove specialists (it was very windy that day, so difficult to both catch movements and hear birds), we were offered to stay on for a second run of the mangroves with the next group, and did add the Panama Flycatcher on the second round.

Most if not all CR Nat Parks open at 8, so you may not even have a chance to see much inside the park before the 9 am trip if you chose that option.

When staying at Cerro Lodge, do check up on the voice of Black-and-white Owl, which can be seen catching big insects or bats by the Pool or by the light on the way to the cabins. There were some nice hummingbirds there, and I had Rose-throated Becard in one of their trees with macaws flying over.

Niels

Thanks much Niels, I will share this with our 2 companions who in fact are much better listening birders than Cheri or I. Will definitely learn that owl though! Mike

Hi wild,

I've been there a few times myself and some of the tour operators are more focused on the crocs than birds (despite they offer it as "birding") you might get either Jason from crocodile man tour who is a very patience captain and can skip the crocs and focus on the birds, or once in the town of tarcoles find out if there is a way to get a less commercial private boat or something, any ways, back to the point, boat trips in tarcoles usually departs at 6,8,10,12,am 2,4pm if I dont misremember.
8am sounds a good idea to me for the boat trip. just my 2 cents here

I am heading down to that area in late July/early August. How does one sign up for these tours? If they have a website, that would be helpful.

Ethan

I have just sorted this out for my trip in March. You can usually fix this up from your hotel where you are staying. The person to go with is Luis Campos who operates as Mangrove Boating Tours. He is the best for birds I understand. He is the guide promoted by Costa Rica Gateway.

not sure who is the best river guide but...

Lawson in his A Bird-finding Guide to Costa Rica gives some phone numbers to contact Mangrove birding tours. If you use Skype from out of CR it is pretty easy to call here I have found (they even put in the 506 for you).

Anyway the numbers given for English are 2643-1983; 8889-8815 or 2433-8278. If fluent enough in Spanish use 8888-2004 or 2637-0472. Federico who is handling our reservation at nearby Cerro Lodge recommends 'Dave''.

When we visited one of the two large restaurants by the Rio Tarcoles bridge last week we were approached by a young man who was doing advert for the air boats that are also available for a river tour. I would not think that too useful for birding. The crocs are numerous and very visible from the bridge so no need to go bother them with a air boat IMHO. Good luck!

We did the trip during the afternoon last February, it was excellent, trip report here http://www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Costa Rica 0210.htm - see Thu 25th February 2010 entitled The Greatest Day (a clue in the title ). Going again in 5 weeks and will be doing Tarcoles again. Can't wait!!

Just back from a morning on the Rio Tarcoles. We booked as I said through Fernando at Cerro Lodge to Luis Campos and did the 6 am ride. Very birdy place, our guide was young and enthusiastic though not great compared to others we have seen. Missed the local yellow warbler but got plenty of boat-bills. Well worth the $40 in our opinion.

I think both times of the day are pretty similar in what you see although I get the impression that more birds are seen flying to roosting sites in the mangroves on the afternoon trip. That one also ends with a nice sunset over the ocean and then you can try for things like Pacific Screech Owl (and other owls?) in the vicinity.