Some notes on our 15 night trip to this amzaing little country!
The trip was sorted out by Andy Latham, also Damon Howells, Jack Shutt and myself joined him on this winter trip out of the birding blackhole of shropshire! Many thanks to Andy for arranging this very successful holiday and for doing all the driving! This was a first trip to Costa Rica for all of us, and my first trip to Latin America...it certainly won't be the last! Between us we recorded around 440 species(including heard onlys).
We flew with american airlines from heathrow to juan santamaria airport, with a stressful change at Miami airport each way. We were all in agreement when we go again, not to go through Miami! Heard rumours that there will be direct flights to costa rica from gatwick from later this year, though not sure how true this is.
We hired our 4x4(essential) through europcar, we arranged to pick it up at 8:30am on the morning of the 24th, we had to wait an additional 2 hours for it to arrive, and listening to arguments at the office when we returned the car, this seemed to be quite a common problem there!
The total cost of the holiday was c£2000 each, including spending money. We mostly used US dollars, but colones are also needed for eg filling the car up with gas in more rural areas.
Weather was mainly hot and sunny, the temperature at savegre was more pleasant in the daytime, jumper worthy at night and early am! Cerro de la muerte was shrouded in a cold and wet cloud, and we caught a lot of rain around la selva, making trying to bird almost pointless at times! All accomodation was average, if a bit basic, to very good, although hot water isn't to be taken for granted! For almost all sites, a decent level of fitness is required. Food was good and plentiful throughout. Although we got bitten a few times, insects were generally not a problem.
I would strongly recommend getting guides in the forested areas unless you are familiar with most of the common species of the area. When we tried doing it on our own we generally saw a lot less, and/or wasted a lot of time trying to work out what the sounds were, and the guides know the calls of target species(very useful in big flocks) and their territory's. I highly recommend Melvin at savegre, Harry at rancho naturlista and Lenin at la selva!
Books used - where to watch birds in costa rica(an update is probably due, some species listed are no longer reliable at certain sites, eg black-headed nightingale-thrush at rancho naturlista), and the helm field guide by Garrigues and Dean(2nd edition) which was mostly reliable. Also downloaded the costa rica bird sounds app for c£13, which was good. In general, playback didn't seem to work at most sites.
Itinery:
23/1 - uk to costa rica travel day. Night Melrost B&B, Alajuela.
24/1 - Alajuela - La ensanada lodge(night)
25/1 - La Ensanada lodge - cerro lodge(night)
26/1 - Carara NP area. Night cerro lodge
27/1 - Carara NP area. Night cerro lodge
28/1 - Talari mountain lodge,la georgina resturant, Savegre hotel(night)
29/1 - Savegre valley,cerro de la muerte. Night Suria lodge
30/1 - Savegre valley, mirador del quetzales, rancho naturlista(night)
31/1 - Rancho naturlista and surrounds. Night rancho naturlista
1/2 - Rancho naturlista,C.A.T.I.E,casa turire. Night rancho naturlista
2/2 - Rancho naturlista - Tapanti. Night Kiri lodge
3/2 - Tapanti. Brief stop el tigre fields. Night La selva OTS
4/2 - La selva(night)
5/2 - La selva am, Braulio Carrillo. Night La selva
6/2 - La selva - Alajuela, via virgen del scorro and cinchona. Night at the courtyard hotel
7/2 - River by wallmart, Alajuela. Flight home(arrived back 8/2)
Area Notes:
Alajuela
Melrost B&B
The hotel has no gardens, but the trees and fields around the block it is on gave us enough to look at on our first morning, nothing unusual but a nice introduction to common costa rican birds. Best birds seen included cinnamon hummingbird, blue-diademed motmot and greyish saltator.
River by wallmart
Jack and myself decided to take a quick look here as Andy and Damon waited for the car on our first morning. Again just common species, mainly north american migrants, with a few herons, but my first ringed kingfisher was nice. When we realised the hotel we booked on our last night was next to wallmart, Jack and I took damo down here as he needed the kingfisher, which we quickly refound, then some movement on the other side of the river caught my attention, and a stunning cabanis's/prevost's ground-sparrow showed itself! We had 3+ that afternoon, and i had 4 together the following morning, so presume this could be a reliable spot for them. Other species seen here included grey-crowned yellowthroat,grey-necked wood-rail,northern beardless-tyrannulet,indigo + painted bunting and blue-diademed motmot, the first 4 the only sightings on the trip. Certainly worth an hour or so if stopping in the area or killing time before your flight home!
La ensanada
These lodges have a nice view over the gulf of nicoya, and the birding is good too! Highlight was the 2 imm male three-wattled bellbirds on the 25th(also heard on 24th). Also seen here, 2 roosting pacific screech-owl, 2 surfbird, ferruginous pygmy-owl, hook-billed kite, streak-backed and spot-breasted oriole,yellow-naped parrot,turquoise-browed motmot and white-throated magpie-jay(inside the reception area!) amongst many other species. The salinas were quiet, just a group of stilt sandpipers of note amongst small numbers of waders and herons. We had double-striped thick-knee along the entrance road to the lodge(2 on 24th, 3 25th).
Carara
Cerro lodge
We spent 3 nights here. The feeders were dominated by clay-colored thrushes, with little else visiting them. Steely-vented hummingbird was seen several times around the grounds, and scarlet macaws were also seen on multiple occasions. Before breakfast we scanned the distant trees in the hope of seeing yellow-billed cotinga, as we read this is a site for them, with no luck, but we did have a bat falcon and 2 collared forest-falcon 1 morning. We also hoped to see fiery-billed aracari here, but apparently they are scarce here at this time of year. The 'reliable' black-and-white owl didn't show itself during our stay either. That aside, it is still a good place to stay for access to carara and the facilities are good
Carara NP headquarters trails
We spent a full day here, declining the use of the guides to try and find our own birds. We didn't have a disaster of a day but a guide would have helped a great deal! The following morning when we wanted a guide there were none there! The manakin pools were good in the afternoon, not a great number of birds, but 2 red-crowned and 1 blue-capped manakins and a worm-eating warbler kept us entertained! Other birds of note along the trails were 2+ marbled wood-quail, 2 great tinamou, grey-headed tanager, black-hooded antshrike and band-tailed barbthroat.
River trail
No longer as good as it used to be apparently! The lagoon is overgrown and I would look elsewhere if boat-billed heron is a target. We still saw around 80 species along here in 1 morning, highlight being orange-collared manakin(3 males), and the other 3 saw a green shrike-vireo which i couldn't get on! 1 of 2 distant calling baird's trogons did take an interest to playback, but didn't come close enough!
Villa Lapas
We asked at reception to bird the grounds, which they agreed to at no cost. Didn't see much but c10 painted buntings along the river were good to see. Apparently there is a long-tailed manakin lek on a trail from here, but directions given to us were vague so didn't spend too much time looking.
Waterfall road
Not much seen on a slow afternoon drive up here, our only blue-black grosbeak being the best.
Tarcoles River
A quick look from the tour boat ramp got us our first laughing falcon and several costa rican swifts. We couldn't find access to the river mouth. We didn't do the boat tour due to cost and time.
Talari mountain lodge
A few very productive mid-late morning hours were spent here to break up our trip from carara to the mountains. Access cost $10 i think. Best bird without a doubt was the female white-crested coquette giving extended views near car park 2. Also had good scope views of long-billed starthroat and charming hummingbird, many cherrie's tanagers and our only red-legged honeycreepers. A turquoise cotinga had been regular in the days prior to our visit, but eluded us! Would definately spend a night here if/when i visit CR again! (also had 2 seperate sightings of fiery-billed aracari on our drive south from carara)
Talamanca Mountains
La georgina Resturant - A pitstop in wet and windy conditions here got us our first 'rivoli's' magnificent and volcano hummingbirds, green violetears, sooty thrush and large-footed finch, and a fiery-throated hummingbird made sporadic appearences.
Savegre hotel area - A very nice hotel, we could only get 1 night here(booked in advance, the second night was spent at suria lodge 1km down the valley). An evening guided drive with melvin got us good views of mottled and bare-shanked screech-owl and dusky nightjar. A morning quetzal tour was not as touristy as fiered, and we got good views of 2 of these magnificent birds, including an adult male! Other birds seen in the area were 2 black guans, scintillant hummingbird(we even found a nest!), eventually 10 long-tailed silky-flycatchers, several flame-throated warblers, golden-browed chlorophonia, yellowish flycatchers, yellow-bellied siskin and collared whitestart. When driving out on our last morning we found our own roadside male resplendant quetzal further up the valley, which performed til we got bored of it(!), with no tourist-types trying to take pictures through our scopes!
Cerro de la muerte - A cold, wet, windy and cloud-covered afternoon was very rewarding eventually! We had 1 peg-billed finch and a few timberline wrens around the back of the communication towers, and on a slow drive back down we had 2 volcano juncos after giving up!
Mirador del quetzales - Quiet here, the fiery-throated hummingbirds gave a good show at the feeders, and 3 of us got onto a silvery-fronted tapaculo that responded to playback but very little else.
Rancho Naturlista
The feeders were brilliant first thing in the morning. Snowcap, 2 black-crested coquettes and a few green thorntails gave themselves up easily, a brown violetear made a brief appearence, and there were always good numbers of birds around, including 12 species of hummingbird. On our second morning we had a guided walk with harry, his knowledge of the site and its birds is scary, and we saw many birds we would have missed without him! The 3 white- manakins being an obvious highlight. Rivers nearby have fasciated tiger-heron, torrent tyrannulet, sunbittern and the costa rican race of american dipper, though unfortunately we dipped the latter. Despite the over-priced cost, the birding, food and accommodation is very good.
C.A.T.I.E
A brief stop at the lake produced 2 boat-billed herons easily, and with the main target in the bag, we left as we hadn't been asked to pay the entrance fee and wanted to get out incase they had a change of heart!
Casa Turire
Along the entrance road a few red-breasted blackbirds, 4 southern lapwing and 2 green ibis were seen. The hotel let us bird around the lake for free, and we added a few ducks and snail kite to the trip list
Tapanti
Heavy rain blighted our morning here, but we still did ok! Black guan, black-bellied hummingbird, white-bellied and purple-throated mountain-gems, a great black-hawk, red-headed barbet, black-faced solitaire and male elgant euphonia being the pick of the bunch! A black hawk-eagle was watched from kiri lodge as we checked in the previous day! A word of warning, our satnav tried taking us to kiri lodge(from rancho naturlista) along the unpassable road that heads west into the park!
La Selva
We had 2 full days here. On our first morning we went on a complimentary wildlife tour with Lenin. We saw the first of sevral great curassows, roosting vermiculated screech-owls and a pair of sunbitterns sunning themselves. Unfortunately an agami heron seen early that morning had vanished! Impressed with his birding skills we booked him for the following morning. First he found us a broad-billed motmot(more followed), then white-fronted nunbird and 3 purple-throated fruitcrow, when he muttered to himself 'time to try and find the hard one'! We were hoping he was referring to the umbrellabird, and about 10 minutes later we were watching an immature male bare-necked umbrellabird! Certainly 1 we had written off our chances of seeing! Especially as this was apparently only the second sighting here this winter! Later on the tour i saw a raptor go through the canopy, and it did the decent thing and landed, an adult ornate hawk-eagle! We all had good binocular views, but it flew off as soon as Lenin got the scope on it! We also arranged to go on a night tour outside of la selva with him that evening, as he claimed he knew current areas for great potoo and a few owls we needed, including striped, but torrential rain in the afternoon and evening forced us to change our plans. Also seen in and around the grounds, c5 great green macaws, plain-colored tanager, blue dacnis and snowy cotinga. We aslo tried el tigre fields and puerto viejo for nicaraguan seed-finch, with no joy. Heard bad things about the food here but was actually quite good!
Braulio Carrillo
A very wet afternoon guided walk here was hard work. I saw violet-headed hummingbird, and speckled, emerald, black-and-yellow and white-throated shrike- tanagers, but most struggled to get onto few if any of these in difficult conditions
Cinchona
Stopped here for a while on our way back to san jose. Earlier we had a washout at virgen del scorro so went for the shelter as much as the birds! Probably the most exciting feeding station of the trip! Prong-billed barbets, a pair of coppery-headed emeralds, black-faced solitaire and white-naped brush-finch were seen alongside several blue-throated toucanets, amongst good numbers of the common feeder birds like blue-grey,passerini's and silver-throated tanagers! A brief dry period had us heading back towards virgen del scorro, when we picked up 2 distant white hawks drying themselves off, but whilst watching these the rain returned so headed off back towards san jose for the finale of our trip!
Hope theres some useful bits of info in here for people thinking of going to costa rica soon! If your not thinking of going, you should be! Will certainly be returning at some point in the future to get the targets we didn't see and try out new parts of the country! Trip list to follow at some point!
The trip was sorted out by Andy Latham, also Damon Howells, Jack Shutt and myself joined him on this winter trip out of the birding blackhole of shropshire! Many thanks to Andy for arranging this very successful holiday and for doing all the driving! This was a first trip to Costa Rica for all of us, and my first trip to Latin America...it certainly won't be the last! Between us we recorded around 440 species(including heard onlys).
We flew with american airlines from heathrow to juan santamaria airport, with a stressful change at Miami airport each way. We were all in agreement when we go again, not to go through Miami! Heard rumours that there will be direct flights to costa rica from gatwick from later this year, though not sure how true this is.
We hired our 4x4(essential) through europcar, we arranged to pick it up at 8:30am on the morning of the 24th, we had to wait an additional 2 hours for it to arrive, and listening to arguments at the office when we returned the car, this seemed to be quite a common problem there!
The total cost of the holiday was c£2000 each, including spending money. We mostly used US dollars, but colones are also needed for eg filling the car up with gas in more rural areas.
Weather was mainly hot and sunny, the temperature at savegre was more pleasant in the daytime, jumper worthy at night and early am! Cerro de la muerte was shrouded in a cold and wet cloud, and we caught a lot of rain around la selva, making trying to bird almost pointless at times! All accomodation was average, if a bit basic, to very good, although hot water isn't to be taken for granted! For almost all sites, a decent level of fitness is required. Food was good and plentiful throughout. Although we got bitten a few times, insects were generally not a problem.
I would strongly recommend getting guides in the forested areas unless you are familiar with most of the common species of the area. When we tried doing it on our own we generally saw a lot less, and/or wasted a lot of time trying to work out what the sounds were, and the guides know the calls of target species(very useful in big flocks) and their territory's. I highly recommend Melvin at savegre, Harry at rancho naturlista and Lenin at la selva!
Books used - where to watch birds in costa rica(an update is probably due, some species listed are no longer reliable at certain sites, eg black-headed nightingale-thrush at rancho naturlista), and the helm field guide by Garrigues and Dean(2nd edition) which was mostly reliable. Also downloaded the costa rica bird sounds app for c£13, which was good. In general, playback didn't seem to work at most sites.
Itinery:
23/1 - uk to costa rica travel day. Night Melrost B&B, Alajuela.
24/1 - Alajuela - La ensanada lodge(night)
25/1 - La Ensanada lodge - cerro lodge(night)
26/1 - Carara NP area. Night cerro lodge
27/1 - Carara NP area. Night cerro lodge
28/1 - Talari mountain lodge,la georgina resturant, Savegre hotel(night)
29/1 - Savegre valley,cerro de la muerte. Night Suria lodge
30/1 - Savegre valley, mirador del quetzales, rancho naturlista(night)
31/1 - Rancho naturlista and surrounds. Night rancho naturlista
1/2 - Rancho naturlista,C.A.T.I.E,casa turire. Night rancho naturlista
2/2 - Rancho naturlista - Tapanti. Night Kiri lodge
3/2 - Tapanti. Brief stop el tigre fields. Night La selva OTS
4/2 - La selva(night)
5/2 - La selva am, Braulio Carrillo. Night La selva
6/2 - La selva - Alajuela, via virgen del scorro and cinchona. Night at the courtyard hotel
7/2 - River by wallmart, Alajuela. Flight home(arrived back 8/2)
Area Notes:
Alajuela
Melrost B&B
The hotel has no gardens, but the trees and fields around the block it is on gave us enough to look at on our first morning, nothing unusual but a nice introduction to common costa rican birds. Best birds seen included cinnamon hummingbird, blue-diademed motmot and greyish saltator.
River by wallmart
Jack and myself decided to take a quick look here as Andy and Damon waited for the car on our first morning. Again just common species, mainly north american migrants, with a few herons, but my first ringed kingfisher was nice. When we realised the hotel we booked on our last night was next to wallmart, Jack and I took damo down here as he needed the kingfisher, which we quickly refound, then some movement on the other side of the river caught my attention, and a stunning cabanis's/prevost's ground-sparrow showed itself! We had 3+ that afternoon, and i had 4 together the following morning, so presume this could be a reliable spot for them. Other species seen here included grey-crowned yellowthroat,grey-necked wood-rail,northern beardless-tyrannulet,indigo + painted bunting and blue-diademed motmot, the first 4 the only sightings on the trip. Certainly worth an hour or so if stopping in the area or killing time before your flight home!
La ensanada
These lodges have a nice view over the gulf of nicoya, and the birding is good too! Highlight was the 2 imm male three-wattled bellbirds on the 25th(also heard on 24th). Also seen here, 2 roosting pacific screech-owl, 2 surfbird, ferruginous pygmy-owl, hook-billed kite, streak-backed and spot-breasted oriole,yellow-naped parrot,turquoise-browed motmot and white-throated magpie-jay(inside the reception area!) amongst many other species. The salinas were quiet, just a group of stilt sandpipers of note amongst small numbers of waders and herons. We had double-striped thick-knee along the entrance road to the lodge(2 on 24th, 3 25th).
Carara
Cerro lodge
We spent 3 nights here. The feeders were dominated by clay-colored thrushes, with little else visiting them. Steely-vented hummingbird was seen several times around the grounds, and scarlet macaws were also seen on multiple occasions. Before breakfast we scanned the distant trees in the hope of seeing yellow-billed cotinga, as we read this is a site for them, with no luck, but we did have a bat falcon and 2 collared forest-falcon 1 morning. We also hoped to see fiery-billed aracari here, but apparently they are scarce here at this time of year. The 'reliable' black-and-white owl didn't show itself during our stay either. That aside, it is still a good place to stay for access to carara and the facilities are good
Carara NP headquarters trails
We spent a full day here, declining the use of the guides to try and find our own birds. We didn't have a disaster of a day but a guide would have helped a great deal! The following morning when we wanted a guide there were none there! The manakin pools were good in the afternoon, not a great number of birds, but 2 red-crowned and 1 blue-capped manakins and a worm-eating warbler kept us entertained! Other birds of note along the trails were 2+ marbled wood-quail, 2 great tinamou, grey-headed tanager, black-hooded antshrike and band-tailed barbthroat.
River trail
No longer as good as it used to be apparently! The lagoon is overgrown and I would look elsewhere if boat-billed heron is a target. We still saw around 80 species along here in 1 morning, highlight being orange-collared manakin(3 males), and the other 3 saw a green shrike-vireo which i couldn't get on! 1 of 2 distant calling baird's trogons did take an interest to playback, but didn't come close enough!
Villa Lapas
We asked at reception to bird the grounds, which they agreed to at no cost. Didn't see much but c10 painted buntings along the river were good to see. Apparently there is a long-tailed manakin lek on a trail from here, but directions given to us were vague so didn't spend too much time looking.
Waterfall road
Not much seen on a slow afternoon drive up here, our only blue-black grosbeak being the best.
Tarcoles River
A quick look from the tour boat ramp got us our first laughing falcon and several costa rican swifts. We couldn't find access to the river mouth. We didn't do the boat tour due to cost and time.
Talari mountain lodge
A few very productive mid-late morning hours were spent here to break up our trip from carara to the mountains. Access cost $10 i think. Best bird without a doubt was the female white-crested coquette giving extended views near car park 2. Also had good scope views of long-billed starthroat and charming hummingbird, many cherrie's tanagers and our only red-legged honeycreepers. A turquoise cotinga had been regular in the days prior to our visit, but eluded us! Would definately spend a night here if/when i visit CR again! (also had 2 seperate sightings of fiery-billed aracari on our drive south from carara)
Talamanca Mountains
La georgina Resturant - A pitstop in wet and windy conditions here got us our first 'rivoli's' magnificent and volcano hummingbirds, green violetears, sooty thrush and large-footed finch, and a fiery-throated hummingbird made sporadic appearences.
Savegre hotel area - A very nice hotel, we could only get 1 night here(booked in advance, the second night was spent at suria lodge 1km down the valley). An evening guided drive with melvin got us good views of mottled and bare-shanked screech-owl and dusky nightjar. A morning quetzal tour was not as touristy as fiered, and we got good views of 2 of these magnificent birds, including an adult male! Other birds seen in the area were 2 black guans, scintillant hummingbird(we even found a nest!), eventually 10 long-tailed silky-flycatchers, several flame-throated warblers, golden-browed chlorophonia, yellowish flycatchers, yellow-bellied siskin and collared whitestart. When driving out on our last morning we found our own roadside male resplendant quetzal further up the valley, which performed til we got bored of it(!), with no tourist-types trying to take pictures through our scopes!
Cerro de la muerte - A cold, wet, windy and cloud-covered afternoon was very rewarding eventually! We had 1 peg-billed finch and a few timberline wrens around the back of the communication towers, and on a slow drive back down we had 2 volcano juncos after giving up!
Mirador del quetzales - Quiet here, the fiery-throated hummingbirds gave a good show at the feeders, and 3 of us got onto a silvery-fronted tapaculo that responded to playback but very little else.
Rancho Naturlista
The feeders were brilliant first thing in the morning. Snowcap, 2 black-crested coquettes and a few green thorntails gave themselves up easily, a brown violetear made a brief appearence, and there were always good numbers of birds around, including 12 species of hummingbird. On our second morning we had a guided walk with harry, his knowledge of the site and its birds is scary, and we saw many birds we would have missed without him! The 3 white- manakins being an obvious highlight. Rivers nearby have fasciated tiger-heron, torrent tyrannulet, sunbittern and the costa rican race of american dipper, though unfortunately we dipped the latter. Despite the over-priced cost, the birding, food and accommodation is very good.
C.A.T.I.E
A brief stop at the lake produced 2 boat-billed herons easily, and with the main target in the bag, we left as we hadn't been asked to pay the entrance fee and wanted to get out incase they had a change of heart!
Casa Turire
Along the entrance road a few red-breasted blackbirds, 4 southern lapwing and 2 green ibis were seen. The hotel let us bird around the lake for free, and we added a few ducks and snail kite to the trip list
Tapanti
Heavy rain blighted our morning here, but we still did ok! Black guan, black-bellied hummingbird, white-bellied and purple-throated mountain-gems, a great black-hawk, red-headed barbet, black-faced solitaire and male elgant euphonia being the pick of the bunch! A black hawk-eagle was watched from kiri lodge as we checked in the previous day! A word of warning, our satnav tried taking us to kiri lodge(from rancho naturlista) along the unpassable road that heads west into the park!
La Selva
We had 2 full days here. On our first morning we went on a complimentary wildlife tour with Lenin. We saw the first of sevral great curassows, roosting vermiculated screech-owls and a pair of sunbitterns sunning themselves. Unfortunately an agami heron seen early that morning had vanished! Impressed with his birding skills we booked him for the following morning. First he found us a broad-billed motmot(more followed), then white-fronted nunbird and 3 purple-throated fruitcrow, when he muttered to himself 'time to try and find the hard one'! We were hoping he was referring to the umbrellabird, and about 10 minutes later we were watching an immature male bare-necked umbrellabird! Certainly 1 we had written off our chances of seeing! Especially as this was apparently only the second sighting here this winter! Later on the tour i saw a raptor go through the canopy, and it did the decent thing and landed, an adult ornate hawk-eagle! We all had good binocular views, but it flew off as soon as Lenin got the scope on it! We also arranged to go on a night tour outside of la selva with him that evening, as he claimed he knew current areas for great potoo and a few owls we needed, including striped, but torrential rain in the afternoon and evening forced us to change our plans. Also seen in and around the grounds, c5 great green macaws, plain-colored tanager, blue dacnis and snowy cotinga. We aslo tried el tigre fields and puerto viejo for nicaraguan seed-finch, with no joy. Heard bad things about the food here but was actually quite good!
Braulio Carrillo
A very wet afternoon guided walk here was hard work. I saw violet-headed hummingbird, and speckled, emerald, black-and-yellow and white-throated shrike- tanagers, but most struggled to get onto few if any of these in difficult conditions
Cinchona
Stopped here for a while on our way back to san jose. Earlier we had a washout at virgen del scorro so went for the shelter as much as the birds! Probably the most exciting feeding station of the trip! Prong-billed barbets, a pair of coppery-headed emeralds, black-faced solitaire and white-naped brush-finch were seen alongside several blue-throated toucanets, amongst good numbers of the common feeder birds like blue-grey,passerini's and silver-throated tanagers! A brief dry period had us heading back towards virgen del scorro, when we picked up 2 distant white hawks drying themselves off, but whilst watching these the rain returned so headed off back towards san jose for the finale of our trip!
Hope theres some useful bits of info in here for people thinking of going to costa rica soon! If your not thinking of going, you should be! Will certainly be returning at some point in the future to get the targets we didn't see and try out new parts of the country! Trip list to follow at some point!
