Costa Rica - 12 nights
Monday 20th July to Sunday 2nd August 2009
Saturday 26th December 2009 to Friday 8th January 2010
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With
its amazing contrast of habitats, marvellous scenic locations, exquisite
birdlife, friendly people and small size, it is not difficult to see why
Costa Rica attracts birdwatchers from all over the world. Costa Rica has a
democratic government, no army and the highest literacy level in the region,
making it a prosperous and stable country. There is a very positive attitude
to national parks and wildlife reserves, with the highest percentage of land
area devoted to
these, of any country in the world. Rainforests, cloud forests, volcanoes,
palm-fringed beaches, mangroves and estuaries hold such avian jewels as
Scarlet Macaw, Resplendent Quetzal, Rufous Motmot, Sunbittern, American
Pygmy Kingfisher, Lanceolated Monklet, Turquoise Cotinga, Northern
Royal-Flycatcher, Green Honeycreeper, Boat-billed Heron and Magnificent
Frigatebird. Costa Rica is a real gem - and in relation to its size, has the
highest avian diversity on earth. With all these attributes it is a must for
birdwatchers, whatever their level of expertise! This shorter itinerary
takes us to Cerro de la Muerte, Carara, Monteverde, Arenal, Selva Verde and
Braulio Carrillo.
Day 1: Depart UK to San José arriving in the evening. We will then
transfer to our hotel.
Overnight - San José
Day 2: Today we will visit the Cerro de la Muerte Highlands and the
San Gerardo Valley in the Talamanca Mountains looking for high zone species
including Large-footed Finch, Flamethroated Warbler, Long-tailed
Silky-flycatcher, Volcano Junco and the fabulous Resplendent Quetzal.
Overnight - San José
Days 3 - 5: On Day 3 we’ll head for the Pacific Coast, with emphasis
on the wonderful Carara National Park and the Tarcoles Estuary. Carara
reserve is an area of Pacific Coast lowland rainforest and is particularly
famed for it’s population of Scarlet Macaws, but there are many more much
sought-after species. These include Boat-billed Heron, Lesser Swallow-tailed
Swift, Spectacled Owl, Baird’s & Violaceous Trogons, Pale-billed Woodpecker,
Dot-winged Antwren,
Black-faced Antthrush, Streak-chested Antpitta, Red-capped & Orange-collared
Manakins and Red-legged Honeycreeper. The Tarcoles Estuary is superb for
herons, waders, terns, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Black Skimmers as well as a
number of mangrove specialities.
Overnights – Carara
Days 6 & 7: We’ll explore Monteverde and Santa Elena Cloud Forest
Reserves with their fantastic array of ferns, epiphytes and vines.
Monteverde is probably the best known and most visited of all Costa Rica’s
reserves. Santa Elena is at a slightly higher elevation and also has an
excellent network of trails. The Cloud Forest offers another opportunity to
look for Resplendent Quetzal and many other species including Black Guan,
Orange-bellied Trogon, Azure-hooded Jay, Black-faced Solitaire, Violet
Sabrewing, Blue-throated Toucanet, Ruddy Treerunner and Golden-browed
Chlorophonia.
Overnights – Monteverde
Day 8: Travel to Arenal Lodge for one night to experience the
wondrous volcano and also some good birding.
Overnight - Arenal Observatory Lodge
Days 9 - 12: We transfer to Selva Verde Lodge in the Caribbean
Lowlands. During our stay we will explore the lodge grounds and have
excursions to middle elevation Caribbean Rainforest at Virgen del Socorro;
Braulio Carrillo -a beautiful rainforest with an extremely rich avifauna of
over 300 species and La Selva Biological Reserve – a protected area of 1600
hectares of premontane wet tropical forest. This research station is
operated by the organisation of Tropical
Studies and the reserve is one of the best-studied areas of rainforest on
Earth. Its fantastic diversity of wildlife includes 420 bird species, 500
species of butterflies and 400 species ofants! The fantastic array of
avifauna and other wildlife species of the region includes Whitethroated
Crake, Yellow-eared Toucanet, Spotted & Immaculate Antbirds, Lattice-tailed
Trogon, White-throated Shrike Tanager, Emerald & Tawny-crested Tanagers,
Squirrel Cuckoo, Black-throated
Trogon, Broad-billed Motmot, Fasciated Antshrike, Keel-billed Toucan,
Blue-and-Gold Tanager, Orange-billed Sparrow, Spider & White-faced Monkeys,
Tayra and River Otter.
Overnights - Selva Verde
Day 13: Early morning birding around the lodge, before returning to San José for our flight to the UK, where we arrive on Day 14.