We started off planning a trip to South America, but eventually got overwhelmed with the complexities involved and ended up contacting several acquaintances for advice. Hans Matheve subtly suggested Costa Rica as an opening to this region due to excellent infrastructure and ease of birding. This turned out to be an excellent advice and we had one of the best birding experience of our life in Costa Rica.
On top of this advice, the trip reports on Cloudbirders were in-depth and greatly helped during the planning phase:
- Sjoerd Radstaak: Costa Rica Dec 2021-Jan 2022. Very elaborate with a structured approach and detailed information on target birds. Sjoerd also gave vital information via email and shared his kml file as well. Thank you!!!
- Nagy: 2022
- Jorrit & Merel Vlot: 2019
- Hans Matheve: 2019 and kml data
- Jansen: 2019
While in Costa Rica, we were also extremely lucky to have met Daniel Matamoros, a school teacher who helped us see the Cabanis’s Ground Sparrow, suggested several locations to see other tricky birds and helped us with id’s when we were back home. Meeting him actually gave us the feeling of what Pura vida really means.
Also before our travel, we contacted José Alvarez, assuming he is a fellow birder and requested his help to see the White-bellied Mountaingem. He turned out to be the owner of Hotel Quelitales, a great chef and a birder with a golden heart. He also rearranged his schedule, cut short an important meeting and spend quite a few hours with us showing the birds around his property. Not only did we see the White-bellied Mountaingem, we also saw the Scaled Antpitta and the Green-fronted Lancebill apart from many more interesting birds.
Itinerary:
Our itinerary revolved around maximizing our chances to see the endemics/range restricted birds and hence we covered a lot of ground from the Caribbean foothills (Grey-headed Piprites), the Cano Negro wetlands in the north (Nicaraguan Seed Finch and Nicaraguan Grackle), the Pacific lowlands, the Osa peninsula (Black-cheeked Ant Tanager) and touched Panama while in San Vito (Costa Rican Brushfinch) as well. This whole trip took us 23 birding days and over 2100 km of driving. Another 3 days of international flights and the total trip concluded in 26 days with 384 birds seen.
Birding: Just wonderful. All the reserves had well maintained trails and birds were vocal everywhere. A lot of pre-planning and preparation went in prior to the visit and Sjoerd’s report helped us know which birds were tricky and where to put our efforts on.
However, we ended up missing most of the owls (heard only) and even the Cotinga’s (Yellow-billed & Turquoise) eluded us. Some painful misses were the White-crested Coquette, Golden-naped Woodpecker and Chiriqui Yellowthroat.
Also, a tight schedule meant missing out on the Grass Wren, Veraguan Mango and the Rosy Thrush-tanager.
Other target birds missed were the Black-breasted Wood Quail, Chiriqui Quail-Dove, Buff-fronted Quail-Dove, Red-fronted Parrotlet, Streak-breasted Treehunter, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Silvery-throated Jay, Blue-and-gold Tanager, Sulphur-rumped Tanager, Blue-vented Hummingbird and the Tawny-chested Flycatcher (heard only).
A trip highlight was witnessing birds feasting on an ant swarm with a Black-faced Antthrush casually walking around us in Carara NP.
Travel Dates: 16 March 2024 – 11 April 2024
Weather: We did encounter rain on a few days, especially during the last phase of the trip towards April, rained in Iyok Ami, Reserva El Copal, Hotel Quelitales and also rained a bit in La Selva. Osa peninsula was extremely hot and humid.
Above mentioned trip reports are extremely detailed and we found most of the birds around the same area’s, so following is just a quick update as of March 2024. Please feel free to contact us if you need detailed site information/kml file/google coordinates.
Reserva El Tapir: Closed with barricading. We tried looking around, but nothing.
Nectar Pollen Reserve: Operational, but only by appointment, we were not allowed to enter and the owner seemed rather uninterested and a bit harsh. In the end, we ended up saving the steep 20 USD per person entry fee and saw all the birds during the course of the trip.
Santa Elena Reserve: Excellent reserve with a lot of good birds, but unfortunately, the known roost of Bare-shanked Screech Owl is no longer there. The staff did inform that the owl calls during dawn, but roosts deeper now. Hope someone finds the roost again.
Carara National Park: The only place we encountered a bit of a tourist trap. A group of guides signalled us to stop at the outer gate and tried convincing us to hire them. We smiled and politely refused. They upped the antics informing that park tickets could only be purchased online and we need to buy via them as there is no mobile signal at the reception. This actually turned true, there was no signal at the park reception, however the staff was extremely helpful and the lady at the ticket counter shared her own hotspot for us to buy the tickets. We lost 20 minutes of morning time buying tickets over a painfully slow hotspot. As such, we strongly advice to buy the tickets a day prior and enquire at the lodge for the latest update.
https://serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr/
Cerro Lodge: New owners, observation tower is off limits.
Tarcoles: Very crowded, we did not take the customary boat tour with the hope to find the target birds in Osa, missing out on the Mangrove Cuckoo and the Northern Scrub Flycatcher.
Bosque del Tolomuco: Visitors are welcome with a signboard “Dogs and loaded weapons”.
Providencia Rd: We really enjoyed birding along the dirt road, no other vehicles and birds were vocal everywhere. Timberline Wren seemed taped out/not interested at Antenna road, thankfully we heard them signing here and managed to get some good views. Many more good birds including the Costa Rican Pygmy Owl in the evening.
Antenna Road: Excellent highland with good forest, however it was extremely quiet when we visited except the Volcano Junco which was waiting for us to open the car door. No Timberline Wren or the Peg-billed Finch.
Hotel Savegre trails: The trails seem excellent, however we did not visit as all targets were already seen.
Iyok Ami, Cerro de la Muerte: Peg-billed Finch was not been sighted at Antenna Road for months, so we tried out the Iyok Ami trails and got amazing views after patiently trying for over two hours in pouring rain. This place has many other good birds, recommend to visit ( 9.640071, -83.842172)
Guides: We used local bird guides for some of the trickier species:
Jeisson Figueroa (+506 8648 6820): Jeisson works with the Las Cruces Botanical Station and apart from being an excellent bird guide, he is great company, big-hearted and has an in-depth knowledge of the birds. He already had a prior booking on the first day of our arrival and suggested us to walk the Wilson Botanical Garden trails sharing a probable location for the Costa Rican Brushfinches which we managed to see ourselves. On the second day, Jeisson spend almost the entire day with us birding and showed us some of the best birds of the trip like the Lance-tailed Manakin and the Northern Mouse-colored Tyrannulet.
Henry Trino (+506 8485 0754): Henry is a guide in the Osa peninsula. Unfortunately, he was not available during our visit, but he kindly shared the most probable site for the Mangrove Hummingbird.
Tatiana (+506 8539 4437): Tatiana runs boat trips in the Cano Negro wetlands and knows the area extremely well. We saw the Nicaraguan Grackle during the boat trip and she also shared the coordinates for the Nicaraguan Finch (San Emilio) which helped us find the bird on our way to Monteverde.
Cali (+506 8571 6877): We contacted Cali for the Grey-headed Piprites and after some crazy off-roading across the Indigenous territory and repeated attempts, we eventually saw the bird very well. We do not think it is possible to enter this territory without a guide, so Cali’s involvement was crucial to see this bird.
During our trip planning, we completely missed out on the Rosy Thrush-tanager that is possible in Costa Rica. Jeisson reminded us of this bird, but it was too late for us to reorganize our itinerary and we missed this bird. Anyway, Leandro (+506 8746 7767) knows a location for this bird that is between San Vito and Cerro de la Muerte (speaks only Spanish).
Accommodation:
Melrost Airport Bed & Breakfast, San Jose: Convenient place to stay close to the airport. The staff was courteous, room was decent and a simple breakfast was served in the morning. Good USD exchange rate offered. Booked via booking.com. City Mall, Alajuela is walking distance with a food court, ATM, shops etc.
Horquetas River Lodge (+506 8395 2349): This lodge is close to Braulio Carrillo NP, a low key affair with a friendly caretaker. The room was spacious, clean and an open-air fully functional kitchen is available where we cooked our dinner and breakfast. We reached tired after sunset and did not bird in the night (which we should have), anyway we woke up to an amazing array of bird calls and spend over 2 hours birding the adjoining woodland. Booked via Booking.com
La Selva Biological Station: This was the very first place that we booked since rooms are known to be booked quite in advance. A strongly recommended place as you get to stay within the Biological station with extensive trail system, excellent birding and experience student life all over again. We got the Cabin Iguana which is next to the dining area and reception. We paid 97 USD/person/night. Sounds a little steep, but with full access to the trails, all meals, it is not a bad deal.
https://tropicalstudies.org/portfolio/la-selva-research-station/
Poponjoche, Cano Negro: An average place, but OK for a night halt. A basic open air kitchen is available which we did not use. Property was listed on booking.com, but we got it booked via Tatiana so that we could alter the itinerary if required.
Essence Arenal & Spa: Arenal is a touristy town with expensive properties. We were a bit hesitant to stay in a tent, but it turned out to be ok and even the common facilities were well maintained although no common kitchen is available. The staff was courteous, eager to help and also gave a good USD exchange rate.
Cabinas Eddy B&B, Monteverde: A good place to stay, clean, well maintained rooms and close to shopping and restaurants. No common kitchen, breakfast included in the price.
Cerro Lodge, Carara: Rooms are spacious, well maintained, breakfast is good, the garden has good birds and the road down the lodge is also good for woodland species. Unfortunately, the property has changed hands and the observation tower is now off limits.
Mirador Osa, Puerto Jimenez, We stayed here for one night while on our way to Osa peninsula and to bird the Rio Rincon bridge. This place seemed like a popular hangout for the locals with a small bar and a restaurant. The room was ok, the garden was decent and the food was good.
Los Mineros Guesthouse, Dos Brazos: Unfortunately, the property is on sale and run down. Our plan was to stay for two nights, but with the heat and humidity taking its toll, we checked out in one night.
Cabañas Bambú, San Vito: Very good property next to the Las Cruces Biological Station. The property does not have a reception, just individual cabins with a place downhill for the staff. We enjoyed staying as the setting is pretty nice and the sunset is beautiful from here. Room is equipped with a microwave and kettle, not many eating options around.
Mirador Valle del General: We stayed here for a night while on our way from San Vito to San Gerardo de Dota. The stay was planned hoping to see the White-crested Coquette and White-tailed Emerald. During the trip, we already managed to see the White-tailed Emerald in San Vito and were unlucky with the Coquette. However, the rooms were well maintained, the staff was courteous and the inhouse restaurant seemed to serve good food (we did not try).
Miriam’s Quetzal, San Gerardo de Dota (+506 8593 6032): There are dozens of properties lined along the road from Miriam’s Quetzal till Hotel Savegre. We opted to stay here since this is a known birding spot with quite a few bird feeders at the restaurant. The cabins are well furnished, cozy and well maintained.
Hotel Quelitales: An excellent property to stay, our original plan was just to visit the garden as a day trip, but ended up staying a night. Spacious, well furnished cottages, excellent setting, delicious food with some of the most sought after birds seen within the property.
Cabañas Colibrí, Tayutic: Rancho Naturalista is crazily expensive and we opted to stay at this nearby simple property. The rooms are spacious, clean and the food is just awesome. Common birds are around in the garden and the owner really works hard to make you feel at home.
Car Rental: Wild riders offered us a 3 door Jimny 4X4 for 60 USD per day including insurance and airport pickup. They were prompt in dealing, gave us a mechanically sound/well maintained vehicle, friendly staff and created no fuss when we returned a dirty Jimny which saw a lot of 4X4 action.
Wild-rider.com, +506 8973 2759
Suzuki Jimny: The steering wheel has no feedback, the clutch travel is looong, the seats are not meant for long drives, but we ended up crossing streams and hills and the go anywhere, indestructible attitude made us fall in love with this little vehicle. We had booked an automatic but ended up getting a manual (no ones fault) which can cause back pain to many, so opt for an automatic if possible.
We folded the rear tiny seats and permanently left our big suitcases in the vehicle itself, a small rucksack was used to carry stuff around. With this setup, Jimny is strictly a 2 seater.
Driving: Costa Rica is left hand drive with courteous drivers and almost everyone follows road etiquettes. A bit of careful driving was required in Cartago when sharing smaller roads with trucks and leaving enough space for them to manoeuvre . We downloaded offline google maps and openstreetmaps before leaving India, however Waze is widely used and almost everyone uses this app locally there. We still ended up using offline google maps since we wanted to conserve our mobile data and it worked flawlessly. We also carried a 12V Cigarette Lighter Socket to charge our mobile phones in the vehicle and to connect to the car’s navigation system.
Fuel: Petrol was approximately 1.3 USD per litre in Costa Rica, once we also crossed over to Panama to get cheaper petrol.
SIM Card: We purchased a Kolbi SIM card from Wild riders itself at no additional charge. Worked well till about 15 days when the mobile data ran out. Didn’t matter much as Wi-Fi is widely available at all cafe’s and hotels.
Language: Mostly Spanish, few speak English and we relied a lot on translation apps.
Meals: Early morning breakfast was cereals, yogurt, bread and energy bars that we used to purchase from the local grocery stores and lunch was mostly at sodas along the way averaging 10 USD per person without drinks. Vegetarian was easily available and our staple diet was Gallo Pinto and salads. At touristy towns, we opted for pizza’s and pasta to break the monotony.
Currency: Costa Rican currency is Colon, however, USD is widely in circulation and for the first few days our transactions were in USD. Most of the hotels offered decent exchange rates and would even return back in USD. The catch was with the fuel stations as the attendants offered laughably low exchange rates and that led us to get some Colones. Even then, the hotels offered better exchange rates than the banks.
USD bill quality: Several establishments only accepted brand new/crisp USD notes, even a minor fold was not accepted in some villages.
Calls and Literature: We downloaded bird calls from xeno-canto.org and also purchased Birds of Costa Rica (IInd edition, Garrigues & Dean). Merlin app was also very useful on field.
Flights: We flew KLM as they offered the best connection and convenient layover in Amsterdam.
Visa: Indian citizens do need a visa if you do not have a valid US/Canada/Schengen visa. We had to apply fresh visas and as a pre-requisite get our PCC’s from the Indian Passport Office, and get them translated and apostilled from authorized vendors. This was a long drawn process and took some time. To add to the confusion, most of the apostille service providers were clueless of the exact requirements and/or were very expensive with a turnaround time of over 7-10 days. We eventually stumbled upon IVS Global Services (Ashutosh Gupta: +91 95 999 01 335) who knew the requirements, were not expensive and prompt.
Thankfully, the Costa Rican embassy in Delhi was extremely supportive and issued the visas within 3 days after document submission.
Following is a brief day by day account of our trip:
Day 1: 17 March 2024 (Delhi – Amsterdam – San Jose)
Day 2: 18 March 2024 (San Jose – Horquetas Lodge)
Drove to La Paz Waterfall Gardens, just a bit of birding around the reception, moved to Cinchona Restaurant spending a few hours at the feeders with Coppery-headed Emerald, Black-bellied
Hummingbird, Prong-billed Barbet and Black Guan seen well.
After early lunch, decided to try our luck for the Lattice-tailed Trogon driving on unpaved gravel roads (some spots required high ground clearance), finally connecting with over 5 individuals at 10.26225, -84.15233. Many more birds including Gartered Trogon and White-eared Ground Sparrow.
Anjana saved Rishi from stepping on a snake, drove another couple of hours reaching Horquetas by nightfall.
Day 3: 19 March 2024 (Horquetas – La Selva)
Since Lattice-tailed Trogon was seen yesterday, decided not to visit NP Braulio Carrillo, spent early morning birding the Horquetas woodland with Red-throated Ant Tanager, Broad-winged Hawk, Dusky Antbird and Olive-backed Euphonia seen well.
Reserva El Tapir was barricaded, Nector Pollen owner was not interested in letting us in so we drove straight to La Selva, helpful staff let us check in early at 1030 Hrs, afternoon birding the trails and the reception area with many good birds including Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Mealy Amazon, White-collared Manakin and Fasciated Antshrike.
Day 4: 20 March 2024 (La Selva)
Saw the Snowy Cotinga from the dining hall and then spent the day in the trails and the adjoining Calle Vieja (10.438937, -84.006265). The trail system is well detailed in other trip reports and while we had a plan, we ended up criss crossing the trails based on bird calls.
Good birds seen: Chestnut-backed Antbird, White-breasted Wood Wren, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Keel-billed Toucan, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Great Tinamou, Canebrake Wren and White-throated Crake
Do prepare well for the heat and humidity.
Day 5: 21 March 2024 (La Selva – Cano Negro)
Walking the trails was not an option in the rain, so we spent some time at Calle Vieja and then drove to Cano Negro spending quite a few hours along the San Emilio plains, not getting a whiff of the Nicaraguan Seed Finch. Stocked up on breakfast supplies from the village grocery store.
Day 6: 22 March 2024 (Cano Negro – Arenal)
Met Tatiana at 6 AM for the boat ride, managed to see the Nicaraguan Grackle along with many more good birds like the Boat-billed Heron, Sungrebe, Slaty Spinetail, Cabanis’s Wren and the Tropical Royal Flycatcher. Grey-headed Dove remained heard only, be early to have a chance at this bird and look around the walking path leading to the jetty.
Thanked Tatiana, walked back to Poponjoche, heard the Spot-breasted Wren while packing and got amazing views. Tried again for the Nicaraguan Seed Finch and finally a bird responded to playback at approximately 10.975516, -84739163. Relief!!
Drove straight to the peninsula road in Arenal and while the Rufous Motmot and Broad-billed Motmots were vocal, it took some effort to finally connect with a Keel-billed Motmot. Bay Wren responded to playback while the Great Antshrike never broke cover.
Day 7: 23 March 2024 (Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails)
Spent the morning at the trails (18 USD per person) with excellent birding and our only Streak-crowned Antvireo of the trip. Thicket Antpitta was heard at a few spots, but got no views. Other good birds seen were the Stripe-throated Hermit, White-throated Thrush, Russet Antshrike, Tawny-faced Gnatwren, Collared Aracari, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Plain Xenops and Scale-crested Pygmy Tyrant.
Stopped by at the Sky Adventures Arenal Park in the evening for a quick recce of the area.
Day 8: 24 March 2024 (Sky Adventures Arenal Park – Monteverde)
Reached at 6 AM, went directly into the trails and focused on the Yellow-eared Toucanet which proved difficult, but eventually found a pair close to the restrooms after the viewing point. Then we tried searching for the Blue-and-gold Tanager, unfortunately, it was near impossible to scan the canopy from the hanging bridges due to the massive crowds on the bridges. In hindsight, we should have scanned the canopy before the crowds came in and then should have tried for the Toucanet. Other good birds seen here included the Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Carmiol’s Tanager, Dull-mantled Antbird, Brown-billed Scythebill, Stripe-breasted Wren and Black-throated Wren.
Went back to the reception and paid the steep 44 USD/person entry fee, drove straight to Monteverde stopping enroute at Bar Oropendola for lunch.
Day 9: 25 March 2024 (Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde)
We reached Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve by 7 AM. Parking is approximately a km before the entrance and shuttle buses run from the parking till the entrance. We were amazed at the massive crowd at this reserve, seemed like a festival with bus-loads of day trippers pouring in. We joined the ticket queue and by the time we purchased the tickets (26 USD/person), the waitlist was on. Thankfully birding was good and we were the last to leave the reserve at 5PM with a grumpy bus driver taking the two of us back to the parking lot. We also spent some time at the nice Café Colibri and had lunch there. Highlights for the day included Silver-throated Tanager, Azure-hooded Jay, Black-eared Warbler, Lineated Foliage-gleaner, Collared Whitestart, Spotted Barbtail, Slate-throated Whitestart, Resplendent Quetzal, Red-faced Spinetail, Purple-throated Mountaingem and Magenta-throated Woodstar.
Day 10: 26 March 2024 (Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena)
We spent the morning at the Santa Elena Cloud forest, unfortunately no Bare-shanked Screech Owl for us, but we did hear the Three-wattled Bellbird calling and after trying for almost 30 minutes, got some good views. Other good birds seen were the Grey-breasted Wood Wren, Black-faced Solitaire, Three-wattled Bellbird, Pale-vented Thrush and Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush.
Returned by 3 PM and had some nice pizza at the Pizzeria & Restaurante Quetzal in the town following by a quick visit to the bank for currency exchange.
Day 11: 27 March 2024 (Monteverde – Carara)
We were still missing the Black-breasted Wood Quail and thought of visiting the Curi Cancha reserve, but they were not open at 6 AM and we just birded around the parking area, a morning walker suggested us to visit the nearby free Crandell Memorial Reserve which had several Long-tailed Manakins vocalizing. Other good birds seen around the parking area were the Rufous-and-white Wren, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Brown Jay and White-eared Ground Sparrow.
We then returned to the B&B, had breakfast, filled up fuel and proceeded to Carara National Park birding the road down from the Cerro lodge in the afternoon.
We also drove along the Route 320 (Villa Lapas/Tiko Restaurant) till about 9.755088, -84.587296, but failed to find any good bird.
Day 12: 28 March 2024 (Carara National Park)
Breakfast at Cerro Lodge produced a Cinnamon Hummingbird, Turquoise-browed Motmot and Crane Hawk, while the Carara HQ trails gave us the opportunity to witness our first ever ant swarm bird feeding frenzy with Black-faced Antthrush as a highlight.
Other good birds seen at the HQ trails were the Black-throated Trogon, Rufous Mourner. Bicolored Antbird, Grey-headed Tanager, Trilling Gnatwren, Sulphur-rumped Myiobius and Slaty Antwren.
We then drove the short distance for the Sendero Laguna Meandrice/river trail where the Orange-collared Manakin lek was readily found at 9.79532, -84.59920 along with many more birds like the Rufous-backed Wren, Black-hooded Antshrike, Collared Forest Falcon, Riverside Wren and Yellow-naped Amazon.
We then drove to village Tarcoles, had lunch and the only interesting bird for us was a Mangrove Vireo, missing to find the Mangrove Cuckoo and the Mangrove Hummingbird. Also, it was the Easter holiday week with the entire village flooded with vacationing revellers and we decided not to venture far away from our vehicle.
Day 13: 29 March 2024 (Carara – Osa peninsula)
We could have taken a boat ride today, but decided against it seeing the sea of tourists arriving for it and instead spent time along the road, finding a Panama Flycatcher at 9.778079, -84.628147. Hoping to find the Mangrove hummingbird later in the trip, we commenced our drive to the Osa peninsula reaching Mirador Osa by late afternoon. Since there was still daylight left, we explored the nearby ebird hotspot (Swarovski Optik Rainforest), but got soaked in sweat within 10 minutes and decided to call it a day.
Day 14: 30 March 2024 (Mirador Osa – Dos Brazos)
We reached the Rio Rincon bridge by 0530 Hrs hoping to be in time to search for the Yellow-billed Cotinga, but the sun was already too harsh and even two hours of concentrated efforts did not yield anything. In hindsight, we should have reached earlier and a spotting scope may have helped.
On the way to Los Mineros, we stopped at the Sandalo beach and luckily got to see Mangrove Warbler, Mangrove Hummingbird, American Pygmy Kingfisher and a Charming Hummingbird.
We reached Los Mineros guesthouse by late afternoon, walked a bit around, met the people at the Bolita Hostel outhouse and a speculative playback immediately attracted an Isthmian Wren.
Day 15: 31 March 2024 (Dos Brazos – San Vito)
Hiked up the Bolita guesthouse trail, encountered a massive bird wave with the Black-cheeked Ant Tanager, Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Dot-winged Antwren, White-throated Shrike-Tanager as a highlight. Baird’s Trogon, Chiriqui Foliage-gleaner and Northern Bentbill needed much more effort. Decided to hike back an overgrown trail which appeared shorter, but ended up taking ages for us to get back to Los Mineros.
The heat & humidity had completely sucked all our energy and we drove to the village grocery store gulping down several energy drinks. Having seen most of the targets of this area and the not so nice place to stay, we decided to move and proceed to San Vito. This decision costed us another chance at the Cotinga, Veraguan Mango and the Golden-naped Woodpecker.
On our way to San Vito a troop of Central American squirrel monkey’s were seen very well along the roadside.
We reached Cabanas Bambo just in time to experience the amazing sun set.
Day 16: 01 April 2024 (San Vito)
We spent the morning exploring the Wilson Botanical Garden and stumbled upon a flock of Costa Rican Brushfinches in the vicinity of the canopy tower along with Marbled Wood Quails, Great Tinamou and Velvety Manakins while the gardens contained Snowy-bellied and Charming Hummingbirds as a highlight. Unfortunately, White-crested Coquette eluded us.
We returned to our cabins by lunch time, reorganized our stuff, took some much needed rest and birded a bit in the evening around the cabins watching Finsch’s Parakeet fly around.
Day 17: 02 April 2024 (San Vito – Mirador Valle del General)
Today was an exciting day for us, we spent the day birding with Jeisson and managed to spot most of the targets including Lance-tailed Manakin, Northern Mouse-colored Tyrannulet and Black-chested Jay, only missing out on the Chiriqui Yellowthroat.
As a parting note, Jeisson mentioned trying for the Rosy Thrush-tanager at the Del Monte farm with the help of Leandro who was unfortunately not available at short notice. Nevertheless, we tried ourselves and were able to elicit a response from the bird, however, with sun rapidly disappearing, we gave up only to encounter dense fog on our way to Mirador Valle del General.
Day 18: 03 April 2024 (Mirador Valle del General – Cerro de la Muerte)
Our hopes of seeing the White-crested Coquette were dashed when we ran into a sign “Private property – Arms” at Bosque del Tolomuco and obediently traced our way back to Valle del General where the White-tailed Emerald was easily seen (which was seen at El Copal later also) along with a Grey-tailed Mountaingem and Rufous-breasted Wren.
We checked out and drove straight to La Georgina where we spent quite a few hours watching the first of many Talamanca specialities like the Black-capped Flycatcher, Ruddy Treerunner, Sooty-capped Chlorospingus, Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher, Yellow-thighed Brushfinch and Slaty Flowerpiercer apart from dozens of Fiery-throated, Talamanca and Scintillant Hummingbird.
Post lunch, we drove up the Antenna road and while the Volcano Junco was straightforward along with good views of Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush and Sooty Thrush, the Timberline Wren seemed taped out and we did not even get a whiff of the Peg-billed Finch even after multiple attempts.
Finally, proceeded to Miriam’s Quetzals, made a brief attempt at the Dusky Nightjar before calling it a day.
Day 19: 04 April 2024 (Provindencia Rd)
Early morning breakfast at Miriam’s Quetzal produced Volcano, Scintillant, Fiery-throated and Talamanca Hummingbirds and Mountain Thrush.
Provindencia Rd proved to be an ideal birding track and we saw several of the targets by noon including Yellow-winged Vireo, Timberline Wren, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Flame-throated Warbler, Ochraceous Pewee and Wrenthrush to name a few. After lunch at Restaurante Los Chespiritos, we returned to Miriam’s Quetzals finding a Dusky Nightjar within the B&B grounds. We then drove back to Provindencia Rd and managed to hear a Costa Rican Pygmy Owl before calling it a day.
Day 20: 05 April 2024 (Savegre Valley)
While driving towards the Savegre Valley, a Wrenthrush was heard and seen along a bridge crossing at approx. 9.581427, -83.799704. Having found most of the targets already, we gave a miss to the Savegre trails and just spent time along the roadside picking up a Black-thighed Grosbeak, Dark Pewee, Mountain Elaenia, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Torrent Tyrannulet and a flock of Sulphur-winged Parakeets at 9.548362, -83.810013.
Yellow-bellied Siskin eluded us and we then returned to Miriam’s Quetzals for lunch. In the evening, we drove back to Provindencia Rd hoping for some owls, but it got very windy and foggy, so we returned to our cozy cottage.
Day 21: 06 April 2024 (Cerro de la Muerte – Hotel Quelates)
In the past two days, we kept enquiring about the Peg-billed Finch from any local guide we bumped into, but everyone informed that the bird was not seen in months and it could have migrated locally anywhere following flowering bamboo. We still persisted and based on an one-off ebird sighting, we tried our luck at the Iyok Ami trails (9.640071, -83842172). It was still too early when we reached, eventually finding the owner clearing the trails and while he was not very confident on the finch, we still tried in pouring rain eventually seeing the bird after persisted efforts. The trails and the gardens had many more interesting birds that we heard singing so this place definitely holds promise. Some of the birds we managed to photograph in the rain were the Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Black-and-yellow Phainoptila, Large-footed Finch and Black-cheeked Warbler.
We then send a WhatsApp to Mr. Alwarez enquiring if we could visit his property for the White-bellied Mountaingem to which he replied with an thumbs up. We reached his property by noon and while it kept raining, we did manage to see the White-bellied Mountaingem, Black-bellied Hummingbird, Sooty-faced Finch, Green-fronted Lancebill, Chestnut-capped Brushfinch, White-naped Brushfinch and the Scaled Antpitta. As no accommodation was booked and one cottage was available at Quelitales, we ended up staying here for the night and enjoyed a fabulous dinner.
Day 22: 07 April 2024 (Hotel Quelates – Tayutic)
Another wild day for us, we left Quelitales for San Jose early morning, met Daniel on the outskirts of the city and he accompanied us to a nearby abandoned coffee plantation where we finally connected with the Cabanis’s Ground Sparrow. We then proceeded to El Copal, saw the Snowcap flying around, but the rain did not allow much birding and we ended up driving to Cabañas Colibrí Tayutic for our night stay finding dozens of White-necked Jacobins chasing away Green-breasted Mango’s in the garden.
Day 23: 08 April 2024 (Tayutic)
Today we met Cali and he took us through the indigenous forest and after a bit of struggle, we finally had fabulous views of the Grey-headed Pipritis. We thanked him, dropped him at Vista Aves lodge and spend the afternoon birding around Tayutic, picking up a Sunbittern along a river crossing.
Day 24: 09 April 2024 (Tayutic – San Jose)
We paid another visit to El Copal and while the weather was still gloomy, we did see quite a few birds including Black-faced & Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Speckled, Tawny-crested, Black-and-yellow and Spangle-cheeked Tanager, Ruddy Quail-Dove, White-ruffed Manakin, Snowcap and White-tailed Emerald.
We then proceeded to San Jose reaching Melrost B&B by late afternoon, returned the Jimny at Wild rider, had a nice dinner at the next door mall, slept well for our next day’s flight back to home.