Five top locations for bird watching in Costa Rica

by crv.staff
14.07.09
8:00 AM UTC

Filed in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is one of the premier birding destinations in the Americas with a bird list in excess of 860 species. This diversity in such a small area is exceeded globally only by some sites on the east slope of the Andes, but the good field guide and relatively good infrastructure in Costa Rica make for much easier birding. A short trip can take in a variety of habitats each with special birds.

Only a few species such as the coppery-headed emerald and the black-cheeked ant-tanager are entirely restricted to Costa Rica, but many others occur only in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. The five sites below sample those areas of high endemism or restricted range, and give a good overview of the country’s diversity. That’s why they have been chosen as Costa Rica’s top five birding spots

It takes about 10 days to do justice to these spots, even though the short distances between them means little lost time in the field. A shorter trip would give less opportunity to get the feel of each place. Overall, the best time to visit is March or early April, when migrants from North America are moving through and the approach of the rainy season stimulates activity among the resident birds.

Additional areas to visit on a longer trip include Parque Nacional Palo Verde, Monteverde, Las Cruces Botanical Gardens, Parque Nacional Corcovado, Parque Nacional Tortuguero, Virgen del Socorro, and Parque Nacional Tapantí.
One: Parque Nacional Carara
The river trail at Carara is the best mile of birding in Costa Rica. The mountain on the south side of the Tárcoles river makes for an abrupt change of rainfall patterns, and on this trail (a road actually) is right where the tropical dry forest gives way to a much wetter forest typical of the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica and Chiriquí, Panama. Black-headed trogons mix with Baird’s trogons, long-tailed manakins with orange-collared manakins, and black-bellied wrens with plain wrens. Other special birds include fiery-billed aracari, golden-naped woodpecker, and black-hooded antshrike. An oxbow lake formed from an old river channel is about two kilometers along the trail. Here, there are often waterbirds including boat-billed heron and kingfishers.

The star of Carara is the scarlet macaw, most easily seen in the early morning as they commute from roosts in the mangroves at the mouth of the Tárcoles. The south end of the bridge has the best view. Don’t miss the crocodiles in the river. Macaws might be seen in the park during the day.

Parking for the river trail is on the left (coming from Orotina) about a kilometer past the bridge. It is a steep drop off the pavement. Visitors should not leave anything of value in a car. Any San José-Quepos or San José-Jacó bus can drop birders off there. There’s lodging in Jacó or Tárcoles. The park station where entrance fees are paid is another couple of kilometers towards Jacó, though the trails there are in poor habitat.
Two: Cerro de la Muerte and San Gerardo

Most birdwatchers who come to Costa Rica want to see the resplendent quetzal, and the forests of the Talamanca range are the best place to do it. Monteverde is better known, but the lighter forests of the Cerro make for easier viewing.

Two roads drop off the highway on the Pacific side into the Río Savegre drainage. The Providencia road is about 72 kilometers from San José towards San Isidro de El General, across from the Chesperitos Dos truck stop. It drops down for about four kilometers through magnificent oak forest before reaching the deforested part of the valley. Where the road breaks out into the open is good for quetzals, though they can be anywhere. Other birds characteristic of the oak forest are Costa Rican pygmy-owl, acorn woodpecker, ruddy treerunner, collared whitestart, and yellow-thighed finch.

San Gerardo de Dota is more developed for tourism, with upscale lodges. Here, the quetzals are often staked out, with nests or fruiting trees known. The turn is about 80 kilometers from San José, and goes steeply down through deforested areas (watch for the sooty thrush, a large robin) to a valley. Just after a bridge there is a flat area often frequented by quetzals. Another public trail is just past the biggest lodge on the left, though some find the log bridge disconcerting.
Three: La Selva Biological Station

La Selva is near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí in the Caribbean lowlands. It is a functioning research facility and tourism is secondary. Still, one needs to stay there to have full access to the forest.The facilities at La Selva are exceptional with several kilometers of concrete sidewalks through the forest, making birding much easier than walking slippery trails while watching for snakes.

The area around the station itself has plantings with many birds, and with luck a visitor might see a sungrebe from the bridge between the two.

Birding inside a tropical rain forest is very difficult but rewarding. The property has a bird list of more than 500 species, but you won’t see many on a given morning. Large birds like rufous motmot, slaty-backed forest-falcon, and great tinamou are much more often heard than seen. On rare occasions the great green macaw is overhead, while other parrots like mealy, red-lored, and white-crowned are more common. Keel-billed toucans share space with chestnut-mandibled toucans. Any number of similar flycatchers and other species like hummingbirds and dacnis are around the station.
Four: Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo
Most of Braulio Carrillo is inaccessible, but the Quebrada Gonzalez trail is right off the main San José-Guapiles highway and provides exceptional birding in very wet foothill forest. The park station is about 45 minutes from San José just past the Río Sucio bridge, where the “clean” and “dirty” rivers come together. On a good gravel trail, one can hike a 1.6 kilometer loop. The last part is a steep set of stairs, so when visitors are on the top of the ridge and can hear the trucks again, they should return the way they came.

The exceptional feature of this habitat is the mixed flock, where different species with different foraging strategies band together to provide protection from predators. There is even a “sentinel” species that catches insects disturbed by other flock members while keeping an eye out for trouble. Here that is the white-throated shrike-tanager; other regular flock members include emerald, speckled, bay-headed, black & yellow, and silver-throated Tanagers, spotted woodcreeper, and russet antshrike. Regularly seen here but difficult elsewhere are the yellow-eared toucanet, lattice-tailed trogon, and streak-crowned antvireo.
Five: Parque Nacional Santa Rosa
Guanacaste province is the southern end of the tropical dry forest typical of most of the Pacific slope of Central America. The birds are therefore more widespread, but Santa Rosa makes for more variety on a trip. The dry season here is hot and windy making birding difficult, unfortunately, at the time of year when birding is best elsewhere in the country.

Santa Rosa was originally designated a park for its history, but has good forest. Typical species include roadside hawk, white-fronted parrot, cinnamon and steely-vented hummingbirds, rufous-naped wren, white-throated magpie-jay, and stripe-headed sparrow. With a four-wheeled vehicle, a visitor can reach some nice bottomland forest at Playa Naranjo which has other birds like crane hawk.

Rating 4.00 out of 5