Bob Barnes & Associates presents spring Costa Rica Birding Adventures

NOTE: We take breaks often including before, during, and after most meals, upon arrival and departure at accommodations, and some afternoons. In addition, there are several optional birding times on the grounds of our accommodations where participants may join in as they wish. One or two timely afternoons off are usually taken during our trips.

FRIDAY, 30 March 07. Depart from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) fro Costa Rica on a flight leaving sometime between 10:30pm and Midnight.

DAY 1 - SATURDAY, 31 March 07. Arrive at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaria International Airport between 6am and 7:30am. Depart JS Airport for the ninety minute drive north up and over the continental divide to La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park high up on the Caribbean slope. We will spend several hours here birding the hummingbird garden, numerous fruit feeders, and the magnificent rainforest, punctuated by five of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world.

The hummingbird garden has attracted 23 of the 57 species of hummingbirds found in Costa Rica. We will almost surely find more species of hummingbirds here and more information about hummingbirds than at any other known location in Costa Rica. We may observe 10-15 species, some within a matter of inches, including the Costa Rica Endemic Coppery-headed Emerald and essentially endemic Black-bellied Hummingbird, White-bellied Mountain Gem, and Magenta-throated Woodstar. Have your cameras ready.

The flower gardens, fruit feeders, rainforest, and trails may provide lingering views of essentially endemic species including Black Guan, Prong-billed Barbet, Ochraceous Wren, Slaty Flowerpiercer, and Yellow-thighed Finch. A wonderful combination of woodpeckers, woodcreepers, euphonias, and tanagers will likely be present, too.

After our visit to La Paz Waterfall Gardens comes to an end, we will descend a very few more kilometers to the north for a short visit to an indoor mirador (overlook) in the community of Cinchona. Brown Violet-ear, Green Thorntail, Coppery-headed Emerald, Red-headed Barbet, Emerald Toucanet, Silver-throated Tanager, and Montezuma Oropendola are among the species that may be seen here.

Virgen del Socorro, our next destination, is reached by descending farther down the Carribean slope to lower middle elevation habitat. We walk down a dirt road from the main highway to the Rio San Fernanao. Essentially endemic species we might observe here include Latice-tailed Trogon, Black-crowned Antpitta, and Blue-and-Gold Tanager. At the bridge over the river, we will search for Torrent Tyranulet and the significantly different plumages of Black Phoebe and American Dipper found here. Other species we found here on one or more past trips include White Hawk, Purple-crowned Fairy, and Brown-billed Scythebill

From Virgen del Socorro, we will proceed north then east downhill to La Quinta Country Inn, located on the Caribbean coastal plain, in time to check-in, get in a bit more birding, have dinner, and do the day’s bird checklist.

Gerardo Vega will join us at La Quinta for dinner and serve as our local guide for the next two days and part of a third morning. Gerardo knows the birds of this, the Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui region extremely well. He worked at the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) research station at La Selva for twenty years, served as director of Elderhostel programs at Selva Verde, and currently works at La Tirimbina Reserve.

We will spend the next two full days and the first part of a third morning in the species rich area around Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Gerardo Vega’s lifelong hometown. The grounds, secondary forests, and primary forests at La Quinta, La Selva, La Tirimbina Preserve, and Selva Verde, will be our birding destinations. The number of bird species found in this area is staggering. The local La Selva/Lower Braulio Carrillo National Park Christmas Bird Count averages 350 species per count. Among the essentially endemic species we may see are the Crimson-fronted Parakeet, Lattice-tailed Trogon, Striped-breasted Wren, Black-throated Wren, and Pink-billed (Nicaraguan) Seed-Finch.

We are also hopeful of seeing numerous other species including Gray-headed Chachalaca, Crested Guan, Sunbittern, Rufous Motmot, Broad-billed Motmot, White-necked Puffbird, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed Toucan, Dusky Antbird, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Snowy Cotinga, White-collared Manakin, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Olive-backed Euphonia, Black-striped Sparrow, Black-faced Grosbeak, Black-cowled Oriole, and Yellow-tailed Oriole, in addition to numerous species from among hawks & falcons, pigeons & doves, parrots, hummingbirds, toucans, woodpeckers, woodcreepers, antshrikes, flycatchers, wrens, warblers, and tanagers.

NIGHT: La Quinta Country Inn

DAY 2 - SUNDAY, 1 April 07.
Gerardo Vega will be our local guide all day. After an early morning bird walk and breakfast at La Quinta, we will make the very short drive to La Tirimbina Preserve for four to five hours of birding before heading for Selva Verde for a late lunch. Then there will be a break for independent birding or just hanging out. At 2:30pm, when afternoon bird activity usually starts up, we will go on a bird walk at Selva Verde until dinner time and the bird list, the latter two of which will be at La Quinta. Owling with Gerardo will follow dinner and formally last until about 9pm. After that, we will return to La Quinta for the night or independent owling.

NIGHT: La Quinta Country Inn

DAY 3 - MONDAY, 2 April 07. Gerardo will once again serve as our local guide all day. At daybreak, we will find ourselves birding the entrance road at La Selva. Breakfast will be in the field, perhaps during a brief rain shower. When we reach the OTS field station itself, we will be joined by a La Selva guide who will take us on two long walks sandwiched around lunch in the field and an early afternoon break. The morning walk will be in secondary forest. The afternoon walk will be in primary forest. After our three hour afternoon walk, we will return to La Quinta for a break, dinner, and the bird list.

NIGHT: La Quinta Country Inn

DAY 4 - TUESDAY, 3 April 07. We will spend the early part of this morning birding the grounds of La Quinta with Gerardo Vega. Right after breakfast, we will start the drive to San Gerardo de Dota in the Savegre River watershed. On the way, we will drop off Gerardo in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui and make at least three short birding stops. The first scheduled stop is private property with extensive flower gardens which often host numerous hummingbird species. Snowcap has been seen some trips. Our next scheduled stop is at the Braulio Carillo National Park Ranger Station on the Caribbean slope. Impressive mixed flocks of birds have been encountered here more often than most any other Costa Rica location we have visited on past trips. Species which have been observed here during ten to thirty minute stops on past trips include White-ruffed Manakin, Plain-colored Tanager, Speckled Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, and Yellow-billed Cacique. Just before we head south on the Interamerican Highway at the entrance to Cartago, we will stop at a complex of small wetalnds where, in addition to waterbirds, we are hopeful of finding White-throated Flycatcher and Sedge Wren, both species with Costa Rican occurrence highly restricted to the very local area around Cartago. We will have a late field lunch at a promising birding spot along the Interamerican Highway in the mountains south of Cartago. Late afternoon, we will bird the road that leads from the continental divide west down the Pacific slope of the Savegre River watershed to San Gerardo de Dota and Savegre Mountain Hotel (AKA Cabinas Chacon) which lies at about 7,000’ elevation.

Check-in, break, dinner, and the bird list will be at Savegre Mountain Hotel.
NIGHT: Savegre Mountain Hotel

For the next full day and part of a second morning, we will bird this high elevation area of Costa Rica located in the Talamanca Mountain Range, including the paramo of Cerro de la Muerte. We call this area Quetzal City, as it has proven to be the best location in Costa Rica for us to see the Resplendent Quetzal up close and personal. This area is also a hotspot for essentially endemic species. We will look for one of four Costa Rica endemic bird species, the Gray-tailed Mountain-gem, which has been easy to see at the hummingbird feeders on the hotel grounds. Essentially endemic species found here include Black Guan, Buff-fronted Quail-dove, Chiriqui Quail Dove, Sulphur-winged Parakeet, Bare-shanked Screech-Owl, Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Magenta-throated Woodstar, Scintillant Hummingbird, Volcano Hummingbird, Orange-bellied Trogon, Prong-billed Barbet, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Dark Pewee, Ochraceous Pewee, Black-capped Flycatcher, Silvery-throated Jay, Ochraceous Wren, Timberline Wren, Sooty Robin, Black-faced Solitaire, Black-billed Nightengale-Thrush, Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher, Black-and-Yellow Silky Flycatcher, Yellow-winged Vireo, Flame-throated Warbler, Wrenthrush (Zeledonia), Blue-crowned (Golden-browed) Chlorophonia, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager, Black-thighed Grosbeak, Peg-billed Finch, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Large-footed Finch, Yellow-thighed Finch, and Volcano Junco.

Other species we will search for include Ruddy Pigeon, Costa Rican (Andean) Pygmy-Owl, Dusky Nightjar, Collared Trogon, Emerald Toucanet, Streaked Xenops, Mountain Elaenia, Torrrent Tyranulet, Tufted Flycatcher, Yellowish Flycatcher, Barred Becard, Brown-capped Vireo, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, American Dipper, Ruddy-capped Nightengale Thrush, Mountain Robin, Louisiana Waterthrush, Collared Redstart, Black-cheeked Warbler, Spangle-cheeked Tanager, and Yellow-bellied Siskin.

DAY 5 - WEDNESDAY, 4 April 07. We will spend all day birding the Savegre River watershed. We will do 2.5-3.5 hour long bird walks before and after breakfast. There will be an extended break including lunch the first two hours of the afternoon followed by another 3 hour bird walk before dinner and the bird list. Finally, we will go owling with a Savegre guide until around 9pm.

NIGHT: Savegre Mountain Hotel

DAY 6 - THURSDAY, 5 April 07. We will start off the day with a two hour Savegre River watershed bird walk before breakfast. If the Resplendent Quetzal is missed Wednesday, we may use a local guide to take us to known spots for early April. After breakfast at Savegre Mountain Hotel we will take the bus back up the steep grade to the Interamerican Highway, then southeast just a very few kilometers to Cerro de la Muerte where we will bird at 9000’+ high elevation for about two hours. At Cerro de la Muerte we are hopeful of seeing Timberline Wren and Vocano Junco. Next we will return to the Caribbean-side wetlands near Cartago where we will have a field lunch while looking for the bird species present this early afternoon. Then it is off to the lovely, small park in the center of the town of Orotina in the foothills of the Pacific slope. Past trips here have experienced birds typical of the dry northwest including Turquoise-browed Motmot, Cinnamon Hummingbird, and Rufous-naped Wren. After a short drive, we will arrive at the Rio Tarcoles Bridge where we will spend the last 1-2 hours of the day birding the interface of the dry northwest Pacific and wet south Pacific. Here, we may see Scarlet Macaws going to roost. Check-in, dinner, and bird list will be at Hotel Punta Leona.

NIGHT: Hotel Punta Leona

DAY 7 - FRIDAY, April 6, 2007
We will spend two full days exploring Carara National Park, Refugio Punta Leona, and the Rio Tarcoles area. Like the Rio Sarapiqui region on Costa Rica’s Caribbean side, the area centered on Carara National Park is famous for its diversity of bird species, including the Scarlet Macaw. This is where the Pacific Coast avifauna of the dry northwest meets that of the wet southwest. Among scores of other species found here, we are also hopeful of seeing some of the essentially endemic species known to be here including Baird’s Trogon, Fiery-billed Aracari, Golden-naped Woodepcker, Black-hooded Antshrike, Yellow-billed Cotinga, Orange-collared Manakin, Riverside Wren, and Black-bellied Wren. A Rio Tarcoles boat trip is included, offering a chance for herons, egrets, shorebirds, kingfishers, and the very elusive and endemic Mangrove Hummingbird.

Starting at daybreak this first day, we will spend all day birding Carara National Park using trails through both secondary and primary forest. Breakfast, lunch, and breaks will be in the field. Species besides those already mentioned which have been found from one or more of these trails during prior trips include Great Tinamou, Boat-billed Heron, Collared Forest-Falcon, Scarlet Macaw, Yellow-naped Parrot, Striped Cuckoo, Pacific Screech-Owl, Striped Owl, White-tailed Nightjar, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Blue-throated Goldentail, Charming (Beryl-crowned) Hummingbird, Steely-vented Hummingbird, Black-headed Trogon, Black-throated Trogon, Blue-crowned Motmot, White-whiskered Puffbird, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Barred Antshrike, Dot-winged Antwren, Dusky Antbird, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, Black-faced Antthrush, Streak-chested (Spectacled) Antpitta, Thicket Antpitta, Northern Bentbill, Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Stub-tailed Spinebill, Golden-crowned Spadebill, Royal Flycatcher, Piratic Flycatcher, Long-tailed Manakin, Green Shrike-Vireo, Rufous-breasted Wren, Long-billed Gnatwren, and Gray-headed Tanager. After the bird list and dinner are completed at Punta Leona, we will drive for about thirty minutes to the beach resort town of Jaco for owling, returning to our hotel about 10pm.

NIGHT: Hotel Punta Leona

DAY 8 - SATURDAY, 8 April 07. We will spend another half day at Carara National Park, starting again at daybreak. Once again, breakfast and lunch will be in the field. The entire afternoon will be spent first with a two hour Rio Tarcoles boat trip, followed by exploration on foot of the mangroves that border this river. Dinner and the bird list will be at Punta Leona.

At Carara, we are hopeful of finding as many possible bird species as we can that may have been missed or poorly seen during the rest of the trip.

The Rio Tarcoles boat trip and mangrove birding will give us a chance to see many bird that we may not have seen before on the trip. Species observed here on past trips include Neotropical Cormorant, Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Tricolored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Boat-billed Heron, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Gray Hawk, Mangrove Black-Hawk, Crested Caracara, Yellow-headed Caracara, Purple Gallinule, Collared Plover, Wilson’s Plover, numerous other shorebirds, Scarlet Macaw, Mangrove Cuckoo, Mangrove Hummingbird, five species of kingfisher including American Pygmy, Northern Scrub Flycatcher, Panama Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Cotinga, Mangrove Vireo, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Mangrove Swallow, Mangrove Warbler, and Prothonotary Warbler. At last light, we will return to Punta Leona.

NIGHT: Hotel Punta Leona

DAY 9 - SUNDAY, 9 April 07. We will start this day with a 1.5 to 2.5 hours early morning bird walk at Refugio Punta Leona followed by a sit-down breakfast c. 8am.

As close to 8:30am as possible, we will head north for several hours of NW dry forest birding During this all-to-brief (You’ll have to come back!) visit to NW dry forest habitat, we have a good chance of seeing some of the following: Gray Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Crested Caracara, Yellow-headed Caracara, Spotted-bellied Bobwhite, Double-striped Thick Knee, White-winged Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Inca Dove, Gray-fronted Dove, Yellow-naped Parrot, White-fronted Parrot, Orange-fronted Parakeet, Lesser Ground Cuckoo, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Green-breasted Mango, Steely-vented Hummingbird, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Black-headed Trogon, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, Long-tailed Manakin, White-throated Magpie Jay, Rufous-naped Wren, Banded Wren, White-lored Gnatcatcher, Scrub Euphonia, Stripe-headed Sparrow, and Olive Sparrow.

Our final meal together will be late lunch at a restaurant just east of Atenas. We will then make the short drive to Juan Santamaria International Airport, arriving c. 2:30pm, where we will board a late afternoon flight back to Los Angeles International Airport in the United States

DEADLINE for sign-up and payment is February 15, 2007.

COSTA RICA MARCH 31-APRIL 8, 2007 TRIP COST: Here is the PER PERSON COST, followed by what is covered. NOTE: There is a $510 price break per person once there are ten participants because Alberto and I get a similar price break at 10 participants that we are passing on to participants.

6-9 participants - $2760 per person
10-14 participants - $2250 per person
Trip Limit: 14 participants, plus Alberto Vargas, Bob Barnes, & expert local guides

WHAT THE COSTS COVER:
***Bob Barnes leadership
***Alberto Vargas driving & leadership
***All meals starting with Sa, 31 Mar lunch and ending with Su, 8 Apr lunch
***9 days transportation (gas, etc.)
***9 days of snacks and water away from lodgings
***Sa, 31 Mar Juan Santamaria Airport pick-up
***La Paz Waterfall Gardens entrance fees & lunch
***3 nights at La Quinta Country Inn
***Gerardo Vega (Sarapiqui area local guide) leadership from DAY 1 dinner through DAY 4 breakfast
***La Selva entrance fees
***La Tirimbina entrance fees
***2 nights at Savegre Mountain Hotel
***Resplendent Quetzal property visit fee
***Savegre owling guide service
***Roy Arroyo (Carara area local guide) from DAY 6 mid-afternoon through DAY 9 breakfast
***3 nights lodging at Hotel Punta Leona
***2 days of Carara National Park entrance fees
***Rio Tarcoles boat trip fees
***Su, 8 Apr Juan Santamaria Airport drop-off
***Airport pick-up and drop-off for anyone arriving early or departing late

WHAT IS NOT COVERED:
***Round trip airfare - U.S. to Costa Rica to U.S.
***$26.00 Juan Santamaria Airport departure fee at end of trip
***Personal expenses throughout trip (e.g.: laundry service, postcards)
***Tips

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Email Bob Barnes, or snail mail: P.0. Box 953, Weldon, CA 93283.

NOTE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this itinerary may be changed slightly and a final completely correct itinerary will be provided before the actual trip, along with an information packet, questionnaire, and a species checklist.

Bob Barnes & Associates • PO Box 953, Weldon, CA 93283 • E-mail: Bob Barnes

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This page was last updated on Saturday, August 25, 2007