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Costa Rica: Snowcaps and Sea Turtles THIS TOUR WILL RUN IN JULY 2011 with Rich Hoyer £To be announced Please click here for details and an explanation of the price breakdown Maximum group size:
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This new summertime tour to Costa Rica explores that classic tropical destination at a time when relatively few birders visit. From a weather perspective, July is a fine time in Costa Rica: rain falls mostly later in the day, and temperatures are virtually the same year-round, even a bit cooler than in the spring. It’s also post-breeding season for most birds, meaning peak numbers, and it’s right at the start of Green Sea Turtle nesting season. We visit famous sites and little-known localities while staying in some of the country’s finest new lodges, making this an ideal tour for those who are coming to Costa Rica for the first time or for those returning in search of a fresh itinerary. Day 1: The tour begins with a flight to San José in Costa Rica. Night in San José Day 2: The next two days of high-elevation birding will offer refreshingly cool temperatures, luxurious cloud forests, and flower-filled gardens - and some amazing birds. Resplendent Quetzal, far and away the most celebrated bird of the region, can be surprisingly easy to see, and we’ll be sure to spend time with this most amazing of trogons. Among the other highland specialities we’ll search for are Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Black-capped Flycatcher, Yellow-winged Vireo, Flame-throated Warbler, and Large-footed and Yellow-thighed Finches. Night at Savegre Lodge. Day 3: We’ll spend much of today in the Talamanca Highlands looking for any species we might not have seen the day before, and also pay another visit to the hummingbird feeders and to fruiting trees frequented by Resplendent Quetzals. In the afternoon we’ll work our way over to the Caribbean slope and a wonderful lodge at a unique mid-elevation location. Night at Rancho Naturalista. Day 4: A short trail leads down from our rooms to hummingbird feeders in the forest understory: this is where the avian star of Rancho Naturalista lives, the male Snowcap. Nowhere else on earth is this stunning hummingbird, with the glinting burgundy body and reflective white forecrown, as reliably seen as here. Other trails into the private forest reserve can lead to a variety of antwrens, manakins, and tanagers, but the most relaxing approach is to sit on the deck and wait for birds such as lanky Gray-headed Chachalacas and colorful Collared Aracaris visit the feeders below. Night at Rancho Naturalista. Day 5: After we enjoy one last dawn chorus and burst of activity at the feeders from the balcony of our lodge, we’ll descend the Turrialba Valley to the Caribbean lowlands and then travel on to the coast at Limón. At Moín, near Limón, we embark on the 48-mile journey by boat up the intercoastal canal to our next lodge in Tortuguero National Park. Along the way we’ll have time to relax, but vigilance could yield King Vulture, herons and egrets, and parrots flying between their roosts and feeding trees. Night in Tortuguero. Days 6-7: We’ll have two full days in one of Costa Rica’s most famous national parks, but one seldom visited by birding tours. Our lodge, located right in the gorgeous tropical rainforest, is accessible only by water. The boat rides on the channels will be the highlight of our stay, though we’ll also do plenty of birding out on the trails and right around the lodge. We’ll be a bit early for the larger numbers of nesting of Green Sea Turtles, but sightings this time of year are nearly nightly; we’ll be here for two nights, increasing our chances of finding them as they come ashore to lay their eggs on the beach. Frogs, butterflies, and mammals, in addition to the birds, will make our stay here a thrill. Nights in Tortuguero. Day 8: Today will be mostly a travel day, but we’ll make good time by taking a short flight to San José before continuing by bus to our hotel in the far north. Driving over the Cordillera Central, we’ll stop briefly at a set of hummingbird feeders where one of Costa Rica’s three mainland endemics, the Coppery-headed Emerald, occurs. In the open country along the way, we might find Red-breasted Meadowlark or Southern Lapwing, both species undergoing range expansions. Night in Boca Tapada. Days 9-10: Tucked away near the Nicaraguan border, a new lodge gives us access to a the lowland rainforest of the Caribbean slope, the most diverse forest anywhere in Costa Rica. Slaty-breasted Tinamou, Great Curassow, and Chestnut-backed Antbird walk the forest floor, while the mid-story is inhabited by such birds as Thrushlike Schiffornis and Ochre-bellied Flycatcher. We might even get lucky and discover an army ant swarm. As the ants - harmless to humans - search the leaf litter, their prey is forced out of its hiding placesand as they flee the advancing swarm many birds take advantage of this easy food source. Some, like Ocellated Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, and Ruddy Woodcreeper, are rarely found away from ant swarms. Sometimes ten or more species of birds can be in attendance making this an exciting event. We’ll try to cover all the habitat types near the lodge and to include some nightbirding, too, in search of owls and other nocturnal creatures. Nights in Boca Tapada. Day 11: We’ll have most of this morning to birdwatch near our lodge before departing by bus for the foothills of the Cordillera de Guanacaste. A series of isolated volcanoes of only moderate elevation, northern Costa Rica’s Guanacaste nevertheless has a dramatic effect on the climate: the western slopes face the seasonally dry Pacific coast while the eastern slopes receive the prevailing winds from the Caribbean and support a lush forest with many streams. Bridges over such streams where we'll look for Fasciated Tiger-Heron and, especially on the smaller streams, Torrent Tyrannulet and American Dipper. Our hotel for the next three nights is on the Caribbean slope of the dormant volcano of Tenorio. Night in Bijagua. Days 12-13: We’ll have two full days to explore the birds and natural history of Volcán Tenorio National Park and the Celeste River region. The trails into primary forest and roads along the forest edge will help us quickly build a large bird list. We’ll make a special effort to search for Tody Motmot, here at the southern edge of its range. Mixed species flocks in the forest may contain multiple tanagers, wrens, and tyrannulets, among many others. We’ll also take an afternoon drive into the open country north of town to search for Nicaraguan Grackle and Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, both found only in this part of Costa Rica. Nights in Bijagua. Day 14: On our final morning in Costa Rica, we’ll enjoy a final dawn chorus on our hotel grounds, then head for the Liberia airport where we'll connect with a flight to London, arriving there on Day 15.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability. The ground arrangements for this tour are organized by our American associates WINGS.
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