This is an all-inclusive trip that inludes all tips, domestic travel, lodging, food, guides, entrance fees, and laundry. You pay for international airfare, alcohol, and items of a personal nature.
Alcohol, items of a personal nature
You depart San Jose for the mountainous area around San Gerardo de Dota. Great looks at Resplendent Quetzal are the primary draw of this area, with views often enjoyed without back-breaking calisthenics. Other birds you’ll target include Flame-throated Warbler, Flame-colored Tanager, and Collared Redstart. You’ll also bird above the tree line for Volcano Junco, Volcano Hummingbird, Timberline Wren, and many others. Overnight Trogon Lodge or similar
This morning, you’ll awaken early to increase your chances for excellent looks at Resplendent Quetzal, Yellow-thighed Brushfinch, and Wrenthrush. You’ll break for a delicious breakfast before heading to the forests to search for the abundantly seen Black-cheeked Warbler, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Large-footed Finch, Slate-throated Redstart, Black-and-yellow Silky Flycatcher, Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher, and Sooty Thrush. After lunch, your guide, Luis, will decide the best place to bird for specialties you may have previously missed.
You enjoy the short drive to San Isidro del General. Cerro Chirripo looms over the area as Costa Rica’s tallest point, standing at an elevation of over 12,500 feet. As you depart San Gerardo, you’ll almost immediately notice an absence of tourists, which will benefit you with better birding. The Talamanca Mountains provide a beautiful green backdrop to the city and a fantastic bird habitat. Your targets include Northern Black-throated, Baird’s, Gartered, Slaty-tailed trogons, Fiery-billed Aracari, Olivaceous Piculet, and many others.
Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary is a productive area where we’ll search for Black-hooded and Russet Antshrikes, Bicolored Antbird, Black-faced Antthrush, Tawny-winged, Streak-headed, and Cocoa woodcreepers, Velvety, Snowy Hummingbird, Red-capped, and Orange-collared manakins, and much more. You’ll enjoy lunch in town before returning to one of many unique birding spots in this area.
It's about a three-hour drive to San Vito . Wilson Botanical Gardens at the Organization for Tropical Studies is an excellent habitat, and fewer tourists means less skittish wildlife, particularly birds. Targets include Collared Trogon, Turquoise Cotinga, White-tailed Emerald, Garden Emerald, Scaly-breasted hummingbirds, Blue-headed, Brown-hooded, White-crowned parrots, and many other colorful delights.
Luis always knows of secret spots where you can spot lots of wildlife, particularly birds. Targets include Scarlet Macaw, Turquoise Cotinga, White-ruffed, Orange-collared, and Velvety Manakin, Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Costa Rican Swift, King Vulture, Collared Trogon, Plain Antvireo, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Chiriqui Foliage-Gleaner and many others.
No garden is complete without lots of plants, and Wilson Gardens boasts over 7,000 plant species, many of which are endangered. Of course, the great diversity of plants also provides an ideal habitat for many birds. The gardens are home to over 460 avian species.
The four-hour drive today, skirts along Golfo Dulce, and its spectacular palm-lined, tuquoise waters. You'll search for Golden-crowned Spadebill, Fiery-billed Aracari, Fasciated Tiger-heron, Cocos Booby, Green Shrike-Vireo, and many more.
You'll take a 30-minute boat trip to Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. National Geographic called this the "most biologically intense place on Earth." This is the only place in Costa Rica where you have a realistic chance at spotting a jaguar, puma, or jaguarundi. There is an excellent chance of spotting a Baird's tapir, the largest land mammal in Central America.
Luis will work his magic to find a Black-cheeked Ant-tanager, which occurs only on the Osa Peninsula! Other targets include White-necked Puffbird, Dot-winged Antwren, Ochre-crowned Greenlet, White-shouldered Tanager, and many more.
Your drive today skirts the Pacific Coast as you make your way to Quepos. Fiery-billed Aracari can prove challenging in other areas of Costa Rica, but they are abundant here. Other targets include King Vulture, Thick-billed Seed-finch, Purple-crowned Fairy, Golden-naped Woodpecker, Riverside Wren, and many more. Luis will pick a favorite haunt for plentiful bird sightings and to break up the four-hour drive.
Spectacular Manuel Antonio National Park is Costa Rica's most visited park. Luis will take us to more secluded spots. By this point in the trip, you likely seen amantled howler, spider, and white-faced capuchin monkeys. You will add the diminutive squirrel monkey here.
Bird species that are common here include Common Potoo, Double-toothed Kite, Piping Long-tailed Woodcreeper, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, and plenty more to keep your binoculars busy.
You'll wind your way back to Hotel Bougainvillea. Luis will make sure you spot dry forest birds you might have missed, including White-throated Magpie-jay, Turquoise-browed Motmot, White-whiskered Puffbird, Ruddy Quail-Dove, and Velvety Manakin, among many others.
With your two-week journey complete, you will return home with new friends and many new birds. What will be your favorite part of the trip?