Costa Rica
Volcanoes, Tanagers, & Hummingbirds
March 10-18, 2023
A relaxed 9-day tour featuring great birding lodges, gorgeous scenery, lush forests, mostly mild temperatures, and incredible birding, primarily in the Northern part of the country. This trip includes a boat trip in the Gulf of Nicoya
Your place on this Venture is reserved when your completed registration form and deposit of $400/person has been received. Deposit may be made via the ‘book now’ button above, or by contacting the Ventures office. We accept credit cards for an additional fee (2.9% for MC, Visa, Discover; 3.9% for AmEx), but you may also pay by bank transfer, cash, check, or money order (payable to ‘VENTURES BIRDING’) sent to PO Box 1095, Skyland, NC 28776. This Venture is limited to 10 participants.
Cost of the Costa Rica Venture: $3,995 per person, based on double occupancy, from San Jose; Single supplement $435 Price includes: All ground transportation in Costa Rica, all meals, taxes, entrance fees, trip information packet, bird list, and services of 2 guides (one local, one Ventures) Not included: Round trip airfare to San Jose, alcoholic beverages, gratuities, laundry, and items of a personal nature.
A relaxed 9-day tour featuring great birding lodges, gorgeous scenery, lush forests, mostly mild temperatures, and incredible birding, primarily in the Northern part of the country. This trip includes a boat trip in the Gulf of Nicoya
Costa Rica has long had a reputation for being a birder’s paradise, a place where beginning and experienced birders alike can enjoy neotropical birding at its very finest. The reputation is certainly well deserved – life abounds here! Over 900 species of birds have been recorded within its borders, boasting one of the highest diversities per square mile of any country in the world!
Our 9-day exploration of this bird-rich nation begins by driving through the Poas Volcano en route to Sarapiqui. We will be our highest elevation of the trip at this point around 7000-8000 Feet. This is one of the best places in Costa Rica to find a number of species, including Sooty Thrush, Black-billed Nightingale Thrush, Magenta-throated Woodstar, Fiery Throated Hummingbird, Talamanca Hummingbird, Black-capped Flycatcher, Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher, Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl and many more. Next, we visit the magnificent Arenal Volcano area. Here we will bird several private reserves on and near the volcano searching for birds such as White-throated Magpie Jay, Long-tailed Tyrant, Rufous, Keel-billed, and Broad-billed Motmots, Shining Honeycreeper, Stripe-breasted Wren, Sharpbill, Ornate Hawk-eagle, Ocellated Antbird, Tawny-capped Euphonia, in addition many other birds. We then continue to the Ensenada area at the Northern end of the Gulf of Nicoya. This deciduous dry forest hosts a wealth of new birds including Crested Bobwhite, Cavinet’s Emerald, Lesser Ground-Cuckoo, Black-headed Trogon, Scrub Euphonia, White-lored Gnatwren, Pacific Pygmy-Owl, and many more. We will also take a boat ride to the bay of Nicoya and Abangaritos Mangroves. Here we hope to see such specialties as Magnificent Frigatebird, Mangrove (Yellow) Warbler, the endemic Mangrove Hummingbird, Mangrove Vireo, Surfbird, Elegant and Sandwich Terns, Ruddy Turnstone, and many more.
Some of the Birds We Hope to See
Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Boat-billed Heron, Sunbittern, Sungrebe, Jabiru, Fiery-throated, Volcano, Black-bellied, Stripe-tailed, and Mangrove Hummingbirds, Snowcap, White-crested and Black-crested Coquettes, Sulphur-winged Parakeet, Baird’s and Collared Trogon, Resplendent Quetzal, Red-headed Barbet, Northern Emerald-Toucanet, Yellow-eared Toucanet, Fiery-billed Aracari, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Ruddy Treerunner, Buff-throated & Buff-fronted Foliage-Gleaners; White-crowned, Red-capped, Blue-crowned, Orange-collared Manakins; Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Dark Pewee, Black-capped Flycatcher, Golden-bellied Flycatcher, Tawny-chested Flycatcher, Golden-crowned Spadebill, American Dipper, Black-throated Wren, Black-cheeked Warbler, Flame-throated Warbler, Collared Redstart, Flame-colored, Bay-headed, Spangle-cheeked, Speckled, Silver-throated, Tawny-crested Tanager, Ashy-throated Chlorosphingus, Orange-billed Sparrow, Cabanis’s Ground Sparrow (E), Tawny-capped Euphonia, Black-thighed Grosbeak, Black-faced Grosbeak, Large-footed Finch, Peg-billed Finch, Yellow-thighed Brushfinch, Costa Rican Brushfinch, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Montezuma Oropendola, and many more.