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 Costa Rica
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Birding Information
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Birdlife International Bird Links to the World
Their site provides a map, covers number of bird species and endemics plus a checklist, general country information, general web pages, bird pictures, and birding and individual trip reports.
"Where Do You Want to Go Birding Today"
Tina MacDonald's excellent site contains links to Costa Rica birding hotspots, checklist and maps, information on endemic and endangered birds.
Checklist
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| Lodging |
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BirdWatching Hotels
Lists birdwatching hotels along with rental cars, vacation packages, and general information
Bosque del Rio Tigre
Bosque del R¡o Tigre, is located on the Tigre River just outside the small town of Dos Brazos on the Peninsula de Osa in the Reserva surrounding Corcovado National Park rainforests. It can accommodate up to ten people in rustic luxury, even providing vegetarian meals. Its 31 acre sanctuary includes both secondary and primary forest, numerous trails, creeks and lagoons, a refreshing 50 foot waterfall and a collection of local orchids. In the sanctuary are three types of cats, pizotes, wild pigs, poison dart frogs, monkeys and an abundance of birds. On an early morning bird walk you can easily see 50 to 100 species (Click here for bird checklist).
Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp
On a low grassy bluff above the Pacific Ocean beach sit twenty comfortable 10_foot square wall tents pitched on wooden platforms, each with 2 single beds, providing a base for our 198 acre private reserve. The lodge includes a screened, thatched-roof dining room and kitchen, a thatched-roof hammock house and bar, and two common bath houses, each with 4 showers, 4 toilets, and 4 hand basins. Electricity is supplied by a small generator, and guests should bring flashlights for illuminating paths after dark. The most popular activity at the lodge is wildlife observation from the canopy platform in an emergant tree over a 100 feet above the forest floor. It is next door to Corcovado National Park, a protected wilderness area with the greatest biodiversity in Costa Rica.
Eco-Hotels
Once again Costa Rica is ahead of the world in listing hotels that have been rated for their efforts to protect the environment or sustainable tourism. This site provides a directory searchable by province, number of rooms, the hotel setting, and its level of certification as environmentally-friendly. No hotel made a perfect score of 5. 4 hotels scored a 4.
Genesis II Lodge and Nature Preserve
The Lodge is located at 7,500 feet in the Talamanca Mountains in a reserve encompassing 75 acres of untouched cloud forest and 20 acres currently being restored to its natural state. Four rooms with 2 single beds in each and a shared bathroom and hot water shower are available for guest accommodation. Paula's renowned meals are served home-style in their large dining/living room. The birds are sometimes a mix of rare endemics and common to rare migrants depending on the time of the year. (Click here for birdlist with best months to see each bird)
Hotel Punta Leona
Punta Leona, a beach resort has one of the most important private reserves in Costa Rica's Pacific Zone, principally because of it's geographic location and conservation plan, for scarlet macaws among others. The reserve is of great importance from a biological standpoint because it is one of the few remaining forests in the transitional life zone between the Dry Forest of the Northwest and the Rainforest of the Southwest. Over 300 bird species are present.
La Laguna del Lagarto Lodge
Located approximately 90 miles from San José and just 7 miles from the Nicaraguan border, La Laguna del Lagarto Lodge is surrounded by 500 hectares (1,250 acres) of pristine, virgin tropical rainforest.
Lapa Rios
Set in a private nature reserve spread over 1,000 acres of Central America's last remaining lowland tropical rainforest, Lapa Rios overlooks the pristine point where the Golfo Dulce meets the wild Pacific Ocean. Lapa Rios is built in harmony with the surrounding forest and beach environment. Over 300 bird species (click here for list).
La Selva Lodge
Founded in 1985 Selva Verde Lodge, is located in the lush lowlands of northeastern Costa Rica on a very large, private tract of virgin tropical rainforest and rich second-growth habitats. It is adjacent to Braulio Carrillo National Park and the Organization for Tropical Studies' field station, La Selva.
Los Inocentes Lodge
Friendly horses, diversity of birds (toucans, oropendolas, magpie jays, doves, parakeets, cuckoos and swallows), deer, ocelots, margays, sloths, among others. Habitat is rural farm in tropical dry forest.
Monteverde Lodge
Located in the Tilar n Mountain Range at 4,600 ft. above sea level on the edge of the world's best-known mid-elevation cloud forest, Monteverde Lodge is an environmentally friendly ecolodge. Over 2,000 plant species are native to Monteverde, including a host of wild orchids. Also, more than 400 species of birds and 100 species of mammals have been observed. Originally just 4,000 acres, the Monteverde Reserve now protects an area of approximately 25,000 acres, comprising six different life zones. So many habitats in such a small area, along with extensive trail improvements, allow visitors to enjoy a rich diversity of flora and fauna with relatively little and easy walking. One of the lodges' activities is birdwatching.
Rainbow Adventures
An ecotourism jungle and beach lodge on Golfo Dulce in southwestern Cost Rica, situated on a private beach and backed by the jungle rainforests of the expansion of Corcovado National Park, it offers a variety of adventure activities, including birdwatching. (For checklist click here)
Savegre Mountain Lodge
Thirty-six cabins at 7,200 feet above sea level on a family farm with a clear trout stream running through it, surrounded by one of the finest examples of highland cloud forest on the planet, set in a spectacular valley. There are more than 200 species of birds on theproperty, including the Resplendent quetzal as well as a myriad of migratory birds. The lodge overs birdwatching and guide services.
Samasati Nature Retreat
Situated on 250 acres of virgin tropical rainforest with nature trails in the Talamanca region overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Bird checklist available.
Sarapiquis Neotropical Center
Located in mountain rain forest, the architecture of the Sarapiqu¡ project is inspired by the indigenous pre-columbian architecture of the palenques. The restaurant serves meals incorporating spices and edible flowers used in pre-Colombian indigenous cuisine, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables from the surrounding gardens and orchards. Visitors enter the 350 hectare private Biological reserve by a 250 meter suspension bridge and canopy sky walks.
Talari Mountain Lodge
Talari Mountain Lodge is located in Southern Costa Rica, at 15 minutes from the town of San Isidro, on the road to Rivas and to Chirripó National Park. A bilingual naturalist leads morning bird walks. (See bird list).
Tiskita Jungle Lodge
This is a private biological reserve and experimental fruit farm near the Panama border, with about 100 hectares of virgin rainforest with 285 bird species recorded to date.
Tortuga Lodge and Gardens
Tortuga Lodge, situated on 50 acres of private land on Costa Rica's northeast Caribbean coast, is designed to blend into the river environment. Tortuga Lodge's main reason for existence is to provide room and board for people interested in experiencing Tortuguero and Tortuguero National Park. Originally intended to protect a major nesting beach of the Atlantic green sea turtle, Tortuguero National Park now protects 51,870 acres, one of the last large areas of tropical rain forest in Central America with more than 320 species of birds including all 6 species of kingfishers found in the new world, 3 species of toucans, 8 species of parrots, and other neotropical species such as the Slaty-tailed Trogon, White-collared Manakin, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, and White-fronted Nunbird.
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| Tours and Guides |
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Exotic Birding
We offer spring and summer birding tours to Costa Rica for bird lovers wanting more than a pure listing trip. We spend more time in each place, and our master guides share their knowledge and explain how they identify the birds in addition to simply finding and naming them. All tours limited to 8 participants.
Free Living
A list of British birding tour companies and the time of year of their Costa Rica bird tours.
Angelfire
Local guide offers private tours.
Avianadventures
A UK company specializing in tours world-wide for birdwatching, wildlife and photography holidays.
Best Adventure Travel
A Costa Rican eco tour company has four different 10-day and one 14-day all-inclusive packages covering the top birdwatching sites in Costa Rica.
Bird Treks
A Pennsylvania company has tours to Osa Penisula and Pacific Coast with an extension to Savegre Mountain Lodge for Resplendent Quetzals! .
Borderland Tours
Borderland Tours was founded in 1980 to provide well-organized tours to premier birding and natural history destinations, primarily in North and South America.
Caligo Ventures, Inc.
Since 1983 Caligo Ventures has specialized in group travel for natural history clubs and organizations. Caligo Ventures also operates and markets its own Natural History Tours, principally to Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru, as well as Kenya.
The Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris
Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris was founded in 1980. They blend a desire to observe nature with a wish to inspire travelers with the values of conservation and education.
Field Guides
Field Guides has been operating high-quality birding tours since 1985 from its headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Safaris Corobici
A Costa Rican company specializing in scenic river trips for birdwatchers and naturalists.
Sawtelle Tours
Specialists in birding and ecotours worldwide they offer birding tours to the Pacific and Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica.
The Travelling Naturalist
This British Company is a small, specialist tour operator, with a simple aim - to provide the most enjoyable guided wildlife holidays possible! Many of their leaders while all round naturalist are first and foremost birders.
Venture
A birdwatching and natural history tour company based in North Carolina offers birdwatching trips to Costa Rica.
Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT)
Founded in 1974, it is now the largest company in the world specializing in birding tours.
Wildside Birding Tours
The purpose of Wildside Birding Tours, a division of Adventure Camera, Inc., is to enhance the public's interest, understanding and appreciation of the natural wonders of our planet Earth. They use environmentally friendly facilities that employ indigenous peoples. They contribute to local economies, conservation efforts, and environmental education.
Wings
All WINGS leaders have varied interests in natural history and other more or less closely related fields, but the timing and itinerary of our trips are dictated almost entirely by ornithological considerations.
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please submit broken or outdated links by clicking here
Updated 07/08/06
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