January 29-February 7, 2024 with Chris Benesh & local guide
Costa Rica is an excellent get-away location for those winter blues and on Part 2 of this two-parted tour, we ventured north to areas not often visited by many birders. From the highland cloud forests around Bosque de Paz, to the steamy lowlands of Caño Negro, and of course Volcan Arenal, we saw a lot of this amazing country and a lot of the wonderful bird life that makes Costa Rica such a fun destination for birders. This trip would not be possible, of course, without the excellent leadership of Vernon Campos. His expertise made it very easy for me to jump at the last minute to co-lead the trip.
There were many highlights along the way. Among the favorites were the FANTASTIC Agami Heron show we witnessed at Los Chiles and especially Caño Negro. And wow, so many Pinnated Bitterns. We also had crushing views of White-throated Crake, and an exciting Yellow-breasted Crake sighting! Also special was a Uniform Crake seen initially with a thermal scope. Fabulous Jabirus, Boat-billed Heron, confiding Mangrove Swallows. Sungrebe was a treat, as were good cracids, especially the Great Currasow show at Arenal. Night birds were popular, with Great Potoos, Black-and-White Owl, Spectacled Owl, at an urban Barn Owl. White Hawk was stunning. So was the perched Semiplumbeous Hawk. Collared Trogons and Keel-billed Motmots, White-throated Magpie-Jays! Special mention has to made of the many Amazon Kingfishers seen. But the sweetest kingfisher was perhaps the Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher at Caño Negro. Hummingbirds were well represented with 23 species recorded. We also got a real blast of color on our final full day with a lunch stop at San Luis Canopy. Fabulous looks at a variety of tanagers.
Luis was an excellent driver for us and always kept everything neat and organized. Many thanks to you for coming along and exploring the edges of Costa Rica with us! Until our next birding adventure together, be safe and go birding!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/271390
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cr224TRIPLIST.pdf
Good birding, Chris Benesh