Costa Rica Overview – Private Pre-tour

Since my last trip to South Africa, I am taking a different approach to my trip blog posts.  Although a journal or day by day account is interesting to me, the feedback I received is that the new approach is more engaging for folks who were not ON the trip.  I start with a summary of the trip itself with limited focus on the creatures, then posts focused on the birds & other creatures.

Finding the perfect way to blog about my birding trips is still a work in progress and if you read it and have suggestions or feedback – I am always looking to make my communications more effective – please bring it on!

Now to the trip – I was gone for 15 days, but two of them were traveling to (or spending the night at) a friend’s in New Jersey to catch and early (direct) flight from Newark to San Jose, CR and spend the night after my flight home (which was supposed to get in @8pm – more on that later). Had a little glitch on departure morning when I accidentally cancelled my Uber reservation- I blame no glasses & the lack of an “Are you sure?” button... but I rescheduled quickly and arrived at the airport on time. Went through security but realized that the wheels are my suitcase are not rolling as well as they should. Can't figure out why and not sure why I didn't follow my own "test equipment before you go" rule. But at this point it is what it is.

Sunrise at Newark Airport

In the air I had a delightful, interesting seatmate who went to University of Rhode Island. He also runs an Impact fund, an Investment Fund that only invests in companies that have low, zero or negative carbon impact. Very cool -- the companies in Costa Rica make a substitute concrete from Agri-waste and pet food from Black Soldier Fly Larva. He also informed me that Costa Rica has no military since 1949 -- they designated themselves a pacifist nation (its in their Constitution) & use the funds for education, health & the environment - sounds awesome.

About 1.5 hours from arrival and both times I wanted to use the restroom, they had it closed off so the crew/pilot could use it. Never had that happen before, so I had to use the really tiny coach one. What are the odds? Also managed to cut my finger on the salmon jerky I opened for a snack, it is in a plastic wrapper that I just remembered it notoriously difficult to open. I usually use my keys but they are back at my friend’s house in NJ. We had a bit of turbulence but not a bad experience.

A little about Costa Rica -- its is smaller than the state of West Virginia & holds the highest density of bird species of any continental American Country. This is because it has a plethora of different types of habitats. I only visited three of the numerous habitats on this trip -- so I will be back!

I arrived on time to a steamy Costa Rica with a long walk from the plane – lots of folks arriving at the same time, so also crowded.  That seems to be the norm at Tropical airports – I think it might be so they don’t have a staff it all day long.  I was asked if I wanted a Taxi more times than I can count but was able to connect with my guide, Patrick O’Donnell to take me to my hotel- Villa San Ignacio. 

The Avocado (the Electric Car for the Private Tour) - Costa Rica is very energy conscious -- lots of Electric cars & charging stations.

After I got my room & got my birding kit out we spent a few hours birding the property which yielded 29 life birds. Since I started the trip with 937 life birds – That 2 hour session got me almost half way to my 1,000^th Life bird. 

Villa San Ignacio

Lovely first night dinner...

We planned a very early morning departure the next day, so I had an early dinner and retired after a long day of travel and a short birding session. I finished reviewing my not so great photos (new Total 965). There is definitely an adjustment period to birding close in trees I don’t know.  Pat has an amazing Pygmy Owl call (that usually makes birds come in) but it will take some time to get used to each other's way of describing a bird’s position. Tons of sticks and foliage and haziness- it’s a challenge, but it got better quickly. Good to have a private tour to get my feet under me before I go with the group.  When you bird in the same environment all the time you forget what it is like to adapt to new habitats.

Since I eat Keto I always carry food with me and I figured that the morning offering would be fruit & toast or some kind of bakery offering neither of which I eat. I was right, I just took the coffee and made sure I had a snack available.  Pat picked me up @5am and we headed for the Pacific Coast.  It was a Tuesday morning, so we had our share of traffic but we stopped a few places along the way.

The first birding area was a dirt road that went through mostly farm fields with a few forested spots until near the end where there was a Truck Depot – for trucks transporting things to and from to coast.  It was pretty weird at the end, but very productive when we left I had 1,002 life birds!

The next stop was in the Mangroves – and important habitat in Costa Rica. Pat was concerned it might be too wet to drive, but we managed and picked up an unexpected species for me – Mangrove Vireo and our first (of many) Scarlet Macaw.  So up to this point I had forgotten to take habitat photos (sorry) -- but I get better at remembering as we moved along.

We did a sea watch next, but the high tide wasn’t helpful – still it was a beautiful spot on the Gulf of Nicoya with lots of boat and a very interesting Great-tailed Grackle – which I never considered a “shore bird” before. 

Puntarenas

Pat had planned to have lunch there, but we were a bit ahead of schedule and the tide wasn’t receding anytime soon, so we pressed on to another playa (beach) habitat.  It was interesting because there were fishermen pulling in a catch down the beach and that attracted a fair bit of bird activity along with my first good look at Scarlet Macaws.

Lunch Spot -- day 1 on the road

Near the beach in Tarcoles

 Next stop was the Cerro Lodge where we would spend our next three nights.  A lovely spot with an amazing birding road leading to it.  The restaurant has a deck that provided some wonderful close-up experiences (monkeys and birds) and had great food. Getting to my room was a bit of a challenge – very close, but a very steep descent.  Nice room, but a shower that was not usable for me. 

I did have some great birds sitting on the bench outside my room in the early morning.

The Lodge is central to an area with Lowland Rainforest Habitat which is Humid, evergreen forest with a tall Canopy. It contains the highest plant and bird diversity in Costa Rica. This type of habitat loses ground on a regular basis due to demand for agriculture and pasture acreage, but there are spots where it is growing back. Mangroves persist nearby and is used as a nightly roost by Parrots, Macaws and Parakeets. There is also Foothill Rainforest which is characterized by Mossy branches a dampness. Dense vegetation thrives on the moisture.

The next morning after breakfast on the birdy deck, we birding the entrance road which included finding a fairly stealthy Lesser Ground-Cuckoo (which is usually heard but not seen).  It started raining as we headed for the road that borders Carara National Park, it was still pretty productive but I got my introduction to how much it rains in Costa Rica.  I came at the tail end of the rainy season and we were actually fairly lucky with the rain – Ah birding in the tropics! 

It poured all during lunch but we had a lovely view and good food – got my best look at Brown Jays, but boy are they fast!  The rest of the afternoon was at the spent on road to Cerro Lodge going past the Lodge entrance – still raining and quite muddy.  An early departure planned the next two days, so the continued pouring rain let me test my poncho (it’s great) and sent me back to the room early for some much needed sleep. 

Typical lunch would be rice, bean, plantains (none of which I eat), Protein (in this case grilled fish -- yum!), salad and cooked veggies (sometime I can eat sometimes not -- no carrots or corn for me). I did discover a new squash called (I think) chayote - white and absorbs flavors well. I have yet to find it hear, but full disclosure, I haven't looked very hard.

We had ordered a To-go breakfast for our 5:15am departure.  I had asked for hard-boiled eggs, which they had prepared the night before, but the worker put them in the microwave to heat them up???? And they exploded, they gave me cheese for breakfast.  It was the best cheese I have ever had – they specialize in Pizza and gave me the Mozzarella they use for the pizza – it was amazing – no complaints! 

Today was focused on the Jaco area a bit south of Tarcoles (where the Lodge is).  We started on the Teleferico Road which winds through fields, forest and rain forest.  It is where Pat normally starts his Big Day every year.  We had 70 species in a little over 2 hours and a lovely non-humid morning.  We spotted a Collared-forest Falcon and Pat was excited (you know I love it when the guide gets excited because you know you are seeing something very special) because it was 1) out in the open – they are notorious for hiding in the forest and 2) it was drying out its wings – a very unusual behavior & a reason to be thankful for the rain.

My guide - Pat O'Donnell calling in the birds...

 Oropendola Nests

The reason we went to Jaco was a Alpamado Falcon – a rarity for Costa Rica that had been near a Rice Field there for a few weeks.  It was a very interesting habitat, unfortunately the rice had been harvested a day or two before, so less food was available.  We did arrive when they were plowing the field and lots of birds were following the tractor – it was 9am but already pretty hot and the sun was blazing. 

On the way back north we travelled part of the road that borders Carara National Park and when back to the Playa (Boca del Rio Tarcolitos) where I finally saw my nemesis bird – the Franklin’s Gull. 

Magnificent Frigatebirds

The road to Cerro Lodge

Termite Nest

Mangos

A Rainbow!

We went after dark looking for the Common Potoo & Owls. The Potoo’s call sounds like someone playing Sol-fa-mi-re-do on the recorder holding sol 2x as long. It brings back memories of my Mom, who played the recorder! We were unsuccessful finding any new birds, but I did get to see Common Pauraque sitting in the road, looking like rocks. 

The next morning’s final departure from the hotel to catch our 6am boat tour on the Tarcoles River.  The tour was three hours long and I had 9 life birds but that was not the highlight.  It was the Sandhill Crane.

We get Sandhill Crane occasionally in Rhode Island.  When I was in New Mexico I saw @6,000 of them in a Wildlife Management Area.  Not in Costa Rica – the furthest south they had ever been reported was in Central Mexico – way north of where we were.  Talk about Pat, my guide, getting excited.  To read his full account (worth reading) click here -- https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2025/11/16/a-new-and-unexpected-bird-for-costa-rica/

This is from Pat’s eBird commentary – his excitement is palpable:

“Country first. At first glance, I assumed I would be glassing a Great Blue Heron. Much to my surprise, as I focused on the bird, I noticed its rusty front and short to medium length beak and realized what I was looking at. A Sandhill Crane, standing at attention on the Tarcoles River, I nearly pinched myself to make sure I wasn't experiencing a birding dream. Hopefully, we can figure out the subspecies involved. It wasn't foraging and didn't move around a whole lot. No band on its legs nor other signs of captivity. Recently, we had a strong cold front from the north, perhaps it arrived with that system? Who knows?” 

After we got off the boat we spent some more time in Tarcoles occasionally being stopped by someone from Pat’s birding community to ask about the bird – the word got out fast.  In fact, a local birding entrepreneur had this posted on the internet within an hour of his report. 

This find has made me a part of Costa Rica birding history and certainly gave me some birding “cred” with the guides on my next tour.  The local guide, Esteban, informed me every time another fellow birder told him they saw the bird.  Esteban was going to be in the area the day after our tour was over, I know the bird was still around, I just hope he got to see it.  

A trail of Leaf-cutter Ants

Our last birding spot was one we did almost every day – the road next Carara National Park that yielded my last two life birds for the Pre-tour.  

Pat designed this leg of the trip specifically for me and did a masterful job. He was good company and a lot of fun!  He took my walking limitations & the locations of the other tours and still managed to get me 161 Life birds & 234 total birds on this part of the trip.