Costa Rica best birdwatching spots
When birders ask, "What are the best places to go birding in Costa Rica?" it's difficult to answer....
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Just back from our much-anticipated trip to Costa Rica with the ever-patient and good-humoured Godfreys and arranged for us by the fabulously knowledgeable and capable Carlos Luis Jiménez Cruz of Ave Nativa. Anything he doesn’t know about wildlife isn’t worth knowing. These photos show just the tip of the iceberg of everything we saw and did. Fortunately, no evidence exists of the snorkelling trip we undertook – there is no easy or elegant way of getting back into a kayak from the sea as John will testify, as he was catapulted back into the water thanks to my efforts.
FEB 2025
Just back from two weeks in Costa Rica birding. I figure I shot close to 30k photos, so this will take a little while to go through. On the bright side, we saw 327 species of birds, and additional reptiles, insects, plants, and mammals. Thanks to our excellent guide and friend, Carlos Luis Jiménez Cruz, our trip was packed full of amazing sights and experiences, not to mention food. I can’t wait to get processing the photos and sharing them with you.
Costa Rica 2025
First time to Costa Rica. What a beautiful country and wonderful people. Wanting to do some birding and some relaxing we decided to do both. The first week, we booked 7 days of birding with Ave Nativa Tours. They took care of all logistics in Costa Rica, including accommodations, meals and transporation. It even included a guide. Kevin Martinez is an amazing birder, able to hear and spot birds easily and point me in the right direction. His mimicking calls were spot on. He was such as pleasant person to be with. Pura Vida
The second week was spent at a resort in Punta Leona on the west coast. It was nice to relax around the pool and occasionally, do some birding on the grounds.
In all, we saw 229 species of which 177 were lifers, 1 Costa Rican endemic and 41 regional endemics
https://www.risnorbirds.ca/birding-vacations/costa
We just finished a great target trip. Mud, steep walks, and endless hours searching for very hard and uncommon species of CR.
Some of the top birds are
Gray headed Piprites
Bare necked umbrellabird
Spot fronted swift
Lattice tailed trogon
Slaty breasted tinamou
Thicket tinamou
Streak breasted treehunter
Middle american screech owl
Dark Pewee
Striped Owl
White tailed emerald
Bare shanked screech owl
Black thighed grosbeak
Costa rican brush finch
Peg billed finch and more
From 38 sps with some possibilities we scored 29!!
Thank you Janice Grove and Keith , Cali, Luis, Ademar, Alvarito.
Total species 359
This is just a little sample from our customers. If you need we can provide contacts from previous trips, so you can reach or call them directly !!!
Nov 2016 • Couples
We contacted Carlos last summer to help us set up our private birding tour of Costa Rica. We left all the details to him and he came up with a great itinerary which in turn gave us an unbelievable experience. He picked us up at the airport in San Jose and took us for a 9 day tour of many of the birding hotspots in Costa Rica including La Selva Birding Station, San Gerardo de Dota, Arenal, Monte Verde, Savegre and so many other lesser known areas with excellent birding. He arranged all our accommodations, meals and transportation. We loved every minute including the day of hurricane Otto which we spent the afternoon at the Tabacon Hotsprings.
Carlos was even able to find birds by their hearing their calls as he drove. He was one of the most knowledgeable and best bird guides we have ever met. He was also very patient. We learned so much about his beautiful country from him. He spotted 3 kinds of monkeys, sloths, snakes, frogs and so much more. We saw over 300 species of birds many of which he was able to ID by their call. He would then make sure we got a good look at the bird before adding it to our list. One of our highlights included the Resplendant Quetzal!
We loved every moment of this trip and hope to be able to do another tour with Carlos again one day soon. He can be reached by phone (506) 89279630
Gracias Carlos!
Carlos was even able to find birds by their hearing their calls as he drove. He was one of the most knowledgeable and best bird guides we have ever met. He was also very patient. We learned so much about his beautiful country from him. He spotted 3 kinds of monkeys, sloths, snakes, frogs and so much more. We saw over 300 species of birds many of which he was able to ID by their call. He would then make sure we got a good look at the bird before adding it to our list. One of our highlights included the Resplendant Quetzal!
We loved every moment of this trip and hope to be able to do another tour with Carlos again one day soon. He can be reached by phone (506) 89279630
Gracias Carlos!
Niagara Falls, Canada17 contributions
May 2016
I am so glad to have visited Costa Rica. We hired Carlos Jimenez as our private birding guide. We didn’t have a moment of disappointment in the entire 12 days. I recommend Costa Rica to everyone. From the ocean and bay to the beautiful mountains and waterfalls. All that and a respect for the environment. Incredible. (We went in May 2015, but it’s not available in the drop down.)
Maryann D Conroe24 contributions
Carlos was recommended to us by Richard Garrigues (author of the Birds of Costa Rica book) in January 2010. Four of us went to Santa Rosa NP, Rincon de la Vieja NP, and a private trail near Quebrada Grande in the rainforest with Carlos. He was able to call in birds, and was very knowledgable . Speaks very good English. We saw a Tody Mot Mot, and the count was about 122 species in 2 days, some of which are uncommon such as the Three-lined Thickknee. Carlos is both professional and personable, and I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone. Great equipment such as his leather-seated van, sound equipment, and also indispensible local knowledge. He certainly knows his stuff
- From Fonthill, Ontario
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g309235-d1133891-r56989864-Eco_Explorers_Costa_Rica-Province_of_Guanacaste.html
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