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Birding and Natural History in Costa Rica - II The Caribbean
Slope – Selva Verde Lodge, Cano Negro, and Arenal Observatory Lodge Costa
Rica has been blessed with several important ingredients for high biodiversity
– a tropical latitude, tremendous geographic diversity, and a strong
conservation ethic. As a physical
and ecological link between North and South America, it is biogeographically
rich with cloud forest, tropical deciduous forest, lowland rainforest, and an
abundance of rivers and streams, all of which contribute to a great diversity of
flora and fauna.
From
the comfort of some of Costa Rica’s finest nature-based accommodations,
we’ll explore some of these habitats and their rich wildlife - Selva
Verde Lodge, Cano Negro Natural
Lodge, and Arenal
Observatory Lodge. After
a buffet lunch just outside the park, we’ll stop at one of Costa Rica’s
newest wildlife “hotspots”. Jose
Perez, also known as “Cope”, has a fabulous feeder set-up at his small
house. In addition to hummingbird
and banana feeders (both of which attract a lot of eye candy), we’ll have
chances to see helmeted basilisk, brown-throated three-toed sloth, black river
turtle, white-tipped sicklebill, spectacled and crested owls, great potoo, and Honduran white
bat. We
then continue to Selva Verde Lodge, located on the banks of the Rio Sarapiqui.
The grounds and adjacent properties are home to chestnut-backed antbird,
bright-rumped attila, yellow-throated and keel-billed toucans, black-cowled
oriole, bay wren, gray-capped flycatcher, scarlet-rumped tanager, bare-throated and fasciated
tiger-herons, American pygmy kingfisher, rufous mourner, orange-chinned
parakeet, mealy parrot, slaty-tailed and gartered trogons, cocoa woodcreeper,
rufous motmot, and several hundred other species.
Other wildlife in the area includes emerald basilisk, red-eyed leaf frog,
two poison dart frogs (strawberry and green-and-black), mantled howler and
white-throated capuchin monkeys, Central American agouti, white-lined sac-winged
bat, and variegated squirrel. In
addition to the lodge area, we’ll also visit the nearby Tirimbina Reserve and
its pristine rainforest. We
then head north to Cano Negro Natural Lodge located amidst one of Costa Rica’s
only large seasonal wetlands. The
habitat diversity at Cano Negro – which includes the Rio Frio, several
seasonal lagoons, forest patches, lots of edge habitat, and some agricultural
land – is such that it’s not uncommon to see almost one hundred species in a
day. Among these are Nicaraguan
grackle, Amazon and ringed kingfishers, yellow-tyrannulet, gray-headed dove,
russet-naped wood-rail, the rare yellow-breasted crake, pinnated and least
bitterns, jabiru, lesser yellow-headed vulture, red-lored
parrot, olive-throated parakeet, northern tropical pewee, black-headed trogon, canebrake
and spot-breasted wrens, golden-hooded tanager, and many others. Next we go to Arenal Observatory Lodge, a beautiful and very comfortable place with great views of Volcan Arenal as well as some good patches of rainforest. Here we’ll look for emerald tanager, tawny-capped euphonia, crested guan, great curassow, collared trogon, dull-mantled antbird, tawny-faced gnatwren, black-throated, stripe-chested, and song wrens, and lots more. At night their “frog pond” is good for red-eyed tree frog and northern cat-eyed snake. If we get lucky and find an antswarm, we may see spotted, bicolored, and ocellated antbirds, and black-headed nightingale-thrush. On
our return to San Jose we'll make several key stops. One is at a side road
where we might see smoky-brown woodpecker, Zeledon's antbird, barred and white
hawks, swallow-tailed kite, white-naped brush finch, and American dipper.
Our lunch stop has feeders that attract prong-billed barbet, northern emerald
toucanet In
addition to the many birds, we’ll see, enjoy, and learn about a lot of general
natural history, including the plants, mammals, insects, reptiles and amphibians
of the area as well as neotropical ecology.
Non-avian possibilities include three primates (mantled howler,
white-throated capuchin, and Geoffrey’s spider monkeys), two sloths
(brown-throated three-toed and Hoffman’s two-toed), variegated squirrel,
white-nosed coati, northern tamandua, several bats, emerald and helmeted basilisk lizards, many
amphibians, and more. Led
by naturalist and bird guide Mark Pretti, the 2025 cost will be about $4200 per
person, double occupancy, and includes all lodging, meals, entrance fees, and
ground transportation from San Jose, Costa Rica.
The single supplement will be about $700.
Limited to 8. For more
information, contact Mark at mpnaturetours1@gmail.com
or (520)
803-6889. Honduran White Bat by Karen Blumenthal |
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