Costa Rica | Birding the Central Valley and Caribbean Lowlands

Arrival in Costa Rica, meet your driver and travel to the hotel. Have dinner on your own in the hotel restaurant tonight.

Explore the hotel grounds while birding before breakfast. Then, check out and visit a coffee plantation near Calle Angélica to look for Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow. Depart for Selva Verde Lodge & Rainforest Reserve and stop en route at Cinchona. Upon arrival at Selva Verde, have lunch and enjoy some free time in the afternoon to explore the lodge. Later, go on a guided birding walk to look for some target species like the Mottled Owl, Blue-crowned Motmot, and Red-headed Barbet, among many others.

Wake up early this morning to go on another birding walk with your guide. Then, enjoy breakfast while watching the feeders outside the dining room before heading out on a hike in Selva Verde's primary forest with your guide. Protecting 500 acres of lowland tropical rainforest, the reserve and lodge offer many covered walks, birding trails, and lookout points, with opportunities to see species such as the Keel-billed Toucan, Great Green Macaw, White-winged Becard, Sunbittern, Acadian Flycatcher, and Wood Thrush. Boots are available for use if the trails are muddy. This afternoon take a boat ride on the Sarapiqui River. Take an optional walk after dinner to discover nocturnal frogs and insects.

Start the day early with some birding before checking out and departing for Guarumo Lodge. Have lunch at Guarumo and enjoy the amazing views and chances to spot species like the Russet-naped Wood Rail, Blue-chested Hummingbird, Long-billed Hermit, Red-legged and Green Honeycreepers, and more. Continue to Rancho Naturalista, considered one of the country's premier birding lodges. More than 450 species of birds have been recorded in Rancho Naturalista's private reserve, including antbirds, tanagers, and woodcreepers, just to name a few. The lodge is also renowned for attracting hummingbird species such as Purple-crowned Fairy and Garden Emerald. A highlight species often seen on the grounds is the Snowcap hummingbird, one of the smallest birds in the world.

Today, explore the trails at Rancho Naturalista and visit the hummingbird pools. Look for wading birds and ducks at Angostura Lake, one of the top birding sites in the lodge. In addition to the beautiful Snowcap, specialties here include the White-crowned Manakin, Black-throated Wren, Dull-mantled Antbird, Lovely Cotinga, Thicket Antpitta, Tawny-chested and White-throated Flycatchers, Black-crested Coquette, Violet-headed Hummingbird, and Garden Emerald. It may take some work to find them all, but visitors can have great luck at this location.

Say goodbye to Rancho Naturalista and depart for La Marta, a 3,750-acre wildlife refuge located around 44 miles southeast of San José in the Cartago province. This refuge protects primary cloud forest and tropical rainforest, waterfalls, cave systems, and the river basins of the Marta and Gato rivers. La Marta is part of the Talamanca Mountains, so it features diverse topography, vegetation, and climate due to its mountainous terrain but relatively flat river valleys. A few of the special birds found here are the Tawny-crested Tanager, Ashy-throated Chlorospingus, and the striking Crimson-collared Tanager. Continue on to Hotel Quelitales and take a late-afternoon birding walk if time permits. Elevation at La Marta can range from 2,475 to 6,400 feet.

Explore the trails and feeders at beautiful Quelitales today. Out of the almost 400 bird species spotted here, more than 30 are hummingbird species, including the Black-bellied Hummingbird, Green-fronted Lancebill, and Coppery-headed Emerald. There are also chances to see the Highland Tinamou, Scaled and Ochre-breasted Antpitta, Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow, and Barred Parakeet. Relax and enjoy this lovely hotel and nearby waterfall in the Costa Rican Highlands.

Head back to San José today, with birding en route. First, visit Irazú Volcano National Park, the highest volcano in Costa Rica at 11,259 feet above sea level, so visitors can expect fog and chilly temperatures. This birding experience is at an altitude between 9,500 and 11,000 feet to look for high elevation species like Volcano Junco, Timberline Wren, the elusive Sooty-capped Finch, Black-and-yellow and Long-tailed Silky-flycatchers, and perhaps Golden-winged Warbler. Join the group for one last bird checklist meeting before enjoying a farewell dinner at the hotel in the evening.

This morning, travel to the airport for your flights home.