Birding for the elderly in Costa Rica (1 Viewer)

[James Jobling]

Plan to visit Costa Rica next year, using Saga Holidays (holidays for the more mature and bewildered). Limited and fixed (non-birding) itinerary based at Gran Hotel, San Jose, for 3 nights, Hotel Villa Lapas, Tarcoles, for 3 nights, and Tilajari Resort Hotel, on the Rio San Carlos south of Boca Arenal, for 7 nights. Various excursions will be available (e.g. Carara NP, Arenal Volcano, Penas Blancas, Cano Negro). Can find lots of info in existing literature, but nothing specific about birding at Tilajari. Has anyone experience of birding at that resort/hotel, or bird lists for the general area? When would be the best season/time to visit (my wife and I were thinking of January)? Any info gratefully received.
James Jobling
UK

 

[Birdingcraft]

I have birded near there and know the hotel- nice place and a good choice for a relaxed vacation. Should be a good number of fun species to watch right on the grounds of the hotel and it will work as a base for day visits to Arenal Observatory Lodge (good birding right around hotel buildings) and Cano Negro (easy boat ride and good for many waterbirds and a nice variety of other Caribbean lowland species).

I would expect a healthy variety of edge and garden species from the Caribbean lowlands (probably 150 or so species or more occur on hotel grounds). A small sampling would probably include:

Gray Hawk
Red-lored Parrot
Orange-chinned Parakeet
Olive-throated Parakeet
Keel-billed and Black-mandibled Toucan
Collared Aracari
Gartered Trogon
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Cocoa and Streak-headed Woodcreepers
Green Honeycreeper
Golden-hooded Tanager
Passerini's Tanager
much more!

With trips to Cano Negro and Arenal Observatory Lodge, you should see quite a few more.

 

[James Jobling]

Thank you for the insight, Patrick. Your blog is eminently readable and enjoyable - Cano Negro is a must! Am currently compiling a checklist of birds that I might see. Is it possible to visit one of the highland sites (for Peg-billed Finch, the silky-flycatchers, etc.) in a single day trip by car/taxi from San Jose (preferably with a guide)?

 

[JJP]

Thank you for the insight, Patrick. Your blog is eminently readable and enjoyable - Cano Negro is a must! Am currently compiling a checklist of birds that I might see. Is it possible to visit one of the highland sites (for Peg-billed Finch, the silky-flycatchers, etc.) in a single day trip by car/taxi from San Jose (preferably with a guide)?

James:

I have actually done that. I was in a hotel in San Jose where the concierge had several pamphlets on natural history tours. I grabbed one and called them to see if they could pick me up in the morning and take me around Cerro de la Muerte which is just a couple of hours outside San Jose... and had, at that time, a biological station in the high elevations. You could also try Poas Volcano or Irazu Volcano. Both of those may even more accessible these days from San Jose. The problem with all these places is that it can get cloudy and rainy in a hurry. You should make sure of early departure time.

I had Volcano Junco, Black-capped Flycatcher, both silky flycatchers, some nightingale thrushes, and several hummingbirds. The highland species are similar at all locations. The guides weren't much help as they were naturally history guides. They mostly just took me from spot-to-spot. But I was able to identify a lot on my own just fine.

This was the 1990s though, so I make no promises. Traffic is San Jose is ridiculously bad, and the biological station may have closed. But it is do-able.

 

[njlarsen]

Thank you for the insight, Patrick. Your blog is eminently readable and enjoyable - Cano Negro is a must! Am currently compiling a checklist of birds that I might see. Is it possible to visit one of the highland sites (for Peg-billed Finch, the silky-flycatchers, etc.) in a single day trip by car/taxi from San Jose (preferably with a guide)?

Well, send Patrick a PM as he might be just the guide to take you out

Niels

 

[Birdingcraft]

Thank you for the insight, Patrick. Your blog is eminently readable and enjoyable - Cano Negro is a must! Am currently compiling a checklist of birds that I might see. Is it possible to visit one of the highland sites (for Peg-billed Finch, the silky-flycatchers, etc.) in a single day trip by car/taxi from San Jose (preferably with a guide)?

The Poas area is good for those species and many others and pretty easy to do as a day trip. I do that quite often.

 

[safariranger]

James, I had the good fortune of having Patrick guide me for two days on a recent trip to Costa Rica. I can highly recommend his services.
Fantastic country for birding. I am just getting my first photos loaded on Birdforum now.
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/29749

 

[James Jobling]

I have 'bumped' this because, after the passage of years and a couple of false starts, we have at last booked a Saga holiday to Costa Rica in March next year. The itinerary is semi-fixed (San José, Tarcoles, Tilajari) but I think we have some time to ourselves. In the intervening period has anybody been to the Tilajari Resort, and are there any new birding reports for that Caribbean lowland area? On their website most visitors are positive, but enthrall about the iguanas and tennis courts, and there is astonishingly little about the birds!

 

[Birdingcraft]

I expect that it is pretty much the same. If you haven't tried yet, the best place to check is eBird.

 

[James Jobling]

Patrick, Thank you for the intro to eBird, where I found birding reports for the Tilajari Resort. A very useful resource. Many thanks again.

 

[James Jobling]

Despite avidly absorbing the contents of Stiles & Skutch 1989, and Garrigues & Dean 2014 (as advised in Patrick's essential blog), I am still preparing to be overwhelmed by lots of small green, olive and brown birds lurking in large brown, olive and green trees.
Our tour for the faintly bemused is now staying at the Hotel Villa Tournon in San José (at the very beginning and the very end of our trip). I see from the eBird maps that this appears to be within short walking distance of the Parque Zoologico y Jardin Botanico Simon Bolivar, and, perhaps, suitable for an early morning visit. Given the much lauded friendliness of the Ticos, is it safe to walk the streets of San José in the early morning carrying binoculars? Any views or comments on this?

 

[Birdingcraft]

Despite avidly absorbing the contents of Stiles & Skutch 1989, and Garrigues & Dean 2014 (as advised in Patrick's essential blog), I am still preparing to be overwhelmed by lots of small green, olive and brown birds lurking in large brown, olive and green trees.
Our tour for the faintly bemused is now staying at the Hotel Villa Tournon in San José (at the very beginning and the very end of our trip). I see from the eBird maps that this appears to be within short walking distance of the Parque Zoologico y Jardin Botanico Simon Bolivar, and, perhaps, suitable for an early morning visit. Given the much lauded friendliness of the Ticos, is it safe to walk the streets of San José in the early morning carrying binoculars? Any views or comments on this?

Although that hotel is near those sites, no, I don't think it is worth it. You won't see much there and probably nothing that you won't see elsewhere. Also, no, I would definitely not feel comfortable walking there or anywhere in San Jose with binoculars or camera out in the open. It's not like there are thieves everywhere but that would just be presenting too much of a target for them.

 

[James Jobling]

Patrick's brilliant blog recommends consulting: F. Gary Stiles & Alexander F. Skutch 1989, A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica, Steven Hilty 1994, Birds of Tropical America. A watcher's introduction to behavior, breeding and diversity, and Richard Garrigues & Robert Dean 2014, Birds of Costa Rica, ed. 2, before any visit to Costa Rica. These are all essential references, but may I also add: Don Stap 1991, A Parrot without a Name. The Search for the Last Unknown Birds on Earth, Univ. Texas Press ed., which I found fascinating, rewarding, and, with Hilty, an equally useful background to Neotropical ornithology.
In addition to the two field-guides mentioned above, I think that one of David Sibley's guides would be invaluable for overwintering or migrant Nearctic species. The North American Bird Guide, ed. 2, is rather bulky, so, given the mix of species, should I take F. G. to Birds of Eastern North America, or F. G. to Birds of Western North America? What would aficionados recommend?

 

[cassowary]

James as you are going to Tarcoles you will be right next to Carara. Bird Guides are there every morning outside the reserve (although I didn't use them the ones I chatted with knew their stuff). Carara is an excellent spot for many birds. eg: there is a manakin bathing spot, etc etc; it's quite flat and accessible with benches along some trails. Should be safe to park there as well.

see links:

http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L447761

http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L442617

http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L442983

 

[James Jobling]

I shall be taking both Stiles & Skutch 1989, and Garrigues & Dean 2014, but am still undecided about a Sibley field-guide. Thanks for further eBird links, which complement those supplied by Patrick (see his latest offering about birding in San José). Our itinerary is (general) guide based, although the full details have yet to be received. There are a few included excursions (PN Carara; a rainforest walk (not yet sure which rainforest!); La Paz Waterfall Gardens), and numerous optional excursions (some of which I regard as compulsory, e.g. Volcan Poas; Manuel Antonio; Penas Blancas; Cano Negro). However, two optional excursions intrigue me, as I have been unable to find them on eBird (or anywhere else, apart from their own publicity), and they are Pacific Rainforest Aerial Tram Jaco, and Turu Ba Ri Tropical Park (both day or half-day trips from Villa Lapas). Does anyone know these places; both seem extraordinarily garish, noisy and touristy, but would they be worth visiting for birds?

 

[gdhunter]

There are a few included excursions (PN Carara; a rainforest walk (not yet sure which rainforest!); La Paz Waterfall Gardens), and numerous optional excursions (some of which I regard as compulsory, e.g. Volcan Poas; Manuel Antonio; Penas Blancas; Cano Negro).

You didn't mention a Rio Tarcoles tour, and that might merit consideration. Of course it helped that on my last such tour we had Patrick O'Donnell as a guide.

Gary H

 

[James Jobling]

Our trip is not specifically for bird-watching (the tour is called "Jewel of Central America," and a couple of the excursions include visits to a coffee estate and to a pineapple plantation!), but I will bird-watch every day (except in San José). I don't know if our tour-guide will be knowledgeable on birds (our tour-guide in South Africa was a bird-watcher, and used to stop the coach if anything interesting caught her attention, or if I shouted "STOP!!"). In the absence of any positive news on the Pacific Rainforest Aerial Tram Jaco and Turu Ba Ri Tropical Park I shall give those two excursions a miss, and use the time at Tárcoles more advantageously with, perhaps, a local guide.

 

[cassowary]

Villa Lapas has a very respectable bird list if I recall - Here are the latest sightings (in case you don't have the link):

http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L585101

I remember it as a good spot for long-tailed manikin.

I highly recommend Arenal if it's still on your itinerary. very accommodating to all ages and levels of fitness. (lots of different frogs, eylash pit vipers, many species of bird, semi tame white-nosed coati, a semi tame margay (if you are lucky) etc etc..

I've heard Manuel Antonio has a higher possibility of theft than other places and bird wise off the top of my head I'm not sure what you can see there that you can't see at or near to Villa Lapas

 

[James Jobling]

Having written rather dismissively about the Pacific Rainforest Aerial Tram Jaco and Turu Ba Ri Tropical Park (see #15 and #17) I have stumbled across their hotspot entries on eBird (a godsend pointed out to me by Patrick), and see that they are not to be treated in such a cavalier fashion. I have also come across an old thread (Costa Rica Trip Review 8/11/2013, author Tomwbhx) by a veteran who actually went on the Saga trip to CR, which is accompanied by over 500 splendid photographs (although, not wishing to be an armchair expert, Tom, I think just a couple of your identifications need reviewing).
The CR field-guides are my constant companions (still thinking about one of the NA field-guides - any views?), I have prepared a check-list, and I have a selection of hats. All I have to do now is decide whether to take long-sleeved shirts or short-sleeved shirts, read Patrick's blog on a regular basis, pay for the trip, and wait.

 

[njlarsen]

I assume you are quite well aquainted with north american birds already. I would therefore take the Sibley app on a tablet or phone and leave the paper version at home.

Niels