Birding in Paradise—Custom trips or Fixed Dates with Target Birds

Whether you choose a customized
private trip or join one of our scheduled ABA endorsed group tours, we take care of all the details and leave you to enjoy the spectacular beauty of Costa Rica without having to do the planning.

Ocoee Adventure Travel operates only in Costa Rica so you can be sure we are focused on providing the most knowledgable native guides and naturalists.

Sarapiqui region, Carribean lowlands, Selva Verde Lodge/ Rainforest Preserve
La Selva Biological Station www.threepaths.co.cr 
Selve Verde Lodge www.holbrooktravel.com/selveverdelodge/ 

Fortuna, Arenal Volcano, lowlands, agricultural areas, Arenal Paraiso Spa Resort
    La Paz Waterfall Gardens www.waterfallgardens.com
    Arenal Paraiso Spa and Resort www.arenalparaiso.com
    Arenal Hanging Bridges www.hangingbridges.com 

Pacific Coast, Carara National Park, lowland transitional forest
    Villa Lapas www.villalapas.com 

Detailed Sample Itinerary:

Day 1 
Leaving San Jose, we head south to our first location, San Gerardo de Dota, a tiny community located in the Talamanca Mountains. Our route takes us through the City of Cartago with its beautiful Cathedral and city square. South of Cartago we travel through a lush countryside with steep hills, coffee plantations and fruit trees of many varieties. Traveling the Pan American Highway, we will pass small communities and mountain forests to an elevation of 9600 feet (3000 meters) on our descent to our Mountain Lodge at 7200 feet (2200 meters). The road to Savegre is gravel, curvy and steep but gives us a great opportunity to bird along the way. The road to the Lodge has yielded great views of the Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Resplendent Quetzal and the Flame-throated Warbler. After arriving at Savegre, we will get settled into our rooms and then meet for lunch. During lunch we will have excellent views of the feeders and gardens with chances of viewing the Green Hermit, Violet Sabrewing, Green Violet-ear, Fiery-throated, Stripe-tailed, Black-bellied and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, White-throated Mountain-gem, Green-crowned Brilliant, Magnificent Hummingbird, Magenta-throated Woodstar and the Scintillant and Volcano Hummingbirds.

After lunch, we will bird the gardens and grounds around the Lodge. Savegre is also a 400 acre working orchard and trout farm producing apples, peaches and plums along with Rainbow Trout. The majority of our meals will be at the lodge which will give us the opportunity to sample the fresh fruits and trout grown in the community. The afternoon will be spent searching for such species as the Resplendent Quetzal, Collared and Orange-bellied Trogons, Emerald Toucanet, Acorn and Golden-olive Woodpeckers, Torrent Tyrannulet, American Dipper, Ochraceous Wren, Black-headed Nightingale Thrush and the Sooty-capped Bush Tanager. The light starts to fade in Costa Rica around 5:30 p.m., so we will call it a day and prepare for checking the list and dinner. 

Day 2
The group meets in the gardens at 5:30 a.m. to see what secrets it has in store for us. Breakfast begins at 6:30, but is flexible depending on what we’re seeing. After breakfast we will depart by truck to the forest trails above the Lodge. We will experience different habitats while searching for the Highland Tinamou, Maroon-chested Ground-Dove, Sulfur-fronted Parakeet, Red-headed and Prong-billed Barbets, Red-faced Spinetail, Spotted Barbtail, Lineated Foliage-gleaner, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Mountain Elaenia, Plain Wren, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Black-faced Solitaire, Azure-hooded Jay, Yellow-winged Vireo, Collared Redstart and Sooty-faced and Large-footed Finches. This moderate hike will start along farm and orchard roads in a mid-elevation cloud forest. The trails are a Level 3-4 on the ABA Scale of Fieldtrip Difficulty.
In the afternoon we will choose from several options near the lodge to concentrate on the birds that may have eluded us over the past two days. Dinner will again be at Savegre with another opportunity to sample their excellent food.

Day 3
After breakfast we will depart by bus for the Pan-American Highway birding along the way to our maximum elevation of over 10,000 feet. Our search is for high elevation and above the timberline species such as the Buffy Tuftedcheek, Sooty Robin, Timberline Wren, Silvery-throated Jay, Black-cheeked Warbler, Volcano Junco and Black-thighed Grosbeak. 
Lunch and dinner will be at one of the local roadside restaurants. The food in Costa Rica is a simple fare consisting of chicken, fish, black beans and rice along with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Our Costa Rican host Roger Madrigal does an excellent job of choosing the best eateries and lodging for our guests. After we tally our numbers for the day and finish dinner, we will begin the return to Savegre Lodge searching and calling the Dusky Nightjar. We’ll also search the roadside fence posts and trees for the Bare-shanked Screech Owl, Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl and Unspotted Saw-whet Owl.

Day 4
We have an early departure for the Sarapiqui area where we will spend the next three days birding some of the richest avifauna in the country. Upon our arrival, we will check-in at Selva Verde Lodge and Rainforest Reserve. Selva Verde is a 500 acre reserve located on the banks of the Sarapiqui River and offers great birding possibilities in the Caribbean Lowlands. The lodge has covered walk-ways leading to the amenities and rooms with the open air bar and restaurant located along the banks of the river. The rooms are simple but very comfortable with ceiling fans, private baths and screened windows with privacy shutters. The rooms are also raised above the rain forest floor which gives you a feeling of being in the trees. We will spend the remainder of the day searching the grounds for species such as the Neotropic Cormorant, Semiplumbeous Hawk, Sunbittern, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Great Green Macaw, Brown-headed, Red-lored and Mealy Parrots, Bronzy and White Long-tailed Hermits, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Collared Aracari, Bright-rumped Attila, Masked Tityra, Bay Wren, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Yellow-crowned Euphonia, Green Honeycreeper, Variable Seedeater, Orange-billed Sparrow, Black-cowled Oriole and Montezuma Oropendola. After checking the list, we will dine buffet style at Selva Verde Lodge.

Day 5
We will bird the grounds close to the Lodge before breakfast. After breakfast, we will board the bus for a short ride to La Selva Biological Station operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies. La Selva protects almost 4000 acres of old growth tropical wet forest. On our way into La Selva we will bird the entrance roadway. Past trips have yielded several species such as the Crested Guan, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Rufous-tailed Jacamar and Cinnamon Becard among other species.

While inside the research facility we are required to have one of La Selva’s guides with us. These guides are knowledgeable, professional, and know where to locate the birds. Today watch for species such as the Violaceous Quail-Dove, Ruddy Quail Dove, Black-and-White Owl, Central American Pygmy-Owl, Great Potoo, White-tipped Sicklebill, Stripe-throated and Long-billed Hermits, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Violet-crowned Woodnymph, Band-tailed Plumeleteer, Black-throated Trogon, Rufous and Broad-billed Motmots, Yellow-eared Toucanet, Keel-billed and Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, Black-cheeked and Chestnut-colored Woodpeckers, Ruddy Treerunner, Plain-brown, Wedge-billed and Black-striped Woodcreepers, Brown-billed Scythebill, Western-slaty and Fasciated Antshrikes, Snowy Continga, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, White-collared Manakin, Ash-throated and Northern-royal Flycatchers, Black-crowned Tityra, Band-backed and Stripe-breasted Wrens, Olive, Tawny-crested, Passerini’s, Plain-colored and Golden-cheeked Tanagers, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Yellow-crowned, Olive-backed and Plain-colored Euphonias and Chestnut-headed Oropendola.

Dinner tonight will be at a local restaurant serving a family style seafood feast. We start with a seafood soup, and then move on to sautéed shrimp, rice mixed with fish and shrimp and Costa Rican mudbugs (freshwater crawfish).

Day 6
The morning will be spent exploring the grounds of Selve Verde in search of any Caribbean Lowland species we may have missed. After lunch we will take a two hour boat ride on the Sarapiqui River in covered boats with quiet four-stroke engines. This should be an excellent way to spend the afternoon while searching for such species as the Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Neotropic Cormorant, Least Bittern, Fasciated and Bare-throated Tiger-Herons, Boat-billed Heron, Green Ibis, King Vulture, White-throated and Gray-breasted Crakes, Sungrebe, Spectacled Owl, Lattice-tailed Trogon, Ringed, Pygmy, Amazon and Green Kingfishers, Purple-throated Fruit Crow, Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, Scarlet-thighed and Blue Dacnis. Birds will not be the only species we may see today. There is also a good chance to spot mammals such as Howler and White-faced Monkeys, the Two-toed and Three-toed Sloth, White Nosed Coati along with Iguanas and the JC Lizard.

Day 7
Today we depart for La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano with a short detour to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. The gardens offer an opportunity for great views of twenty-four species of hummingbirds including the Bronzy and Green Hermits, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, Violet Sabrewing, Brown Violetear, Green Thorntail, Black-bellied Hummingbird, Blue-throated Goldentail, White-bellied and Purple-throated Mountain-gems and the Green-crowned Brilliant among others. There are five waterfalls on the property and the trails to the falls have steep downhill grades but are well maintained with a shuttle from the exit trail back to the Gardens. If the trails do not interest you, the Gardens also offer more than twenty species of butterflies in the butterfly garden, a frog exhibit showing the beautiful and deadly species of Costa Rica and a monkey house for rehabilitation of injured and rescued monkeys. The grounds also produce such bird species as the Prong-billed Barbet, Bananaquit, Common Bush-Tanager, Passerini’s, Palm, Golden-hooded and Silver-throated Tanagers. Lunch will be at the open-air Colibries Restaurant. The buffet offers everything from hot dogs and pizza to typical Costa Rican fare.

Our next stop will be Fortuna and Volcano Arenal. The drive will take us about three hours (two hours for non-birders). We will begin in mountain farming country and then descend into low land farming country passing through small communities along the way. This drive produces some excellent birding opportunities for species such as Red-billed and Short-billed Pigeons, Smooth-billed and Groove-billed Ani, White-collared and Gray-rumped Swifts, Long-tailed Woodcreeper, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Masked Tityra, American Dipper and the Variable Seedeater.

Upon our arrival in Fortuna, we will check-in to the Hotel Arenal Paraiso Spa and Resort. The hotel offers excellent views of Volcano Arenal which is the most active volcano in Costa Rica with the last major eruption being in 1968. Whether enjoying the hot springs or just sitting on the porch of your cabin, you can watch as lava and rock spew from the dome of the volcano. After getting settled in, we will meet in the hotel dinning room for our daily list check and dinner.

Day 8
This morning we will depart at 5:30 a.m. and have a boxed breakfast on the road. Our destination will be the Arenal Hanging Bridges. The early start should ensure us a two hour head start before the other visitors begin to arrive. The Hanging Bridges provides a great opportunity to see birds 148 feet above the forest floor. This also provides spectacular views of the surrounding areas and canopy wildlife. Today we will be searching for species such as Gray-headed Kite, Solitary Eagle, Squirrel Cuckoo, Blue Ground-Dove, Western Long-tailed and Little Hermits, Black-crested Coquette, Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, Black-tailed and Slaty-tailed Trogons, Broad-billed Motmot, White-necked Puffbird, Great Jacamar, White-fronted Nunbird, Spotted Barbtail, Scaly-throated Leaftosser, Wedge-billed and Plain-brown Woodcreepers, Slaty Antwren, White-ruffed Manakin, Brown-capped Tyrannulet, Golden-crowned Spadebill, Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Bay, Black-throated and Stripe-breasted Wrens, White-breasted Wood-Wren, Olive-backed Euphonia and the Green, Shining and Red-legged Honeycreepers.

Lunch will be at the Hotel and afterwards we will have several options for afternoon activities. You will have the option of enjoying the amenities of the property which includes fourteen hot springs, a waterfall hike or you can relax and catch-up on lists and notes in your room or by the pool. There is excellent birding on the grounds of the hotel or if enough folks are interested we can organize a trip to Lake Arenal. Dinner tonight will be at one of the many fine local restaurants.

Day 9
After breakfast we will depart for the Pacific Coast and Carara National Park. The drive will take about four hours, but is well worth it because the Park is considered by some to be the best birding in Costa Rica. The area is a lowland transitional forest; the humid forest of the Southern Pacific coast overlaps with the drier forest of the northern Pacific coast to create a unique birding habitat. We should arrive just in time for lunch at a local café with a great view and breeze from the Pacific Ocean. While dining here on past trips we had hundreds of Magnificent Frigatebirds circling overhead while Brown Pelicans and Royal Terns were skimming the surface of the ocean. Two Scarlet Macaws were perched in the tree across the stream and a Blue-tailed Hummingbird paid several quick visits to the flowers only a few feet from where we were sitting.
We will again cross the Rio Tarcoles Bridge looking for crocodiles basking in the mud below. The Park is only a short distance away, so we can start walking the lunch off. In the National Park we will be searching for species such as Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Plain Xenops, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Barred Antshrike, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Paltry Tyrannulet, Northern Bentbill, Streaked Flycatcher, Rose-throated Becard, Rufous-napped and Riverside Wren, White-lored Gnatcatcher, White-shouldered and Bay-headed Tanagers, Green Honeycreeper and Buff-throated Saltator. The nights lodging will be at Villa Lapas located between the beach towns of Tarcoles and Jaco. Tonight we will enjoy our farewell dinner at one of the local restaurants on Jaco beach.

Day 10
This morning we will be departing for San Jose and our flights home. We will not arrive at the airport till late morning, so please book your flight accordingly. Early afternoon flights would be ideal considering the San Jose Airport is undergoing renovations and please remember to allow time for the added security.

Click here to make your reservation