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Habitats and Birding Locations Orbiting out of Guanacaste by car Montane habitats - Road to
Upala, Arenal Volcano, Monteverde, Cerro de la Muerte, Guanacaste NP, Carolina Lodge,
and Rincon De Viejo NP. All of these can be day trips from
Liberia, but Arenal Volcano and Monteverde are difficult day trips
and Cerro de la Muerte at least an overnight. Dry Deciduous Woodlands and Lagoons
Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve (last visited: 2002) is not too much different than Santa Rosa if you walk the trail near the headquarters, but you will certainly need a SUV-type vehicle to get there (as well as Palo Verde if you do that refuge). At LB, we saw Double-striped Thick-knee in the pastures, Lesser Greenlet, and Olivaceous Woodcreeper which we did not see at SR.
Palo Verde National Park (last visited: 2006) is the most widely visited park in Guanacaste. Most birding information I've read suggests that Palo Verde is the best place to see Jabiru. Although this is generally true in the dry season, I'm not sure it should be expected in the summer wet season (birds disperse all over Guanacaste and into Puntarenas at that season). I've seen a single Jabiru in a tree on our only summer visit to Palo Verde. A winter visit many years earlier produced 6-7 birds. I considered my summer sighting of Jabiru at Palo Verde a lucky sighting. Palo Verde has both good dry woodland trails and a large lagoon. There are lots of good birds at Palo Verde - too many to mention. Along with Carara National Park, I consider it one of the better birding locations in western Costa Rica. So far, it has been the only birding location I've been to where Limpkin seems likely in most seasons.
Montane Habitats 1-2 hours from the NW coast If you've birded in dry tropical deciduous forests before or even birded western Mexico, you will probably want to bird in the higher or wetter habitats east of the Pan American Highway. One of the easiest ways to see birds of the Caribbean slope from Guanacaste is to simply drive the road to Upala (highway 6) - (last visited: 2006) the only paved road cutting through the cordilleran valley between the mountains running through Bijagua towards the Alajuela Province. For a good stop on this road (if you have an SUV), I recommend a side trip to Carolina Lodge just off the road to Upala\Bijagua and just past the town of Bijagua. I can't recommend the sleeping arrangements since I haven't stayed there, but I can recommend the habitat. I do intend to stay there on a least one trip - it looked very birdy on our short trip around the grounds. It's owned by an American and they seem to welcome drive-in guests. It's a tough dirt road up there (7 km) but you can make a lot of stops since there is no traffic. On the road to the lodge, I saw Violaceous Trogon, Gray-headed Chachalaca, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat and a few other birds not usually seen around Guanacaste. At the waterfall next to the lodge we had Plain Xenops, Band-backed Wren, Boat-billed Flycatcher and a variety of other birds. At the entrance to another trail, a Buff-rumped Warbler was chipping excitedly. We spent less than an hour there. Check with someone when you arrive at the Lodge so they know you're poking around. From the lodge property, it is a short drive to the Tenorio Volcano National Park - a park still unexplored by my wife and I. Geographically, the road to Upala\Bijagua does not appear to get you much closer to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, but it will put you on the eastern side of the mountains in a biotic zone entirely different than Guanacaste. Most of the birds from Bijagua to Upala are birds of the Caribbean slope foothills. This road is good for birds like Keel-billed Toucan. Although the Upala road is paved (sometimes good and sometimes horrible), there are no shoulders on the road. One must be very careful about pulling over. On my drive toward Upala, we almost never saw any birds from the car. Whenever we stopped near forested areas, however, we were generally greeted with 10-12 species at every stop. I have birded this road several times. On these occasions, the birding was very good where there was forested habitat. It is very dangerous without shoulders, so beware. I also strongly recommend small SUV's instead of cars. The SUV is worth it especially in the wet season of summer. You will drive on dirt roads if you visit any of the national parks or smaller lodges. Driving east from Guanacaste to get to see the Caribbean slope avifauna is simple - like the road to Upala\Bijagua. Once you're in the mountains that run vertically through the country, you can begin to see humid Caribbean slope birds and will continue to do so as you drive through the mountains. You may also see similar species if you drive straight south out of Guanacaste also on the Pacific side where it becomes much more humid and wetter. Guanacaste National Park (last visited: 2000) is opposite from the Santa Rosa NP on the Pan American Highway, but it will take you into Caribbean slope birding if you're willing to try unpaved roads. During our first year, we hired a guide in Liberia who drove us on the back side of Guanacaste NP. This was very productive, and it was our longest day birding (literally 8am - 6pm in the field). There are no places to eat on those back roads, so take supplies. Birds included Collared Aracari, Laughing Falcon, White-collared Manakin, Piratic Flycatcher, Gray-capped Flycatcher, all three saltators, Passerini's Tanager, Black-faced Grosbeak, Black-cowled Oriole and a wide variety of others.
Lower, Wetter Habitats 3 hours from the NW coast The real change in birdlife while driving south from Guanacaste into the state of Puntarenas is Carara National Park (last visited: 2005) on the west-central coast. This is an easy place to bird, an easy place to drive to, an easy place to get a bird guide (they wait for tourists at the gate of the River Trail and offer their services - worth it on your first trip), it's almost always productive, and anywhere around Carara is good viewing for Scarlet Macaw. In other words, this should be a primary birding stop for everyone. I've seen a lot of birds at Carara and I see new birds every time I go there. Carara NP is about 2.5-4 hours from most places in Guanacaste - easily do-able on a long day trip, but better with an overnight. Staying overnight is quite nice at Villa Lapas which is very close to Carara NP. I've been told Boat-billed Heron can frequently be seen behind the well-known La Pacifica Restaurant just north of Canas on the Pan American Highway. A raft trip down the Rio Corabici will almost certainly produce a few birds. You can inquire about the trips at La Pacifica. However, we were able to see several at Carara NP on the River Trail near the lagoon on two occasions during two separate July visits. In summer, the Carara river trail may be a more reliable location for this species than La Pacifica. Approximately 4 hours from the NW coast Arenal Volcano (which I have only driven by) is also a nice montane birding experience from what I hear and most good hotels offer trips to Arenal Volcano if you don't want to drive. Monteverde is possible in a day, but is much better with at least two days of time allotted (last visited: 2003). It's a very popular destination and there are many places to stay (see web site below). All of these parks have a very different avifauna than is typical for the Guanacaste region so I would consider at least one trip to one of these parks. You can travel to the Monteverde Refuge (in the cordilleran Tilaran south and east of Canas) from the beaches of Guanacaste, but it will be a long trip - about 4 hours each way. There are several different roads that lead to Monteverde from the Pan American Highway, but the best road will be the road from Lagartos. That's the road all the buses take. On our second trip, we went to Monteverde and stayed at Hotel Montana - a mid-priced hotel that worked fine for us (Check out the Monteverde web site for more information). The average temperature at Monteverde is about 65 degrees, usually cloudy and windy (less windy in July), and sometimes rainy. Nevertheless, it remains one of Costa Rica's great birding locations. The Monteverde cloud forests have several birds that might be hard to get otherwise - including Three-Wattled Bellbird, Resplendent Quetzal, and some of the nightingale-thrushes. Cano Negro Refuge (last visited: 2006), east of Upala (and in the Alajuela Province) can have some Caribbean lowland birds but an overnight is needed there since the 2-hour morning boat trip around the lagoon is needed to see Nicaraguan Grackle, Green Ibis, Black-collared Hawk and a few others that might be target species. We also had a nice look at two Bat Falcons, several Bare-throated Tiger Herons, Gray-necked Wood Rail, and a surprising Snowy Cotinga perched in a tree on the lagoon. There are two lodges available in town... both are quite clean as I've looked at both. The Cano Negro Natural Lodge has the only true restaurant. This is not a well-visited refuge, but I found the little town around the lagoon clean and inviting. There are no trails, so you'll need to bird the roads if you feel like birding before or after your boat trip. While birding on the roads around the lodge before the boat trip, we had Crimson-fronted Parakeets, Mealy Parrots, Collared Aracari, Gray-fronted Dove, and Montezuma Oropendula as well as the usual suspects. Paraques were common on the roads after the sun went down - and are strangely quiet at that time of year. To date, I have seen no other location in Costa Rica for observing Nicaraguan Grackle except on the Cano Negro boat trip, but other trip reports suggest observations of the bird on the road to Los Chilies in the dry season (generally the same area but about a few kilometers further east).
The boat trip at Cano Negro was $25 a person but is easily worth it. There are several places to get the boat tour - at either lodge or the public boat ramp - and I think a guide would do it any time of day on the spur of the moment if necessary. We took the boat trip out of the Hotel de Campo using a guide named Jimmy. He knew no English, but he knew his birds. Stretching Further Out 4-6 hour trips from the NW coast For hard-core birding, the
classic places for Caribbean birds of Costa Rica (the richest bird
life in CR) are found at
La Selva OTS Biological Station
(lowland - 5 hours from Guanacaste) and
Braulio Carrillo NP (mid-level elevation - 5.5 - 6 hours from Guanacaste). These great locations
will need a bit more time than just one day from Guanacaste (they
are about a 5-hour drive towns on the northwestern coastline). You
could steal 3-days for those two spots and perhaps Poas Volcano
(5 hours - picture below)
The La Selva OTS is certainly worth it if you don't mind driving. You can get there a couple of different ways without getting on unpaved roads, so even a small car can make the trip. The sheer volume of birdlife around the dining hall is staggering. We stayed at the Selva Verde Lodge but there are several places around the vicinity including the research station itself. A quick drive up the mountain road to the hummingbird restaurants at Cinchona or perhaps a side trip to Virgen del Socorro can make this addition very productive in terms of species. Manuel Antonio NP (4 hours from Liberia) and Hacienda Baru refuge (5.5 hours from Liberia) lie south of Carara NP and also require a bit more than a day trip from Guanacaste but are do-able with a layover. I have visited both spots (last visited: 2005) and returned to Guanacaste for the flight home. Manuel Antonio NP (MANP) does not have a lot of great birding habitat, but it does have one fairly nice trail in the park. It's a pretty crowded park so you must get there (to the trail) early. MANP is growing exponentially with lodges and people. It's a beautiful place so you can see why people build there. I recommend it only as a nice place to stay, a good place to see monkeys, and a quick jaunt along the one walking trail. It's also good for Fiery-billed Aracari around some of the better hotels. On the trail, we had Golden-naped Woodpecker, Brown-hooded Parrot, and Black-bellied Wren among the usual suspects. Hacienda Baru is a private refuge with accommodations about 1.5 hours south from MANP on a good dirt road. You can search for their web site where they have a bird checklist. Hacienda Baru has several trails and we had nice looks at Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, Yellow-headed Caracara, King Vulture (flying over) and American Pygmy Kingfisher. I saw a Blue Ground Dove on the road as we drove over. 6-7 hour trips from the NW coast Other great places like Tapanti, Cerro de la Muerte (and the Savegre Mtn Lodge on the south slope of Cerro de la Muerte), Corcovado, Tortugero, and Rancho Naturalista are really too far from Guanacaste to try in a short time. Even two days would not be enough. You might need at least a 10 or 14 day trip to Costa Rica while using Guanacaste as a home base to attempt any of these locations with a vehicle from Liberia. This is when you begin to look at San Jose as your jumping-off point rather than Guanacaste. Although I have done both Cerro de la Muerte and Tapanti in summer, it was done using San Jose as a home base. |
Santa Rosa NP (last
visited: 2001) is one of
the easiest Guanacaste birding areas from Liberia. The road into the
NP is good, but I still recommend an SUV vehicle for the one
exceptional birding location in the park. Close to the main entrance
there is a small dirt road that takes a very hard right off the main
road (get a map at the park entrance headquarters). The road is easy
for about a quarter mile and then dips downward and becomes
impassable. At this point, you simply park your car and walk. The
forest immediately gets larger and the birding here is particularly
good - Barred Antshrike, Long-tailed Manakin, Red-legged
Honeycreeper, Rufous-capped Warbler, Nutting's Flycatcher, Greenish Elaenia and
White-winged Becard were seen before we got 30 yards down the
road.
There are other wetter montane
habitats close enough for a very long day trip or a quick overnight
if you're staying somewhere in Guanacaste. Guanacaste NP and
Rincon De Vieja NP are in the mountains and can both be done
with a long day trip.
or
some other high-elevation habitat and lose only a half day in
driving from Guanacaste.