web analytics
Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica

Where to Watch Birds in Costa Rica- the Drive to Fortuna

Where to watch birds in Costa Rica? Ask and you’ll get a wealth of answers, most based on personal experience or commercial interest. You’ll eventually find the right ones but you’ll probably have to wade through dozens of comments and website fluff to get there.

In general, the answer depends on the same factors as every birding destination; the birds you want to see, how you want to experience them, and how much time you have. Once you figure those things out, check birding tour itineraries, eBird hotspots, and go from there (my Costa Rica birding site guide book will also help).

During trip planning, don’t be surprised if you find yourself drawn to the Arenal area. The combination of tourism infrastructure, quality forested habitats, and accessible birding make Arenal one of the top hotspots in Costa Rica. Visit the right places around Arenal and you’ll have fair chances at King Vulture, hawk-eagles and other raptors, 3 to 4 motmot species, antbirds, and hundreds of other species!

King Vulture flight

Yes, it truly is fantastic, especially because it’s so easy to do! Most roads are good and it takes around three hours to drive there from the airport. Although you could go straight there, the trip is long enough to merit en-route birding. That birding is also so good, you can’t go wrong in spending an extra day or two to finally reach Arenal!

Seriously, Costa Rica just has too many excellent, accessible birding areas. If you plan on driving to La Fortuna, these are some suggestions and places where I go birding:

San Ramon

If you could go for some dry forest birds, sites at the edge of San Ramon can deliver. Patches of dry forest habitat at the edge of the city host birds like Chestnut-capped Warbler, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens, Orange-fronted Parakeet, White-fronted Parrot, Long-tailed Manakin, and more.

Chestnut-capped-Warbler

One of the better spots is a track just outside the southern edge of the UCR university campus. Although the habitat there is sadly threatened by poisoning and burning to use the land for farming and housing, in the past, it has been a good site for Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow and many other species.

The San Ramon Cloud Forests

San Ramon is also near some excellent cloud forest sites. Around 30 minutes drive from San Ramon, the Bajo La Paz area hosts good roadside birding and some private reserves. This is a good area for Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Sunbittern, quetzal is always possible, and many other middle elevation birds occur too. From February to April, bellbirds are also often present!

You can see a good number of birds from the road but you’ll see more if you hire local guides, Romain and Ignacio Arias.

Cocora

This small reserve is on the main road towards La Fortuna, maybe 15 minutes from San Ramon. They have a good hummingbird garden, butterfly enclosure, nice feeder action, and good middle elevation forest with an excellent variety of species. They also serve excellent, locally grown coffee, some of the best I have ever tried.

Coppery-headed Emerald showing its colors.

A short trail in the forest can yield several nice birds but it can be a bit challenging and muddy. This spot is small but don’t underestimate it. Highland Tinamou has visited their kitchen outflow, I have seen Bicolored Hawk and Ornate Hawk-Eagle here, and umbrellabird sometimes also occurs. They probably charge a $10 to $12 entrance fee.

San Luis Canopy

Just down the road from Cocora is one of this route’s better known birding sites. It opens at 8 but if you get there before then, keep an eye on the trees behind the buildings and nearby habitat. A lot of middle elevation species are possible including White Hawk and other raptors, various tanagers, and many other species.

Most birders pay $10 to enjoy the tanager feeding station but you can also pay more to bird their excellent hanging bridges trail. This trail passes through excellent habitat with chances at umbrellabird (seasonal), Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo and antbirds at antswarms, and other nice species, even Lattice-tailed Trogon.

The Manuel Brenes Road

Of all the sites mentioned, this one might be the best. This public road varies in terms of its condition but, lately, it’s been leveled and in pretty good shape. Leaving from a roadside marsh, it passes through excellent lower middle elevation forest. Roadside birding can turn up big mixed flocks with shrike-tanager and many other species including possible Sharpbill (rare but regular), Northern Schiffornis and other deep forest birds, a chance at antbirds and the ground-cuckoo at antswarms, as well as foothill birds like Lattice-tailed Trogon and Yellow-eared Toucanet.

Umbrellabird can also occur, bellbirds are often present, various raptors are possible, and the list goes on!

Lands in Love and Nearby

When I have birded the Manuel Brenes road, I have often had lunch a little bit further down the main road to Fortuna at the Loveats Cafe. They aren’t always open but, if so, enjoy vegan dishes and great coffee while scanning for raptors.

You can also bird their main hotel, Lands in Love. This site has a lot of rescued, barking dogs but also has great foothill-lowland rainforest habitat. The loop road can be very good (I recently saw Rufous-winged Tanager, Black Hawk-eagle, and Yellow-eared Toucanet while others also had a Tiny Hawk!), and there are trails through good forest.

Those trails can yield a wide variety of forest species, even Keel-billed Motmot, Semiplumbeous Hawk, and possible Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon among many other species.

There are also other sites to explore near Lands in Love. Adventurous birders will like the Las Rocas road. This is a side road that makes a sort of loop from San Lorenzo to the Cecropia Ecolodge. It’s not always passable and you’ll need four wheel drive but you’ll have some equally exciting birding!

Finca Luna Nueva

There are additional birding options further downhill, heading towards La Fortuna. For a nice set of lowland birds and excellent organic cuisine, you can’t got wrong by birding at Finca Luna Nueva. It’s a good place to stay and break up your trip, especially because their trails can have Uniform Crake, White-fronted Nunbird, and many other forest species.

You can also see a lot right around the cabins and pool.

If you plan on driving to La Fortuna, make time for birding on the way there. You can’t go wrong by stopping at one or more of the sites mentioned above. Happy birding, I hope to see you here!

Categories
bird finding in Costa Rica Birding Costa Rica birds to watch for in Costa Rica

Birding News from the San Luis Canopy, February, 2025

“Canopy” has more meanings than you think. I hear or see the word and envision the most evasive and alluring parts of a forest. Canopy is where tree crowns could be topped with silent and colorful cotingas, a tip top might be graced by an Olive-sided Flycatcher, and where eagles nest.

An Ornate Hawk-Eagle from near Virgen del Socorro.

The canopy is irony in full view because you can look up into it but, you hardly see it, at least not from the ground. To experience the canopy, you have to somehow get up there, high into the squirrel and monkey walkways. Aptly named canopy towers help but in Costa Rica, for whatever reason, we don’t have many. Instead, we rely on views of steep slopes cloaked in mature forest, or bird from suspension bridges that cross steep and deep ravines.

A canopy is also a type of roof, and, in Costa Rica, a synonym for “ziplining”. Yes, put on the helmet, harness up, and you can canopy through the canopy. It’s exhilarating and you might see a good bird or two but it’s not the best way to bird the canopy. As with all birding, seeing those high level birds requires time and patience, a lot more than a pseudo flight through the forest.

If birding with family who want to go ziplining (most do and with good reason), this presents one of those common vacation birding conundrums. Basically, how do you please everyone, the birding you included? The easiest solution is to go birding in a place where you can watch birds while the non-birding fam can get their zipline canopy kicks. Luckily, in those regards, several ziplining spots work but one spot is especially fantastic.

That spot is the San Luis Canopy (aka Parque Aventura San Luis) and if you need to mix fam. canopy with your type of canopy, this is the place to do it. Heck, even if you aren’t with family and want to experience excellent birding, you can go to San Luis and do that too!

I was there today, here’s some of the latest birding news from this birding hotspot:

Bare-necked Umbrellabird

San Luis continues to be a reliable spot for this mega, crow-sized cotinga. Although it rarely comes to the edge (where the feeders are), you might see one on their hanging bridges trail. Lately, workers have been seeing at least back in those fine woods. Maybe you’ll see it too?

Tanager Fest

Lots of tanagers are still visiting the fruit feeder area including a couple of Blue-and-Gold Tanagers. They are joined by lots of Silver-throateds, a few Emeralds, Bay-headed, Scarlet-rumped, Crimson-collared, Palm, and Blue-gray Tanagers.

Keep watching and you’ll also get super close views of beautiful Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, Tawny-capped Euphonias, patriotic Clay-colored Thrushes, Chestnut-capped Brushfinch, and other species.

Keep watching the surrounding trees too, that’s where Black-and-yellow Tanagers occur along with White-ruffed Manakin, Tropical Parula, migrant warblers, and other birds.

Altitudinal Migrants

Some of those other birds may include Black-thighed Grosbeak, White-throated Thrushes, and Black-faced Solitaires. Lately, cool weather has driven these and some other species to lower, more food-rich environs. Might a Yellow-eared Toucanet show up? Maybe something else?

I heard one of these beauties today.

If you don’t see them at San Luis, head down the road and watch for fruiting trees, they might be there instead.

Scaled Antpitta, Purplish-backed Ground-Dove, and other Good Birds

Lately, the birder/workers at San Luis have also been seeing Scaled Antpitta. That’s not too surprising but they haven’t seen it before and it’s always a tough one to see. Interestingly enough, one of the birder workers related how a Scaled Antpitta seems to follow White-collared Peccaries.

He also mentioned that he has been seeing quite a few Purplish-backed Quail-Doves, and may have seen Strong-billed Woodcreeper in the back part of the forest. Although he hasn’t seen Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo lately, this site has been a good spot for that mega bird and it should show again, especially with Army Ants.

Speaking of Army Ants, they also regularly see Ruddy Woodcreeper along with other ant following birds. Sadly, one of the birds they have not seen lately is Ochre-breasted Antpitta. Although at least one was regular at the site for a while, they haven’t seen this species in a while. I wonder if it’s because of climate change driven warmer and drier weather.

Lattice-tailed Trogon

This toughest of Costa Rica trogons is also present although it seems to be restricted to the deepest part of the forest. It’s a bit of a walk but with umbrellabird, ground-cuckoo, and other species possible, yeah, it might be a good one to do!

Raptors

San Luis is also good for raptors. Today, they heard Ornate Hawk-Eagle calling just before we arrived and, just down the road, I had also glimpsed a soaring Black Hawk-Eagle!

Other regular raptors include Barred Hawk, Bicolored Hawk (although pretty uncommon), Double-toothed Kite, Barred Forest -Falcon sneaking around the forest, Short-tailed Hawk, and occasional Great Black Hawk. If you are extra lucky, you might even see Tiny Hawk.

birding Costa Rica
An elusive Tiny Hawk.

Yep, San Luis Canopy is rocking! In a month or two, Three-wattled Bellbird should also be around, they have seen at least one Keel-billed Motmot, and other cool birds are a short drive down the main road. One of those is Tody Motmot. Despite what range maps show, this super cool bird also occurs at sites a 30 minute drive from San Luis. Lots of other birds do too, to look for them, contact Maylor Herrera. He’s the birder and employee at San Luis who shared a wealth of birding information with me today, including the fact that he’s found several territories of Tody Motmot and spots for White-tipped Sicklebill.

To visit San Luis, tanager viewing costs $12 while their longer, hanging bridges trail may cost $25 to $30. They also have a nice little restaurant and a bunch of good souvenirs, local craft beer included. As always, I look forward to my next visit.

To learn more about hundreds of birding sites in Costa Rica, support this blog by purchasing my 900 plus page Costa Rica bird finding ebook. I hope to see you here!