Arrival at the Juan Santa Maria Intl. Airport, Costa Rica.

You will be welcome at the airport by a representative of the company and immediately will be either given your transportation so you can drive to your first hotel or a private driver will shuttle you to the first hotel. The first hotel is located close to the airport.

After breakfast you can departure to the next hotel (2-3 hour drive), this is one the best hotels for bird photography in Costa Rica as it has a unique deck with a bird feeder that is absolutely spectacular for Yellow-throated, Keel-billed Toucan and Collared Aracari. Is also a great feeder for parrots like Orange-chinned Parakeet, Brown-hooded and White-crowned Parrot. Red-legged and Shinning Honeycreepers, Golden-hooded and Passerines Tanagers provide so much fun and the interactions of all these birds for the best bananas always gives unique photos opportunities. We will have lunch here and spend the rest of the afternoon birding around the hotel.

Next day you can take advantage of the early morning at the deck for bird photography and then explore the surroundings. The trails are great for Red-capped Manakin displays (depends on rain pattern) and also taking a paddle canoe is a great option to explore the rainforest in the extensive systems of canals, Agami Heron and Sungrebe are good possibilities.  And also we will go to the King Vulture Hide.

Also bats with multiflash.

After the early morning at the local feeders you will start our drive to the spectacular wetlands of Caño Negro (3-hour drive). A unique system of wetlands in the far north that is maybe the best place in Central America to get   all species of Kingfishers and many other waterbirds. We will have lunch on the road and get to this stunning place stopping a few miles before our destination to birdwatch an open road that normally provides good

chances for American Kestrel, Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, Nicaraguan Seed Finch and Red-breasted Blackbird.

Early morning of next day you will do a boat ride to get water birds like Sungrebe, Black-collared Hawk, Snail Kite, Boat-billed Heron, Green, Amazon, Ringed, Green and rufous and American Pygmy kingfishers and even the elusive Agami Heron. Spectacled Caiman are common sightings in this tour.

Optionally you can do second boat tour this afternoon in the same wetland or drive for an hour to another excellent wetland called Medio Queso to do your second boat tour there. This will depend on how the water levels are looking that day. Medio Queso offers much better chances for Pinnated Bittern, Least Bittern, Yellow-breasted Crake and Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture.

We will arrive at lunch time and spend the rest of the afternoon on the trails of the hotel, Bat Falcon, Red-lored Parrot and a number of other interesting birds are quite common. We will have dinner here.

Herping at night. Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Strawberry poison frog, Basilisk, Green and Black Poison Dart Frog.

Next day in the morning we will drive to Cope Arte, here we can get some bird like White-tipped Sicklebill, Olive-backed Euphonia, Long-billed Hermit, Great Potoo and Spectacled and Crested Owl.

Herping at night.

As we drive to the highlands (5-hour drive) we will stop one or twice in the way to get some birds like Red-headed Barbet, Green Hermit, Emerald Toucanet among others. Once in the highlands we will stop in the highest point of this road to bird the Paramo. A shrubbery ecosystem with three restricted endemics, the Volcano Junco, Timberline Wren and Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Next day in the early morning you will give it a chance to one of the most elusive species of the country, the Resplendent Quetzal.  Known for many as the most beautiful bird of the world.

Later you can bird around the hotel and the gardens and open roads that can produce species like Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Black-thighed Grosbeak, Large-footed Finch, Yellow-thighed Finch, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Peg-billed Finch, Spangle-cheeked Tanager, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager, Black Guan, Sulphur-winged Parakeet, White-throated Mountain-Gem, Black-faced Solitaire, Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Sooty Thrush and Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher.

In the morning we will invest some time exploring the entrance road of the hotel looking for missing bird species from previous day.

Or, we could have and extra chance for the Quetzal.

In the afternoon we will drive to San Jose city with stops along the way if there is any missing target we can get before getting to San Jose.

Eleven fascinating and amusing days will be saved in photographs and our memories. These will serve as evidence of our time together in a place where biodiversity has no limits.

It is time to say, “see you soon.” We trust that we will be able to share another adventure together.

After a comfortable rest and a delicious breakfast, we are ready to return to our homes.