Archaeopteryx Birding and Nature Tours
Professional Bird, Butterfly, Nature, and Photography Tours Around Central Florida and the World – Creating Lifetime Memories One Tour at a Time
We lead 3 trips for the Bird of a Feather Fest and met lots of new birders and had a great time. Beck got Ruff as a state bird on Saturday’s trip. Friday’s trip nabbed Ash-throated and Vermilion Flycatchers. Got to spend more time with Greg Miller as well.
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CDC and Local Guidelines for Covid-19 will be followed.
Costa Rica – Five (5) Main Habitats (TRIP FILLED)
March 2-9, 2022
$1930.00 Per Person Double Occupancy, Contact for single supplement rate.
Join Archaeopteryx Birding & Nature Tours as we explore the 5 habitats of Costa Rica for the largest diversity of bird species you can find in the country. We’ll be staying 3 nights in the Pacific lowlands at Playa Hermosa, Puntarenas, 2 nights in the cloud forest of the Quetzal Valley, and 2 nights in Vara Blanca, Alajuela. The 5 habitats we are set to explore are the Pacific slope, the Atlantic slope, the mangroves, the dry forest, and the cloud forest. Our accommodations will be natural, but comfortable ecolodges off the beaten path of most tourism. Here is the tentative itinerary for the tour:
3/2- Arrive in San Jose and travel to Playa Hermosa that evening. We’ll have dinner and light birding around the property of our lodge and begin birding early the next morning
3/3- Calle Conga Hill. We’ll be spending our first morning walking around the Calle Conga rural neighborhood. Here we will be looking for Scarlet Macaws, Fiery-billed Aracari, Great Kiskadee, Streaked Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Montezuma Oropendola, Lesson’s and Turquoise-browed Motmot, Palm Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Inca Dove, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Black-striped Sparrow, Bright-rumped Attila, Yellow-crowned Euphonia, Gray-headed Chachalaca, and Masked Tityra. Later, we’ll do some driving around town for additional bird species not seen in the neighborhood and stop at the Puddlefish Brewery in the evening.
3/4- Jaco Mamedales Quebrada Bonita wetlands- Red-breasted Meadowlark, Grayish Saltator, Variable Seedeater, Morlet’s Seedeater, Scarlett-rumped Tanager, Blue-black Grassquit, Thick-billed Seed-finch, Common Black Hawk, Northern Jacana, Scissor-tailed, Willow, and Social Flycatchers, Green-breasted Mango, Southern Lapwing, Brown Jay, Rose-throated Becard, Boat-billed Heron, Blue-gray Tanager, Rufous-naped Wren, Crested Guan, Amazon Kingfisher, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, and Mangrove Swallow. This is a large area where we’ll be doing some walking and some driving in order to see the entire wetlands area and make our way to the beach.
3/5- Mangrove boat tour- Green and Ringed Kingfishers, Yellow-headed Caracara, Yellow-naped Parrot, Mangrove subspecies of the Yellow Warbler, Mangrove Vireo, Double-striped Thick-knee, Lesser Nighthawk, Collared Plover, Ruddy Ground Dove, Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Squirrel Cuckoo, Black-headed Trogon, White-fronted Parrot, Orange-fronted Parakeet, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, and Neotropic Cormorant. We’ll then drive to the Quetzal Valley area and check into an ecolodge.
3/6- Parque Nacional Los Quetzales- White-collared Swift, Acorn Woodpecker, Flame-colored Tanager, Lesser Violetear, Blue-and-white Swallow, Band-tailed Pigeon, Volcano, Stripe-tailed, and Talamanca Hummingbird, Black-faced Solitaire, Spotted Wood-Quail, Yellowish and Black-capped Flycatchers, Ochraceous Wren, Resplendent Quetzal, Northern Emerald-Toucanet, Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, Thick-breasted Treehunter, Torrent and Mistletoe Tyrannulet, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Yellow-bellied Siskin, Large-footed Finch, and Flame-throated Warbler
3/7- Plan to leave Quetzal Valley very early in the morning and head to Braulio Carrillo National Park & El Tapir- Carmiol’s and Tawny-crested Tanagers, Pale-vented Thrush, Olive-backed Euphonia, Speckled Tanager, White-necked Jacobin, Green Hermit, Black-throated Trogon, Streak-crowned Antvireo, Gray-rumped and Vaux’s Swift, Black-faced Grosbeak, Crowned Woodnymph, White-shouldered, Dusky-faced, Black-and-yellow, and Silver-throated Tanagers, Short-billed Pigeon, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Great Tinamou, Black-eared Wood-Quail, Olive-backed Quail-Dove, Green Shrike-vireo, Ashy-throated Chlorospingus, Hepatic Tanager, Black-and-yellow Tanager, Snowcap, Mealy Parrot, Stripe-breasted Wren, Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Pale-billed Woodpecker, and Green Thorntail. After a half-day of birding, we’ll check into our ecolodge in Alajuela.
3/8- La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Bananaquit, Brown-headed Parrot, Green-crowned Brilliant, Black-bellied, Scintillant, and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Violet Sabrewing, Common Chlorospingus, Sooty Thrush, Chestnut-capped Brushfinch, Sooty-faced Finch, Melodious Blackbird, and Slate-throated Redstart.
3/9- Birding in the hummingbird garden of the lodge in the morning and return to the airport for flights home
The cost for this tour will be $1930.00 per person shared occupancy. A meal plan for our initial 3 days is available upon request with full dinners including an appetizer and dessert and lunch for $35/day. Breakfast is included from 3/3-3/5.
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