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    VIVO Expeditions

    Bird watching · Costa Rica

    Costa Rica Bird Watching Tours with Local Expert Guides

    Over 900 species in one small country. We run half-day walks, full-day expeditions and multi-day birding trips from La Fortuna into Boca Tapada, Arenal and the Caño Negro wetlands — small groups, scope on every stop.

    • Small groups · private by default
    • Guides who bird these forests daily
    • Honest species windows by month

    Where we bird

    Great Green Macaw & lowland specialties — Boca Tapada · Northern lowlands, Costa Rica bird watching tour

    Boca Tapada · Northern lowlands

    Great Green Macaw & lowland specialties

    The San Carlos frontier holds the most reliable Great Green Macaw nesting trees in the country, plus King Vulture, Agami Heron (March–June), Sunbittern and Great Potoo along the río San Carlos.

    Great Green Macaw · Agami Heron · King Vulture · Sunbittern

    Foothill birding around Arenal Volcano — Arenal & La Fortuna, Costa Rica bird watching tour

    Arenal & La Fortuna

    Foothill birding around Arenal Volcano

    Mixed flocks on the volcano foothills: motmots, toucans, honeycreepers, Black-crested Coquette and up to 10 hummingbird species at feeders and heliconia patches.

    Keel-billed Toucan · Rufous Motmot · Black-crested Coquette

    Wetland birding by boat — Caño Negro wetlands, Costa Rica bird watching tour

    Caño Negro wetlands

    Wetland birding by boat

    A Ramsar wetland reached by slow boat — Nicaraguan Grackle, Jabiru, Boat-billed Heron, Anhinga and thousands of migrating waterbirds from December to March.

    Jabiru · Nicaraguan Grackle · Boat-billed Heron

    Best time for bird watching in Costa Rica

    Birding is good year-round here; what changes is which species are active. This is what we actually see, month by month.

    Dec – Mar
    Peak season: dry mornings, northern migrants at Caño Negro, best light for photography.
    Mar – Jun
    Agami Heron colony active in Boca Tapada; macaw nesting and heavy breeding-plumage activity.
    Jul – Aug
    Green-season window with quiet trails, strong hummingbird activity and lower rates.
    Sep – Nov
    Wettest months in the Caribbean slope — afternoons short, mornings still excellent for foothill flocks.

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