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Costa Rica bird photography guides

Archibald

Travel Guide
Joined
20 Nov 2023
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Location
Ottawa
Name
Ed
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I will touring Costa Rica in a couple of weeks and was interested in hiring a birding guide while there. What I was looking for was a tour of half a day or a few hours, probably a private tour, to fill available time in my schedule. I did some research and have some partial answers now about this, and thought I would post some points here. If anyone can add info, that would be great.

Initially I found and contacted some highly-recommended guides who organize big tours lasting several days or a couple of weeks. I wasn't interested in those longer tours but those tours only happen a few times a year, and I thought a guide might have time in between those big tours to do a short tour for me.

What I found was that these tour leaders are super busy all the time, so much so that they are unable to give proper attention to my queries. Their responses are delayed and often make no sense. Example: I ask if they are available for a tour (with rough time/place) and the response is "I'm so glad you like my photos." I conclude that these people are mainly set up to conduct multi-person multi-day tours and can't deal with an ad-hoc outing.

Another issue with the famous guides is that they are unlikely to be near where the customer might be when the customer wants a tour. Travel times in Costa Rica can be significant.

Then I looked at tours that the hotels might give. And this gave much better results. So far I have only investigated one hotel, but I think most of the big places will offer nature tours of a few hours. They will be led by unknowns, but guides in Costa Rica all have to be licensed and will probably all be well-qualified. The hotel I was looking at offers private tours and regular tours. Private in this context does not mean one-on-one but your own small group, perhaps a couple or family. The private tours are expensive at over US$ 200 per person with a minimum of 2 persons for a 3-hour outing (meaning over $200 x 2 = $400 if it is just me). The regular tours are more reasonable. I think I will opt for a regular outing and hope that there are not too many birdwatchers with life lists.

For those who are interested, some names of the well-known tour guides follow.

Juan Diego Vargas of Lifer Nature Tours
Sergio Vargas, owner @pizotebirdingcr
Dennis Valverde of Osa Photography
Juan Carlos Vindas of Neotropic Photo Tours
Pablo Rodriguez Alvarado
 
I was there probably 10+ yrs ago when first getting into photography. Wasn't the 'birder' that I am now but was taken aback by the species there. I went to some location on hike near La Fortuna, sorry don't recall the name, but plenty of varieties and opportunities there. Sorry, can't provide any guidance but...Costa Rica is beautiful. You will love it and I look forward to those photos!
 
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I just got back from Costa Rica. It was a great vacation and birding experience.

My itinerary included four eco lodges and finished with a night at a notable San Jose hotel. I also went on some tours of parks. Below I will give a brief summary of the locations.

Rafiki Safari is located in San Jose province, south of the capital. The hotel is rather rustic, with hybrid tent-like structures as rooms. The bathrooms are modern and the accommodation is certainly unique, but not really comfortable. But no matter! We are here for photography. And there were excellent opportunities. The grounds are spacious with many open areas, quite suitable for exploring and photographing birds and sometimes other wildlife. A feeder is maintained that attracts hummingbirds and other birds.

El Remanso is in the Osa peninsula in CR's extreme south. In contrast to Rafiki, it is rather civilized with modern comfortable (and fancy) accommodation. Spider and howler monkeys are a big attraction here, and there are many different kinds of birds as well. The grounds are not as open and one often has to shoot under the canopy of the forest.

Villa Caletas is in the middle Pacific coast. It is like an ancient fortress with modern, very well-appointed rooms in a heavily forested and rugged area. There are lots of opportunities for photographing icons like scarlet macaws and toucans in flight and also perched if you have a good vantage point. It is difficult to wander around in the green areas because of the terrain. There are tours to Carara National Park and the Tárcoles River with great wildlife opportunities.

Senda Monteverde is in the cloud forest at 1400 meters elevation and is often humid and cool. When I was there, it was hot, though. The grounds are spacious and garden-like with many different kinds of birds as well as agoutis and coatis. The property adjoins Aguti Reserve, and access is included in the hotel stay. I didn't go there but had a tour of the nearby Curi-Cancha Reserve, which was excellent.

My last stop was just an overnight at the Bougainvillea Hotel, which is pretty fancy and possesses a famous botanical garden. Sample photo below.

These places are just a sampling of what Costa Rica offers.

PXL_20240308_234759434.RAW-02.ORIGINAL.jpg

Feel free to ask any questions!
 
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My son is in CR right now over spring break as part of his ornithology class at college. I know they are in Guanacaste right now and I’m sure they will get to Monteverde. Since it is part of an ornithology class, they are focusing on the birds and their ecology and not on photography, but I’ll ask him to report on where he stayed. It’s likely to be spartan, though, as it is a college trip.
 
I did a tour of the Curi-Cancha Reserve in Monteverde. The tour guide was Will Nunez and he was great. Spoke English like a native. He is mostly a birder toting a scope but accommodated to my needs as a photographer. His card is below.

Picsart_24-03-04_15-02-36-194.jpg
 
Thanks for the info, Ed! I’m glad you had a great time! I have been there four or five times on one week or longer bird photography trips as well as one to Columbia. I have always gone with the same guide service, which is Jeff at rainforest photo Tours. Always a great trip.
 
Just saw your update Ed. Appreciate it a lot. I have a planned trip to Costa Rica in July but won't be joining any tours. I will be focusing mostly on birding and photography so the coastal areas were not on my list as I might get tempted to just lounge on the beach. :LOL: Hopefully, I get to take good photos that I can share with the group.
 
Just saw your update Ed. Appreciate it a lot. I have a planned trip to Costa Rica in July but won't be joining any tours. I will be focusing mostly on birding and photography so the coastal areas were not on my list as I might get tempted to just lounge on the beach. :LOL: Hopefully, I get to take good photos that I can share with the group.
I have been many places all over the country with my guide, but off the top of my head I couldn’t name any of them except the ones I named on the other thread. I have to look them up! Best wishes and hope you have a wonderful trip make sure you report back here.! I am jealous. I haven’t been there in several years and I’m itching to go back.
 
I have been many places all over the country with my guide, but off the top of my head I couldn’t name any of them except the ones I named on the other thread. I have to look them up! Best wishes and hope you have a wonderful trip make sure you report back here.! I am jealous. I haven’t been there in several years and I’m itching to go back.
By the way, the only time I went to the Pacific Coast, I was in an earthquake! 2017. Otherwise it was a great trip because that’s where we saw macaws and it is also where we saw lots of primates!
 
In Costa Rica you will find many ecosystems. The Osa Peninsula is great with its wildlife, but then you go to Monteverde or the mid-Pacific coast, and the species there are different. I haven't been to the Caribbean side yet but it promises still more variety. So if you go, plan several locations if you want to see more wildlife.

I'm not so sure about the fancy resorts on the coast, though. We stayed at the Marriott for a few nights one time and all there was to do was swim in their pools, drink free drinks, and gaze at the ocean.
 
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