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Some of the Best Birding in Costa Rica!
2009 Season Highlights:
Abraham has just cut a new trail around the forest swamp. Not only does it help with frog humting but now it is easier to locate the Uniform Crake. The White-tipped Sicklebill populations have been strong in the Rio Pizote and Abraham has been able to find them on a regular basis on thier night perches. The Striped Woodhaunter that appeared close to the lodge early in the season, has decided to take up residence and its call is heard regularly along with the call of the fairly large population of Scaly-throated Leaftossers.
The little Tinamou was feeding consistently right next to the lodge until they started nesting and the White-crested Coquettes have returned to our trees in the yard.
Last season there were some unusual sightings on the Peninsula: a pair of Tropical Screech-Owls, various sightings of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Southern Lapwing has now become a regular on the Osa.
The field season for our endangered and endemic bird monitoring project was a great success. Little was known about our three focal species, the Yellow-billed Cotinga, Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager and the Mangrove Hummingbird. We have added large amounts of information on distribution and behavior to the body of knowledge of these species. Documented habitat preferences, videos of the display flight of the Yellow-billed Cotinga, distribution maps and more nest observations of the Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager. Much of this information will be published in the near future.
Dear Birders,
The Peninsula de Osa, which has often been referred to as "possibly the most bio-diverse place on earth" is home to more than 400 species of birds including the Scarlet Macaw, Black-cheek
ed Ant-Tanager, Baird's Trogon, White-tipped Sicklebill, Band-tailed Barbthroat, Turquoise Cotinga, Yellow-billed Cotinga, White-crested Coquette, Marbled Wood-Quail, Charming Hummingbird, Mangrove Hummingbird, Golden-naped Woodpecker, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Black-hooded Antshrike, Pearl Kite, King Vulture and Red- throated Caracara. Birding our property and surrounding area is especially fruitful due to the diverse habitats found in the river valley. All of the peninsula, Corcovado National Park, The Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve,and Puerto Jimenez is considered lowland tropical rainforest. Within walking distance of the lodge will be found primary forest, secondary forest, mature and immature, pasture, lagoons, river flood plain and mountain areas. The terrain is steep in some places, which helps in viewing the canopy birds.
We have been birding on this property since 1995. Birding for us involves not only listing species but studying their habits as well. Abraham is especially good at finding hummingbird nests and hard to find species. Every year we add 10-13 species to our site list. Many guests have done trip reports that can be found on the web.
Even after all these years of observing our local birds, we learn or see something new, almost daily. Abraham and several guests actually saw an ocelot stalking a Little Tinamou 20 meters from the house in April 2004. Now that was definitely new! If you are interested,read the newest Newsletter for all the recent 2009 sightings.
On a 3 hour morning bird walk we usually see 50-60 species and some groups have spotted over 100 species. There are always a variety of active nests surrounding the house. In the past years we have had nesting, the Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner, Rufous-winged Woodpecker, Lineated Woodpecker, Golden-naped Woodpecker, Orange-collared Manaquin, Red-capped Manaquin, Buff-rumped Warbler, Riverside Wren, 8 species of Hummingbirds, Scarlet-rumped Cacique, Bananaquit, Cherries Tanager, Gray-headed Tanager,Tropical Gnatcatcher, Golden-hooded Tanager, Fiery-billed Aracari, Blue-black Grosbeak, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Common Pauraque and numerous flycatchers. With all these nests visible from the house we have had the pleasure of viewing the birds social and feedings habits daily and watching the interactions of the competing species.
A three day stay, minimum, is recommended to cover all the local "Hot Spots" and have time to look for some special birds not seen the first time around although two days can be quite rewarding. Many serious birders will see between 150-190 species in three days. We encourage you to bring a "want list". There are a couple of species which are much easier to see during a limited time and it varies from year to year so we will be glad to keep you updated via email
Tigre and Osa Birding Packages
We have put together several birding packages for our guests. They will give you a chance to visit all the major habitats and important "hot spots" in the local area , with each spot offering a different variety of birds as well as several of our specialties which are hard or impossible to find in other parts of the country. From our 11 years of experience working with birders in this area, we have a fairly good idea of which birds our guests will want to see and where to find them at any given time.
Highly recommended and included in some packages is the special "Roadside Birding Trip" to Rincon. This is a great trip usually totaling around 80 species, many which are more difficult or impossible to see near the lodge. We start before dawn so we can catch the parrots cruising the fields at first light, the Striped Cuckoo displaying, the Red-breasted Blackbird, Yellow-bellied 
Seedeater, Rufous-breasted Seedeater during morning feeding time and still be able to make it to the bridge in time to catch the Yellow-billed Cotinga flying back and forth across the river in a sort of social display that is yet to be studied. Usually we also encounter Turquoise Cotinga, often in the same tree as the Yellow-billed Cotinga, Mangrove Hummingbird, a Costa Rican endemic, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, and Pearl Kite. There are usually a good assortment of raptors to seen on the way back to the lodge around mid-day.
Birders staying elsewhere on the peninsula are welcome to come out for breakfast and bird with us for 3 hrs. for $40pp. Please make reservations and this offer is not always available.
The Site List
We have a site list posted complete with latin names as well as specific habitat codes. We hope you find it useful. Please let us know if you have any suggestions on improvements or corrections. It does need a bit of updating, additions mostly, which I will hopefully get to in the coming months..
Click here to view the site list
We hope you will come down and bird with us someday soon!
Liz and Abraham