Costa Rica birding: the questions we are asked most

With a guide, all year, and best in the nesting season. San Gerardo de Dota has quetzals in every month and the valley's guides know which wild avocado trees are fruiting. Tell us your dates and we will say honestly what the odds look like that month.

The official list, kept by the Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica, stands at 944 species on its June 2026 update: 655 marked resident and 222 as migrants that spend part of the year here, with 105 flagged as endemic to Costa Rica and the region. Our checklist is that list, every species, in its own order.

Carara and the Tárcoles, at dawn and at dusk when the pairs cross the river. With a guide you will see them on the first morning; without one you will still hear them.

All year. Resident birds are here every month. The northern migrants come through on their way south from August to December, and again on their way back north, so a trip in those windows adds the warblers and the raptors on the move. December to April is the dry season on the Pacific side; the Caribbean keeps its own calendar and it rains there in every month. If your dates touch Christmas, New Year or Semana Santa (21 to 28 March 2027), you are right to be planning now.

Three nights in a zone gives you two full dawns there. A week holds two zones, nine or ten days holds three. Longer than twelve nights and most people want a beach at the end.

San José for the Highlands, the Caribbean and the Pacific south. Liberia for the dry side and the Guanacaste beaches. Have you looked into flights yet, or is there an airport you have in mind? Tell us and we will advise.

In the Highlands, yes. Mornings in San Gerardo de Dota need a fleece, and by ten the sun is on the valley floor. The lowlands are hot all year. Our packing list has the rest.

You can bird on your own at any lodge we use. But a local guide finds in a morning what takes a visitor a week, and for the quetzal, the hawk-eagles and most of the hummingbirds we book one every time. We contract the guides directly.

No. A private driver in a modern air-conditioned van takes you between stops on your schedule, early included, and one of our team meets you at the airport with your welcome pack and documents.

It is one of the trips we build most. Three nights at each stop, so there is a morning for the birder and a day for both of you. The guide takes the birder out at first light; the afternoons have hot springs, a beach or a pool close by.

No. Every trip is private, for your party only, on the dates you choose. We run no fixed-date group tours. If you lead a group of your own, we build around the group.

No. We build everything from landing at San José or Liberia to check-in for the flight home: the greeter, the lodges, the private transfers, the guided birding. You book the flights in and out, and we say which airport suits your route.

Yes, and most people do. Add a night where the bird has not shown, drop a stop, swap a lodge, finish on a beach.

The birding lodges are small, so for the dry months and for Christmas, New Year and Semana Santa the sooner the better. Four to six months ahead is comfortable for most dates; earlier for the busy weeks is the smartest thing you can do.

Every trip is a custom quote: lodges, private transfers, guided birding days and the airport welcome built into one price for the trip. The deposit at booking is 25 percent and the rest is due before you travel. The payment and cancellation policies are set out in full in the Client Agreement we send you, and we highly recommend travel insurance.