Central and Southern Pacific Lowlands
The inn climbs a forested hillside over Drake Bay, and the slope has been planted on purpose with native trees, flowering shrubs and fruit trees to draw birds in. That is what sets it apart from the lodges at the waterline: the first birds of the day come to the gardens below your balcony.
The guided bird walk goes out at first light or again in the late afternoon, two to three hours round the hotel and the bay with a bird guide who knows when each species is most active. The lodge says guests on it usually log more than 50 species.
Most people come to Drake Bay for Corcovado National Park and Caño Island, and the inn runs both by boat. By the lodge's own count, 367 bird species have been identified on the Osa and around the park.
The birding here is the gardens: hillsides planted with native trees, nectar flowers, bushes and fruit trees, which the inn says bring in birds, hummingbirds and butterflies, so you can start from the balcony. The guided walk is easy going but not flat, needs two people to run, and covers the hotel grounds and the upper Osa round the bay; binoculars can be had at reception. The inn also runs a night tour and a mangrove tour on the Río Sierpe. No trail names or lengths are published.
Photo: Aguila de Osa Inn
Drake Bay
An Exclusive Boutique Hotel in the Wilds of the Osa
★★★★
On a cliff above Drake Bay, with rooms set well apart for privacy, high cathedral ceilings and furniture handcrafted from local hardwoods. Our four-star choice for Corcovado and Caño Island.
In the gardens and over the bay, the lodge names the families its guides show you: tanagers, flycatchers, manakins, hummingbirds, toucans, motmots, trogons, and the Scarlet Macaw overhead. On this stretch of the Pacific that means birds like the Fiery-billed Aracari, the Orange-collared Manakin and the Golden-naped Woodpecker, all regional endemics on the official list.
A boat day into Corcovado adds the Great Curassow on the trails, the Spectacled Owl at dusk, and the forest birds found only on this side of the country: Baird's Trogon, Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager and Turquoise Cotinga. In the mangroves, look for the Yellow-billed Cotinga, white and very rare.
| English | Scientific | Spanish | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Macaw | Ara macao | Guacamayo Rojo | |
| Fiery-billed Aracari | Pteroglossus frantzii | Tucancillo Piquianaranjado | Regional endemic |
| Orange-collared Manakin | Manacus aurantiacus | Saltarín Cuellinaranja | Regional endemic |
| Golden-naped Woodpecker | Melanerpes chrysauchen | Capintero Nuquidorado | Regional endemic |
| Great Curassow | Crax rubra | Pavón Grande | |
| Spectacled Owl | Pulsatrix perspicillata | Búho de Anteojos | |
| Baird's Trogon | Trogon bairdii | Trogón Vientribermejo | Regional endemic |
| Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager | Driophlox atrimaxillaris | Tangara Hormiguera Carinegra | Regional endemic |
| Turquoise Cotinga | Cotinga ridgwayi | Cotinga Turquesa | Regional endemic |
| Yellow-billed Cotinga | Carpodectes antoniae | Cotinga Piquiamarillo | Regional endemic |
Getting here is part of the stay: a short flight to Drake Bay then a taxi and a boat to the inn's dock, or a flight to Palmar Sur and about an hour by boat through the Sierpe mangroves. A staff member meets you at the dock and walks you up to the Great Room for a welcome drink. Rooms are spread along a lit hillside trail, from a Junior Suite cabin for two to a Master Suite bungalow for four, many with a terrace over the bay. Meals in the Great Room use fish from the inn's boats and produce from its farm, La Perla. Days start early with boats to Caño Island or Corcovado, and end back on the hill with the sunset over the bay.
Meals. The Great Room, Pan-American cooking with Costa Rican recipes, seafood from the inn's own boats and produce from its farm, La Perla; a bar with local cocktails and a wine list. Meal inclusion is not stated.
Perfect for: a couple who want Corcovado and Caño Island by day and a comfortable room with a bay view at night.
Corcovado and the Osa: 13 major ecosystems in one park, over 400 bird species, macaws and curassows on the trails, our lodges at Drake Bay and Dos Brazos.
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