A La Carte Tours
Las Minas Trail: $75
Las Minas is an excellent place to get a wide variety of birds. The road follows the ridge line, with sweeping vistas of forested mountains, speckled with grasslands and small fincas. On a clear day near the summit, both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans may be seen! Specialties include Black-and-yellow, Bay-headed & Emerald Tanagers, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, White-tipped Sicklebill and many others. The endemic Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker, Spotted Woodcreeper, Red-capped & White-ruffed Manakins, Black-headed Antthrush and Black Guan have all been recorded here!
Cara Iguana Trail or similar: $75
Cara Iguana Trail is outstanding for foothill birding in some of the last remaining examples of quality Dry Pacific Forest. Specialties are Lesser Elaenia, Yellow-olive & Panama Flycatchers, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Lance-tailed Manakin, Rufous-breasted & Rufous-and-white Wrens, Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Tody & Whooping Motmots and Long-billed Gnatwren. Hummers to watch for are Garden Emerald, Long-billed Starthroat and White-vented Plumeleteer.
La Mesa Road: $75
La Mesa Road offers a visually pleasing blend of secondary forest, scrubby pastures, overgrown fincas and grassy borders. Here is where we look for such great specialties as Spot-crowned Barbet, Cinnamon Becard, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Silver-throated, Golden-hooded, Tawny-crested & Bay-headed Tanagers, Spot-crowned Antvireo, Spotted Woodcreeper and the spectacular White-tipped Sicklebill! Rufous-crested Coquette is among the variety of hummers we search for. Also resident are Blue-throated Toucanet, Bran-colored Flycatcher, Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant and Orange-bellied Trogon.
Water Cress Trail: $75
Water Cress Trail, named after the herb which is commercially grown here, is an easy trail traversing through good secondary forest full of birds. Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Black-headed Saltator, Great Antshrike, White-ruffed Manakin, White-thighed Swallow, White-bellied Antbird and Tody Motmot are resident along with many other fantastic birds! We will also listen for Purplish-backed Quail-Dove.
Cerro Gaital: $75
Cerro Gaital, namesake of Cerro Gaital Natural Monument, protects more than 335 hectares of mature cloud forest. Sightings of Black Guan, Blue-throated Toucanet, Orange-bellied Trogon, Spotted Barbtail, Common Bush-Tanager, Silver-throated Tanager, Black-headed Antthrush, Blue Seedeater, Rufous-capped Warbler, White Hawk, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Pale-vented Thrush and many others are possible! This is a very popular area to get specialties quite easily! Scaled Antpitta and Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo have been recorded here.
Valle Chiquito: $75
This valley is accessible by a paved road and passes through nicely forested woodlands crossed by two rivers. At Rio de Jesus we search for Green Kingfisher and listen for Sepia-capped Flycatcher. We also see a nice colony of Chestnut-headed Oropendolas. We also try for Tody Motmot, Yellow-throated Vireo, Yellow-backed Oriole, White-bellied Antbird, Gray-chested Dove, Yellow-billed Cacique, Black Hawk-Eagle, Lance-tailed Manakin, Panama Flycatcher, and many other great birds! Wrens are abundant here: Black-bellied, Rufous-and-white, Bay & Rufous-breasted Wrens lurk about in the thickets!
The following Full-Day tours require a minimum of four persons:
El Chiru/Juan Hombron Beach /Lunch Playa Santa Clara: $185
The Dry Pacific Forest and its wonderful suite of birds is the theme of the day! Yellow-headed Caracara, Gray & Short-tailed Hawks, Peregrine Falcon, White-tailed Kite, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Red-breasted Blackbird, Fork-tailed Flycatcher and Crested Oropendola are among our hopefuls. We enjoy a picnic lunch at Playa Santa Clara! Blue-footed & Brown Boobies, Sandwich, Royal & Elegant Terns along the beach. At Juan Hombron rice fields we hope to find Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Crested Caracara, Gray-necked Wood-Rail, Pale-eyed-Pygmy-Tyrant and a host of other terrific birds!
Altos del Maria/Picnic Lunch: $185
Altos del Maria harbors an exciting variety of highland forest birds. Some of the characteristic species include Black-crowned Antpitta, Black-headed Saltator, White Hawk, Barred Forest-Falcon, Orange-bellied Trogon, Spotted Woodcreeper, Red-faced Spinetail and many others. The bizarre Brown-billed Scythebill is seen here regularly! Hummers include Band-tailed Barbthroat, the exquisite Snowcap, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, White-tipped Sicklebill and Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer. We enjoy a picnic lunch in the field!
Rio Indio & Jordanal/Picnic Lunch: $185
Caribbean Slope birding! These fine, forested areas are not well-birded, so who knows what might turn up! Rio Indio is a great spot to try for the area's specialties: Sulphur-rumped Tanager, Spot-crowned Barbet and Barred Puffbird, along with White-vented Euphonia, Buff-rumped Warbler and Long-tailed Tyrant! Cinnamon & White-winged Becards, Black-chested Jay, Bay Wren, along with Tawny-capped Euphonia and many others will also be in the offing! We enjoy a pleasant picnic lunch at a thatched-roof shelter at Rio Jordanal.
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