Bird Watching in Costa Rica

With 850 recorded species, Costa Rica is one of the top destinations for bird watching. Costa Rica is about the size of the state of West Virginia, yet it boasts 10% of the world’s bird species. That is more species than all of North America. More than 630 are resident species and the remainder are migratory.

The country offers birders the opportunity to experience rare jewels like the Quetzal and the Scarlet Macaw. There are four major zones for birding in Costa Rica: the Northern Pacific Lowlands, the Southern Pacific Lowlands, the Caribbean Lowlands, and the Interior Highlands. The Tempisque River Basin supports the richest freshwater birding in all of Central America.

If you are interested in birding in Costa Rica, make sure you have a copy of A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica by F. Gary Stiles and Alexander F. Skutch (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989).

Let us know what birds you are interested in seeing, and we will plan an itinerary with that in mind. If you have a group of birders, we can organize a special tour for your group with an experienced birding guide.