Costa Rica Birding (El Viejo Wetlands)

Friday Molly, Jon, Beth and I drove over from Las Catalinas to El Viejo Wetlands (90 minutes). This private wildlife sanctuary of 5,000 acres directly borders Palo Verde National Park. El Viejo has a basic boat tour on the River Tempisque plus lunch at the Hacienda. The first public tours of the day are at 9 am (purchase via their website), but if you arrive a bit early you will also get out on the river earlier before everyone else! Regardless of whether everyone in your group enjoys birding, everyone loves this tour! There is enough wildlife and plants to keep is the most jaded non-outdoors person happy. Finally all boats have large canopies. Thus, you are always in the shade and moving (getting a breeze). If you want a true private early morning birding experience, it is possible to arrange a private tour starting at 7 am. Call El Viejo for pricing and to reserve same.

Before showing some of the birds et al that we saw … first a few maps for our time down here in Costa Rica. Be aware that roads do not allow one to travel quickly. Here are a couple of notes before the maps:

From the airport in Liberia to our rainforest lodge (La Carolina Lodge) was three hours of driving.
It also takes about three hours to drive from the airport to Las Catalinas … unless you have 4 wheel drive and want to drive CR 911 (do not attempt even with 4 Wheel Drive in Rainy Season).
Playa Potrero is about 15 minutes from Las Catalinas
The Stream next to the golf course which is under construction is also about a 15 minute drive. This is where I repeatedly saw trogons.
If you wanted to bird / visit the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, you would fly into San Jose, not Liberia. I am on the Pacific side of the country. Remember my comments about roads … getting around is a slow proposition.

Regional Map

Detailed Las Catalinas Area Map

And now the El Viejo Wetlands Birds!

One of my very enjoyable tasks while down here in Costa Rica is updating my Costa Rican Birding Book … The Birds of Las Catalinas (Free full copy PDF’s of Version 1 are available). While the major focus of the book is the birds of this region, Version 2 will also cover El Viejo Wetlands and the Rainforest Highlands. Full copies of Release #2 will also be freely available as a PDF Download.

First … the Kingfishers!

Green Kingfisher

Ringed Kingfisher

And the Herons!

Bare-Throated Tiger Heron (final image is a juvenile)

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Little Blue Heron

Crocodiles and Bats (Mom guarding recently hatched young … apparently only about 1 in 60 crocodile kids reach adulthood according to our guide … the rest become food for other birds and animals)