Photo Gallery
Photos and image editing by Gary Rosenberg
Our tour is designed to spend several days at Hotel Villa Lapas, a fine hotel near Carara National Park on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
Carara National Park has an excellent trail system and is an superb place to practice “Digiscoping” on the many species that sit still for us, such as this Boat-billed Heron.
There are five species of trogons found in the park, such as this Slaty-tailed Trogon, and they make great photographic subjects
As does this Black-throated Trogon found inside the forest.
We’ll have other opportunities to practice on “inside-the-forest” subjects, such as this White-whiskered Puffbird—
—or this Orange-collared Manakin.
Carara is the best place in Costa Rica to find breeding Scarlet Macaws.
The magnificent Pale-billed Woodpecker is also a common breeding bird in the park.
And we’ll have a chance to practice on some of the more unusual species found at Carara, such as this Royal Flycatcher —
—or this stunning Blue-throated Goldentail.
Other species of parrots often sit still long enough to get nice digiscopes, such as the Red-lored Parrot.
And occasionally, nice subjects, such as this Mangrove Cuckoo, sit very close and allow their portrait to be taken.
We’ll venture out a short distance to the drie habitats just north of Carara, where one may find the stunning Turquoise-browed Motmot
And in a nearby park, a pair of Black-and-white Owls can usually be found during the day.
Right on the grounds of the Villa Lapas the birding (and digiscoping) can be great - it is where this Fiery-billed Aracari was nesting —
…and even the common Great Kiskadee makes a nice photographic subject.
On the last day we’ll make a day trip up into the central mountains in search of many of Costa Rica’s specialties, such as this Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher —
—and the common Sooty Robin.
But best of all will be the excellent opportunity to see (and hopefully photograph) a Respendent Quetzal.
Which we consider one of the most spectacular species in Costa Rica (if not the world!).