Days 3 and 4
Imm. Great Potoo. Photoo by Diana M. Manetz
Day 3
Wake up to the gentle roar of Howler Monkeys and the glorious dawn chorus of tropical birds. Several species including woodcreepers, antbirds, and tityras will be calling right outside your room. We will take a pre-breakfast bird walk on the grounds. After breakfast we drive to nearby La Selva OTS Station. One of the premier birding sites in Central America, La Selva is a huge tract dedicated to scientific tropical research, and serves as an important biological corridor on the Caribbean slope. Here we will take a guided bird walk during which we will likely see sixty species in two hours and less than a half mile! After lunch we will attend a presentation by the Rainforest Biodiversity Group on their inspiring efforts to preserve habitat for the Great Green Macaw. Following that we will do some afternoon birding at the beautiful Tirimbina Rainforest Center. Dinner and lodging will be at Selva Verde Lodge.
Day 4
Breakfast and check out. Our first stop will be along a very birdy road with open pastures and stands of forest. Target birds here are Great Green Macaw and Great Potoo, but a number of open country birds will be seen as well. From there we proceed to EARTH University. EARTH is a small undergraduate college whose mission is to teach sustainable methods of agriculture and conservation. After lunch at the cafeteria we will tour the organic garden and perhaps some of the other project areas. We will be outdoors as we go, so naturally we will be birding as well. At sunset we can search on campus for night birds such as Common Pauraque, Short-tailed Nighthawk, and Central American Pygmy-Owl. Dinner and lodging are at EARTH.
Wake up to the gentle roar of Howler Monkeys and the glorious dawn chorus of tropical birds. Several species including woodcreepers, antbirds, and tityras will be calling right outside your room. We will take a pre-breakfast bird walk on the grounds. After breakfast we drive to nearby La Selva OTS Station. One of the premier birding sites in Central America, La Selva is a huge tract dedicated to scientific tropical research, and serves as an important biological corridor on the Caribbean slope. Here we will take a guided bird walk during which we will likely see sixty species in two hours and less than a half mile! After lunch we will attend a presentation by the Rainforest Biodiversity Group on their inspiring efforts to preserve habitat for the Great Green Macaw. Following that we will do some afternoon birding at the beautiful Tirimbina Rainforest Center. Dinner and lodging will be at Selva Verde Lodge.
Day 4
Breakfast and check out. Our first stop will be along a very birdy road with open pastures and stands of forest. Target birds here are Great Green Macaw and Great Potoo, but a number of open country birds will be seen as well. From there we proceed to EARTH University. EARTH is a small undergraduate college whose mission is to teach sustainable methods of agriculture and conservation. After lunch at the cafeteria we will tour the organic garden and perhaps some of the other project areas. We will be outdoors as we go, so naturally we will be birding as well. At sunset we can search on campus for night birds such as Common Pauraque, Short-tailed Nighthawk, and Central American Pygmy-Owl. Dinner and lodging are at EARTH.