BWT Travel Guide
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COSTA RICA<br />
Carara National<br />
Park is a popular<br />
birding hotspot<br />
Exclusive<br />
online content<br />
birdwatching.co.uk/<br />
worldbirding<br />
SPONSORED BY<br />
UNITED STATES<br />
MEXICO<br />
COSTA<br />
RICA<br />
RGB Ventures/Alamy<br />
Montezuma Oropedola and<br />
Keel-billed Toucan<br />
COSTA RICA<br />
A whole host of bird species can be enjoyed in this Central American country<br />
WORDS: SETH INMAN<br />
Nature Picture Library/Alamy<br />
I<br />
n the lower folds of Poás<br />
Volcano’s foothills, overlooking<br />
the city of Alajuela and Costa<br />
Rica’s Central Valley, Xandari<br />
Resort & Spa offers travellers what Forbes<br />
Magazine has called ‘a mountainside<br />
slice of paradise.’<br />
The 40-acre property includes diverse<br />
tropical gardens and a forest reserve with<br />
several miles of trails that lead to<br />
multiple waterfalls – one of which is<br />
between 60ft and 70ft high.<br />
A total of 130 bird species have been<br />
reported on the resort’s eBird hotspot<br />
(an online birding resource, which you<br />
can view at http://bit.ly/2dpcyy1), but<br />
Xandari is a mere 20 minutes away from<br />
the country’s main international airport.<br />
Hummingbirds and tanagers flit<br />
year-round among the flowering bushes<br />
and fruiting trees, Blue-and-white<br />
Swallows commonly swoop down by the<br />
sunset pool to sip water.<br />
Strange vocalisations of the<br />
Montezuma Oropendola, diverse tunes<br />
from the Orange-billed Nightingale-<br />
Thrush, and eerie whistles from Rufousand-white<br />
Wrens drift up from the woods<br />
below, while various species of raptor<br />
soar thermals in the skies above.<br />
Spot White-eared Ground-Sparrows<br />
foraging among the leaf litter, Red-<br />
Rufous-tailed<br />
Hummingbird<br />
crowned Ant-tanagers<br />
chattering in the dense vine<br />
tangles, and Long-tailed<br />
Manakins performing their<br />
mating rituals. To say<br />
nothing of all the migratory<br />
warblers and other families<br />
of birds that find Xandari’s forest and<br />
gardens to be a little oasis in the greater<br />
overwintering haven of Costa Rica!<br />
An orange grove is a popular area for<br />
the local community of Blue-crowned<br />
Motmots and one of the resident pairs of<br />
Hoffmann’s Woodpeckers, as well as<br />
three types of saltator that fly through<br />
almost daily for their breakfast.<br />
At dusk, calls from the Common<br />
Pauraque and Laughing Falcons echo<br />
across the hills, and if you’re lucky and<br />
have a good torch you might spot a<br />
Mottled Owl or Tropical Screech-Owl,<br />
National Geographic Creative/Alamy<br />
as well as the cute but deadly<br />
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Dawn choruses<br />
resound with Rufous-naped Wren chatter<br />
and whistles from Costa Rica’s national<br />
bird, the Clay-colored<br />
Thrush, often<br />
interspersed with<br />
Yellow-throated<br />
Euphonia and Barred<br />
Antshrike song<br />
depending on the<br />
location of your villa.<br />
One of the advantages<br />
of being in the Central<br />
Long-tailed<br />
Manakin<br />
All Canada Photos/Alamy<br />
Valley is the proximity<br />
to several key Costa<br />
Rican birding hotspots.<br />
Costa Rica’s dry season,<br />
or summer, runs from December to April<br />
and corresponds with the North<br />
American bird migration, so despite the<br />
higher rates on hotels throughout the<br />
country it makes for better birding. The<br />
rainy season is more affordable given the<br />
lower amount of tourists in the country,<br />
and often the mornings are sunny and<br />
clear before the afternoon downpours.<br />
With nearly 900 species recorded in<br />
a country two-thirds the size of Scotland,<br />
Costa Rica is a top candidate for any<br />
birdwatcher’s holiday destination,<br />
whether they be casual or avid!<br />
birdwatching.co.uk 21