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Go Cuckoo For Costa Rica: Top Bird Watching Tours
With 893 species of birds actually recorded, this tiny Central American country -roughly the size of West Virginia - has more bird species than both the United States and Canada combined! Of these, about 600 are migrants from the surrounding regions, 19 are considered endangered, and about seven are endemic - which means the only way to see them up close will be on bird watching tours of Costa Rica. Here are just a few top sites to visit: Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve A mysterious area of densely lush vegetation capped with a thick cloud cover, this fascinating eco-tourism spot is a popular highlight of many bird watching tours. Many species of hummingbirds, and the famed and brightly-coloured quetzal - revered by the ancient Aztecs and Mayans, and for many birders the whole point of a trip to Costa Rica - are just some of the 400 species of birds to be sighted in the area. They make their homes amidst some 2,000 species of plants and trees, along with1,200 species of amphibians and reptiles, and more than 100 species of mammals. La Selva and Braulio Carillo National Park With over 500 recorded species of avifauna, these two areas outside San Jose on the road to Tortuguero are a veritable paradise for bird watching. Tours can be undertaken to the La Selva Biological Reserve, which is the site of a station dedicated to rain forest research, and Braulio Carillo National Park, considered one of the most richly diverse canopy communities in the world. Feathered inhabitants of the region include the bare-necked umbrella bird, snowcap, brown-billed scythe bill, black-crowned antpitta, golden-browed chlorophonia, flame-throated warblers, long-tailed silky-flycatchers, yellow-eared toucanet, latticed-tailed trogon, and, of course, the highly sought-after quetzal. Carara National Park A favourite of both longtime hardcore birders and new converts to the hobby, this national park boasts the highest population of the colourful and noisy scarlet macaws. One of the most exciting highlights of bird watching tours in the area is to see a flock of these brightly-coloured birds flying overhead on their way to their roosting area near the coastal mangroves. And A Whole Lot More With roughly 18 percent of the small country reserved for conservation in the form of national parks and nature reserves, avid birders planning a trip to Costa Rica definitely have a vast array of choices where to go bird watching. Tours to these conservation areas offer a unique chance to see and study Costa Rica's avian denizens undisturbed in their natural environment and, of course, fill up birding journals with observations of many rare birds that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Byron Palacios is a Tour Manager for Naturetrek, a tour operator specialising in expert-led natural history and bird watching tours worldwide. Naturetrek bring over 25 years of experience to their bird watching tours in some of the most spectacular regions on Earth. |
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