I've just returned from a week in Costa Rica. My concern when planning
this trip, was for my wife who is not as avid a birder as I. We settled on
staying at a lodge which specializes in people interested in birds called
_Rancho Naturalista_. They pick you up at the airport and take you to their
lodges (they have two now and are planning a third). Once at the lodge, their
guide takes you on day hikes. He is well acquainted with the birds of Costa
Rica by both call and behavior. The atmosphere is friendly and family-like,
as if good friends had invited you to their house to do some birdwatching.
Rancho is in the Tuis Valley at about 3000ft and is surrounded by rain
forest. In our 4 days there, we found over 120 species. This included 11
species of hummingbird, 7 of which come daily to a set of spring fed pools
where they can be admired at length.
We spent 3 days at Tarcoles lodge run by the same folks. Tarcoles is
on the Pacific Coast at the mouth of Rio Tarcoles. This is a 15 minutes
drive away from the Carara Nature Preserve, a coastal rain forest. We had
over 130 species here, including good looks at 2 species of antbird.
Our final trip list was 222 species of birds, 9 mammals (excluding
bats which we couldn't identify), 8 reptiles, 4 amphibians (we didn't get
to any of the good frogging habitats) and sundry invertebrates (including two
close encounters with a troop of Army Ants).
I will send a copy of our trip list to anyone interested.
For more info on Rancho Naturalista write:

Rancho Naturalista
Dept.1425, P.O. Box 025216
Miami, FL 33102-5216





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******************************** In the midst of the word he was trying to say
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * In the midst of his laughter and glee,
* mpatters at ednet1.osl.or.gov * He had softly and suddenly vanished away---
******************************** For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see. L