John A. Logan College
12th Annual Central American Adventure
The Birds and Natural History of
Costa Rica
January 4 – 11, 2012
Land Package Tour Price, $2,375.00 (not including airfare) includes:
Airport Transfers at San Jose – Guided Ground Transportation – Meals and Accommodations – Accompanied by an Expert English Speaking Costa Rican Naturalist Guide – Taxes, Service Charges, Gratuities (except for Local Naturalist Guide and the Driver on the Entire Tour which is left to your discretion.)
*Tour price is based on double-occupancy and a minimum of eight paying participants. Prices are subject to change without notice.
For current airfare and further information: contact Life Science Faculty, Prof. Nelda W. Hinckley at (618) 549-5588 or 549-7335 ext. 8820 or neldahinckley@jalc.edu.
Students register for Biology 240, 3 hours credit.
Send $100 deposit check, payable to Caligo Ventures, Inc., to Nelda Hinckley, John A. Logan College, 700 Logan College Road, Carterville, IL 62918.
Costa Rica is one of the premier birding and wildlife viewing destinations in the Americas. Costa Rica has more bird species than all of the United States and Canada combined. Costa Rica is the size of West Virginia and is well protected by a world-renowned national park system.
Lying between two great continents, each with its peculiar avifauna, Costa Rica is a land bridge where the faunas of the two continents meet and intermingle. Largely due to its geographical position and the diversity of its habitats, Costa Rica's avifauna is exceptional. Its interesting and diverse mammal population is equally exciting.
This tour will introduce you to the incredible range of habitats present in this small nation.
JANUARY 4 - We will fly from Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica. Upon arrival at Juan Santamaria International Airport, we will be met by our guide and driver. We will travel to the small town of Consepcion in Cañas, in the Guanacaste province. Overnight stay and dinner at Hacienda Solimar.
JANUARY 5 - We will explore this 9,800-acre cattle ranch located north of Puntareñas. Thirty percent of the ranchlands are dedicated to conservation, protecting the flora and fauna of this tropical dry forest habitat. Bird watching at Hacienda Solimar is a great experience. During the dry season, it is possible to observe 300 species, and in the rainy season, about 150 resident birds. Likely target species include Jabiru, Stork, Collared Forest-Falcon, White-necked Puffbird, Wood Stork, Black-bellied Whistling-duck, Lesser Nighthawk, White-throated Magpie-Jay, Pacific Screech Owl and Bare-throated Tiger Heron. You will also have a good chance of observing howler monkeys, crocodile, deer, coatimundi and other mammals and reptiles. Dinner and overnight at Hacienda Solimar.
JANUARY 6 - After an early breakfast we will be heading north of the ranch to Bijagua, to the bird-rich environs of the Heliconias Lodge. The private reserve features more than 180 acres of primary forest adjacent to the 31,000-acre Tenorio Volcano National Park. Enjoy the incredible biodiversity and microclimate - a result of its location between the Tenorio and Miravalles Volcanos. Tropical bird species, including: Tody Motmot, Yellow-eared Toucanet, Streak-crowned Antvireo, White-fronted Nunbird, Ornate Hawk Eagle, Bi-colored and Spotted Antbird, Long-tailed Manakin and Orange-bellied Trogon are often spotted here. We might have a chance to see the elusive Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo.
In the afternoon, we will continue across the Central Volcanic Mountain Range to Sarapiqui. Known for its humid rainforest, the Sarapiqui River basin is one of the lushest habitats in Costa Rica. This is the richest region of Costa Rica for biodiversity; nearly half of the 850 species of birds known to the country have been identified here. Here we will be on the lookout for colorful parrots, trogons, jacamars, toucans and tanagers feeding at the forest edge and for tinamous, motmots, antbirds and manakins in the interior. Sarapiqui is one of the biggest food production regions in Costa Rica, famous for pineapples, bananas, rice and hearts of palm. The remainder of the afternoon will be free to explore the trails at the lodge. Overnight at La Quinta de Sarapiqui Inn.
JANUARY 7 - After breakfast, we will be taken to the world-famous La Selva Biological Station, where we will spend the entire day learning about the flora and fauna of this renowned tropical research station and reserve. La Selva is a rainforest reserve and research station owned by a consortium of US universities and the University of Costa Rica known as the Organization for Tropical Studies or OTS. Founded in the late 1960s, La Selva is among the longest running and one of the most prestigious tropical rainforest research stations in the world. The property encompasses more than 3,900 acres covering a variety of ecosystems common to lowland tropical zones. It forms part of a much larger protected area, including the nearby Braulio Carrillo National Park that we will be visiting later in the tour.
Within La Selva, visitors can experience virgin forest, secondary forest at various stages of growth, forest edge vegetation, lowland rivers, swamps and cultivated areas near the buildings. Some of our target species will include the elusive Sun Bittern, Keel-billed Toucan, Snowy Cotinga, Crested Guan, Rufuous-tailed Jacamar, Semiplumbeous Hawk, White-collared Manakin and Yellow-tailed Oriole. The habitats include an easily accessible old-growth forest and an arboretum that is a showcase for 1,000 trees. Overnight at La Quinta de Sarapiqui Inn.
JANUARY 8 - This morning, after breakfast, we will be leaving Sarapiqui by motor coach for the town of Caño Blanco, in the extreme northeast. Here we will board a boat for one of the most remote locations in Costa Rica: the village of Tortuguero on the Caribbean Sea. After a boat ride we will arrive at the lodge in Tortuguero for lunch. There are no roads into this area and no cars in the village so all transportation is by boat or on foot. This system of rivers and man-made canals parallel to the coast cuts through beautiful primary forest. One of the wettest regions in the country, Tortuguero's Tropical Moist to Wet Forest is home to vast biodiversity.
In the afternoon we will enjoy a visit to Tortuguero Village and the Sea Turtle Conservancy Center. Once a center of widespread harvesting and poaching, the national park was established in 1970 to protect the turtles from extinction. Overnight at Mawamba Lodge.
JANUARY 9 - Today we will enjoy guided boat tours along the numerous canals in Tortuguero National Park. In addition to turtles, the park is home to jaguars, anteaters, howler monkeys, three-toed sloths, collared and white-lipped peccaries, crocodiles, iguanas, countless butterflies and approximately 350 species of birds, including kingfishers, toucans, herons, parrots and Swallow-tailed hawk. Overnight at Mawamba Lodge.
JANUARY 10 - In the morning we will return by boat to Caño Blanco marina where the motor coach will be waiting for the return trip back to the Central Valley. En route, we will stop to enjoy the magnificent views of Braulio Carrillo National Park and walk through one of its trails. The park is the most extensive in central Costa Rica, critical for the protection of aquifers that provide the water for most of the country's population and economic resources in and around San Jose.
Most of the park is covered by primary forest; it is estimated that there are 6,000 species of plants, representing half of the total species in all of the country. It also presents a great diversity of fauna. Among the mammals, we can highlight the white faced capuchin and spider monkeys, tapir, puma and jaguar. It also has a rich avifauna. It is represented by almost 515 species of birds and 135 species of mammals.
In mid-afternoon, we will be taken to our last stop on the tour, the Hotel Bougainvillea, a lovely property on the edge of San Jose. We will explore the gardens, which have been known to attract Blue-crowned Motmot, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Crimson-fronted Parakeet and Boat-Billed Flycatcher, and, if we are lucky, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Overnight at Bougainvillea Hotel
JANUARY 11 - After breakfast this entertaining and educational journey comes to a close as we are transferred, with sightseeing and wildlife viewing along the scenic roadways to Juan Santamaria International Airport to catch our return flight homeward.
