WILD LIFE at the lodge

A remote Birders’ Paradise

More than 340 species of birds have been identified by birding specialists within the various eco-systems of our private reserve or in the adjacent Piedras Blancas National Park. A bird list in 3 languages is available at the lodge site.

Some of the birds easily to be seen at the Lodge

• Flocks of Mealy Amazon
• Scarlet Macaws
• Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager
• King Vulture
• Black Hawk Eagle
• Bat Falcon
• Crested Guan
• White Hawk
• Spectacled Owl
• Beryl-crowned Hummingbird
• White-crested Coquette
• 4 species of Trogons
• Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
• Fiery-billed Aracari
• Golden-naped Woodpecker
• Black-faced Anttrush
• Black-hooded Antshrike
• various species of Manakins
• Scarlet-rumped Cacique
• Spotted-crowned Euphonia
• Blue Dacnis
• Orange-billed Sparrow
• Golden-crowned Spadebill
• Riverside Wren

On Playa San Josecito is also the release center of the privately owned Zoo Ave outside San José for hurt, rescued or formerly domesticated birds. Since 1999 groups of highly endangered scarlet macaws (ara macao), born and raised at the zoo, were released into the Piedras Blancas National Park where macaws were once present but no longer existed due to poaching and pesticide use. Those first releases are part of a long-term project to establish a third self-sustaining scarlet macaw population, to add to the two existing groups in the Corcovado National Park and the Carara Biological Reserve. However, the release center is not open to the public.

Abundance of Mammals

With luck some of the following mammals may be seen on the tours or while visiting our lodge garden looking out for ripe fruits:

• Common Opossum
• Gray Four-eyed Opossum
• Brown Four-eyed Opossum
• Silky Anteater
• Northern Tamandua Anteater
• Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth
• Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth
• Nine-banded Armadillo
• At least 3 species of bats
• Red-backed Squirrel Monkey
• White-faced Capuchin Monkey
• Central American Spider Monkey
• Mantled Howler Monkey
• Alfaro’s Pygmy Squirrel
• Red-tailed Squirrel
• Chiriqui Pocket Gopher
• Central American Agouti
• Paca
• Northern Raccoon
• Crab-eating Raccoon
• White-nosed Coatimundi
• Mexican Porcupine
• Olingo
• Cacomistle
• Kinkajou
• Greater Grison
• Tayra
• Striped Hog-nosed Skunk
• Jaguarundi
• Puma
• Jaguar
• Margay
• Ocelot
• Collared Peccary
• White-lipped Peccary
• Red Brocket Deer
• Pan tropical Spotted Dolphin
• Bottlenose Dolphin
• Orca (Killer Whale)
• Tapiti or Forest Rabbit

****Information and photos supplied by owner.