Costa Rica - Tortuguero National Park

Depart Tilajari for the Tortuguero National Park. En route, we stop to visit the EARTH Institute, a college where stuudents from throughout Central and South America learn husbandry, agriculture, and environmental sciences.The university is dedicated to developing sustainable development in the humid tropics. We pass through some of the more isolated communities of Costa Rica before boarding our launch for the 45 minutre ride up the Rio Tortuguero to the National Park. Our bus ride begins to reveal some of the new avifauna we will encounter during this leg of the trip, namely the Crested Caracara, the Tiger Heron and more and more monkeys and slothes.
Tortuguero National Park - We spend most of the day on the waters of Tortuguero National Park. The early morning is spent exploring the canals of Tortuguero and its wonderful wildlife. Although technically not a birding trip, the guides here are all very knowledgable and when they find that several of us including Sharon and myself are avid birders, they are more than willing and excited to share their obvious extensive familiarity with the birds of the Park. Even the water-taxi driver displays a depth of identification skills we are indeed impressed with. He explains through our guide Stuart that most Costa Ricans grow up with the birds and therefore have a natural afinity and understanding the avifauna of the land. We add a number of lifers on the trip today and it is by far the best day of the already wonderful trip.