Trogon Photo Tours

Costa Rica 

March 20-April 1, 2019

Photo Tour: This 13 day photo tour features the best lodges and locations for bird photography in Costa Rica.  You will photograph toucans, tanagers, curassows, parrots and King Vultures in the Northwest, beautiful poison dart frogs and roosting owls in the Sarapiqui Valley.  We do multi-flash hummingbird photography at 2 different lodges at both mid level and higher altitude elevations to get a lot of different species.  We spend a day and a half photographing the majestic Resplendent Quetzal and we will go on a river cruise where we photograph raptors, herons and crocodiles up close.  We will also have a multi-flash bat photography  session and a snake photography session.  And those are just the highlights of the tour. 

Tour Leaders: Charles Gangas and Jeffrey Munoz.  Chuck spends his winters photographing birds in Costa Rica.  He's an enthusiastic tour leader who will help you get the most out of your tour.  Jeffrey Munoz is one of the top Costa Rican bird photographers, he is a biologist as well, so he has a great wealth of knowledge about the country and it's flora and fauna.  Chuck shoots Nikon and Jeff shoots Canon. 

Number of Participants: Maximum of 6 photographers and 9 total participants.

Cost: $4,500 per photographer with a $400 single supplement.  3,900 for a non photographer spouse.  This includes all in country transportation, lodging, meals, guiding, instruction, property fees and drinking water.  It does not include airfare to get to Costa Rica, drinks other than water, tips and items of a personal nature such as phone calls or laundry.



Itinerary:

March 20th - Arrival to Costa Rica, transfer from airport to a 4 star hotel in San Jose. 

March 21st - Transfer from San Jose to Bosque de Paz Lodge, mid elevation, Caribbean side.  Afternoon multi-flash photography of hummingbirds including the amazing Violet Sabrewing and about 4 other species.  The fruit feeders at this lodge attract tanagers, barbets and the amazing Black Guan.  Overnight: Bosque de Paz Lodge

March 22nd - We will visit a close by location a bit lower for a full day of multi-flash hummingbird photography.  The activity level here is amazing.  Among the hummingbirds we photograph are the endemic Black-bellied Hummingbirdand the gorgeous Purple-throated Mountain Gem.  Overnight: Bosque de Paz Lodge

March 23rd - Morning photography at Bosque de Paz followed by transfer to Laguna Lagarta.  Photography of toucans, parrots etc in the later afternoon.  Overnight: Laguna Lagarto Lodge 

March 24th and 25th - We will have 2 full days of photography at Laguna Lagarto.  This is the best location in Costa Rica for photographing birds coming in to fruit feeders.  Some of the spectacular species include Keel-billed and Yellow-throated Toucans, Aracaris, Brown-hooded Parrots, Montezuma Oropendolas, Honeycreepers and Great Curassows.  There is a hide for photographing King Vultures and we will do snake photography as well as multi-flash bat photography at this location.  Overnight: Laguna Lagarto.  

March 26th - Morning photography at Laguna followed by transfer to the Sarapiqui River Valley lowlands.  In the afternoon we will visit a location where we will photograph 6 to 8 species of rainforest and poison dart frogs.  Overnight: Selva Verde Lodge

March 27th - We will leave the lodge early and spend most of the day at a location in the lowlands where we will visit roosting sites of owls, potoos and Honduran White Bats.  At this spot there are also fruit feeders which attract some different birds such as Chestnut-headed Oropendelas and Emerald Tanagers.  In the afternoon we will transfer to our next lodge more in the Southwest of the country, Paraiso de Quetzal. Overnight: Paraiso del Quetzal

March 28th - We will spend today doing multi-flash hummingbird photography with species including the amazing Fiery-throated Hummingibrd Overnight: Paraiso del Quetzal

March 29th - Today we have a full day photographing the incredible Resplendant Quetzal.  Paraiso del Quetzal really has the quetzal photography nailed, they have setup perches which the quetzals use at several different locations in the area.  Overnight: Paraiso del Quetzal

March 30th - We have a half day of quetzal photography followed by departure for our next lodge near the Pacific Coast.  Cerro Lodge is a good place to see and photograph Scarlet Macaw.  Overnight: Cerro Lodge

March 31st - We have 2 activities today, the first is a boat trip on the Tarcoles River, this trip will get you close to Bare-throated Tiger Herons, Boat-billed Herons, Caracaras, Black Hawks and Crocodiles.  Our other activity features seeking out some special birds wtih a local guide including some of the smaller owls, Turqouise-browed Motmot and Lesser Ground Cuckoo, among others.  Overnight: Cerro Lodge

April 1st - Transfer to the airport for your return flight home.  Cerro Lodge is only an hour from the international airport.