This website is an outline of birding trips to many of Costa Rica's more popular birding destinations. It is also partially a personal narrative of trips to Costa Rica beginning in 1991. Nearly all of the information here is from experience and includes personal bird observations and summaries. It is perhaps best used as an ouline for birders wanting to bird on their own or using local guides.

While I have committed to the occasional bird tour with a group, all of the locations on this site have been accessed by a rental vehicle. While driving the country, I have gotten lost countless times. I have received two traffic tickets, had one flat tire, and one dead battery. My wife and I have picked up locals walking on remote dirt roads, had long talks with waiters and shop owners, and laughed with total strangers without speaking a word of Spanish. There has never been a single moment where we didn't feel safe. Renting a car gets easier every year, and the Costa Rican people couldn't be nicer. It never gets old.