Arenal

Trips: 4

The Arenal Volcano area is simply one of the best places for viewing a large number of species. It is a particularly good place for antbirds and other hard-to-see species. This is a well-visited tourist destination. The downside to that is the number of people visiting this location. The upside is that there are plenty of places to stay and eat - and the Caribbean slope birding is outstanding almost everywhere regardless of people.

In my opinion, accommodations at the Arenal Observatory Lodge have the best access to good habitat, trails and the occasional ant swarm, but there are several other places to stay around the volcano.

On my first day at the Observatory Lodge, Bicolored Antbird, Ocellated Antbird and Thicket Antpitta were found near an ant swarm on the Saino Trail - one of several trails at the lodge worth your time. Another trail, the Waterfall Trail, is also very productive. Perhaps any trail would be fine if you found an ant swarm. The Arenal area is also good for Fasciated Tiger-Heron and an occasional Sunbittern around some of the fast-moving streams.

For an excellent bird guide at both Cano Negro and Arenal, I recommend Juan Diego Vargas (see my section on "Guides"). If he is not available, other bird guides can be contacted for guiding if there is enough advance notice. A bird guide will enhance your stay here exponentially.

There are several good birding locations around the foothills of the volcano. Two areas with suspended “hanging bridges” can be productive birding spots. Near the Arenal Lake dam, there is a venue called Mistico Hanging Bridges. Near the Arenal Observatory Lodge is a large enterprise called “Sky Adventures”. Both places have very good trails with well-secured suspended bridges scattered along the trail system. Sky Adventures also has a similar concept at Monteverde. People afraid of heights do not always enjoy the suspended bridges, but most of the trails can still be birded on hard ground for those people uneasy with heights.  Birding at the bridges has the advantage of letting you view the canopy at eye-level and watch for tanager-rich feeding flocks. The trails system at these locations have provided prolonged looks at birds like Yellow-throated Toucanet, Broad-billed Motmot, Nightingale Wren, Blue-and-gold Tanager, and Black-and-yellow Tanager. 

There is a dirt road not far from most Arenal lodges that skirts part of Lake Arenal towards the south end - generally referred to as the Peninsula Road. With the help of a guide, this road produced White-throated Crake (grassy field with tape), Great Antshrike, Bare-crowned Antbird, Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, and Yellow Tyrannulet. My guide also knew of a place for Keel-billed Motmot on this road - which is where most bird tours look for it. There have also been records of Sepia-capped Flycatcher here - a bird difficult to find in Costa Rica.

Ebird Observations (bar chart) at Arenal Observatory Lodge - https://ebird.org/barchart?r=L325849&yr=all&m=