Photography Feeders of North East Costa Rica

We continue our adventure through Costa Rica and this time we are travelling through the Arenal and La Selva birding regions. This region is particularly rich in photography hide setups so I will be reviewing a few of these in this post. A great resource for Costa Rica is Ground Cuckoo Hotspots although I booked all these direct.

Bosque Nuboso El Corora

Both this and the San Luis hides were 5 miles apart on our route from the Pacific Coast to La Fortuna. They made a great extended lunch stop together. Bosque Nuboso El Corora is a eco project with a little bit of everything – cafe, butterfly garden and hummingbird feeders. Lots of photo opportunities for the price ($10 USD) and we added a couple of new hummingbirds added to my lifelist here.

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San Luis Tanager Hides

If you only had time for one photo hide in Costa Rica you should definitely consider this one for the cost (only $10 USD), the range of tanager species on display (some rare) and the quality of the photos the feeders deliver. They don’t communicate well in advance but there is no need to book and you can just show up. This has been setup by someone who understands photography with nice foreground and backgrounds on display. There is also a small hummingbird setup too but this is not as good as the site above which is only 5 miles away. But the tanager setup is fantastic – see photos below.

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The Nest Nature Centre

Despite the grand title the Nest is a family run affair. They have done a great job in restoring previous agricultural land into a haven for wildlife. They have also installed very professional platform, and photo hides. However the service is quite hit and miss – they forgot we were coming – but it was working on a donation only basis when we visited so we gave $10 USD each. Also there were not that many birds using the feeders and I got the impression they only put food out when there is a booking so the birds havent included the feeders on their rounds. However, the star species here is the White Collared Manakin with a total of 4 lek hide locations and the site is worth visiting to see their mating dance alone.

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Cope’s Place

Cope’s (pronounced Coh Peh) Place (WhatsApp +506 7169 5298) is a great photo hide but it is much more than that. You also get a guided forest walk with the very skilled and talented Donde Cope (photographer and artist). We booked a 7am-12 noon slot and we used all the time. We paid $25 USD each

At the hide we had a great range of birds including Hummingbirds, Pigmy Kingfisher, Tanagers etc. But Donde kept popping in and pointing new things out including a White Hawk flying overhead and a tiny Hummingbird Nest and Frogs in the garden.

Then we borrowed some Rubber Boots and went on a full on trek in the forest complete with river crossings where we saw Spectacled Owl and new for me Green Ibis. We came close to seeing an Agami Heron too and the Crested Owl but not this trip. Definitely recommend this and book in advance as he well used by birding and photography companies.

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Costa Rica is very well geared up for birding and photography and it doesn’t all have to be a hike through the Jungle. Here you can order lunch and photograph 7 species of Tanager from a comfortable decking overlooking some feeders. Purists might say this is cheating but if you only have a few weeks in Costa Rica this offers a fantastic experience.