very wet wonderland

When we visited Laguna del Lagarto Lodge in Boca Tapada several months ago, it was raining cats and dogs. We were traveling with the whole family — dog included, which precluded a stay at this lodge, but we stopped by to check it out. Of several birding lodges in Boca Tapada, this one is the clear standout for serious birders. Don’t take our word for it! As soon as D got out of the car, he ran into a pair of guides he knows. When one of the best guides in the country chooses the same lodge for his personal birding getaway, you know you’ve chosen well. Sadly, the same inclement weather we had encountered during our first visit greeted D on arrival this time also. Raindrops began falling even before he checked in; it pissed rain most of the day.

There were two reasons D chose to return to Boca Tapada so soon after our last visit. First, it is one of the few places in Costa Rica that one can see several standout, unique species. Gray-bellied hawk and black-and-white hawk-eagle have both been photographed at Laguna del Lagarto in the last couple of months. The latter is the only member of the New World hawk-eagle family D is missing. The rufescent tiger-heron and Central American pygmy-owl were both target species D saw well on this visit, in addition to several other reclusive species he just managed to glimpse. And then there is the tawny-faced quail — a veritable phantasm of a forest bird that only crosses into Costa Rica in small numbers close to the Nicaraguan border. It has been reliably reported at Laguna del Lagarto for years, mostly on night tours.

The other reason serious birders flock to Laguna del Lagarto is that its bird photography set-up is second to none in this country. There are various covered viewing platforms scattered throughout the property offering not just one perfect shot, but loads of them, rain or shine. Want a close-up of a toucan? Tanagers on a perch? A pygmy owl flying out of its nest? Dozens of parrots fluttering their colorful wings? How about a royal flycatcher showing off its crest? Or the aforementioned reclusive tiger-heron swallowing a fish in the far reaches of a sheltered pond? Laguna del Lagarto has you covered.

D stayed two nights and got the best of both worlds. His first day, when it poured relentlessly, he mostly stuck to the viewing platforms, blissfully snapping thousands of photos of the colorful birds that flocked to the feeders even in the torrential rain. The following morning, when weak sunlight filtered through a gray dawn, D hit the trails, first making a double circuit around the lagoons until he found the tiger-heron and then losing himself in the woods in search of the little tinamou. The strand of tropical rainforest — thick, wet, and redolent with the smell of recently fallen rain — was pure joy to hike through. Never mind that D emerged soaked through with his own sweat — it was an immersive hike that left him feeling emotionally cleansed.

It took us two years to visit Boca Tapada for the first time. Having now visited twice in quick succession, D would include it in his top five favorite Costa Rican birding destinations, along with San Gerardo de Dota, Monteverde, Arenal, and Sarapiqui. It’s that good!

Pictured from top to bottom: brown-hooded parrot; one of the lizards that lends the lodge its name; green honeycreeper; hognosed pitviper; stripe-throated hermit.