Tours / Costa Rica / May 2027
Dates set 5–17 May 2027
Costa Rica · May 2027
Caribbean lowlands to cloud forest, at the pace the birds set
13 days
12 nights
5–17 May 2027
Dates
8 regions
36–2,600 m
Max 8
Guests, total
TBC
Per person
The trip
A longer trip than the first one, with more regions on the route and a day of boat work on the water that the first one did not have.
The dates are set. Spots are not open to book yet — registering interest costs nothing, shapes the group, and gets you first word when they open.
The route is planned day by day and every stay along it is confirmed.
The route
The route is built out of kinds of country, not distances. Each holds birds the others do not. What separates them is not just elevation but the ecosystem that comes with it, and that governs the rest: which species, which light, what goes in the bag. Elevation is the part you can draw, so it is the spine of the page.
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Central Valley, Heredia Province
Santo Domingo de Heredia
A gentle start after a long travel day. Large, landscaped gardens with enough birds and flowers to shake the gear down and get your settings sorted if the flight leaves time — Lesson's motmots, Hoffmann's woodpecker, white-eared ground-sparrows working the undergrowth, and a mottled owl if the evening cooperates.
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Central Pacific, Puntarenas Province
Tárcoles
New for 2027, and the only Pacific leg. An afternoon on the grounds for scarlet macaws, yellow-naped amazons, turquoise-browed motmots and rufous-backed wrens, with a specialist guide for the night birds — spectacled owl, Pacific screech-owl, ferruginous pygmy-owl, common potoo — most of which can be found at their day roosts. Then a full day on the river, a morning and an afternoon, in larger boats with a captain who knows where the birds sit: herons, roseate spoonbills, double-striped thick-knees, common black hawks, as many as five kingfishers — and American crocodiles on the banks.
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Talamanca highlands, San José Province
San Gerardo de Dota
The high point, and the drive up is part of it — stops at different altitudes for violet sabrewings and green-crowned brilliants, then the páramo near the top for volcano hummingbirds, volcano juncos and sooty thrushes. The next day belongs to the resplendent quetzal, with two quetzal tours led by local guides who follow the birds closely — and in May a good chance of flight shots at a nest, always from a distance that leaves the nesting undisturbed. A real possibility, never a promise. The lodge feeders fill the time in between with highland hummingbirds.
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Orosi Valley, Cartago Province
Cachí
New for 2027. Garden work above the Orosi valley — sunbitterns on the stream, violet sabrewings, black-bellied hummingbirds, white-bellied mountain-gems, green hermits, green-fronted lancebills, and a hide for the scaled antpitta.
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Caribbean foothills, Cartago Province
Turrialba
New for 2027. A full day on the Caribbean slope for the snowcap: a plum-purple hummingbird the size of a thumb, white-capped, and found almost nowhere else on earth. Feeders and gardens bring in black-crested coquettes, crowned woodnymphs and green-breasted mangos alongside it, with scarlet-rumped and crimson-collared tanagers.
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Caribbean lowlands, Heredia Province
Sarapiquí
New for 2027. Lowland forest and river edge, and the first proper stretch of Caribbean heat, with ponds on the grounds where red-eyed tree frogs can be looked for after dark. A half day in a private garden nearby with local guides who find everything — a white-collared manakin lek, rufous-tailed jacamars chasing butterflies, three-toed sloths, tent-making bats, and with luck great green macaws in the almond trees.
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Northern lowlands, Alajuela Province
Boca Tapada
The northern lowlands. Roadside stops on the way in, then fruit feeders you can photograph from the dining room — toucans, often two or three species, brown-hooded parrots and tanagers. The vulture hide is the reason to come: king vultures on the ground at eye level, several at once, squabbling with each other and with the black vultures. The same day there is a macro session — red-eyed tree frogs, perhaps a glass frog or two, and often a snake, worked slowly and close.
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Central Valley, Alajuela Province
Alajuela
The last day is the drive back over the mountains through Varablanca — rolling cloud forest and waterfalls — with a stop at hummingbird feeders on the way. Then a night near the airport to repack, and the transfer out.
What the trip is built around
Not a list of species — nobody can promise those. These are the kinds of session the route is arranged to give you time at.
Hummingbirds
Three elevations and three different communities — the highland birds up near the páramo are not the foothill ones, and neither are the lowland ones. Feeders and flowering gardens they already trust, so you get the repetition to work a frame rather than snatch it. All of it in natural light on this departure.
Tanagers and honeycreepers
Fruiting plants and feeders bring them in close and keep bringing them back. That repetition is what makes a clean perch and a clean background possible at all.
Toucans
Big, loud, and less shy than they ought to be. The bill against wet green is the frame everyone wants, and the lowlands are where it happens.
The vulture blind
Ground-level work from a hide, close enough that the bare skin of the head fills the frame. Most people only ever see these birds from underneath. Here you are level with them, and there long enough to stop shooting everything and start waiting for the posture you want.
A river from a boat
Two trips on the same river in one day, a morning and an afternoon, with a captain who knows where the birds sit and how to hold the boat so everyone gets the angle. A monopod takes the weight, but the steadying is yours, from a boat moving under you. It puts you at water level, which is an angle you cannot get from a bank.
Owls at the roost
Most night birds spend the day somewhere, and a specialist guide who knows where is the difference between hearing an owl and photographing one. Worked in daylight, at the roost, without disturbing the bird.
Macro
Close enough that texture becomes the subject — the skin of a red-eyed tree frog, the scale pattern on a snake, water sitting on a leaf. Detail you cannot see standing up, and a different kind of patience from waiting on a bird.
What it will cost
The fare for this departure is not set yet. Anyone who has been in touch hears the figure as soon as it is fixed.
Every Framing Feathers tour is all-inclusive on the ground: lodging, meals, transport, transfers, guides and instruction. You book your own flights.
The group is 8 people in total, photographers and guests alike — so a photographer bringing a partner is booking two of the 8 spots.
Nothing is collected until this departure is confirmed on 15 December 2026 — putting your name down before then costs nothing. If it is not going ahead you will hear from me that day, and you will owe nothing.
The fare is per person, double occupancy — if you book on your own, you will share a twin room with another participant of the same gender, and couples are never split up. A single room is sometimes possible depending on how the group fills, but May is peak season and extra rooms cannot be held, so ask early and I will tell you honestly whether it can be done.
Full booking terms — cancellation, refunds and travel insurance.
Non-photographer guests are welcome — lodges, landscapes and the road. Everyone travelling with the group must be 21 or over.
What's in and what isn't
Included
- Double occupancy lodging for the full tour
- Private ground transportation throughout
- Airport welcome and transfers
- Three meals a day, from dinner on the first day to breakfast on the last
- Non-alcoholic drinks
- Unlimited purified drinking water
- An English-speaking, certified local guide from start to finish, with specialist guides where a site calls for one
- Every activity on the itinerary, and all entrance fees
- Photography instruction and image reviews
- Species checklist
Not included
- Flights to and from San José
- Meals before the first dinner and after the last breakfast
- Alcoholic beverages
- Travel insurance and medical costs
- Laundry services
- Gratuities
- Additional activities not listed
- Extra nights beyond the tour dates
Practicalities
Physical demand
Gentle — no long hikes. The boat day asks the most of you: stepping in and out of a boat, and holding a long lens up for a morning and an afternoon with no tripod under it. Most photography happens within lodge grounds or a short walk from the vehicle, and the pace is set by the group rather than the schedule. If you are comfortable walking on uneven ground for short distances, you are ready.
Weather
Hot Pacific lowlands at the start; cold on the páramo and cool highland mornings; warm, humid Caribbean lowlands; afternoon showers most days. Changing conditions often bring the best light.
Led by
Eric Patdu, and alongside him for the whole route, a local guide and trained biologist who has led more than a hundred birding tours and also guides in Panama and Ecuador. Travel between regions is by private vehicle.
Start and end
San José (SJO), with the first night in Santo Domingo de Heredia and the last in Alajuela. Airport transfers are included; flights are not.
What to bring
None of it is compulsory. This is what makes the difference between a good trip and a full memory card. Ask me if you're unsure — I'd rather advise beforehand than watch you wish you'd packed differently.
Bring
- Super-zoom lens — 400mm minimum for birds
- Tripod for low light and after-dark work
- Spare batteries and memory cards, more than you think
- Rain cover for body and lens
- A poncho or a dry sleeve for the boat day — spray and rain both find their way in, and there is nowhere dry to set anything down
- Waterproof footwear
- Layers — light breathable clothing, a rain jacket, and something warm for highland mornings
- A comfortable, weather-resistant day bag
- Insect repellent, sunscreen, hat
Worth considering
- Second camera body for flexibility and backup
- Prime 500mm or longer
- 24–105mm for landscapes and lodge scenes
- Monopod — takes the weight of a long lens on the boat day and through a long feeder session
- Macro lens for frogs, insects and floral detail
- Laptop for image reviews and backups
- Binoculars
What the last one produced
This route has run before. Costa Rica · May 2026 has the frames that came back from it, the survey the group filled in afterwards, and the route exactly as it happened.
Register interest
Tell me a little about how you shoot and I'll know what to plan around — which hides to book, how much flash gear to bring, how long to sit at the feeders. Not ready to commit? The first question on the form lets you ask something instead — same form, no obligation.