Who wants some Costa Rica Birding?!!!

Kathleen Cameron of Majestic Feathers Tours, teaching on the bus in Costa Rica.
Photo by Linda Milam.

 One special birder and talented photographer that I was delighted to meet in my home state of Idaho is Kathleen Cameron. She was also the winner of my first photo contest with her amazing capture of a Bohemian Waxwing!  I attended her impressive presentation to the Southwestern Idaho Birders Association in which she shared her experiences of birding in Costa Rica as well as the critical connection many of our North American birds have to Central America.

Kathleen's love of Costa Rica has inspired her to arrange and lead birding tours there, along with her Costa Rican partner Edwin Ramirez.  And they are not just birding tours...they are much much more.  I am personally planning a trip with Kathleen and Edwin in the next year.  I've invited Kathleen to share information about her tours with readers of Birding is Fun!  If you are thinking about a Central America birding expedition, please consider a tour with Majestic Feathers Tours.  Here's why...

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Majestic Feathers Tours

Where Adventure, Avian Science, and Beauty Merge

Can you imagine the thrill of seeing 380 to 427 species of birds in 12 days of birding? Well imagine no more by joining a Majestic Feathers birding tour with Edwin Ramirez in Costa Rica! Edwin is a native of Costa Rica and has 20 years of guiding under his binocular strap! By arranging our itinerary so that we bird in seven different life zones we accomplish species numbers like these and get you into out of the way places to see endemic birds, shy forest species, and a myriad of others. Edwin’s skill as a guide and naturalist are suburb as noted by many of our past tour participants. (Check out testimonials here)

VARIETY

Jabirus



Join us in Costa Rica to explore Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest, Rainforest, Cloud Forest, Lower and Upper Montane habitat, Subalpine Paramo, and Mangrove Forest.  Because of the variety of habitat we bird you will likely add: Snowcap, and Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Timberline Wren, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Flame-throated Warbler, Volcano Junco, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager, Sunbittern, Jabiru, Antpittas, Tanagers, Tryannulets, Trogons and hundreds more!




FLEXIBILITY

Our tours are unique in that we are able to bird on both public and private land, we alter our route when our guide is notified of a rare bird alert. Additionally beyond the tours dates that we announce, we also offer tailor made tours for families or groups of birders that contact us asking for shorter or longer trips. We also offer Natural History tours, and tours that combine birding and other nature based recreation in Costa Rica; fishing, scuba, zip lining, and surfing! We can make your dream trip to Costa Rica a reality!

VALUE

A quick comparison of prices with other tours of the same length as ours will quickly reveal that our Costa Rica tour is priced on average at $1,500 less. In several cases the higher priced trips of other tours do not cover the extensive habitat that we bird. Birding tours can be found for prices below ours, but a close consideration of the itinerary often reveals that one hotel is utilized as “base camp” and day trips from this location result in fewer birds seen and more time on the road. Flexibility is an issue with many of the lower priced trips as is accessibility to the most productive birding habitat. Our price makes your dream trip to Costa Rica a more affordable reality!

White-throated Mountain Gem

CONSERVATION

Majestic Feathers is in partnership with the Foundation for the Protection and Conservation of the La Paz River and Forest and a portion of your tour fee goes directly to forest restoration and to funding corridor connections in this cloud forest preserve. To date, 100 acres of forest have been restored and in the future the final corridor connection will establish a land bridge allowing animals to move all the way from the Arenal Volcano National Park to the Los Alpes Private Forest Preserve. The corridor connection in the La Paz Forest will result in 2,000 acres of connected forest benefiting Tapirs, Pumas, Ocelots, Resplendent Quetzals, and many, many more species.

Majestic Feathers, Where Adventure, Avian Science, and Beauty Merge, a birding tour with us will bring all of this and more to you.  Join us you’ll love it if you do!


Kathleen Cameron
Organizer of Majestic Feathers Tours with Edwin Ramirez

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There are still some open slots for tours in March 2011.
The February tour is already sold out, so hurry!

To get more information about Majestic Feather Tours, please email Kathleen here.  Visit their official website here. You can sign up to be on her mailing list for future tour info as well. Tell her you read about her tours at Birding is Fun!

Photos in this post belong to Kathleen Cameron and were used with permission.