Costa Rica Wildlife and Where to Look for It

In the cool cloud forest at San Gerardo de Dota, look into fruiting trees and along openings in the canopy. A male’s green upperparts and red belly can be hard to see through the branches, but two long green streamers may hang into view when he perches. Give feeding birds time to come and go undisturbed.

On a trail in Manuel Antonio National Park, scan the treetops for a rounded back or a long arm draped over a branch. The brown-throated sloth is one of the park’s sloths. Its dark eye markings can help you tell it from the local two-toed sloth if it turns toward you. Binoculars help when the face is mostly hidden.

At Carara National Park on the central Pacific coast, listen for loud calls and watch clearings for pairs flying over. Red dominates the body, with yellow and blue across the wings. You can often get a better view by staying at the opening and letting the birds cross it.

Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula is a good setting for learning what a Baird’s tapir needs. A guide may spot the bulky animal or its tracks from the forest trails around Sirena. If you see one, look for the short, flexible snout and let it move on without cutting across its path.

From a boat on the Tortuguero canals, listen for the low roar of mantled howlers before scanning the crown of a riverside tree. The monkey is mostly dark, with lighter, longer hair along its sides. Once you find one, look nearby for the rest of the group.

Near La Fortuna, the Arenal Natura frog garden displays the red-eyed tree frog in a terrarium. Look underneath broad leaves for the folded green body of a resting frog. When active, it may show red eyes, orange feet, or blue-and-yellow flanks. The exhibit offers a close look at features you might miss in the forest.

At Curi Cancha Reserve in Monteverde, pause at forest edges with a clear view of the upper branches. A keel-billed toucan has a bright yellow throat and a long bill with patches of green, orange, and red. Use the gaps between trees to follow its flight if the foliage hides it once it lands.

Look down as well as up in Manuel Antonio, where a coati may cross the forest floor with its long tail upright. The pale muzzle and flexible snout help identify it as it searches leaf litter. If several pass along the same trail, wait for them to clear it and keep food packed away.

Around the forest trails of Manuel Antonio, look for cream fur around a dark-capped head and a mostly dark body. This Central American white-faced capuchin often changes branches quickly, giving you several short looks. Watch from the trail and keep bags secured so the monkeys don’t learn to associate people with food.

On Tortuguero’s nesting beach, green turtles come ashore from June through November. Go with an authorized guide for night viewing and follow the staff’s directions about light and where to stand. Keep the turtle’s route across the sand clear.

On a boat outing through the Tortuguero canals, scan gaps in the vegetation along the banks. A caiman may show only its eyes and the tip of its snout at the surface. If the light is good, look for the raised ridge between the eyes that gives the species its English name.

The bridge over the Tárcoles River gives a high view of crocodiles that rest on the banks or drift in the water below. From the pedestrian area, look for the long, tapered snout and the armored back. Stay behind the barrier and leave the banks to the animals.