‘We woke up around 3:00 AM, leaving San Mateo to arrive and start birding at Macaw around 5 towards 5:30 AM. Right before the entrance of Macaw, we spend the first minutes looking at different species. It’s a forest that is a bit more dry, more like Carara National Park. Once you enter Macaw, it is way more humid. The species you will spot are different. By the bus stop, almost before the entrance, we spot our first birds.

It was four of us that spent the whole day looking, searching, spotting, watching, counting. We managed a total of 119 species. We came number 14 out of 15 in Costa Rica. My favorite species to see is Pysaetus tyrannous, a small eagle. If not, the green ibis. A species that is not so rare, but here in the Pacific is hard to find. According to literature, and the database Ebird, it’s rare to see in this part of Costa Rica. But Macaw, yes, it’s here. Five or six months ago, you could se it in the lake as if nothing. Here are some pictures. We saw it near the river. So yes, the green ibis is amazing to watch. It’s not common in this area.

What I love the most about birding at Macaw is that there are so so many species to watch. In 60 minutes, you can watch 60 types of birds. From this point of view, it’s beautiful. You can see so many in such little time. Clearly after such spaces, the rhythm is not as impressive. The same restaurant can reveal a lot, a long list. It’s a combination, it’s a transition forest, with one part dry and another part humid. Or the Green Ibis, it’s not Pacific, it’s not Caribbean.

It has the advantage that this open area, you can find such a big variety and diversity of birds. There is also the area of primary forest near the waterfall. The volume of birds gets lower, but the rarity, the least common ones, in this part of the forest. Let’s say, that Macaw Lodge is a birding space for any type of birder: beginners, who do not know much and are happy watching the easier more accesible kinds, and experts, who love the challenge, the hidden, the rare.’