Beautiful, flute-like birdsong echoes from the humid undergrowth of misty forest. Dense with vegetation, the singers are at first unseen but with patience, they and other species of the beautiful middle elevation forests of Tapanti National Park reveal themselves. One of them, the Black-faced Solitaire shows itself by sallying for small fruits at the forest edge. The other main songster, the Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, hops into view at the edge of the road on bright orange legs. As the sun comes out, the calls of an Ornate Hawk-Eagle in flight draw our attention to the skies and a flock of Barred Parakeets zips past, flying high and fast like winter finches from the north.

There aren’t any crossbills in Tapanti National Park but this excellent site makes up for it with hundreds of other bird species that make their home in one of Costa Rica’s classic and best middle elevation sites for birding.

Found around 1.5 hours drive from the city of San José, Tapanti has long been recognized as one of the better sites for cloud forest species in Costa Rica. Many a local birder has made trips to Tapanti to look for a variety of scarce middle elevation species including Scaled and Ochre-breasted Antpittas, Tawny-throated Leaftosser, foliage-gleaners, Golden-bellied Flycatcher, Dark Pewee, and many others.

No matter how much experience one might have with birding, this wonderful national park always makes for a productive and fun day.  Some of the reasons why Tapanti works well as an essential day trip when birding Costa Rica:

• Good roads through quality habitat with several regional endemics.
• Mature middle elevation forest that is difficult to access in other parts of the country.
• Chances at a very good variety of species including several that are rare or difficult to see in other parts of the country, eBird Hotspot list.
• Easy, excellent birding.