Bird species in Costa Rica, more than the entire United States. Arenal sits where two migration routes cross.
Of Costa Rica's six toucan species, three live in the rainforest around Nayara's Arenal resorts.
Species experienced birders have recorded around Arenal in a single day.
Toucans do not migrate. They are permanent neighbors, most active at dawn and dusk.
In short: the rainforest around Nayara's Arenal resorts holds three of Costa Rica's six toucan species, plus quetzals, macaws, and more than 25 kinds of hummingbird. Toucans are year-round residents, most active at dawn and dusk, and they often perch within sight of the tents and villas. Reforestation on former pastureland is what brought them back.
Costa Rica holds more than 900 species of birds. That is more than the entire United States, in a country the size of West Virginia.
The Arenal region concentrates that abundance. It sits at the intersection of two major bird migration routes, so every year millions of birds pass through and many stop in this rainforest to feed, rest, and breed. The elevation gradient, from lowland rainforest to cloud forest, stacks multiple habitat zones on top of each other, each with its own distinct bird community.
The result is diversity you can measure in a morning. A single walk through the forest around Nayara Tented Camp can produce 30 or more species. In a full day, experienced birders have recorded over 100. The best of it comes early: the dawn chorus, when the forest's birds sing at once, is one of the most remarkable things a guest can wake up to.
The toucan is one of the most recognizable animals on Earth, and travelers cross the globe to see them here, alongside sloths, howler monkeys, scarlet macaws, and red-eyed tree frogs. What many visitors do not know: Costa Rica is home to six different species of toucan, each with its own size, colors, and personality. Three of them live all around us in the Arenal rainforest: the Keel-Billed Toucan, the Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, and the Collared Aracari.
Toucans are omnivores that thrive in hot, dense tropical forest at low elevations, where food is everywhere. They are far more comfortable perching than flying, and typically hop or glide from branch to branch rather than spend time in the air, which makes this forest an ideal home.
It nearly stopped being one. A few decades ago, with deforestation sweeping Costa Rica and much of Central America, all six toucan species here were under severe threat from habitat loss. The conservation policies of the past half-century turned that around, and you can watch the recovery at small scale on our own land. Much of the ground around Nayara Gardens, Nayara Springs, and Nayara Tented Camp had been cleared to cattle pasture in the late 1900s, and the toucans left with the trees.
Then the trees came back. We planted more than 40,000 native ones on that former pasture, and the rich volcanic soil, the growing climate, and a returning web of pollinators accelerated the rest. Today toucans perch in the canopy around all three resorts, sometimes directly outside a guest's window.
Reforestation on former cattle pasture brought the toucans back to the trees around all three Arenal resorts.
The beak gets the attention. It can run up to four times the size of the toucan's head. But it is the social life that wins people over. Toucans travel in groups of six to twenty or more, and they play: they have been watched tossing fruit back and forth in a game of catch.
They are devoted parents, too: monogamous pairs raise their chicks until the young can fend for themselves, which takes a while, given that a toucan's awkward way of moving lasts a lifetime.
Toucans are usually portrayed as elegant. Within the bird world, the honest assessment is loud, clumsy, hungry, and confrontational. For those of us who know them well, that is exactly the charm.
Toucans are all around us in this forest, so you can encounter them on almost any tour or experience you set out on, and often without setting out at all. They are known to perch directly outside the windows of our tents, rooms, and villas.
By day they perch in the trees; by night they sleep in groups, hidden from predators. They are most active at dawn and dusk, so an early-morning walk or a stroll just before sunset is the best window to catch them at their busiest.
And unlike many of the species this forest welcomes, toucans never migrate. They are year-round residents. Whenever you come, they are already here.
The size and shape are easy to explain. The bill lets a toucan reach food far out on branches or deep in tree cavities, and its serrated edges handle everything from fruit, nuts, and seeds to other birds' eggs, insects, and even small reptiles.
The colors are the harder question. Some researchers think the bright bill attracts mates; others, that it deters predators like raptors, large snakes, and forest cats. Toucans will smack their beak against a branch when threatened, and the color may add a visual edge to the display. Whatever the reason, the forest is better looking for it.
Up to four times the size of the head, with serrated edges that handle fruit, insects, and eggs alike.
The most famous of them all, thanks to a bill that blends nearly every color in the rainbow. Keel-billed toucans are highly sociable and gather in groups on open branches. You will hear them before you see them: a loud, croaking call that carries up to half a mile.
Also called the yellow-fronted toucan, this is the largest toucan in Costa Rica, with a two-tone bill instead of the Keel-Billed's rainbow. Its size gives it the widest diet of the three, extending to small snakes and even young birds. Its signature is a yelping "yo-YIP!" cry.
Aracaris look a little different from the toucans most people picture, but they are the same family and share the long beak, the broad diet, and the social habit, traveling in groups of 6 to 15. What sets the Collared Aracari apart is acrobatic fruit scavenging: stretching out on a single foot, bending fully backward, even hanging upside down for the right fruit. Its call is distinctive too: high squeaks over a low rattle.
The Keel-Billed Toucan.
The Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan.
The Collared Aracari.
At a glance, toucans are majestic. Get to know them and they are awkward, goofy, and social. There is always more than meets the eye in the rainforest.
The Resplendent Quetzal is widely considered one of the most beautiful birds in the world. It was sacred in Aztec mythology, tied to the god Quetzalcoatl, and today it is the national bird of Guatemala and appears on that country's flag.
The male is unmistakable: emerald-green above, crimson below, with tail feathers that can stream 24 inches beyond the body. The female is subtler but equally elegant, green with a golden-buff breast. Both call in a series of whistles that gave the bird its name: "kew-zal, kew-zal."
Quetzals live in cloud forest above roughly 4,000 feet, feed largely on wild avocados, and depend on undisturbed forest. In breeding season, March to June, males perform steep display dives with their tails streaming behind them. Among birders, seeing one is considered a privilege. If you are lucky enough, stop and simply watch.
The region is home to several macaw and parrot species, including the Scarlet Macaw and the Great Green Macaw. You will usually hear them before you see them: squawks, screeches, and whistles echoing through the canopy.
Macaws are long-lived, some past 50 years, and often mate for life. They are intelligent and social, moving in pairs or small family groups, and they earn their keep in the forest: by carrying seeds, nuts, and fruit across the landscape, they replant the very canopy they live in.
The Scarlet Macaw is brilliant red with blue and yellow wings; the Great Green is green with red at the forehead and tail. Both are imposing in flight, with wingspans that can pass three feet.
More than 25 species of hummingbird inhabit Costa Rica, and many live in the Arenal region. Some weigh less than a penny. Their wings beat up to 80 times per second, letting them hover and even fly backwards, and their hearts can exceed 1,000 beats per minute.
They live on nectar and must eat roughly half their body weight in sugar daily to fuel it all, which makes them fiercely territorial around good flowers. Their iridescent plumage shifts color with the angle of the light.
Common species here include the Violet Sabrewing, the Green Hermit, and the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. The way to watch them is to be still: sit near flowering plants, or by the feeder at Tented Camp, and let them come to you.
Start early. The window from 5:30 to 8:00 AM is the best of the day, when birds are most active and the dawn chorus is at full volume.
Move slowly, dress quietly. Sudden movement and loud sound scatter birds. Neutral colors beat bright ones.
Listen first. Many birds are easier to hear than to see. Learning a few calls will do more for your sightings than any lens.
Bring binoculars. They let you study a bird in detail without disturbing it.
Use a guide, human or printed. A Costa Rica field guide helps; our naturalists at Tented Camp are better, and they will name what you are hearing.
Be patient. Sit quietly and let the forest resume around you. The reward is worth the wait.
The birds of this rainforest are indicators of its health. When quetzals and macaws are present, the ecosystem is working. Our guides are trained to watch responsibly, keeping distance from nests and sensitive species, so that watching birds here supports the forest that holds them.
Toucans outside the window at Nayara Gardens, Nayara Springs, and Nayara Tented Camp, in the Arenal rainforest.