15 different animals to photograph in Corcovado National Park
Last updated on June 13th, 2019
Is it possible to see many animals/wildlife in Corcovado National Park?
Definitely, the answer is: YES, it is!
Ligia and I started planning our trip to this national park back in November/December 2017. Believe it or not, a small percentage of Costa Ricans had visited this part of the country and we were not the exception.
However, I visited Corcovado back in 2010 while I was studying for being a tour guide. My friend Elbert Gonzalez who grew up at Drake Bay invited me to stayed at his family lodge, called Vista Drake.
I remember that back in 2010, I had a small DSLR camera (Nikon D90) with two lenses (18-55 mm and 70-300 mm). This time, I was getting back to the park with a full frame camera and better lenses.
This 2018 trip was Ligia’s first time at Corcovado.
We planned our trip together with a Dutch couple who have a travel blog called My Travel Secret. We met them through social media and from that moment we all started planning our visit to this park together.
Read more about our trip on these links:
- Corcovado National Park
- How to get to Drake Bay/Corcovado National Park
- Hiking Corcovado National Park
Wildlife in Corcovado National Park
I knew that this trip could be amazing in terms of nature/wildlife photography.
Why?! Well, because Corcovado hosts 2.5% of the worldwide biodiversity, and some biological studies had mentioned that 50% of the species of Costa Rica can be found there.
One of my goals was to photograph as many animals as I could. I was especially hoping to see a Puma (Mountain Lion/Cougar) in their natural environment, but I knew that wildlife is unpredictable and that did not happen. However, we did see one of the biggest mammals of Costa Rica, known as a Tapir.
I packed all our photography gear including our DJI Phantom Standard 3 drone.
Now, let’s see the animals that I could photograph.
Birds
Black-throated Trogon
It’s a common bird in wet lowlands and foothills, to 1,200 m (3937 ft).
Crested Guan
The red flap of bare skin on the throat and white flecking on the breast differentiate this from species of a similar size.
Mangrove Black-Hawk
Common along the Pacific coast, especially in and around mangrove swamps.
Great Curassow
Curassows walk the forest floor in search of fallen fruits and small animals.
Pale-billed Woodpecker
This species is common in lowlands; less common at middle elevations, to 1,400 m (4593 ft).
Baird’s Trogon
This bird is endemic to Costa Rica and western Panama.
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
A juvenile heron, fairly common in lowlands.
Crested Caracara
This is a common bird in northern Pacific lowlands and foothills.
Scarlet Macaw
This species is now readily found in areas like Carara/Tarcoles and Osa Peninsula. A few still remain in other areas.
Mammals
Baird’s Tapir
Tapirs are very large and stocky. Generally, they travel alone, although the young may remain with the mother long after weaning.
Northern Tamandua
These animals are diurnal and nocturnal. Semi-arboreal, they travel on the ground and through trees in search of termite and ant mounds.
White-nosed Coati
These agile climbers usually sleep on branches high in the canopy.
Collared Peccary
Found in forest, grasslands, and farmlands. These peccaries eat palm nuts and other fruits, roots, and seeds.
Spider Monkey
These monkeys occur throughout the country, mostly in large tracts of evergreen forest but also in dry forest, near rivers.
Squirrel Monkey
Usually, groups of 10 to 40 travel rapidly and noisily through the forest, investigating every nook in search of insects.
All these pictures are an example of how much wildlife can be found in Corcovado National Park, one of the richest national parks in Costa Rica in terms of biodiversity.
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