It always pays to keep an eye on sales, I get them emailed to me but you can always check the websites as well. Copa is running a nice sale to various places in Central & South America.
Here’s a sample quote from Orlando to Guayaquil (since we are going there soon). Ecuador has great birding and I will be blogging the whole trip after we get home!
Not enough miles? Want a quick eco-trip to Central or South America? These hit my email this morning.
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Celebrate the long weekend by booking an amazing trip to South America! Purchase your roundtrip ticket before January 21, 2014 at 11:59pm (EST) to fly to select destinations in South America from the U.S. with fares starting from only $299. Take advantage of this incredible opportunity to save on a romantic Valentines’ weekend or fun Spring Break getaway. BOOK NOW >>
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The Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus) is also known as Buffon’s Macaw or the Great Military Macaw. Two allopatric subspecies are recognized, the nominate subspecies is found in Central America to northern Colombia, while A. a. guayaquilensis is found in western Ecuador and possibly south-western Colombia.
The photo above from Wikipedia shows the bird up close in all his glory. I wasn’t so lucky with my photography as both my sightings were at a distance and came out blurry. At least I got to see them which was exciting in itself!
This macaw has a very limited range in Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Costa Rica has the easiest places to see them in the Selva Verde/Sarapiqui area and near the Nicaraguan border at Laguna del Lagarto. Use a Central American award to San Jose, Costa Rica.
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Great Green Macaws are the largest parrots in their natural range, averaging 85–90 cm (33–36 in) long and 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) in weight. They are mainly green and have a reddish forehead and pale blue lower back, rump and upper tail feathers. Tail is brownish red tipped with very pale blue. The bare facial skin is patterned with lines of small dark feathers, which are reddish in older and female parrots.
They are highly endangered and there are several conservation groups working to preserve them in the wild. If you would like to help this fantastic macaw survive, please visit these projects’ websites.
WORLD PARROT TRUST
WPT has provided support in the form of funds ($15,000 US) through the Great Green Macaw Fund.
Also see: http://www.parrots.org/index.php/ourwork/greatgreenmacaw/
Links to Other Project(s):
http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2005/07/great_green_macaw.html
http://www.thearaproject.org/project.php
This was filmed near the Selva Verde Lodge. I wish I had a camera crew like this! The host, James Currie of Birding Adventures talks about a conservation project to protect the nesting trees of the macaws.
The Blue-grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) is a medium-sized South American songbird of the Tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. It has been introduced to Lima (Peru). On Trinidad and Tobago, this bird is called Blue Jean.
This delicately hued little beauty has a wide range throughout Central and South America (easily reached with airline miles) and can be easily seen in most of the national parks. I saw them in Crooked Tree, Belize; Tikal, Laguna del Lagarto & Savegre, Costa Rica; and Soberania in Panama.
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The breeding habitat is open woodland, cultivated areas and gardens. The Blue-grey Tanager lives mainly on fruit, but will also take some nectar and insects. This is a common, restless, noisy and confiding species, usually found in pairs, but sometimes small groups. It thrives around human habitation, and will take some cultivated fruit like papayas (Carica papaya). Many eco-lodges put bananas out to attract them closer. I have no problem with this since bananas are part of their normal diet. Breeding season is from March to July. During this time, the female lays one to three mottled eggs, which she incubates for 12 to 14 days. Once hatched, both parents feed their chicks.
Adult blue-gray tanagers are preyed upon by felines, snakes, birds of prey and crocodilians. Other predators, such as raccoons, eat young birds and eggs. Habitat destruction due to deforestation is the primary threat to this species.
This one is long but watch for a few minutes to see the bird’s feeding habits and sound.
First of all, the whole country is visually stunning. The Pacific coast, Caribbean coast, mountains, volcanoes, rainforests, lakes, rivers and national parks. Not surprisingly, Costa Rica is not only a popular vacation spot for mainstream tourists but also serves the cruise industry and a growing population of retirees who find their pensions go a lot further there. The tourist infrastructure is well-established and credit cards are widely accepted.
GETTING THERE
You will need a Central America award on your airline of choice. If you are new here, please have a look at the programs I recommend you to join. San Jose (SJO) is very well served by Star Alliance (red dot) carriers but there are a few interesting options on One World (blue dot) and Sky Team (green dot). Most people would either be coming from or connecting in the USA but if you don’t want to travel via the USA you can connect in Madrid on Iberia or Toronto on Air Canada.
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You can also fly to Liberia airport (LIR) on any of the 3 major alliances.
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Most of the major hotel chains are represented here but I strongly advise you not to go overboard booking them. I have seen people book 7-10 days in San Jose when the Holiday Inn or Crowne Plaza goes on Pointbreaks but this is a false economy (unless you are on a business trip). Costa Rica has so much to offer and I hate to see people spending their whole trip in the city! One night before or after a flight is fine and there are several options which I will go over in the San Jose post. Eco-lodges can be ridiculously easy to book online (even getting miles via Pointshound) with secure credit card payments and instant confirmations.
As you can see, Costa Rica is truly blessed with national parks full of fascinating birds and amazing scenery! The red line and dots represent our itinerary which I chose to maximize Parrot sightings and also to see the gorgeous Respendent Quetzal. I was also reluctant to hire a car here so I had to choose places easy to get to on public transport or tourist shuttles.
1. Selva Verde, Sarapiqui
2. Laguna del Lagarto, Boca Tapada
3. Arenal
4. Monteverde
5. Carara
6. Parque Nacional Los Quetzales
7. San Jose (pre-flight)
Our Travel Route
Yesterday, I posted about the travel aspect of Tikal National Park and because I had so many photos decided to split the birds off into their own post. Tikal has quite an impressive bird list, with several of my targeted parrot species. I’ll screenshot the parrots and leave you to visit the bird list on their website. Remember, creating a successful birding adventure means identifying the species you most want to see and finding out the best places to see them. I have highlighted in yellow the parrot species I saw at Tikal. I did see the other species later in Costa Rica. The subspecies of Olive-throated Parakeet found here is more commonly known as an Aztec Conure. We saw a small flock near the Grand Plaza flying swiftly overhead-as conures do.
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Montezuma Oropendulas were everywhere throughout the whole trip.
Lineated Woodpecker
Montezuma Oropendula
Brown-hooded Parrot (Aztec Conure)
Ocellated Turkey
Montezuma Oropendulas and White-fronted Parrots sharing a tree
Great Kiskadee
White-collared Seedeater
Lineated Woodpecker
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Collared Aracaris
Blue-grey Tanager
Central America
You will have to check each individual program to see which countries they consider as “Central America”. All of them will include Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Some will also include Mexico, Caribbean Islands and the northern part of South America. All of these countries have impressive bird lists and are a great destination for eco-travelers. I already have a blog with my recommendations for which programs to join if you are new to the world of miles and points.
The main gateway cities for Central America include Belize City (BZE), Flores (FRS – for Tikal), Guatemala City (GUA), Tegucigalpa (TGU), Managua (MGA), San Salvador (SAL), San Jose (SJO) and Panama City (PTY). Once you have been in the miles and points game for awhile, you will get a feel for which airline to use where but if you are just starting out, Wikipedia will show you a list of all airlines that fly into a given airport.
Let’s take San Jose, Costa Rica for our first example. So we can see that San Jose is served by a few international airlines. AA flies from Miami, Dallas & New York, Copa and Avianca-Taca flies from several Central American cities which also have good connections to the USA. In most cases you will have to transit through the USA even if you are coming from Australia, Europe or Asia direct to San Jose but there is a direct flight on Iberia from Madrid which could save Europeans the trouble of transiting the USA. Your best choices are One World or Star Alliance because they have several airlines flying into the area. Sky Team has a few flights on Delta.
From North America you can use American Airlines.
From South America you will need to use Star Alliance.
From Australia and New Zealand you can use Qantas & AA via the USA.
From UK and Europe you can travel via the USA using BA or IB to get to the USA, then AA, or the direct IB flights from Madrid to Central America.
From Asia or Africa there are no direct flights so you will need to travel via the USA or Europe.
From North America you can use United, US (until they merge with AA), Avianca-Taca or Copa
From South America you can use Avianca-Taca and Copa.
From Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Asia and Africa there are no direct flights, you will need to travel via the USA. Depending on which program’s miles you have, this may require one or two awards.
From North America you can use AeroMexico or Delta.
From Europe you can use Air Europa, Air France or KLM, to you can connect in the USA to Delta.
From Australia you will need to connect in the USA, this may require 2 awards.
From Asia and Africa there are no direct flights, you will need to travel via the USA or Europe.
HOW MANY MILES WILL IT COST?
Every airline member of the 3 main alliances has it’s own frequent flier program. They often have alliances with other airlines outside the program. I have made some reference charts for the airline alliances and I strongly recommend that you check out the program of the airline in your country and the USA based partners of each program as the USA airlines tend to have the most lucrative bonuses. Americans can get very generous credit card bonuses. Details of credit card partners (and other partners) will be on each airline’s website, however often there are more lucrative sign up bonuses. Details are usually posted in the Flyer Talk credit card forum so I strongly suggest you read this thread and the Miles Buzz forum before you apply for any cards just in case a better bonus has been offered. I don’t have any affiliate links and I recommend you do extensive research on your own when applying for airline credit cards. I have some general posts about credit cards which basically let you know which bank serves which airlines and hotels so always check with Flyertalk for the latest news.
No matter where you live, frequent flyer programs based in the USA usually offer the best deals but it’s still a good idea to look at other members of the alliance. Try to avoid carriers that charge a fuel surcharge. Looking at AA’s award chart, we can see that Central America shares a category with Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
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So let’s look at the chart. You will notice there are taxes and fees with certain routes and that the awards are prices as one way trips.
We can see that a South Pacific to Central/South America award will cost 40,000 miles each way (80,000 round trip) in economy, 65,000 (130,000 round trip) in business class and 75,000 each way (150,000 round trip in first class. AA doesn’t allow you to transit the USA on this award so you must fly on the only carriers that operate between Australia and South America-Qantas and LAN to Bogota or Caracas. To be honest, I wouldn’t use AA miles for this type of award or use 2 awards to connect in the USA.
If you are based in North America, economy will cost 17,500 each way (35,000 round trip), business class is 30,000 each way (60,000 round trip) and first is 40,000 each way or 80,000 round trip. You would be flying on AA.
Avios can be a great bargain for shorter flights. The awards are priced by distance flown per segment rather than zone to zone.
Using the Great Circle Mapper, we can see that a direct flight from Miami to Belize or San Jose would cost 7,500 Avios each way, a direct flight from Miami to Panama City is very annoyingly 1 mile into the next band for 10,000 Avios. If you are using credit card miles, transferring them to Avios rather than UA or AA could save you some points. If you need a connection from elsewhere in the USA to the gateway city, you need to pay for that segment separately with the Avios cost for the distance flown. Example OKC-MIA is 1222 miles so you need to add 10,000 Avios to the total price of the ticket.
For Qantas, it is easiest to use their points calculator to see how many points you need, then look for availability. Here is an example of SYD-DFW-GUA in economy class. For the record, business class (if you can get it) would cost 128,000 each way.
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Awards are distance based, but look what happens when we quote on Perth-Guatemala City! Price for economy stayed the same!
If you are based somewhere else, leave a comment if you don’t understand this part and I will help you out. Meanwhile, here is a reference list for other One World carriers.
Star Alliance is King in Central America! With the two main Central American airlines-Taca and Copa based there, they have an unbeatable network of routes. Let’s use US Airways as an example. US does not offer one way awards so these are round trips. US Airways groups Central America with Mexico. You can use any Star Alliance carrier so if you are in North America, you could use a combination of United, US Airways, Avianca/Taca and Air Canada to get there. For Aussies and Kiwis it gets a bit more complicated. Theoretically you should be able to use Air New Zealand to LAX and then pick up Avianca/Taca which is probably fine in economy but availability is scarce in business. US Airways has recently been enforcing MPM (maximum permitted mileage) so while in the past we could route through Asian airports such as Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul; this may no longer be possible. The new partner EVA AIrlines has added more possibilities of connections in Taipei. US is in the process of merging with AA so these attractive awards may not be around much longer, book ’em while they last!
UNITED AIRLINES
United Airlines is a USA based carrier that offers one way awards on its own flights and other Star Alliance carriers. Due to the size of their award chart, I can’t paste it here so will link to it and give examples. Seattle to San Jose has availability on several dates which I picked at random. They are colour coded for economy, business/first or all three classes.
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Here is the best routing that came up. Beware of the “mixed cabin” in business class, that means you will have to be in economy for one or more segments.
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Another random search on PTY-LAS (a much easier airport to use to enter the USA) has good availablilty for saver awards in economy and business on Copa which is a Mileage Plus member airline.
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AVIANCA TACA LIFEMILES
Lifemiles has some very attractive promos to buy and share miles. While this doesn’t give you a free trip, it can greatly reduce the cost of a trip especially if you are after business or first class awards. You need to be an existing member of Lifemiles when they announce a promo so join now if you haven’t already. Use their calculator to get an idea of award costs. This will be a range which depends on class and any promos.
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Click on View Availability to see the exact breakdown.
They have a Star Alliance Award chart and you can see that they divide the region of Central America into northern and southern regions. Snippet is incomplete due to size, so click over to the whole chart.
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Australia and New Zealand are in the “Others” category. The chart shows round trip awards but you can redeem one ways for half the price shown. For Aussies, it’s much cheaper to use US miles while they last or United for Star Alliance awards. I prefer to keep my Lifemiles for intra-South/Central America awards which can get pricy but are bargains using awards. This is where you find the real hidden gems! Here’s an example of a trip we just did from Flores (Tikal) via Guatemala City to San Jose.
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The 11,000 mile award can be brought down to 5000 miles if you are willing to pay an extra $90. Last year when we booked our trip, it was even cheaper. They raised the price last year but it’s still a good deal. Even though they have a special for business class, with flights this short I’d rather save my money and use the miles!
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SINGAPORE AIRLINES
While there are no bargains here, if you are flush with Amex Membership Rewards you want to transfer to SQ, you can also book flights to Central America which shares a zone with Hawaii using Krisflyer.
For those who want to use other programs, I have made up a reference list of all the airlines with links to their websites so check them out to see if any of them are better suited to your needs. Bear in mind that the tickets are not completely free, there is usually a booking fee of $25-50 and various taxes, but you would have to pay the taxes whether you pay cash or miles for the ticket in any case.
The Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) is a small passerine bird in the Tyrannidae, or tyrant flycatcher family. Most flycatchers are rather drab, but the Vermilion Flycatcher is a striking exception. The flycatchers feed mostly on insects such as flies, grasshoppers and beetles. These are usually taken in mid-air, after a short sally flight from a perch.
Male Vermillion Flycatcher
Female Vermillion Flycatcher
They have a widespread range from the southern USA to Mexico, Central and South America. I saw them in Crooked Tree Sanctuary in Belize.
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When not catching flies, they sometimes seek employment in laundries!
“Will dry clothes for flies!”
OK, so I was kidding on that last one! Here’s some more information about these beautiful little birds.
And nothing like a video clip to see them in action!
Central America has some of the best birding in the world. There are so many bird species, it would be impossible to see all of them or even visit all the national parks and regions where birds are easily seen. It is better to make a list of your priority species, find out where they can be seen and cross-reference the different regions to maximize possible species. Since I am obsessed with Parrots, I gave them priority when I decided which regions and national parks I would visit. I knew that many other fascinating bird species would also be seen such as the Resplendent Quetzal, various Toucans and Aracaris, many gorgeous little Tanagers and Woodpeckers and lots of other birds.
After using several resources such as the bird lists found on national park websites, the book Parrots of the World by Joseph Forshaw and recommendations from friends, I came up with the following spreadsheet. A black X indicates the bird has been seen in that area. A green X indicates the birds I actually saw when I was there. The “captive” Yellow-naped Amazon seen near Montverde was originally a wild parrot whose wings have been clipped so he can’t fly and is forced to hang around a certain restaurant/gift shop. There will be more details on future blogs. The bright yellow shading indicated parrots I was successful in seeing, the white rows are the 3 species I didn’t find-the Barred Parakeet and the 2 Parrotlets.
Parrots of Central America
With an eco-tourism trip, the highlight is going to be the eco-lodges so you need to choose wisely. You will need to research the species you are hoping to see and find national parks with lodges in those areas. Although airline miles are of use to everyone, hotel points will only be useful for stays near airports to accommodate early morning flights. There is one exception as you will see below. Also, this itinerary is unusual in that I organized a stopover in Hawaii on the way back to Australia so I could burn some hotel points and celebrate my birthday! If you are USA or Europe based, this won’t be an option. Here are my choices, how I booked them and my reasons for choosing them. Detailed reviews on each will be forthcoming in future blogs.
BELIZE
Crooked Tree Lodge: booked direct by email (don’t use aggregators), paid cash. Chosen because the area is known for Yellow-headed Parrots, Red-lored Parrots and White-fronted Parrots and they have a good local guide.
Parrot’s Nest, San Ignacio: booked direct by email, don’t use aggregators, paid by Visa on checkout. Chosen because there are parrots in the area sporadically but primarily for the experience of sleeping in a treehouse.
GUATEMALA
Tikal Inn: booked direct by email, don’t use aggregators, paid by Amex on checkout. Chosen because it’s in the Tikal National Park, there are parrots and other birds in the grounds and they have a pool. Also they offer a free sunset/sunrise tour and some of the guides are familiar with the local birds.
Radisson, Guatemala City: booked online with Club Carlson points. Chosen because of proximity to airport, free shuttle and cheap points redemption.
COSTA RICA
Selva Verde Lodge, Sarapiqui: booked online at Hotels.com. Used 10% promo code and Ultimate Rewards Mall. Chosen because of excellent guides and known for being home to Great Green Macaws and many other birds.
Laguna del Lagarto Lodge, Boca Tapada: Booked on Pointshound for UA miles. Chosen because of recommendation by friend who was just there and area is extremely rich in birdlife.
Volcano Lodge, Arenal: Booked on Pointshound for UA miles. Chosen because of volcano views, garden, pool and it being a nice place to relax after full-on birding.
Cala Lodge, Monteverde: Booked on Pointshound for UA miles. Chosen because near town for easy meals/shopping and easy to get taxi to Monteverde Cloud Forest for Respendant Quetzals.
Villa Lapas, Tarcoles: Booked on their website, don’t use aggregators. Chosen because it is adjacent to Carara National Park for Scarlet Macaws and other birds.
Savegre Mountain Lodge: Booked on their webiste, don’t use aggregators. Chosen based on recommendation by friend who had been there recently, excellent guides and ease of finding Resplendant Quetzals.
Park Inn, San Jose: Booked using Club Carlson points on their website. Chosen because of cheap mistake rate of 5000 points, otherwise would have stayed closer to the airport. Easy enough to get Alajuela bus to airport in the morning.
PANAMA
Radisson Summit: Booked using Club Carlson points on their website. Chosen because easy 15 minute drive to Soberania National Park and also because some rooms have spectacular view of the rainforest.
Courtyard by Marriott, Panama City: Booked using Marriott points on their website. Chosen because I wanted to burn my last 10k points and it was near the airport.
USA
Holiday Inn (Desert Inn), Las Vegas: Used Chase free night certificate. Chosen because I had to use the cert or lose it and they wouldn’t give me Venetian or Palazzo on Labor Day weekend.
Four Points Sheraton, LAX: Got BRG with 2000 SPG point bonus. Chosen because of this deal and free airport shuttle.
Maui Seaside Inn: Booked on Hotels.com using free night after 10 stays and this one was the closest to the value I had on my free night. Chosen because we wanted to stay in Kahului for easy access to Road to Hana and Haleakala. Also rumours of Mitred Parakeets in nearby area.
Hyatt Regency Maui: Used Chase Ultimate Rewards sent to Hyatt to book free nights. Chosen because of resort facilities and a great place to spend my birthday!
Sheraton Waikiki: Used SPG cash & points. Chosen in hopes of an ocean view upgrade (got one!) and infinity pool.
Royal Hawaiian: Used SPG cash & points. Chosen because I have wanted to stay in the “pink palace” since I was a kid and never thought I could afford it!
