Caño Negro Delivers
Our time in Arenal was an unqualified success, but it was time to move on to the next destination of our whirlwind Costa Rica trip: the vast marshland of Caño Negro. The Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is located along the banks of the Río Frío in far northeastern Costa Rica, very close to the border with Nicaragua. Though it's located in the middle of extensive farmlands the floodplains of the river still have a good bit of remaining wetland and flooded forest. A boat ride through Caño Negro is a must-do for any visiting birders, as it goes through an impressive array of different habitats, with vast numbers of potential species and a good number of specialties that are hard to see anywhere else on the usual birding circuit. The afternoon of February 23 we started the 3-hour drive from Arenal to Caño Negro, mostly through a dry landscape of cow pastures and scattered woodlands, with enough fragmented habitat left for us to see the occasional Collared Aracari or Keel-billed Toucan a