Rincón de la Vieja National Park
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
🦎 Black Spiny-tailed Iguana Volcanic TrailsRincón de la Vieja is Guanacaste's wildest national park — an active volcano surrounded by fumaroles, bubbling mud pots, and hot springs, wrapped in tropical dry forest that transitions to cloud forest at higher elevations. The park protects over 300 bird species and an impressive roster of mammals including three monkey species, tapirs, peccaries, coatis, and elusive big cats.
10.809° N 85.310° W
Wildlife
⭐ Iconic Species
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Black Spiny-tailed Iguana
Ctenosaura similis
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White-Throated Magpie-Jay
Calocitta formosa
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Long-tailed Manakin
Chiroxiphia linearis
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Baird's Tapir
Tapirella bairdii
📊 Most Spotted
Central American White-faced Capuchin
Cebus imitator
Great Kiskadee
Pitangus sulphuratus
Central American Agouti
Dasyprocta punctata
Rainbow Ameiva
Holcosus undulatus
Keel-billed Toucan
Ramphastos sulfuratus
Lesser Greenlet
Hylophilus decurtatus
Rufous-capped Warbler
Basileuterus rufifrons
Hoffmann's Woodpecker
Melanerpes hoffmannii
Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura
Giant Marine Toad
Rhinella horribilis
Lesson's Motmot
Momotus lessonii
Orange-chinned Parakeet
Brotogeris jugularis
⭐ Iconic Species
📊 Most Spotted
Central American White-faced Capuchin
Cebus imitator
Central American Agouti
Dasyprocta punctata
Variegated Squirrel
Sciurus variegatoides
Central American Spider Monkey
Ateles geoffroyi
Mantled Howler Monkey
Alouatta palliata
White-nosed Coati
Nasua narica
Northern Tamandua
Tamandua mexicana
White-tailed Deer
Odocoileus virginianus
Tayra
Eira barbara
chestnut short-tailed bat
Carollia castanea
hairy big-eared bat
Micronycteris hirsuta
Sumichrast's Vesper Rat
Nyctomys sumichrasti
⭐ Iconic Species
📊 Most Spotted
Great Kiskadee
Pitangus sulphuratus
Keel-billed Toucan
Ramphastos sulfuratus
Lesser Greenlet
Hylophilus decurtatus
Rufous-capped Warbler
Basileuterus rufifrons
Hoffmann's Woodpecker
Melanerpes hoffmannii
Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura
Lesson's Motmot
Momotus lessonii
Orange-chinned Parakeet
Brotogeris jugularis
White-fronted Parrot
Amazona albifrons
Black Vulture
Coragyps atratus
Montezuma Oropendola
Psarocolius montezuma
Banded Wren
Thryophilus pleurostictus
⭐ Iconic Species
📊 Most Spotted
Rainbow Ameiva
Holcosus undulatus
Neotropical Green Anole
Anolis biporcatus
Copper Anole
Anolis cupreus
Black-banded Snake
Scolecophis atrocinctus
Stream Anole
Anolis oxylophus
Four-lined Ameiva
Holcosus quadrilineatus
Puffing Snake
Phrynonax poecilonotus
Helmeted Iguana
Corytophanes cristatus
Common House Gecko
Hemidactylus frenatus
Bighead Anole
Anolis capito
Central American Boa
Boa imperator
Central American Coral Snake
Micrurus nigrocinctus
📊 Most Spotted
Giant Marine Toad
Rhinella horribilis
Warszewitsch's Frog
Lithobates warszewitschii
Milk Frog
Trachycephalus macrotis
Dry Forest Toad
Incilius coccifer
Fitzinger's Robber Frog
Craugastor fitzingeri
Masked Tree Frog
Smilisca phaeota
Turbo White-lipped Frog
Leptodactylus poecilochilus
Savage's Thin-toed Frog
Leptodactylus savagei
Mexican Smilisca
Smilisca baudinii
Yellow Treefrog
Dendropsophus microcephalus
Red-eyed Treefrog
Agalychnis callidryas
Wet Forest Toad
Incilius melanochlorus
Recent sightings in Rincón de la Vieja National Park
LIVEiNaturalistAnimal Events
1Long-tailed Manakin Lek Courtship
Male Long-tailed Manakins pair up at traditional leks to perform their coordinated duet-and-dance display for females.
2Rainy Season Amphibian Breeding
With the rains, giant toads and harlequin treefrogs gather to breed and call around ponds and streams.
4Howler Monkey Vocal Activity
Mantled howler troops call at dawn through the canopy, their roars carrying across the volcano slopes.
3Dry Forest Birding Peak
Bare dry-season canopy makes magpie-jays and both motmots easy to spot along the Las Pailas trails.
Sighting Calendar
Average chance of spotting the park's most-spotted species, month by month
- 1Long-tailed Manakin Lek Courtship
- 2Rainy Season Amphibian Breeding
- 3Dry Forest Birding Peak
- 4Howler Monkey Vocal Activity
Sighting Zones
Warmer areas are where all species together are recorded most often.
Essentials
Climate
What visitors saw
We saw a ground cuckoo near the fumeroles which was super cute, a turquoise-browed motmot too, and we heard SO MANY Long-Tailed manakins (the dancing birds we saw at lake Apoyo).
In Monteverde we stayed in a pricey but very nice hotel, with burrows of a rare gopher under our window and lots of semi-tame mammals and birds on the grounds (I think I saw more euphonias and chlorophonias in one fruiting tree there than I had seen in all my previous life).
Not shortly after we entered the wet forest did we spot a family of White-faced Capuchin Monkeys playing in the trees!
Quick answers
What animals can you see in Rincón de la Vieja National Park?
The most likely sightings are Black Spiny-tailed Iguana (seen by about 90% of wildlife watchers), Central American White-faced Capuchin (seen by about 70% of wildlife watchers), White-Throated Magpie-Jay (seen by about 70% of wildlife watchers), Long-tailed Manakin (seen by about 60% of wildlife watchers), Great Kiskadee (seen by about 60% of wildlife watchers) — among 1031 recorded vertebrate species, based on citizen-science data from GBIF.
When is the best time to visit Rincón de la Vieja National Park for wildlife?
June has the highest combined sighting rate for the park's top species in our month-by-month GBIF data. The full sighting calendar on this page shows each species' best months.
Can you see Black Spiny-tailed Iguana in Rincón de la Vieja National Park?
Yes — about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Black Spiny-tailed Iguana sighting in Rincón de la Vieja National Park, based on 261 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
Can you see White-Throated Magpie-Jay in Rincón de la Vieja National Park?
Yes — about 70% of wildlife watchers report a White-Throated Magpie-Jay sighting in Rincón de la Vieja National Park, based on 999 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
Can you see Long-tailed Manakin in Rincón de la Vieja National Park?
Yes — about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Manakin sighting in Rincón de la Vieja National Park, based on 735 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
Can you see Baird's Tapir in Rincón de la Vieja National Park?
Yes — about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Baird's Tapir sighting in Rincón de la Vieja National Park, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
Where Wildlife Score
How good is this park for seeing wildlife?Biodiversity
Very goodHow rich is the wildlife?
Sighting
Very goodHow likely to see animals?
Experience
GoodHow easy and pleasant is the visit?
