New road to Monteverde to be ready in 2014.

Construction of a badly needed new road to the popular mountainous destination could begin in November.

 The National Roadway Council (CONAVI) on Tuesday promised residents of the cloud forest community of Monteverde that construction of a new road will start in November. 

The agreement came after a meeting attended by officials from CONAVI, the Comptroller General’s Office and residents of the north-central community, one of Costa Rica's most popular tourist destinations.

CONAVI officials agreed to open a public bid for the project no later than September. The ₡7.5 billion ($15 million) project will include an asphalt road to replace an 18-kilometer stretch of deteriorated gravel road. It also will include the construction of ditches and guardrails.

If the Comptroller General’s Office approves a public-bid contract, work would begin in November. CONAVI said the project would take 10 months to complete.

Some 100,000 tourists visit the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve each year.

Posted By Costa Developers

Costa Rica registers new species of birds recorded

Costa Rica today is a region of migration for hundreds of birds between North America and South America, are recorded more than 800 species.

The Central American country has 5% of the world's biodiversity; biological corridor that generates Costa Rica is the cause of the migration of birds and has become a destination of utmost importance for bird watching.

During the month of January, a species called the Spizella Pallida, commonly known as Pale Sparrow, which was located for the first time in the Botanical Garden of CATIE in the province of Cartago, was recorded in the country.

This type of bird was seen and photographed by Steven Aguilar, a student of the University of Costa Rica while doing a tour in the Botanical Garden of the institution. At the beginning of this year, Julio Sánchez and Daniel Martinez of the ornithologists Union visited the garden to observe the bird, their habitat and their new spaces.

"For us, they are excellent news, shows that policies of sustainability of CATIE have been implementing and developing is delivering results." "Also confirms that Turrialba is a destination for bird watching Star", said Alejandro Solano, authority of the CATIE:br Botanical Garden in accordance with the Union of ornithologists from Costa Rica, the Spizella Pallida had not been identified in Costa Rica, since the flocks of these birds usually fly to Mexico, by what seems an accidental find.

Coast Mountain, one of the residential complexes of Costa Developers is located as the name implies in the beautiful mountains of the Central Pacific, its facilities and environment are favorable for the observation of birds and other species. For fans of the birds they can also visit the Carara National Park just minutes from your property.

The Pale Sparrow species belongs to the family Emberizidae, approximately 12 to 13.5 fear, his chest is pale and misaligned, has a brown patch clearly delineated in side; it feeds on seeds, insects and small fruit. Usually these birds nest in Canada and the United States, during the winter in Mexico also.

Posted by Costa Developers

Costa Rica’s Wildlife Act Banning Sport Hunting .

costadevelopers.com

The jaguar, tapir, caiman and songbirds are now more protected in Costa Rica, thanks to a new law proposed and driven by its own citizens, banning sport hunting of any species.

Costa Rica, known for its reputation for Eco Tourism, became the first nation on the continent ban sport hunting this week.

The new Wildlife Act is also the first legislation passed by the mechanism of “popular initiative”, it was not submitted to Congress by deputies, but by the citizens themselves.

The rule was brought before the legislature with the initial support of 177,000 signatures collected by the Association for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna (Apreflofas).

According to the National System of Conservation (Sinac), last year 1296 were granted hunting licenses, 81 percent of them to kill or capture songbirds.

In addition, there were 171 hunting licenses and 77 to hunt small mammals.

From 2000 until last year, Costa Rican authorities have extended licenses 28,000 hunting but the new law will only permit hunting for subsistence, scientific research and monitoring of species overpopulation.

Those who hunt animals in Costa Rica will be fined up to $ 3,000 and, depending on the species, may even be sentenced to between two and four months in prison.

The custom of having wild animals as pets such as birds, iguanas, monkeys and raccoons also have to changed with the new legislation, which totally prohibits this practice and sets a fine of between $600 and $1,200.

But the law goes further and also sanctioned the export and trafficking of any species of flora or fauna, while creating a National Registry of Wildlife.

The passage of this law is to Costa Rica a step to preserve its image as environmentally friendly country, the main reason that each year receives more than two million who enjoy Costa Rica’s Eco Tourism.

One issue of concern now is how the 572 Rangers who now watch over 13,286 kilometers of protected land (26% of the national total), can cope with the hunters to enforce the law for Costa Rica that hosts almost 5% of the world’s biodiversity.

Posted by Costa Developers

Curú National Park The first private wildlife refuge in Costa Rica

Curú National Wildlife Refuge can be found on the southern Nicoya Peninsula of northwestern, Costa Rica, just south of Paquera. Most traveller to the area are in search of Sandy beaches, the surf of Santa Teresa or the very popular tourist destination, Montezuma, and the Peninsula’s primary wildlife park can sometimes get over looked. Curú offers easy access to seeing some of the most sought after species such as White-faced monkeys, Howler monkeys, Spider Monkeys, Scarlet Macaws, White-tailed Deer, Collared Peccary, Coati, Raccoons, Coyotes, Iguanas, and hundreds of species of tropical and migratory birds.

It is an important place to visit as it is Costa Rica’s first private National Wildlife Refuge.

There are 3 different species of monkeys (the mantled howler monkey, white faced monkey and the spider monkey), the American Crocodile, Agouti, Coati, beautiful birds such like woodpeckers, manakins, toucans, herons, hawks; iguanas and squirrels. That is without mentioning the abundance of marine wildlife, including many species of tropical fish, sea turtles, sting rays, and occasional whales.

Posted by Costa Developers.

Approximately 30% of tourists arrive to Costa Rica for bird watching purposes

Large numbers of tourists arrive daily to Costa to get deep into the forest to observe animals which they’re most passionate about: birds. The sighting of these colorful singers is one of the most famous activities among those visiting the country.

A survey by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) indicates that last year 29.5 % of the tourists who entered the country claimed to have made birds observation, this is equivalent to 430,000 people, this data was obtained by surveys of the non-resident individuals who entered and exited our country air in 2011, whose goal was a recreational visit.

Paul Elizondo, a researcher at INBio (National Biodiversity Institute), explains that Costa Rica is very famous in the world by the number of birds. The country has approximately 880 species of resident and migratory birds, 56 of them are endemic.

Among the species that are most commonly seen are the kettle black (Chamaepetes unicolor), the burrowing serranera or estucuru (Megascops brachyuran), the cuyeo (Caprimulgus saturatus), the colibri throat of fire (Panterpe insignis) and the hummingbird volcano or chispita volcanera (Selasphorus flammula). They also stress the goldfinch (Myadestes melanops), the volcano junco (Junco mexicana vulcani) and rualdo (Chlorophonia callophrys).

There are sites for bird watching in the entire country, being some of the most highly visited of Los Santos in the Cerro de la Muerte, the Palo Verde National Park in Guanacaste; Monteverde, Puntarenas; Tortuguero on the Caribbean and Corcovado in the Osa Peninsula. Also the Carara National Park, which borders with our housing development: Costa Montana.

The number of observed species varies constantly since, especially the migratory are in the need to change their habitats to adapt to climatic variations that you are experiencing today. The phenomenon of birds migration occurs in October in southern direction, explains Elizondo.

However, depending on the species, the migratory populations are kept until the end of March and early April. “The Caribbean and the coastal areas of the Central Pacific are excellent areas for migratory bird watching,” he added.

Although from the data of counts and the knowledge of scientists on each ecosystem lists the birds easier to see, every visitor has its own goal. The tour guide expert in bird-watching Marino Chacón adds that this is a recreational activity that brings a great passion with it.

“There are people who wait years to see a bird, that they have studied, seen in photographs and heard her singing in recordings, and for them it is something very important and find it satisfactory in live and in living color,” he explains. “I remember finally cried when I saw that hummingbird. It was my dream,” said the Canadian Sara Tellman.

To receive these passionate visitors, the country has developed an important tourist industry, which offers a convenient infrastructure and high standards of security to enter forest and observation sites”, match the ICT and Chacón.

“The person who wants to observe birds comes with that as a number one goal; then is concerned about hotel or the transport. Clear that helps you to know that tourists come to an environment of political stability and security,” adds the expert.

All these factors, as well as the increase in international visitors interested in the bird watching, both for recreation and scientific research, have increased the offer.

Costa Rica Real Estate | Costa Developers