Some Costa Rica wildlife guides seem to suggest that the whole animal kingdom will be waiting outside your window. The real pleasure of Montezuma is different. You get to know a place slowly, recognizing the same call each morning, finding the little track an agouti likes to use, and discovering that a group of aracaris has returned to the same fruiting tree.
Wildlife in Montezuma, Costa Rica, is wonderfully diverse, especially where forest, coast and river valleys meet. Around Anamaya Resort, howler monkeys, capuchins, birds and reptiles can be part of an ordinary day. Other animals are more secretive, and a few of the creatures travelers associate with Costa Rica live mainly in other regions.
This is an honest field guide to the animals you might meet around Anamaya, the nearby Rio Montezuma gorge, the beaches and the protected areas of the southern Nicoya Peninsula.
Quick facts
- The two monkey species you’ll commonly encounter around Montezuma are mantled howlers and white-faced capuchins.
- During a week at Anamaya, hearing howlers is almost guaranteed, and seeing monkeys is very likely.
- Look for birds from first light until roughly 8 a.m., and again toward sunset.
- The property’s river gorge attracts water birds, while fruiting trees draw parrots, parakeets and aracaris.
- Coatis, agoutis and iguanas are much easier to spot than nocturnal mammals or wild cats.
- Wildlife activity changes with rain, fruiting cycles, temperature, habitat and the time of day.
- Nearby protected areas like Cabo Blanco and Curú add even more wildlife to explore.
Almost Certain: The Sounds and Sights of Daily Life
If you wake to a huge, echoing roar that seems to be coming from an animal three times larger than a monkey, you’ve met the mantled howler. Their calls carry remarkable distances through the forest, especially at dawn and dusk. The first time you hear them, you may wonder whether a jaguar is arguing with a motorcycle somewhere in the hills.
Howlers often travel through the canopy in family groups, eating leaves, fruit and other plant material. You may see them resting high in a tree on a warm afternoon, with surprisingly little interest in the humans looking up. They’re so much a part of Anamaya’s soundscape that guests sometimes find themselves missing them after returning home.
White-faced capuchin monkeys bring a completely different energy. They’re quick, intelligent and inquisitive, with expressive pale faces and dark bodies. They search for fruits, insects and other foods and move through branches with tremendous confidence. Watching a capuchin examine its surroundings can feel like watching someone solve an elaborate puzzle.
Green iguanas and dark spiny-tailed iguanas, often called ctenosaurs, are also part of the local landscape. One may be stretched along a sunny branch while another shoots across the ground faster than you’d expect from something that looks prehistoric.
The bird life announces itself constantly: chachalacas calling from trees, parrots chattering overhead, hawks riding thermals, and vultures circling high above the peninsula. None of these sightings requires a formal excursion. They’re the reward for paying attention.
Both monkey species deserve the respect we give them at Anamaya. The IUCN Red List assessment of mantled howler monkeys documents the conservation pressures facing the species across its wider range, a reminder that these familiar voices belong to a much larger forest story.
For a closer look at the two monkey species, start with our Montezuma monkey guide and the individual pages on howler monkeys and white-faced capuchins.
Often Seen: Curious Mammals and Forest Neighbors
Coatis are among the most entertaining Costa Rican mammals to watch. Related to raccoons, they have long flexible noses and tails that often point skyward as they search for food. They may travel through leaf litter with the determination of tiny vacuum cleaners, investigating the ground for insects, fruit and other edible surprises.
Agoutis are quieter. These reddish-brown rodents have delicate legs, compact bodies and a habit of stopping abruptly before disappearing into the undergrowth. They’re important to forest ecology because they carry and bury seeds. A forgotten cache can become the beginning of a new tree.
Watch for both animals near forest edges, especially when they’re moving between cover and more open areas. They may appear in the morning, late afternoon or at other times when food is available. Don’t mistake an animal’s willingness to walk near a path for an invitation to approach it.
Some visitors notice porcupines in the trees or smaller mammals moving near the forest floor. Those are special encounters precisely because they’re less predictable. The countryside around Montezuma has many small habitats, each offering a slightly different view of local animal life.
Read more about coatis and agoutis, two species that deserve more attention than they usually receive from travelers focused on monkeys and sloths.
Sometimes Seen: The Animals That Reward Patience
Some creatures appear often enough to be part of the local wildlife story, but not reliably enough that you’ll want to build your holiday around seeing them. Tamandua anteaters, for example, are wonderful animals with powerful claws and a long snout adapted for finding insects. Their movements are quite different from a monkey’s, and an unexpected glimpse can be the highlight of an entire week.
At night, kinkajous travel through trees, using their long tails and remarkable climbing ability to move through the canopy. They feed heavily on fruit and nectar, and they’re much more likely to be heard as a rustle in the darkness than seen clearly from below. A night walk with a knowledgeable guide can reveal a different layer of forest life, but the animals’ comfort always comes first.
Spotted skunks, porcupines and various small nocturnal mammals live in the broader region too. Their lives tend to overlap with ours when we’re already inside for dinner. If you’re lucky enough to see one, enjoy the moment from a distance without a bright flash or a chase through the bushes.
The forest is also home to remarkable reptiles and amphibians. A frog calling after rain, a lizard resting perfectly camouflaged against bark, or a turtle crossing a quiet patch of ground can be just as delightful as a larger animal. Montezuma has its own wildlife rhythm, and smaller sightings are often what make a nature-focused stay feel so immersive.
We have separate naturalist stories about the tamandua anteater, kinkajou, spotted skunk and green iguana.
Rare and Elusive: Wildcats and Other Hidden Residents
Costa Rica is home to several species of wild cat, and the southern Nicoya region has records of elusive felines including the jaguarundi. These animals are naturally secretive, and even people who’ve lived in the area for years collect more tracks and stories than clear views. That’s what makes a sighting so thrilling.
The jaguarundi is particularly interesting because it doesn’t look much like the spotted cat you may imagine. It has a long low body, small rounded ears and a coat that can be reddish or dark. Seeing one would be a remarkable piece of luck.
Other rare mammals inhabit or move through patches of more extensive forest, depending on habitat and conservation pressures. Protecting their space matters even when guests never see them. A healthy landscape doesn’t have to put all its wildlife on display to deserve care.
If a guide or a friend points out signs of an elusive species, it’s fine to be excited. But resist requests for baiting, playback that disturbs animals, or attempts to pursue them off trail. The most wonderful thing about a rare animal is knowing it still has a life that’s largely its own.
Curú is an interesting comparison with Montezuma: the refuge’s official wildlife list includes several species, such as spider monkeys and scarlet macaws, that are more at home there than around Anamaya. Different nearby habitats tell different wildlife stories, which is a great reason to visit.
Our jaguarundi article introduces one of the area’s most unusual small wild cats. For broader wildlife viewing, Cabo Blanco and Curú Wildlife Refuge offer protected forest environments where patient observation can be rewarding.
Birds That Make Anamaya Special
Birdwatching here isn’t only for people carrying expensive binoculars. The easiest place to start may be a chair with a good view of the trees. At first, you’ll see green leaves. After a few minutes you’ll notice movement, then distinct calls, then little dramas unfolding at different heights in the canopy.
The collared aracari is a favorite. This smaller relative of the toucan has a remarkable bill and bright plumage, and it often travels in social groups through fruiting trees. It looks almost too theatrical to be real. Anamaya has a long history of these birds visiting the property, so they’re a wonderful local signature.
Motmots contribute flashes of iridescent color. Long-tailed manakins are small forest birds whose appearance makes birders very happy. Lineated woodpeckers work over trunks and branches with strong bills. Squirrel cuckoos slip through foliage in a way that can make you wonder whether you just saw a bird or a very slender mammal.
Chachalacas supply their boisterous morning chorus. Green parrots and parakeets travel loudly between trees. Laughing falcons, crested caracaras and various hawks take advantage of the open sky above the property, often perching on the enormous guanacaste tree. Kingfishers and herons favor the Rio Montezuma corridor.
Founder Geoff McCabe and the team have planted trees attractive to birds, including capulín, which produces food that green parakeets enjoy. That’s one of the satisfying things about ecological gardening: what looks lovely to guests can also be really useful to wildlife.
Here’s a short starting list for your first morning:
| Bird | What to notice | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Collared aracari | Large colorful bill, social groups | Fruiting trees and forest edges |
| Chachalaca | Loud, rhythmic calls | Trees near openings, especially morning |
| Motmot | Brilliant colors and graceful tail | Shaded branches and forest edges |
| Lineated woodpecker | Strong bill and striking head pattern | Larger trunks and branches |
| Laughing falcon | Distinctive call and perched silhouette | Taller exposed trees |
| Kingfisher | Rapid flight along water | River gorge and pools |
| Green parakeets | Chattering flocks | Seed and fruit trees |
Our full birdwatching guide includes a much longer field list and practical identification tips. For species profiles, visit our pages on the collared aracari, red-lored parrot, white-throated magpie-jay and crested caracara.
What Changes After Dark?
As light fades, the forest trades its daytime voices for a different soundtrack. Frogs begin calling, insects take over the background and occasional movement in the trees hints at nocturnal life. The easiest way to appreciate it is often to switch off your own noise and listen.
Kinkajous are one reason naturalists enjoy evenings in the tropics, but they’re not the only night residents. Insects become much more visible around lights. Geckos may wait nearby for small flying prey. Sometimes a rustling branch suggests a porcupine or another arboreal mammal somewhere above you.
Nighttime observation needs a gentler touch than daytime wildlife watching. Avoid shining strong lights directly into animals’ eyes. Don’t disturb roosts, nests or resting creatures. If you take a guided walk, choose someone who understands how to observe wildlife without making the experience miserable for it.
For guests staying at Anamaya, the simplest night experience can be sitting outside and noticing the change in sound. The quiet is never actually silent. That’s part of the pleasure.
Marine Wildlife: The Ocean Has Its Own Surprises
The Pacific is an entirely different habitat, and its wildlife is harder to predict from land. Boat excursions may bring dolphin sightings, while seasonal humpback whale movements make certain times of year especially exciting. Sea turtles also occur in the wider coastal environment, and a snorkeling trip can reveal fish and marine invertebrates that are completely unfamiliar to inland travelers.
Humpback whales visiting Costa Rica’s Pacific coast are associated with seasonal migrations from both hemispheres, though sightings around any particular beach or boat route vary. Local conditions and the current season matter enormously. A whale-watching trip should be planned with a reputable operator who respects approach distances and doesn’t promise a spectacle on demand.
Whale sharks are occasional offshore visitors rather than animals to expect during an ordinary excursion. Sea turtles may surface briefly and disappear before anyone has found the camera. That’s how wild ocean encounters work: delightful precisely because they surprise us.
For a closer look at the coast, see our humpback whale article and the guide to Tortuga Island snorkeling. You can also explore our nature excursions from Montezuma.
Animals You Shouldn’t Expect in Montezuma
Costa Rica is small on a map, but its ecosystems are wonderfully different. A species seen regularly in a rainforest photograph from the Osa Peninsula may be rare or absent around Montezuma. Some areas on the southern Nicoya were cleared historically, while rugged forested valleys protected other habitats and allowed much of the region to recover.
Around Anamaya, the regular monkey species are howlers and capuchins. Spider monkeys have been part of reintroduction efforts at Curú, but they aren’t an everyday sight around the resort. Squirrel monkeys belong to other parts of Costa Rica, not the local Montezuma canopy. The big toucans commonly shown in travel advertisements aren’t the familiar local toucan-like birds here; at Anamaya, collared aracaris fill that role.
Scarlet macaws were historically lost from much of the southern peninsula through poaching and habitat pressures. Reintroduction work in the wider area is a hopeful conservation story, and spotting one of those red flashes is a real treat. Sloths, beloved icons of Costa Rican wildlife, are more of a lucky bonus in Montezuma than a daily sight.
A wildlife holiday becomes more enjoyable when expectations match the place. Instead of searching for an animal that belongs to another region, you may discover something extraordinary about the species actually living beside you.
The Small Conservation Choices That Matter
Wildlife is one of the reasons travelers love Costa Rica, yet the places where people and animals overlap can be dangerous for animals. Roads, buildings and electric lines don’t fit naturally into the life of an arboreal monkey. A branch may look like the beginning of a safe route, only for an unprotected transformer to create a deadly obstacle.
After a monkey was electrocuted on Anamaya’s transformer, founder Geoff McCabe pursued protective covers and wrote a practical guide explaining how neighbors could do the same. It’s not a glamorous conservation story. It’s much better than that: a specific local problem, a person who cared and a useful step toward reducing harm.
Read Geoff’s original article on protecting monkeys from electrocution. He explains what happened, why protective equipment matters and how the issue extends beyond any one resort.
There are simpler things every traveler can do. Never feed monkeys, coatis or birds. Keep a respectful distance. Don’t leave snacks exposed on terraces. Stay on paths where appropriate, and keep flash photography away from nocturnal animals. You don’t need to become a conservation expert to be a considerate guest in someone else’s habitat.
A Gentle Wildlife Morning at Anamaya
Set your alarm early once during your week. Better yet, see whether the howlers do the job for you. Have tea or coffee somewhere with a view of the trees and spend ten minutes doing nothing except looking and listening. You’ll probably notice far more than you expect.
Start with sound. Where are the different calls coming from? Is that a parrot passing overhead or a chachalaca in the canopy? Then begin looking at movement, especially where branches carry fruit or the sun reaches the forest edge. If you have binoculars, bring them. If not, just enjoy the atmosphere.
Later, take a walk, join yoga or ask the team about a nature outing. There’s no competition to see the longest species list. A single lovely sighting, observed without hurry, often becomes the story you remember best.
That’s the way wildlife fits into a stay at Anamaya’s eco lodge yoga retreat: as part of daily life, rather than a separate performance arranged for visitors.
