10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2022

Arrive at the airport near San Jose in the day and you could easily see them fly overhead. Take a closer look and you will probably see some leaves in motion, leaves that become parakeets carefully moving through the foliage as they feed on flowers, fruits, and seeds.

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Costa Rica San Jose Asia Geese 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017

The following are twelve such species of hummingbirds easily seen after an hour or so drive from the San Jose area: Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. We need to travel a bit lower in elevation for this little beauty but it’s still quite accessible with an hour or so drive from San Jose. Coppery-headed Emerald.

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Costa Rica San Jose Panama Arizona 158

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

San Francisco averages two-tenths of an inch for the month, while San Jose only averages half that much. I had set aside the morning of Sunday, June 10th to cross the San Francisco Peninsula to the Pacific Ocean town of Half Moon Bay, a mere 25 minute drive away, for a few hours of birding.

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San Francisco San Jose California Battery 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

The Road to Irazu – An easy road that passes through cultivated fields before eventually reaching patches of good forest past San Juan de Chicua. Higher up, it also accesses paramo with Volcano Junco and Timberline Wrens. Dry Forest Costa Rica has plenty of good dry forest birding.

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Costa Rica San Jose Liberia Birds 243

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2020

The most common urban parakeet, this is the one that has become adapted to nesting on buildings, including the center of San Jose. These are the species that call or fly within my sphere of birding nearly every day: Crimson-fronted Parakeet.

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Parrots Costa Rica San Jose Endangered Species 266

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2016

The wet lands around San Jose Del Cabo and Todos Santos are the primary areas for the population, but I have seen them in Agua Caliente and as far north as La Purisima. I have no doubt that they could also be seen in the extensive marsh areas of Magdalena Bay, Puerto Lopez Mateo and even up to San Ignacio.

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San Jose Mexico California Species 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

That gave me Sunday morning off to re-visit the estuary at San Jose Del Cabo for the first time since Hurricane Lidia struck the area. Last weekend, my work had me driving to the very southern end of the Baja.

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San Jose Panama Texas Mexico 113

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2022

This can be a long drive from San Jose, especially with road construction and slow and seemingly eternal truck traffic, but once you get there, the voyage is worth it.

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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Owls 266

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

This is how we saw 300 plus species in three days on day trips out of the San Jose area and it’s only one of several options: High and middle elevations. Only an hour and a half drive from San Jose, this major intersection of bio-craziness never fails to deliver. A day in the Carara area.

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Costa Rica Species San Jose Birds 181

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2014

Meanwhile, in San Jose, Calif., If you’ve got some downtime between barbecues and fireworks (or, outside of the U.S., obsessing over World Cup matches), here’s some bird news to peruse: Loss of suitable habitat , instead of insecticides, seems to be the culprit in declining numbers of grassland birds.

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San Jose Parrots Kenya Paraguay 160

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2018

Located in the mountains that overlook crowded San Jose, this beautiful site acts as a welcome green escape for anyone interested in a cloud forest experience, and for the birder, you could hardly ask for more exciting birding so close to the capital.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Eagles 132

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2019

I began the trip with a rather long drive from the airport hotel in San Jose to Punta Uva on the southern Caribbean coast for a couple of “free” days before joining the actual tour. I recently returned from a twelve day birding tour of Costa Rica with Lifer Tours guided by an incredible birder, David Rodriquez.

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Costa Rica San Jose Species Rights 115

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2016

In Costa Rica, that would mean the Sarapiqui area because this is where we find the closest Caribbean lowland forests to San Jose. It takes about four or four and a half hours to drive to Casa Calateas from the San Jose area. The Scarlet Tanagers in fall have shed their scarlet appearance.

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Costa Rica San Jose Panama Birds 165

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2018

I sample birding on Poas more often than at other sites in Costa Rica because it’s close to home and makes for a worthwhile guided day trip from the San Jose area. The Poas area offers up some easy, excellent birding, especially for birders staying in the San Jose area with just one or two free days.

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Costa Rica Species San Jose Birds 100

Critter News

AUGUST 6, 2009

From the San Jose Mercury News. Fascinating spotlight on an activist known for freeing imprisoned animals. He was himself eventually imprisoned for two years as a result.

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Animal Rights San Jose Rights Animal 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2017

And in the late afternoon of Wednesday, October 11th, I landed at the Juan Santamaria airport of the capital San Jose (I’ll be honest with you – before I was invited to the country, I didn’t know the name of its capital).

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Costa Rica San Jose Serbia Europe 177

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2011

Zamora Estate protects acres of unspoiled habitat within one of the fastest growing sections of San Jose, a holding that has sustained four generations of the Zamora family. Zamora Estate offers the ideal launching pad for adventures in the Central Valley and both the Pacific and Caribbean slopes.

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Costa Rica San Jose Sanctuary Protection 169

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2017

Although a lot of beautiful rainforest was replaced by bananas, cattle pasture, and other ag-lands many years ago, at least we can still enjoy great birding at a number of sites, most of which are easily accessible including Sarapiqui, the most visited site in the lowlands north of San Jose.

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Costa Rica San Jose Bats Birds 100

Critter News

JULY 29, 2009

The defense demanded that the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) be struck down as unconstitutional before Judge Ronald Whyte of the United States District Court, Northern District of California in San Jose. Here's a summary.

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AETA San Jose United States Animal 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2018

One involves a windy, leisurely ride through mountains south of San Jose, the road eventually becoming gravel with occasional pot holes as it descends to Mastatal, the main village next to the park. Cangreja sees rather few visitors for a good reason, it lies well off the beaten track.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Falcons 171

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

At some stage, almost standing still in a traffic jam on the highway towards San Jose, I was calling a fellow 10K beat writer Pat O’Donnell, enquiring about the chances to meet in my hotel. At some later, similar stage ( Turquoise-browed Motmot , Hoffmann’s Woodpecker , Scarlet Macaw , Streak-headed Woodcreeper , etc.),

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Bears San Jose Greece Costa Rica 138

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2015

It’s sort of stuck between San Jose and Cartago and since it’s a volcano, it doesn’t stop at dominating the skyline. Irazu is the name of a volcano in Costa Rica. In fitting with proper volcanic decorum, it must loom or lord over a nearby populace with either a hint or a fistful of menace.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 220

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2015

The original idea involved a roundabout trip that went from the San Jose area to the wet foothills and lowlands of the Caribbean slope, then back up to cloud forest, high-elevation forest, way back down to the hot habitats of the Pacific coast, and then up to San Jose.

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Costa Rica San Jose Species Owls 202

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2016

These Ruddy Ground Doves were found in the saltwater lagoon near San Jose Del Cabo. Very similar to the Common Ground Dove, but with out the obvious scaling on the breast. They are slightly larger, and have a somewhat longer tail. The dramatically longer tail is the first point of recognition.

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San Jose North America Mexico America 100

Critter News

NOVEMBER 23, 2010

From the San Jose Mercury News. If the incident is insignificant, then why deny access? A Menlo Park research facility Monday refused to allow a humane society representative to check up on a monkey that bit a female lab worker the day before.

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The Humane Society Humane San Jose Monkeys 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2017

Located less than an hour’s drive from San Jose, this latter spot also offers some of the most exciting and accessible birding near the capital of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica San Jose Species America 136

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2018

This beauty is fairly common in cloud forest, even on the volcanic slopes that overlook the urban conglomeration known as San Jose. In Costa Rica, most of the six toucan species are fairly common, and one of those is the green, blue, and chestnut Northern Emerald Toucanet. Some call it the Blue-throated Toucanet.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Panama 117

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2017

That’s where most of Costa Rica’s population resides and because of that, it’s also why we headed out around dawn, happily leaving the long line of vehicles on their way to San Jose in the rear view mirror. of Ornithology being in our vehicle, eBird lists were a constant.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Farming 120

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2015

If you want to go the relaxed route, don’t worry, there’s still plenty to see in hotel gardens in and near San Jose. Introductory birding or happy madness : Do you want to ease into birding in the tropics or leap into the bio-craziness with binoculars at the ready?

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2018

Some other insider questions to think about before birding in Costa Rica include things like, “How can I avoid traffic in San Jose?”, If not, don’t worry, you won’t be alone in wondering if the bird is actually a myth. ”, “How can I tell Barred Hawks from Black Vultures ?”,

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Game 105

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

This foot-shaped piece of land in southern Costa Rica is just about as far from San Jose as you can go without leaving the country. In Costa Rica, one of the best “end of the road” places for birding and getting crazy with biodiversity is the Osa Peninsula.

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Costa Rica San Jose Sharks Monkeys 243

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2016

Well, it is around San Jose and on the Pacific slope but not on the Caribbean side of the mountains. Ask for an early entrance the day before and you might be able to get into the forest at dawn. Dry season, schmy season : Yes, it is the dry season, and no, it is not the dry season.

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Costa Rica 2016 San Jose Birds 103

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

We wrapped up the trip with our last day birding, sadly on our way to San Jose and the airport, with stops that Susana helped us to coordinate, at Paraiso Quetzal Lodge, and at the newly created Casa Tangara Dowii Reserve. For more information you can find their website here.

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Costa Rica San Jose Chinchillas Family 182

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2014

For years I heard the estero at San Jose del Cabo was the place to go to see Belding’s Yellowthroat, another Baja endemic. The thrashers are very fond of native desert scrub and thorn forest and are not afraid to perch out in the open.

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California San Jose Birds Mexico 217

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2015

From San Jose, it takes four to four and a half hours but given the excellent birding opps on the way, you might want to allocate a bit more time. Although a straight fast road might not seem to be a big deal, it’s a rare, welcome occurrence in seriously mountainous Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Chile Nicaragua San Jose 174

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2018

After landing in San Jose ay close to 10:00 PM, we made our way to our first Air BnB just north of the airport. As many of might know by now, we have covered a lot of ground this year, with Costa Rica being our ninth country visited.

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Costa Rica Tigers San Jose Woodpeckers 115

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2017

Instead of freaking out the doves in farm fields up north, our bird flew over San Jose to make house just outside Cartago, one of the main cities in Costa Rica! Unlike San Jose, the inter-montane valley where Cartago is located has a more humid environment including open areas with marshes and fields of sedge.

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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Nicaragua 100