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

Costa Rica is situated right between two oceans. The pair of seas are close enough for the occasional adventurous frigatebird to just soar way up and right over to the other salty basin. In Costa Rica, that would mean the Sarapiqui area because this is where we find the closest Caribbean lowland forests to San Jose.

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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

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

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 170

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 being on volcanic hiatus is a comforting thought because I can see the big lump of mass right there out the bedroom window. Irazu is the name of a volcano in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 223

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2016

As of the last few days, I have a lovely young couple, with a nest right out side my gallery door, in a palm tree. These Ruddy Ground Doves were found in the saltwater lagoon near San Jose Del Cabo. It is often seen in company of the much larger White-winged Doves, where I am often asked if it is a baby.

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San Jose North America Mexico America 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. In common with the mineral version of gems, you have to invest some time in the right places to find them.

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Costa Rica San Jose Species America 139

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. Guests who don’t feel like walking up the road can enjoy many a bird right from the lodge including Violet Sabrewing and other hummingbirds, and various other fun species, often, all day long.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Panama 118

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 205

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2018

These are pertinent questions for the inquiring birding mind which, thank goodness, can be readily answered if you go birding in Costa Rica at the right places. However, if you go to the right spots, you do have a chance at seeing this weird little grail bird. How do they exist? How can you see them?

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Game 106

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2015

Ironically, thanks to the non-sustainable, land poisoning agriculture seen en route, there is a straight, fast, good road that zooms right on up to Los Chiles, the closest town to Cano Negro. 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.

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Costa Rica Chile Nicaragua San Jose 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2015

In Costa Rica, since winter doesn’t exist, June is kind of like every other month except that it rains more and the little summer of San Juan is right around the corner. 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.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 162

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. In addition to the Violet Saberwing , just as we were leaveing the lodge, this Scintillant Hummingbird landed right next to the door way. This Black-cheeked Woodpecker was shot right off the upper patio off our room.

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Costa Rica Tigers San Jose Woodpeckers 115

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2014

Gray Thrashers are not as conspicuous as the hummingbirds, but should not be difficult to find in the right places. For years I heard the estero at San Jose del Cabo was the place to go to see Belding’s Yellowthroat, another Baja endemic.

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California San Jose Birds Mexico 221

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. Turquoise Cotinga is the star of the birding show at Luna and everyone had multiple males and females of this beauty from both the birding platform, and right at the lodge.

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Costa Rica San Jose Sharks Monkeys 245

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 185

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2017

In fact, right now, in all likelihood, there probably are a few Aplomados up that way hunting in some far off fields never visited by birders. The guy on the right is Sergio Arias, check out his Costa Rica Birding Hotspot Stand at Birdfair. Luckily, the one that was twitched by many birders last weekend (moi included!)

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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Nicaragua 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2020

Luck always plays a role for seeing these monster goshawks but so does looking for them in the right places. The Ornate Hawk-Eagle was noticed at the last minute on our drive towards San Jose through the dense rainforests of Braulio Carrillo National Park. An Ornate from another day. Buff-fronted Quail-Dove on a feeder.

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Costa Rica 2019 San Jose Eagles 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2019

One of the advantages of Morelia as a birding/tourist destination is that we receive direct flights from Houston on United, Dallas/Fort Worth on American, and Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose (California), and Chicago/Midway on the Mexican carrier Volaris.

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Birds San Jose Los Angeles Fort Worth 161

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2016

Sure, there are more of us in Costa Rica right now but there are also way more tourists who don’t bring binoculars, nor any field guides, digital or otherwise. Since Costa Rica is a such a small place, heck, you can go even further afield without too much worries and stay at sites just 3 hours from San Jose at most.

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Costa Rica San Jose Liberia Birds 101

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2020

Rio san jose. Note; The Megalomanagement reserve the right to refuse to gift prizes on the grounds that they are The Megalomanagement. Falcon State Park (LTC 084). 08 Feb 2020. Brown Pelican – Pelecanus occidentalis. Fiesta de Mariscos. 13 Feb 2020. Fasciated Tiger-Heron – Tigrisoma fasciatum. 07 Feb 2020.

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2020 Sanctuary Australia Sparrows 155