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 Birds Species 75

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 Birds Species San Jose 59

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 Animal San Jose Rights 100

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 Sparrows Birds San Jose 59

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

Getting to our lodge is easy from either San Jose or Liberia, and once here you can take advantage of our extensive trails, multiple birding observation platforms, two feeding stations, and a 35-foot high bamboo canopy tower (seen above), where you can easily observe and photograph colorful toucans, euphonias, honeycreepers, and hundreds more.

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Costa Rica Birds Species San Jose 81

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 Birds Panama Mexico 69

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 Animal San Jose United States 100

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 Birds Species Falcons 111

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 Species Birds 111

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 Birds San Jose Eagles 75

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 Birds San Jose 85

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 Primates 100

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 Birds Mexico Species 40

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 Birds Species 55

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 Birds 40

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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Parrots Birds Blackbirds Zebras 64

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2020

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. Not a rare bird but like all quail-doves, a professional skulker and thus typically glimpsed as it scurries into hiding.

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Costa Rica Birds 2019 Eagles 98

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 Birds Sanctuary 91

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 Birds San Jose Species 71

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 Birds San Jose Species 81

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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Birds Woodpeckers Costa Rica Bears 79

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 Birds San Jose 40

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 Birds Species Falcons 81

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 Birds San Jose Species 40

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 Birds Owls Species 105

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 Species San Jose Owls 102

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 Birds Species San Jose 71

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 Birds Species San Jose 75

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 Fort Worth Los Angeles 81

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2016

I caught this Lark Sparrow at San Blas, near Magdalena Bay , just as the sun was setting. There is a small Federal Reserve, set aside on the white sandy beach near San Jose Del Cabo, in order to protect the nesting Least Terns. I must have keep 400 images in the file of just this one species.

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Grizzly Bear Birds San Jose Fish 70

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 Birds Species San Jose 72

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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North America San Jose Species Mexico 40

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2016

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. A Jabiru is a monster stork. Stay at Rancho Naturalista for a blend of Snowcap , fantastic feeder action, excellent guides, and wonderful cuisine.

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Costa Rica Birds San Jose Owls 49

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 Birds San Jose Owls 63

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 Birds Species Owls 65

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 Birds 2016 Species 58

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 Birds Chile Species 92