10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2011

Costa Rica enjoys an international reputation as an iconic birding location, bursting with epic Neotropical species and breathtaking natural attractions. 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.

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Costa Rica San Jose Sanctuary Protection 188

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

In terms of birding, they more easily bring us to a vast variety of species, Costa Rica included. A huge number of species are possible including everything from macaws to parrots, King Vulture , and even Sungrebe and other uncommon wetland species. San Vito – Several roads just outside of San Vito offer excellent birding.

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Costa Rica San Jose Liberia Birds 277

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

More than 450 species have been recorded within the Arenal area, and over 250 bird species have been recorded on our private reserve alone. A Luna Nueva bird list has been developed by Juan Diego Vargas & Mirna Salas, both professional birding guides, which describes where you can find species of interest on the property.

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Costa Rica San Jose Liberia Farming 203

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Since most of the rain happened the evening of the 8th and the following morning, many sites had good weather on the morning of October Global Big Day and because of that, local birders still managed to identify well over 700 species in Costa Rica (!). and ended later that eveing with a final total of 154 species.

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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Owls 278

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2017

With its 920 species, Costa Rica has 2.6 Instead of focusing on the endemic and otherwise emblematic species, I looked to the eBird asking which target species should I expect in October. Consequently, insect repellent was used only when the need arose and not every day. …to to great birding.

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Costa Rica San Jose Serbia Europe 202

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2018

Northern Emerald Toucanets in Costa Rica are sometimes considered a separate species known as the Blue-throated Toucanet. Yellow-thighed Finch , one of several common species in the forests of Coronado. . This bad boy beauty isn’t even rare!

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Costa Rica San Jose Eagles Birds 170

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2020

There are three species of crow-like cotingas with odd hairdos known as umbrellabirds, the Bare-necked Umbrellabird is the one that lives in Costa Rica. During a memorable guiding trip in June, we hit the jackpot with all three species of hawk-eagles in just a few days. San Vito Birding Club meeting. An Ornate from another day.

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Costa Rica 2019 San Jose Eagles 234

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

Thanks to fortunate foresight, a lot of land was set aside in Costa Rica as national parks and protected areas (and some of these are easily accessed) but the best forest still happens to be at the terminus of the road and en route, you will be treated to species deficit birding in plenty of pastures. A pair of Shining Honeycreepers.

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Costa Rica San Jose Sharks Monkeys 257

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. Recently, while guiding on the slopes of Poas, without too much effort, we had more than a hundred species. This Red-faced Spinetail was one of them.

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Costa Rica San Jose Species Birds 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2016

The proximity of both slopes also facilitates seeing a lot of different species in a short span because the montane barrier has resulted in differences in terms of species and habitats. 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 Nicaragua 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2018

Migrant species are around, rarities are waiting to be found (such as, believe it or not, Lincoln’s Sparrow ), and, most of all, we have Christmas Counts to attend to. There’s usually one or more common euphonia species at any given site in Costa Rica but they seemed to be especially diverse at Cangreja.

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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Birds 201

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2017

Want to know a good recipe for tons of different bird species? The end result is southern Central America and in terms of birds, we get a bonanza of literally hundreds of bird species in a pretty small place. Whether volcanic, tectonic, or both, the mountains are a vital part of the species equation. Lattice-tailed Trogon.

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Costa Rica San Jose Species America 174

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2022

Every place has its common birds, the species that do very well in a given habitat. As we like to say, these are species that are “hard to miss”, birds that, if you are watching, will be seen. In most places, the number of birds makes it a challenge to pick just one signature species, Costa Rica included.

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Costa Rica San Jose Asia Geese 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2015

However, there are a few stand out sites here and there that are significantly better for species like Jabiru, Lance-tailed Manakin, and Nicaraguan Grackle to name a few. 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 192

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. Meanwhile, dozens of other species show up at feeders and in nearby vegetation. Quetzal, Snowcap, and dozens of tanagers, hummingbirds, and other species are possible on a one week trip.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 162

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 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. One of those species was a Pied Puffbird , our sole individual for the day and maybe the only one for the count.

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Costa Rica San Jose Lamb Farming 151

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

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. We did spot 220 species. One of the obvious sights on the way down were large pendulous nests hanging from several tall trees.

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Costa Rica San Jose Species Rights 117

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

His years of experience in this area were quite obvious as we found 62 species in one morning. 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.

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Costa Rica San Jose Chinchillas Family 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2017

Birds with white on them are much more likely to take the form of goodies like the Snowy Cotinga , or two species of tityras. The Caribbean slope of Costa Rica also differs from the islands in having a lot more bird species. White-crowned Pigeon might be on the list, but that rare prize for Costa Rica is far from regular.

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Costa Rica San Jose Tigers Bats 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2016

They also have a couple of trails that could turn up Highland Tinamou, Black-breasted Wood-Quail , and other cloud forest species. Well, it is around San Jose and on the Pacific slope but not on the Caribbean side of the mountains. Short-tailed Hawk is one of the most regular species in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2016 San Jose Birds 110

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2018

It’s needed if “success” is synonymous with seeing a higher percentage of target birds (even if that just means any possible species), the trip being rather glitch free, and having abundant coffee available at all hours. A successful birding adventure tends to include a fair bit of planning.

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Costa Rica San Jose Birds Game 117

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. We did get introduced to Geiner Huertas Reyes, who took us for a walk along part of the river and into a public park, where we put together a nice list of 61 species. Little Big Year Species – 1045.

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Costa Rica Tigers San Jose Squirrels 117

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

Most of all, I love showing people birds, species both common and mysteriously evasive. Whether a birder is eager for eyefulls of common species or needs to test the birding Zen and. Although we didn’t start out the birding that way, on the third day, we did find ourselves wondering if we were approaching 300 species.

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Costa Rica Species San Jose Birds 211

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Few places boast so many different bird species in such a small area — over 900 species (more than Europe, or all of the United States and Canada combined), including 75 different families, like 51 species of hummingbirds, 48 warblers, and 45 tanagers. It was close to 5 a.m., the best time for city traffic to eat me alive.

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Costa Rica San Jose Nepal Europe 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2018

Those would be species like the Keel-billed, White-throated, and Toco Toucans , the latter of which has become such an iconic rep. for its kind that even in Costa Rica, images of the Brazilian species have been used for marketing (much to the chagrin and dismay of local birders). Some call it the Blue-throated Toucanet.

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Costa Rica San Jose Panama Birds 145

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. If not for California’s Salton Sea (where this species can be fairly common in summer and fall), Yellow-footed Gull would be considered another Mexican endemic.

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California San Jose Whaling Whales 249

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2016

The country of Mexico as a whole, is host to 27 different species of doves, with the California Baja Sure home to six. With a large number of sub-species in many of these doves, I have listed the actual sub-species for this area. A common migratory species, is the Mourning Dove , Zenaida macroura marginella.

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San Jose North America Mexico America 100

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. Although a friend recently saw a pair of Aztec Thrushes here. Take that, Filtros!)

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San Jose Los Angeles Fort Worth Birds 195

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2017

While we could chase a number of local, rare residents, looking for super tough species like Pheasant Cuckoo and Tawny-faced Quail is more akin to searching and lurking in appropriate habitat and just hoping to get lucky. In Costa Rica, we don’t get many chances to chase birds. It was big, built for speed, and on the move.

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Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Nicaragua 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2016

I must have keep 400 images in the file of just this one species. 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.

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Grizzly Bear San Jose Bears Fish 143

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2016

Gray-necked Wood-Rails and Purple Gallinules come to the feeders along with other, more common species. Boat-billed Heron can also be seen during breakfast, and several dry forest species are possible. Boat-billed Heron. Sarapiqui: The classic birding region known for La Selva is around two, or two and a half hours from the airport.

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Costa Rica San Jose Liberia Birds 104

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2020

Rio san jose. You may notice that the list only reaches as far as 879 even though I claimed that there were 928 species recorded during February. 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 168