Marian and I flew from Seattle via San Francisco and Houston arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica about 11:45 PM on Thursday Feb 25th We had a room at the Courtyard by Mariott right near the airport for the night. The flights and shuttle were uneventful. We met Jean at 11 AM the next morning, with time for a 39 minute birding walk at the hotspot right beside the hotel. Believe it or not called the Walmart Woods, a scraggly patch of riparian wooods and stream between the airport and the Walmart. The list was feeble, with 9 species and 3 more left unidentified. Best ID’ed birds were Baltimore Oriole and Yellow Warbler, though I added 6 birds to my CR life list including Great Blue Heron and Great Egret. The rest of the day was taken up largely with getting to the Hotel Aranjuez, some errands, and resting up, but I posted an eBird list of the hotel grounds, actually an eBird Hotspot. Nothing special seen.
This morning I did wake at 6 AM and got out by about 6:15. I birded the hotel grounds quickly and then wandered about, going down a long set of stairs to a small river, walking over to the organic market, and then back up on streets. Rufous-colared Sparrows were all around, calling and singing, and several Yellow Warblers and Blue-gray Tanagers were seen. A Red-billed Pigeon gave good close looks, and several Parrot and Parakeet flocks went unidentified. Tomorrow we head off to Jean and Alan’s place, with a stop at an organic farm, and likely stops along the way, so I’m hoping for much more exciting birding starting tomorrow.
Good birding.

Ed