What birding day trips are possible from San Jose, Costa Rica? Is it worth birding the city itself? How far can you go in a day and, more importantly, which birds can you see?
Before we start answering those questions, there are some important things to know about staying in “San Jose, Costa Rica”. If you don’t know, San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica. It is also the general name given to the Central Valley, an urbanized area that also includes several other cities and towns. However, because housing connects most of those areas, it looks like a big urban conglomeration.
Although each area still has its own designation, its own municipality, visitors refer to the Central Valley as “San Jose”. In Costa Rica, we still say Heredia, Alajuela, and others but everyone also knows the Central Valley as the Greater Metropolitan Area of San Jose. With that in mind, when you fly to SJO, Costa Rica, even if the destination says, “San Jose”, you will really be flirting with Alajuela.
You can also assume you’re staying in San Jose when your hotel is on the edge of Alajuela (like the birdy Villa San Ignacio and Hotel Robledal), or even in Santa Ana.
Regarding day trips, it’s important to understand these differences because where you stay in the San Jose area influences birding day trip logistics. The following tips discuss that and other factors that come into play.
Some Places Are Easier To Visit Than Others, How About Birding in San Jose?
There are a bunch of birding sites within reach of San Jose and even within the city limits. However, if you’re going to be birding in other parts of Costa Rica, don’t bother doing a lot of birding in San Jose. You can see almost all of those birds elsewhere along with many other species.
An exception might be Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow. Yes, there are great sites for this outside of San Jose but if you’re not visiting the Orosi Valley area, you’ll need to find it in the Central Valley. There are several places for this fancy towhee but you still have to know where to go and the bird is unusual and tricky.
As with birding trips from San Jose, the easiest places to go depend on where you’re staying. Do you have a room at the classic Hotel Bougainvillea or in San Jose itself? Based on logistics, good day trips are Quebrada Gonzalez, Nectar and Pollen, and Centro Manu (some exciting places!).
Escazu or Santa Ana are ideal for day trips to the University of Peace area, sites near Orotina, and the Pacific lowlands, and the Poas area is ideal when staying near the airport or in Heredia.
How to Avoid Traffic
The number one challenge for day trips from the San Jose area is traffic. This is absolutely horrible and can seriously damage your birding time. To make sure you’re birding instead of wasting time on the roads, you really should leave the hotel before 5:30 at the latest. The earlier the better, say by 4:30 or 5:00.
Seriously, if you’re out after 5:30 or 6, you might want to wait and bird the next morning. The worst morning traffic occurs between 6 and 8; the best time for birding. You should really be at 6 on your birding site.
The other worst time for traffic is between 4 and 6. 3:30 and 6:30 or even 7 isn’t too fun either but those two hours in the afternoon are the worst. They may not be able to eat on your day of birding but it can be a real pain to get back to your hotel.
There are two main ways to avoid the terrible afternoon traffic. One is by limiting day trips to a morning of birding. Leave early, get a good morning of birding, eat lunch, and return to the hotel by 2 or so.
Another option is to make a very long day of birding. Really, with that traffic, it’s worth staying until night, looking for owls, and then returning to the hotel by 8.
How Far Should You Go?
Costa Rica is relatively small. When staying in the San Jose area, a wonderful variety of accommodations are within reach. The closest best places are usually 45 minutes to an hour away and some places are an hour and a half by car.
You can go further but leaving the hotel at 3:30 or 4 isn’t much fun, especially when it takes longer to get back. Luckily, you can reach most of the main residences within an hour and a half. The nearest, easily accessible cloud forest is in the Poas area. The cloud forests near Coronado are also relatively close but at the end of a rugged road. The cloud forests near San Ramon are slightly further away and may also have bellbirds from March to August!
The nearest foothill rainforest is in and near Quebrada Gonzalez and the Virgen del Socorro area. Go a little further and you can also bird the amazing San Luis Canopy and Manuel Brenes road.
For high elevation forests, the road to Poas Volcano is good. Volcan Barva has better accommodation and is close by but, sadly, only accessible via a very rough road. If you travel a little further, you can go to the Irazu Volcano area and try Volcano Junco and Timberline Wren among other high birds.
Unfortunately, Talamanca is a bit far for a day trip from San Jose (at least for me). Sure, it can be done but you’ll have a fair amount of driving (unless you’re coming from Cartago).
Dry forest birding is also close to some species though possible at sites like Villa San Ignacio and other places near Alajuela. It can take only 45 minutes to reach the dry and open habitats around Orotina.
For South Pacific rainforest and coastal habitats, it takes an hour and a half drive to Tarcoles and Carara area. Go a little further and you can also go birding at Mata de Limon and scan seabirds from Puntarenas.
Day Trips to see the Quetzal
What about quetzals? Do you see them on a day trip from San Jose? Absolutely! In Costa Rica, the Resplendent Quetzal lives in cloud forest and high elevation rainforest in all kinds of places. Find that shelter and quetzals must be somewhere in the area.
For their quetzal fix, many people visit Paraiso Quetzal and the Dota Valley. These are great sites and you can do them as a day trip from San Jose but it will also take more than two hours to get there.
The closest quetzals are in the Poas and Barva Volcano areas. They move around and can be confusing but if you know how to look for quetzals you can usually find them (at least I did). Unbelievably, those birds are only a 45 minute or an hour drive from San Jose!
Quetzal is also possible near San Ramon. That usually takes an hour and 45 minutes and they’re not that easy.
How Many Birds on a Birding Day Trip from San Jose?
It’s about time and location but most day trips from San Jose can have lots of birds. If you do just a little birding in and near urban areas, you can get 40 or 50 species at most. These are mostly common species with highlights such as Lesson’s Motmot, White-eared Ground-Sparrow, and hopefully Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow.
A day in the foothill rainforest usually results in 60 to 80 species or more. However, you may not see those birds in other places. These include various tanagers and deep forest birds including opportunities for unusual and rare birds such as hawk-eagles, antbirds, and other species.
Go birding in the Poas area and you will see a high number of species. A combination of high elevation and middle elevation habitats often results in 100 species. On my best days, I showed 130 and even 140 species to birders in one day. In addition to fair quetzal opportunities, a day of birding also typically includes Sooty Thrush, Yellow-thighed Brushfinch, several other regional endemics, a few hummingbirds, and many other species.
Head down to the Pacific coast and you’ll also see a variety of species including Scarlet Macaw, parrots, maybe Double-striped Thick-Knee, raptors, trogons, and more. In one morning, I often see over 120 species and a full day can result in 160 or more.
For the best birding day trip from San Jose, think about how you want to bird, what birds you want to see, and how long you want to be out. Some areas are better for photography, others are better for rare forest birds, and different areas of course have different bird species.
Really, there are so many options, you can stay in a hotel in the San Jose area, do a few day trips from there, and see over 300 species!
To learn more about where to go birding in Costa Rica and support this blog, check out my 900 plus page ebook, “How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica”. Hope to see you here!
