Before we arrived at the Hotel Robledal in San Jose we’d been told that the grounds of the hotel were very good for birding, so on the first morning (12 February) we had a pre-breakfast session in the extensive gardens. The birds were very active and we saw Spot-breasted Oriole, Inca Dove, White-winged Dove, Clay-coloured Thrush and Rufous-naped Wren. Blue-and-white Swallows were flying over, along with a Great-tailed Grackle.
After an excellent breakfast at the hotel we met up with Emmanuel Guzman who is the son of the owner of the hotel, and also a very knowledgeable bird guide. Emmanuel had agreed to guide us for the two days before our tour started and we began by searching for more birds in the hotel gardens. Almost immediately we had excellent views of a Lineated Woodpecker, which was another lifer for us. The birds were still very active during this mid-morning session and we saw Crested Caracara in flight, Groove-billed Ani, Wood Stork, Tropical Kingbird and Brown-crested Flycatcher.
We then set off with Emmanuel in his 4×4 to explored some of the different habitats close to the hotel. The light was starting to get too bright for good photography but with the higher temperatures we saw more raptors flying, including Red-tailed Hawk and Short-tailed Hawk. In the scrub near to the hotel we also saw Stripe-headed Sparrow, Great White Egret, Brown Jay, Common Yellowthroat, Red-billed Pigeon and lots of Inca Doves.
When the birds were becoming active again in the late afternoon we did more birding in the hotel gardens, with a highlight being two Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, which posed well on a tree trunk. A Masked Tityra flew in and we were able to get a few reasonable shots when it was on the top of a tree. But a roosting Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl was more difficult to photograph.
On our second full day in San Jose (13 February) Emmanuel took us to a nearby body of water and we had distant views of Muscovy Duck, which is a common bird in South and Central America, along with Blue-winged Teal and a hybrid Cinnamon Teal.
In the area surrounding the water we had good views of Stripe-headed Sparrow, Yellow-throated Euphonia and a Blue-throated Goldentail hummingbird.
