Costa Rica Day 1 - Hotel Bougainvillea & San Jose

Today was a relaxed day spent in San Jose in the gardens at Hotel Bougainvillea. I started birding at 5:30am and with the exception of a couple of hours to go to the bank, post office, lunch and grocery store, stopped birding at around 3pm.

I saw 35 species of birds (that I could identify), 8 of which were new to my life list.  Not bad for a hotel in the city!  Overcast day, 70-77°, and lots of wind.

Lesson’s Motmot - the most distinguishable feature is the “paddles” at the end of its tail

Hoffman’s Woodpecker - lifer!

Mottled Owl 

Rufous-naped Wren - lifer!

Yellow-throated Euphonia - lifer!

Kiskadee collecting papyrus for its nest

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird - there were plenty of these all over the gardens, and only one other hummingbird from a different species - I guess we’ll see more species tomorrow when we go up into the mountains

Clay-colored Thrush collecting nesting materials

Squirrel Cuckoo playing peek-a-boo

White-eared Ground Sparrow -lifer!