cabanis’s ground sparrow

Recent Birding Highlights Near San Jose, Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, birding highlights are easy to come by. Most places, you don’t need to do much more than walk outside and you’ll see something cool! Another birding bonus is having the chance to see such an incredible variety of birds in such a short distance.

Thinking about it, there’s not a whole lot of other places with so many bird species in such easy striking distance. In Costa Rica, there’s always a whole lot of birds going on; a fact reflected by a few of my recent birding highlights.

Calling Ornate Hawk-Eagles

On September 15th, I guided someone for a morning of birding from the Central Valley to the Varablanca area. We had a good bunch of birds including some sweet highlights. For this easy day trip, that’s par for the course but you still never know what you’ll run into.

I usually see a raptor or two but they typically take the form of common raptors in Costa Rica like Short-tailed and Gray Hawks, often Barred Hawk and maybe Great Black-Hawk. On September 15th, birding chance exchanged those raptors for one of the more cherished of Costa Rica birding targets; Ornate Hawk-Eagle!

This big fancy raptor occurs in many parts of the country but at very low density. In other words, there’s always the chance of seeing one but you still have to be lucky. Luck was with us on the 15th when I heard the Ornate’s distinctive, brief whistled calls.

As expected, the calling bird was soaring high overhead but still close enough to just make out its white throat. I whistled back to it and the bird seemed to respond, wheeling somewhat closer. It never came close enough to stare the raptor in its fierce eyes but I can’t complain; we watched it and two other Ornates over the next 20 minutes!

Seeing three adults in the same area is pretty unusual, I wonder if that particular spot marks a territory boundary?

ornate hawk eagle — An Ornate Hawk-eagle from another day and how you often see them.

Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl

The hawk-eagles were great but they weren’t the first highlight of the day. We had already had a few others including excellent views at a rufous morph Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl! This bird is one I hear now and then on the “Legua Road” or “San Rafael de Varablanca Road” near Varablanca; a site I have taken many birders to and one of hundreds of birding sites covered in my bird finding guide for Cost Rica.

However, it rarely come in for a view. I’m grateful that it decided to show itself on the 15th. We enjoyed this small raptor’s presence as it was attracted the ire of Coppery-headed Emeralds, Black-bellied Hummingbirds, and other small highland birds.

Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow

Speaking of highlights, I was very pleased to get this one early in the morning. This endemic towhee is a tricky little bird alright, in part because it has to deal with feral cats, cowbirds, and other side effects of living near people.

It helps to know where to see them, what they sound like, and looking for them around 6 in the morning. We heard a couple and had good looks at one that was bringing food to hidden young. We also had it in one of the better spots for them, the road that passes in front of Finca Rosa Blanca.

Sadly, some second growth with this species and wintering habitat for Mourning Warblers was cleared on part of this road to build housing. However, there’s still a good amount of habitat and the Cabanis’s still occurs there.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

No, not what you think of when birding Costa Rica but small numbers of these doveish Arctic migrants do pass through! Sometimes, they also fly down to forage in pastures and other grassy spots.

Maryllen and I were very pleased to see one at a usual spot near the airport. It was hidden quite well by a taller tussock of grass, we could have easily missed it if a local birder hadn’t gotten us on the bird. Many thanks to Alex Castro for noticing this excellent year bird!

Purple Martin

I know, how is this a highlight? Birders might not come to Costa Rica to see Purple Martins but I look forward to seeing them each fall migration. If I don’t make it to the Caribbean Coast, I might also miss it at a year bird!

I still hope to get in some coastal migration birding but I was very pleased to notice a male in the Central Valley. Smaller numbers pass through this part of the country and I bet most get overlooked as they fly high overhead. I got lucky with my 2024 Purple Martin by watching swallows forage over my tiny backyard.

Cliff and several Bank Swallows were doing their thing when I noticed a dark bird coming in from the west. For whatever reason, this is the direction migrating swallows usually take when flying over the house. At first, I thought it was going to be a swift but then I noticed its flap, flap glide flight, that tell-tale sign of an honest to goodness passerine.

As the dark, large swallow flew high overhead, I could also make out the forked tail. A sweet surprise for sure although I still hope to connect with martin flocks on the coast.

By the way, someone should be watching those flocks, there could easily be a few Sinaloa Martins moving with the Purples. As a matter of fact, although the record hasn’t been accepted, I friend of mine saw a probable Sinaloa Martin in Costa Rica a few years ago. Dark martin with a white belly seen during migration by an experienced ornithologist who has also seen enough Gray-breasted Martins to know it wasn’t one of those…yeah, I bet he saw one.

Additional highlights from these recent birding days in Costa Rica include Spot-bellied Bobwhite, a nice influx of Yellow Warblers, calling Dickcissels migrating overhead, flights of migrating Cliff, Bank, and Barn Swallows every morning, beautiful warbler Blue Grosbeaks, Zeledon’s Antbird, and close views of several Spangle-cheeked Tanagers. Check out my trip report from the 15th.

And that was just one full morning, a jaunt to twitch a sandpiper, and casually watching the skies from the backyard. I suppose another highlight was hearing critically endangered Yellow-naped Parrots fly overhead this morning. Like I was saying, it doesn’t take long to experience fantastic birding in Costa Rica. I hope to see you here!

Where and How to See Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow

It’s not a colorful bird and it’s not one that has some exotic, amazing appearance. But, it’s high on the list of local birders and should be even higher on the target lists of birders who visit Costa Rica because you won’t find it anywhere else. That bird is the Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow.

Formerly known as Prevost’s Ground-Sparrow, studies have shown that the birds in Costa Rica should be considered a separate species. Therefore, now, we have another endemic bird! The only problem is that the bird seems to be genuinely scarce and difficult to see. But, it can be seen, a birder just has to know where and how to look for it. We can start by looking at the bird for what it is; a towhee. As in a Canyon Towhee or Abert’s Towhee but one that prefers dense, scrubby vegetation and tends to be camera shy. It likes to forage on or near the ground, usually in pairs.

Here are some ideas on where and how to see it:

The right elevation: Not too high nor too low, this pretty little sparrow prefers the middle elevations, like right around 1,200 meters. Higher than that and we tend to find more White-eared Ground-Sparrows. Lower and it’s just too low for the “cabanisi”.
Coffee fields with cover: Although the endemic bird does live in open coffee farms, I have seen it more often in coffee that also has brushy edges or trees, or some understory vegetation.

Brushy riparian zones: Sites like these might be even better. Given the higher degree of natural vegetation and, presumably, more food, riparian zones could play very important roles for this threatened species.
The Central Valley and the Orosi Valley: Check Google Earth or one of those same satellite maps in eBird that shows the Central Valley, look for brushy fields and coffee farms and check those sites. But, know that the bird may or may not be present and even if it is, it still might be hard to find probably because it has a small population. That said, this is where it lives, this is a good place to look. The same goes for the Orosi Valley, especially around Ujarras and coffee farms near there. Higher up on the way to Tapanti, it doesn’t seem to be present (or is very rare) perhaps because of competition with the White-eared.
Check eBird: Even better, do what modern birders do for most unfamiliar bird species and check the latest sightings on eBird. Keep in mind, though, that the bird can still be hard to find, the next tips may help.
Know the call: The Cabanisi makes a distinctive, sharp tick note that differs from chip calls given by small birds that share its habitat such as the Rufous-collared Sparrow, Rufous-capped Warbler, and the Blue-black Grassquit. Knowing the song also helps but it doesn’t seem to sing very often.
Go early!: As with most birds, this one is also more active early in the morning. Listen and watch for it at the edges of hedgerows and brushy habitats but do that before 8 or even before 7.

Come to Costa Rica and you can see this endemic and literally hundreds of other species of birds. Support this blog and learn more about where to find birds with my 700 plus page e-book, How to See, Find, and Identify Birds in Costa Rica.