The Jamesburg Hotspot is located at 1500' elevation (460 m) in rich oak woodland. The Jamesburg community is spread out through adjacent foothills on multiple private roads, and thus all the public birding within this Hotspot is along a couple of miles of paved road (the last two miles of pavement before the pavement ends at the check-in office for Tassajara Hot Spring Zen Center). The Hotspot is centered around a historic home (privately owned), painted white and shown above, that sits next to James Creek. Here there are large, well-spaced oaks, plus an old corral across from the historic home with large sycamores. The house itself has a fenced yard, but it is not often occupied. Please respect the owners' privacy at all times.

Common resident birds of oak woodland are featured here, including Anna's Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, Acorn and Nuttall's Woodpecker, California Scrub-Jay, Hutton's Vireo, Oak Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Western Bluebird, both towhees, and Purple Finch. Migrant breeders arriving in April-May include Ash-throated Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Wilson's Warbler, Bullock's Oriole, and Black-headed Grosbeak. This elevation is near the downslope edge of the breeding range for Cassin's Vireo and Black-throated Gray Warbler, both of which more through Jamesburg as migrants but a few still linger, singing from the adjacent foothills. California Quail are resident but sometimes Mountain Quail can be heard from chaparral hillsides. James Creek, and its flowers, attract hummingbirds in spring and summer, and rare hummingbirds such as Black-chinnd, Rufous, and even Calliope have occurred in spring or fall migration. In fall or winter, the woodlands will have many Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and flocks on White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows.

Jamesburg is reached via Tassajara Road, which branches south off Carmel Valley Road some 24.1 miles from Highway 1. The first 3 miles are paved, and the Jamesburg Hotspot is accessed as roadside birding along the last mile of pavement. Beyond the pavement, Tassajara Road continues as a rugged dirt road for 14 miles to Tassajara Hot Springs Zen Center, but crosses Chews Ridge at nearly 5000' elevation en route; there are multiple Hotspots in the upper reaches of Tassajara Road. 

John James founded the town in 1867. The Jamesburgh post office opened in 1886, changed its name to Jamesburg in 1894, and closed for good in 1935. The historic white house near which we bird is that old post office.