This month’s quiz bird isn’t seen in San Vito. It has been spotted down the hill around Coto 47. Could this bird be another species that is expanding its range? I hope so!
Send your best guess to:
eltangaral@gmail.com
(photo courtesy of Alison Olivieri)
(Last quiz bird photo, Cooper’s Hawk, courtesy of Gail Hull)
Congratulations to the great and powerful Randall Jimenez for submitting the first correct answer to our April 2019 Quiz Bird.
Randall (from the Pajareros del Sur) correctly identified the Cooper’s Hawk. This medium-sized Accipiter hawk is occasionally seen in San Vito during its migration north.
We also had guesses of Sharp-shinned Hawk. The ‘Sharpie’, though slightly smaller than the Cooper’s, looks very, very similar. The most significant difference between the two species is the rounded tail of the Cooper’s Hawk; the Sharp-shinned has a squared off distal end of the long tail. (see below)
Again, please join me in congratulating Randall Jimenez.
(Cooper’s Hawk tail on L–Sharp-shinned tail on R)
Look familiar? Send your best guess to Greg Homer at—
eltangaral@gmail.com
The first correct ID will receive respect, applause and a posting on the SVBC website and Facebook…but no cookies.
Good luck!
The smallest woodpecker in Costa Rica, the Olivaceous Piculet, is no bigger than a warbler! This very charismatic, big-bird-in-a-small-bird’s-body is often seen tap-tap-tapping on a slender dry twig looking for bugs. The tapping sounds the Piculet makes have given it the local name of the Telegraph Bird.
The biggest woodpecker in Costa Rica, the Pale-billed Woodpecker, (probably the model for beloved cartoon character ‘Woody Woodpecker’) is over a foot long. Normally, the Pale-billed Woodpecker is identified by it’s robust and very loud two-note rap…’TOCK-TOCK’…but recently I discovered the actual call of the Pale-billed Woodpecker. To my surprise the Pale-bill’s call sounds very much like one of those old electric Morse Code devices with the key! Click on the ‘Listen’ button in the lower right corner of this eBird page.
https://ebird.org/species/pabwoo1
If you’re an old Boy Scout or Girl Scout, listen carefully–maybe IT IS an actual Morse Code message coming from the Pale-billed Woodpecker. What message might they be sending us?
(images from eBird)
Go outside for a minute or two and then come back in and finish this article…go on, really.
OK, now you’re back. There is a very good chance you saw, or more likely heard, a Swainson’s Thrush or two while you were out there.
During late March and early April, here in Coto Brus, it seems like someone has opened up a giant firehose; and from that firehose has come a mighty river of Swainson’s Thrushes (see below).
This Swainson’s Thrush visit with us will be a fairly brief one however; for the Swainson’s Thrush is a passage migrant through Costa Rica. They have been wintering in South America and are now anxiously heading home to North America where they will build homes and raise families.
Listen for them. You’re likely to hear their flutey, thrush-like musical trill. Also, you may hear my favorite of their calls, which I call the ‘Dripping Faucet’ call. Here it is. Click on Listen (lower right) and then select the third recording from the top:
https://ebird.org/species/swathr
During this time of year I am always reminded of that wonderful Groucho Marx song, ‘Hello, I Must Be Going.’
Hello, I must be going
I cannot stay
I came to say
I must be going
I’m glad I came
But just the same
I must be going.
Good citizen and San Vito Bird Club member Tom Wilkinson noticed something the other day.
A couple of his local vultures (aka: The Clean-up Crew) were walking about his property, gazing forlornly into his near empty rain barrel. Recognizing how dry and dusty it has been lately, Tom surmised that the Crew members might be a little dry! Keeping the countryside clean, as vultures do, probably works up quite a thirst, thought Tom.
So being a good citizen, Tom put a couple of bowls of fresh, clean, pure water out for them. At first, noticed Tom, the Clean-up Crew members were were suspicious of the water bowls. And being normal vultures, it’s possible they were not familiar with anything fresh, clean and pure. But little by little they approached the water bowls; after a short while the two crew members drank the bowls dry! Tom refilled them.
Well done Tom! Good deeds, good fellowship and keeping a close eye on the creatures around you should be recognized and shared.
What is most amazing from this tale? That Tom was able to recognize a ‘forlorn look’ on the face of a vulture.
SVBC members; please share your unique bird observations with us. Click on the links below to send an email to Greg, Alison or Peter.
(photo courtesy of Tom Wilkinson)
The San Vito Bird Club and Pajareros del Sur had a wonderful bird walk on Sunday, March 10th at the home of Cecilia Sansonetti. We were pleased to escort over 40 birders!
As a new element of the bird walk, we started the first Bird Walk Photo Contest. All people attending the walk were encouraged to submit A SINGLE photo taken during the walk. This classic, perfectly lighted Squirrel Cuckoo photo (attached below), by Alison W. Olivieri, was selected as the first winner.
FYI: During our next and subsequent bird walks we will select two winning photos:
Hope you can take part.
(Squirrel Cuckoo photo courtesy of Alison Olivieri)
Photo taken at Las Tablas, March of 2019.
Send your guesses to:
The first correct response wins something home made, sweet and delicious!
If your last name has four letters and begins with ‘Z’, you are not eligible to win.
(photo courtesy of Alison W. Olivieri)
The San Vito Bird Club and the Pajareros del Sur have many excellent photographers, so let’s try something new on this next bird walk (Sunday, March 10th at the Sansonetti finca).
A Bird Walk Photo Challenge! Here’s how it works:
Good luck and good shooting!
Congratulations to the following San Vito Bird Club members!
Judy Richardson: WINNER of the 2019 Bird Feeder Contest with 27 species! What with the amazing bio-diversity of Judy’s beautiful property we can expect an even greater number of species in years to come.
Charles and Sarah Beeson-Jones: 2nd Place winners. A total of 26 species for the Beeson-Jones’, including TWO hummingbird species. FYI: Putting a hummingbird feeder on your regular feeder may be the wave of the future!
Jo Davidson: Winner of the Bird Feeder Photo Contest. This beautiful but somewhat sloppy Speckled Tanager is our winner! What perfect light.
San Vito Bird Club 
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