Author Archives: greghomer

Bird Walk Sunday: Finca Cantaros-Sept. 22

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Please join the San Vito Bird Club for a very special guided Bird Walk at Finca Cantaros (Finca Cantaros Environmental Association). Meet outside the green gate at 7:00am, on Sunday, Sept 22. There is no charge for this walk but donations to Cantaros are always welcome.

If you have walked the trails of Finca Cantaros before, you already know…it’s spectacular.

If this walk will be your first visit, you will find:

*Great biodiversity–bird life, plant life and butterflies.

*Laguna Zoncho–a picturesque lake. Water birds are often seen.

*Easy walking trails…custom pollinator gardens…panoramic views.

As always, binoculars available as needed. Hope you can join us.

Blue-winged/Green-winged Teal hybrid (aka ‘The Magic Duck’). Photo courtesy of David A. Rodriguez.

Sunday Birdwalk at Las Cruces (Wilson Botanical Garden): Sept. 8

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Please join us, the San Vito Bird Club, for another Sunday birdwalk at the Wilson Botanical Garden on Sept. 8th. Meet up at the Recepcion office at 7am. As always, these walks are free-free-free. First timers are welcome. Binoculars, guide books and actual naturalists are available for your use.

Southern migrant birds are now trickling back to their southern home! And by ‘trickling’ I’m not referring to those pesky spots you see on your car…JA-JA-JA.

Rendering of some northern migrant bird, courtesy of Greg Homer

Bird Walk Sunday: Aug. 25 at The Garden of Wilson

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Please join the San Vito Bird Club, at 7:00am on Sunday, Aug. 25 for our regular Wilson Garden Bird Walk. Meet up at the recepcion office where our odyssey will begin. Need binoculars? We’ll provide them.

This Sunday is the last Sunday in August, which doesn’t mean a damn thing…I’m just making small talk. But the northern migrant birds traditionally start to arrive in Sept, so…

Coffee and social time will follow in the Comedor. Hope to see you there; everyone welcome.

Bird drawing, courtesy of Greg Homer

Just When You Thought It Was Safe…a new BIRD JOKE!

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A sizable wire cage containing 206 white doves, with each of the doves representing a country competing in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, was prepared for the Opening Ceremonies. At a given signal all 206 of the white doves were to burst out of the cage and majestically fly around.

‘Hey,’ said one of the doves to the other 205 of his colleagues. ‘My father-in-law had this gig four years ago at the Olympics in Tokyo.’

‘What did he have to say?’ queried another white dove.

‘He said, it’s horrible! Apparently, Peregrin Falcons, Merlins and other birds of prey have figured out that the opening ceremony of the Olympics is like a full-course buffet.’

‘A what?’

‘Us, don’t you get it! We fly out of this cage and they just pick us off.’

The thought of this sent shivers down the snow-white spines of the doves.

And so, when it came time for the doves to burst out of the cage and majestically fly around, they all just..sat still.

The world viewed this as an omen of great import; and collectively decided to stop all aggression, fighting, meanness and even harsh language…which was good. (unlike this joke which doesn’t even have a punchline)

Bird Walk Sunday: Oropendola Watch

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Please join the San Vito Bird Club this Sunday, May 12th, for a Bird Walk down in Tres Rios. Approximately twelve Crested Oropendola nests are to be found in a tall Poro tree. These nests are actively attended by both Ma and Pa Oropendola. What’s going on inside the nests? Eggs…chicks…what? Let’s see if we can find out.

Meet me, Greg Homer, at the Motola Bakery between 6:30 and 7:00 am (enjoy a coffee and a doughnut if you wish). At 7:01 we’ll drive down to the site. Bring a folding chair if you’d like but I’ll have a few extra. This is a wonderful birding site and we will also be walking along the Tres Rios road, watching and listening for other bird species.

Perhaps, following the walk we should return to the Motola Bakery for what is…according to San Vito Bird Club founder Alison Olivieri…the BEST GALLO PINTO in Coto Brus!

Hope to see you there. As always, binoculars available as needed.

Crested Oropendola (minimalist interpretation, artist Greg Homer)

Sunday Bird Walk! The Garden of Wilson

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Please join the San Vito Bird Club for a bird walk this Sunday April 28, at the Wilson Botanical Garden. Free-free-free!

Meet at the Recepcion office at 7am. Binoculars available as needed.

Invite your friends/neighbors who may not have previously connected with the San Vito Bird Club.

Coffee and social time follows at the Wilson Comedor.

Hope to see you there.

SPACE…Where No Thrush Has Gone Before

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I like to watch TV.

Having a lazy, lounging late morning on my hands, I queued up an episode of the old ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ TV show and stretched out to enjoy it.

During the narrative, a couple of the Enterprise crew members are investigating some serious space problem on some strange planet (this happens in almost EVERY Star Trek episode). The crew member and an alien planet guy are discussing how to solve the serious space problem. The two of them are chatting together while relaxing in stylish and modernistic space patio chairs in a lovely outdoor space garden.

*As you birders know, Coto Brus is currently inundated with literally thousands of migratory Swainson’s Thrushes. These Thrushes give out with a distinctive and most pleasant song during their stay.*

So, I’m watching the show with one ear and listening to the Swainson’s Thrushes just outside my window with the other ear (or so I thought). I pause the show for just a bit…and the Thrush song stops too! What the…! I start the show again and you guessed it! The Swainson’s Thrushes started back with their singing.

How Swainson’s Thrushes ever got to this weird alien planet out in the final frontier…I don’t know. But they did. I guess nature finds a way.

Do you have any reminiscences of identifying bird songs from a movie or TV show? If so, share them with me and I’ll share them with our readers. Send to Greg Homer:

eltangaral@gmail.com

Bird Walk Sunday: Something New

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Please join the San Vito Bird Club this Sunday at 7am for a bird walk and an exploration of nature…in a new locale.

The Mycelium Forest Project (Bosque Micelio); on our well-known Magic Road, (see map) is our destination. Easy access from the Magic Road…good parking, gentle trails. Bring your own water, please.

Three ways to get there:

  1. Meet me, Greg Homer, at the start of the Magic Road, just past my El Tangaral wooden gate at 6:45am.
  2. Drive down the Magic Road yourself from the Linda Vista side. We will meet up at the new Cabanas Bosque del Canto right on the Magic Road (see photo).
  3. Drive up the Magic Road from the Tres Rios side; again we’ll meet up at the Cabanas Bosque del Canto at 7am.

Should be a good walk and maybe…maybe…we’ll even find some Easter eggs.