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)
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:
Please join the San Vito Bird Club for our regular guided Bird Walk, this Sunday…April 14th…at the Wilson Botanical Garden. Meet at Recepcion at 7am. Binoculars and field guides available as needed. Coffee and discussion to follow.
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:
Meet me, Greg Homer, at the start of the Magic Road, just past my El Tangaral wooden gate at 6:45am.
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).
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.
(from SVBC charter member and master bird bander, Judy Richardson)
Sadly, we’ve all found a bird below our window, either stunned or killed by the impact. There are just certain times of day that our windows seem to, disappear, and birds think they’re just flying through the woods. Our heart breaks when they hit the window hard enough to kill them. The stunned birds usually sit there; keep your cats and dogs inside, as it can take a while before they fly off. If they are in the sun; I have picked them up and put them in a shady shrub where I can keep an eye on them as they recover. Or if it’s cold, I put the inside in a box with a saucer of water. If it’s a hummingbird, offering a bit of sugar water can mean the difference between life and death! I hope you read the last post about Ceci Sansonetti ‘s rescuing a tiny White Crested Coquette.
Now we come to the always interesting “bird chase“ through your house! Has everyone had this happen? In Connecticut, where I live, I always have a Carolina or House Wren come to visit! They are cleaning the insects along the doors and windows and then lose track of the exit! Panic sets in. For me, the investment of a $15 butterfly net has helped enormously! Since it’s usually my in screened porch, I leave the door open and eventually out she goes. Otherwise, from a long-handled distance, I can coax the birdie closer to the exit without causing panic!
Once in Costa Rica, I had a Green Hermit slide in the door after feeding right outside it. The butterfly net helped guide it out, even though my ceilings are very high. That net has taken out Scorpions, Wolf Spiders, and hornets! I’ve even caught the odd butterfly, just for close-up viewing purposes!
***
How to hold a bird in your hand so that neither you or the bird get injured. The bird bander’s grip.
More than any other bird family, hummingbirds have the most charming names. Hell, there’s even a hummingbird (found around San Vito) that is named the Charming Hummingbird! This post is about a hummingbird that not only has a cute common name but also a cute scientific name; and on top of all that this bird is jaw-droppingly cute…the White-crested Coquette (Lophornis adorabilis).
Recently, our San Vito neighbor and San Vito Bird Club charter member Cecelia Sansonetti had a very close encounter with a White-crested Coquette (see below). The tiny male Coquette, not much larger than a Sphinx Moth (which it resembles) flew into her house.
‘I naturally thought it was a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird or even a Stripe-throated Hermit,’ Ms. Sansonetti relayed to me. ‘When I got closer, I couldn’t believe it; a White-crested Coquette.’
Many of us have had hummingbirds fly into the house. It can be a challenge to safely rescue these smallest of all birds before they smash into a window or simply succumb to exhaustion. But Cecilia, with her many years as a Master Bird Bander, knew what to do.
‘I waited until the Coquette was on the floor, then I gently grabbed it up using the bird banders’ grip*. I could see the poor thing panting with its beak open looking greatly fatigued.’
Holding the bird securely with her right hand, ‘Dr.’ Sansonetti then somehow managed to mix up just the right prescription, one designed to recharge her weary patient…a bit of sugar water.
Hummingbirds, as you know, have an astoundingly fast metabolism and must take in calories regularly–or starve.
‘This hummingbird first happily took in some regular water…drinking and drinking like a crazy guy. Then he took in a bit of sugar water I held out to him from a spoon. After that he looked much cooler so I put him in a shady spot outside. And guess what?’
‘What?’
‘The female Coquette was waiting for him up in a tree and the two of them flew off together. It’s so good to know the White-crested Coquettes are nesting near me.‘
Sometime in the next few weeks, we’ll post an article with tips on what to do if a bird does fly into your house or into a window. And we will show you how to use the *bird bander’s grip*.
White-crested Coquette on the floor. Photos courtesy of Cecelia Sansonetti
I’m no genius but I can read the writing on the website wall; and that writing tells me that our ‘Bird Joke’ feature is laying a big egg…and that’s no joke.
Ergo, this posting of Bird Joke #5 (and Bonus Joke) will be the last one. Hopefully, someone from our crack editorial staff will come up with a new feature; a feature more enthusiastically received by you, our SVBC readers.
Here’s Bird Joke #5, from SVBC member David Fielding:
A guy is out hunting and sees a hawk flying high above him, so he shoots it. As he’s retrieving the dead bird a game warden happens by and arrests him for killing a federally protected bird of prey.
Later, at the courtroom, the man tells the judge he’s been out of work for many months and only shot the hawk because he hadn’t eaten in days. The judge decides to let him off with 6 months probation.
As the guy is leaving the judge says, “Hey, what does hawk taste like anyway?”
The guy says, “It’s very similar in texture to Osprey but the taste is more like Bald Eagle.”
And now our Bonus Joke, from SVBC member Nancy Nelson:
There were many dead crows on highways in the Rocky Mountains this year. Ornithologists suspected it was due to vehicles hitting the crows.
This was surprising because crows have adapted to feeding on carcasses by having two birds watch from the trees while two other birds feed. If there is a vehicle coming, the two crows will shout out so the other birds can fly away.
After analyzing the accidents, it was found that 80% of crows were killed by trucks but only 20% were killed by cars.
Turns out crows are really good at yelling “caw caw caw” and not good at yelling “truck truck truck.”
Two Turkey Vultures were preparing to migrate north for the summer but, after talking about it, they decided they were too old to fly all that way. So they decided to take a plane.
When they were about to board the aircraft, the flight attendant, noticing that both buzzards were carrying a dead armadillo, asked, “Would you like to check those armadillos through as luggage?”
“No thanks,” the buzzards replied, “they’re carrion.”
San Vito Bird Club 
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