(from SVBC members and supporters, David and Audrey Fielding)

So, we were birding in the town of San Sebastian in the mountains just east of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, hoping to see Green Jays. It was morning and the birds were using the tree foliage off our porch as a highway to local fruit trees. Suddenly, we heard a cacophony of birdcall headed our way. The calls varied: harsh, tuneful, peeping, squeaky, mockingbird-like. And then, there they were! Green Jays, deep green, blue, yellow and black, hopping here and there. The same thing happened two or three more times, mainly in the mornings—first, the peeps and squeaks, melodic and just a bit mournful. And then the gang of Green Jays! We learned to listen for the morning concert, then run out to the porch to catch the Green Jay parade. We felt pretty smug about our ability to ID the Green Jay by its song.

. . . One morning, however, a brown bird we didn’t know perched directly in front of us on a branch and began singing the exact same song! Merlin helped us identify it—a Brown-backed Solitaire, famous for its song. So THAT was what we had been hearing—not the Green Jays after all, but the contrapuntal symphony of tinkling glass falling in minor chords of the Brown-backed Solitaire!. Who knew!!!

Green Jay and Brown-backed Solitaire photos, courtesy of David and Audrey Fielding)

From Randall Jimenez.

This hybrid has been visiting us since 2018 at Zoncho Lagoon in Finca Cántaros, it is evident how year after year it chooses our lagoon, this is beautiful because the conservation efforts we make help to conserve its migration site. I like to think that after flying thousands of kilometers our cute duck says “hogar dulce hogar”

Blue/Green Wing Teal hybrid: Photo courtesy of Randall Jimenez.

Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 7:00 pm at the Reception Classroom at Las Cruces Biological Station, 7:00 pm

The Glory of Biodiversity in the Tropics

Speaker:  Gail Hewson Hull 

Ms. Hull will show photos of birds and other creatures on 17 acres of land she owned between 1994 and 2019 in Linda Vista de San Vito, Coto Brus County. The presentation will focus on how quickly complex life can return to land degraded by cattle and coffee farming using reforestation and understory restoration with native species.

The San Vito Playhouse (not affiliated with the San Vito Bird Club) cordially invites you to attend our very first performance.

We hope you can join us!

San Vito Playhouse

Ask most anyone to give an example of a symbiotic relationship between birds and mammals and they’ll probably mention, cattle and Cattle Egrets. One rarely sees a field of cattle without seeing some Cattle Egrets opportunistically feeding on the insects and other inverts that are stirred up in the weeds by the browsing bovines.

There’s another and very similar relationship in Costa Rica as well; monkeys and Double-toothed Kites. Similar deal…but it takes place up in the forest canopy.

Here in California, my wife Helen and I discovered another and similar bird/mammal symbiotic relationship; River Otters and Great Blue Herons.

Recently, we watched a family of River Otters doing their otter-thing in a rice field irrigation canal…gracefully chasing fish, frogs and crayfish (which we call ‘crawdads’). Twice now we’ve observed a Great Blue Heron cautiously following the otters down the canal. The heron was obviously picking up prey that somehow escaped the otters.

We also noticed that the heron would never got too close to the otters. Otters, as you know, can be fierce, alpha, wetland predators and Great Blue Heron probably tastes pretty good. People often describe otter behavior as ‘playful’. SHUH…it may look playful but it’s deadly serious.

Photos courtesy of Helen LeVasseur.

From SVBC charter member Judy Richardson.

I planted the Chokecherries out front when I first moved in five years ago. They have tiny white flowers in Spring,  lovely red foliage in Fall, followed by the last red berries that feed the birds in winter.

I’ve been trying to keep the deer from eating them with not much luck, but they are tall enough to have berries at the top! Why is this a tiny moment?

Because finally I won my reward!
Yesterday I had two Eastern Bluebirds come and snack; and today I watched a Northern Mockingbird eat six berries!! He was there for a half hour before he could take off!!

Photo courtesy of Judy Richardson.

Like most people who drive I only go into my local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office once, every five years, to renew my driver’s license. I just got back.

This visit was a very disappointing experience; very disappointing.

There was no waiting in a long line with a bunch of other grumbling customers. No screaming kids. The whole driver’s license renewal process only took about 15 minutes. The guy behind the DMV counter was very nice and efficient; even funny a couple of times. No novice drivers ran me down in the parking lot, taking their driver’s test.

I’m disappointed because this DMV visit generated no whimsical anecdotes for me to share! NONE! Maybe my next visit in five years will; hope so.

Oh, just make this piece qualify as a ‘Tiny Moment’; there were no birds inside the DMV but I did see a few finches out in the parking lot.