Tropical Mockingbird, Julie Girard’s ace of trump. (Photo by Julie Girard)
Don’t forget to send us your Birdfeeder List for the Big Birdfeeder Competition by the end of this month — December 31, 2013. We’ll have a nice prize waiting for you at the SVBC Annual Meeting in February!
So far, we have three ‘official’ entries and two ‘unofficial’ entries so please send us your completed list TODAY!
You have only SIX days left to submit your list to us at: sanvitobirdclub@gmail.com
We invite you to visit our two new website pages: “Education” and “Detectives de Pajaros Videos”.
The Education page–click here–is where you will find an up-to-date summary of our collaboration with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology Education Program “BirdSleuth-International” or, in Latin America, “Detectives de Pajaros”. We hope it will pique your interest and galvanize you to get involved by visiting a class, donating materials, or sponsoring the program in a local school.
And we hope you will have fun visiting the “Detectives de Pajaros Videos” page–here— where you can watch parts of the program in action. We have written a brief summary of each lesson to introduce the accompanying video. Special thanks are extended to member Andrew England who donated his time and talents creating all the videos.
Note that you can always get to the Education page and its sub-page, “Detectives de Pajaros Videos”, by clicking on the “Education” tab on the navigation bar under the banner photo of any page or simply by clicking on the “Detectives de Pajaros” logo (illustrated above) in the right-hand column of the home page.
Contact us by clicking here to provide your always-welcome feedback!
From now until December 31, we’re having a Big Birdfeeder Competition: count all the species of birds visiting your feeder between now and then and send us your list by clicking here.
The rules are simple! You can count any species you are able to identify with certainty that lands on your feeder or on the ground under the feeder provided it is eating fallen scraps and not insects or something else. In the interests of fairness, the birding experts of the Club will review the final lists and remove species they feel have been mis-identified based on their knowledge of the birds of our area.
Just to get your competitive juices flowing here’s the current score, as of this post: Finca Cantaros is in the lead with 22 species, Pat Morgan claims second place with 21 and our own Finca Corteza is in third place with 15.
But, we have a month and a half to go so put on your binos, grab a pencil and paper, take out your field guide and get to work!
Please submit your completed entry by midnight on December 31st via email by clicking here. The winner will be announced by January 7, 2014. A prize (or prizes in case of a tie) will be awarded at the Annual Meeting in February 2014.
A guest “Viewpoint” written by Greg Homer, a birder’s birder who has led many trips to Costa Rica over the years. Greg and his wife Helen are our newest members. . . . .
It’s possible — even probable — that in the entire history of the world no non-birder has ever uttered the phrase “Ooh look, a Thrushlike Schiffornis!”. But this wonderful creature, described by field guide author Richard Garrigues as “. . . a non-descript olive-brown bird . . . ” and somewhat more generously by the great Alexander Skutch as ” . . . not brightly colored”, is most definitely a joy to behold when seen by a birder.
Greg Homer, on deck at his new digs near the Wilson Botanical Garden.
Toucans, motmots, most parrots and many tanagers fall into a category of birds often referred to as Charismatic Avifauna (C.A.). These birds are so colorful and/or charming that both birders and non-birders alike stop what they’re doing to give them a look. It’s extremely easy to love a Bay-headed Tanager or Fiery-billed Aracari.
But the Thrushlike Schiffornis most certainly does NOT fall into the C.A. category. Not only is the Thrushlike Schiffornis non-descript and not brightly colored, it does not live a particularly exciting or charismatic lifestyle (at least not to all of us non-Thrushlike Schiffornises). The terms ‘sluggish’ and ‘secretive’ and ‘solitary’ are often used to describe its behavior. The song of the Thrushlike Schiffornis is unlikely to ever become a Top 10 ringtone. And, on top of all that, there is the name — to me, ‘Thrushlike Schiffornis’ sounds more like a medical diagnosis than a bird.
“Mrs. Hartoonian, we have the results back on that culture we did on your eye. You have thrushlike schiffornis.”
“Is that bad?”
“Well, it isn’t good; but these days it is treatable with antibiotics.”
And get this. . . in my copy of A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica by F. Gary Stiles and Alexander Skutch (first edition 1989), the Thrushlike Schiffornis isn’t even called a Thrushlike Schiffornis. Back then it was listed as a “Thrushlike Manakin . . . which may possibly be a Thrushlike Mourner.”
When I was a kid back in the citrus belt of California, family, friends and neighbors used to look at me, smile and then tell my parents, “Well, there’s a face only a mother could love.” And so it goes for the Thrushlike Schiffornis — a bird only a birder could love.
The Bird Walk scheduled for last Saturday, Nov. 2, was rained out — the first time this has happened since we began leading regular bird walks years ago. With all the rain we get annually in San Vito, it’s surprising this doesn’t happen more often!
Raining, pouring and heading your way. (Photo by Michael Olivieri.)
We will reschedule for this coming Saturday, Nov. 9 and hope for better luck.
In the meantime, it might be fun to start listing the species that are visiting your bird feeders. Migratory species that spend the spring and summer in North America are back. Species like Baltimore Orioles, Summer Tanagers and Tennessee Warblers all readily come to fruit feeders so you should be seeing them regularly now.
Spending a few minutes each morning jotting down the birds on your bananas will sharpen your ID skills and, if we start a little competition, might encourage getting more feeders into action.
Here’s my list from the weekend, a total of 15 species including 7 tanagers (Blue-Gray, Golden-hooded, Silver-throated, Cherrie’s, Summer, Speckled and Palm), 2 toucans (Fiery-billed Aracari, Emerald Toucanet), 1 saltator (Buff-throated), 1 euphonia (Thick-billed), 1 honeycreeper (Green), 1 woodpecker (Red-crowned), 1 thrush (Clay-colored), and Blue-crowned Motmot,
We’ll be waiting for your list, so send it along by clicking here to contact us!
We were happily overrun with students from the CaRob Instituto de Ingles in San Vito on a recent Bird Walk at Finca Cantaros, a change in venue from our regular twice-monthly outings at the Wilson Botanical Garden.
Lush trails at Finca Cantaros. Photo by Barb Keeler-Barton.
Alma Dionisi, one of the Instituto’s English teachers, brought her class of 10 via minibus for a two-hour bird walk followed by an English language practice session. Wendy Russell Bernstein, Barb Keeler-Barton, Roni Chernin, Caroline Torres, Susan England and Judith and Joe Ippolito were all on hand to help out – both with bird spotting and practicing conversational English.
The idea for this walk came from Wilkin, one of Alma’s students. Wilkin is a passionate birder, a friend of SVBC Member Cecilia Sansonetti’s and has birded with us several times in the past. Unfortunately he cannot attend more of our walks at the moment because his Saturday mornings are occupied with learning English!
Chatting in English in the Rancho Grande. Photo by Barb Keeler-Barton.
It was a large group but we nonetheless managed to see 28 species of birds including one neotropical migrant, a Black-and-white Warbler, sighted by Susan England. Thanks to Alma for organizing this fun morning and also to our loyal volunteer helpers.
On a recent Bird Walk at the Wilson Botanical Garden, our group of 10 climbed the Canopy Tower to look for returning migrants. Although we did not see any of those, we did see two Masked Tityras, spotted by Caroline Torres.
Masked Tityra (Photo by Mark W. Eaton)
I’m not sure why but these birds always give me a jolt of surprise. Maybe it’s the incredible white plumage or perhaps it’s the bright pink orbital skin around the eye and face? Being close to them in the canopy was a thrill as their size is often diminished when they’re seen – typically high in the trees — from the ground. Here, on the Tower, we had the chance to view them at slightly lower than eye level, allowing us to experience them as striking-looking, big, white flycatchers.
When the Tower was inaugurated in May 2011 (click here to read more about this event), we decided to keep a list of all species seen and/or heard in the immediate vicinity. On our recent visit we added add two new ones to the Canopy Tower Bird List: Laughing Falcon (heard not seen) and Spot-crowned Euphonia.
Laughing Falcon (Photo by Alison Olivieri)
The falcon’s resonant, slightly eerie call is described by F. Gary Stiles and Alexander F. Skutch in A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica, as “. . . . a long, rhythmic series of loud, hollow notes with somewhat the quality of a child’s shout.” The local name of this raptor, Guaco, is synchronous with its call so once you learn and hear it, you can be certain it’s a Laughing Falcon. It is well known that this bird of prey’s favorite food item is any kind of snake so they are cherished by local people and those of us who wish they would visit often and eat their fill.
Our female Spot-crowned Euphonia perched quite close to the Tower, affording some of the group excellent looks at her distinctive field marks of rufous forecrown and belly. Identifying this species is easy if you are prepared to do a little work with your field guide. The males are the only euphonia with yellow spots on the crown patch but, if you are looking from below, it is often easier to identify the female. This is a puzzle where the range maps in the Garrigues and Dean field guide (The Birds of Costa Rica) really come in handy. You’ll quickly see another species with similar markings on the female, Olive-backed Euphonia, but a glance at the map will tell you the Olive-backed is found on the Caribbean side and Spot-crowned is the bird you see here.
To date we have 67 species on this list and 10 birders have contributed sightings. If you are curious and would like a copy, don’t hesitate to contact us. Likewise, please let us know if you see or hear a species we are missing.
Thanks to Caroline Torres, Roni Chernin, Jeff Wick, Barb Barton, Judith and Joe Ippolito, Donna and Tony Pagano and their surrogate grandson Rolando for joining us on this walk.
Rock Art rocks!
A big THANK YOU to all the SVBC volunteers who helped organize and implement all the children’s activities during the recent Festival Eco-Cultural at OTS Las Cruces Biological Station/Wilson Botanical Garden.
Rock Art with Wendy Bernstein and Face Painting by Kata Ulaenars, Barbara Barton, Pat Morgan and Liz Allen are always popular at this annual event and we try to introduce new crafts and other activities each year.
Lantern finished!
This year Roni Chernin led a craft table transforming recycled material into flower vases and Kelley Rasch and her neighbor Rosemari helped kids make gaily decorated lanterns.
Held in June during Environmental Awareness Week, Las Cruces is transformed into a hubbub of activities including musical events, videos, guided walks, local food, crafts, artwork, demonstrations, plant and seed exchanges and more. Traditionally, members of the SVBC have volunteered to run the children’s programs for both days of this much-anticipated celebration.
Please enjoy these pictures by Alison Olivieri from a two-day “photo op” and plan to join us next year!
Beautiful painted faces.
Below is a report of this year’s Festival, in Spanish only, by Ariadna Sanchez, Environmental Education Coordinator at Las Cruces.
Para leer el articulo “El ciclo de la vida comienza de nuevo!” en espanol, por favor, haga CLIQUE AQUI!
Two Rufous-tailed Hummingbird nestlings. Photo by Alison Olivieri.
The windows on the side of our car next to the garden are covered with black plastic and both of the side-view mirrors sport jauntily-angled BM shopping bags: this is our standard car ‘look’ for April and May. In the morning, from about 10 to noon, if we removed these defenses, the car will be splattered with bird excrement almost immediately. It is under attack by a Silver-throated Tanager AND a Clay-colored Thrush, both of which are laboring under the same mistaken conviction that their reflections in the windows and the mirror are rival males muscling into valuable nesting territories.
Spot-crowned Euphonia female. Photo by Caroline Torres.
At this time of year, nearly all our resident birds are courting, staking out fruitful patches of habitat, building nests, laying eggs and feeding young. During the Club’s bird walk last week at the Wilson Botanical Garden, we found paired up Gray-capped Flycatchers, a Common Tody-Flycatcher nest and a Spot-crowned Euphonia nest inside of which we could see two huge, gaping bills attached to two tiny nestlings. An extra bonus for us: we got to watch both parents feeding the chicks!
At home over coffee, we watched a family of four Rufous-breasted Wrens working the trees close to the house and later, walking the dog, we saw Tropical Kingbirds feeding fledglings on the electric wires along the road.
Clay-colored Thrush nestlings at 11 days old. Photo by Alison Olivieri.
Birds try to be as inconspicuous as possible during the breeding season. Understandably, they don’t want you or other predators to see them or find their nests. So, when people tell us they see fewer birds in their yards or on their feeders in April and May, we say, “Good! Their strategies are working!”
And there is another reason for this noticeable drop in casual bird sightings: the migrant species are leaving, heading north to breed in North America where they face fewer predators and can (hopefully) find more food and more space to claim. Three common ‘feeder birds’ you will NOT see now are Baltimore Oriole, Tennessee Warbler and Summer Tanager.
Female White-winged Becard carrying nesting material at Finca Cantaros. Photo by Harry Hull.
Thrushes, flycatchers, warblers, orioles and tanagers are included in the neotropical migrant group that leaves the tropics around April and returns, after breeding in the north, in October and November. About 25% of Costa Rica’s bird species fall into this category. To provide a local perspective, we have 21 species of warblers that can be seen in or near San Vito with relatively little effort but only six are year-around residents.
At the same time, you will hear us exclaim over migrant species from the south that come here at this time of year to breed in Costa Rica. These include the lovely and ubiquitous Swallow-tailed Kites, nest-stealing Piratic Flycatchers and cheerful Yellow-green Vireos.
Piratic Flycatcher, an austral migrant. Photo by Harry Hull.
So even though some birds have temporarily left, with a little effort you can still spot the remaining ones that are deliberately hiding and observe their fascinating breeding behaviors. We say, “Get up and go outside with your binoculars”! You’ll never see any of this if you’re inside watching television (or reading this on your computer) but outside birds are putting on an incredible show and you really don’t want to miss it!
Las ventanas y espejos retrovisores al lado de nuestro auto junto al jardín están cubiertas con plástico negro: este es el ‘look’ estándar de nuestro auto para los meses de Abril y Mayo. En la mañana, hasta alrededor de la 10 am, si removemos estas defensas, el auto terminaría salpicado con excremento de aves casi inmediatamente. Nuestro auto está bajo el ataque de un Silver-throated Tanager y un Clay-colored Thrush, ambos de los cuales están empecinados y con plena convicción que su reflejo pertenece a un rival de su misma especie intentando tomar su valuable territorio para reproducción.
Common Tody-Flycatcher at its nest. Photo by Harry Hull.
En estos momentos del año, la mayoría de todas nuestras aves residentes están en pleno cortejo, y territorializando los pequeños parches de árboles frutales, construyendo nidos, poniendo sus huevos y alimentando la siguiente generación. Durante la caminata del club de la semana pasada en el Jardin Botanico Wilson, encontramos una pareja de Graycapped Flycatchers, un nido de Common Tody-Flycatcher y Spot-crowned Euphonia donde pudimos observar con asombro dos picos gigantescos junto a dos minúsculos acurrucados en el nido. Como un bono extra para nosotros pudimos observar a ambos padres alimentando a los pichones.
En casa con una buena taza de café, pudimos observar una familia de Rufous-breasted Wrens trabajando en unos árboles cercanos a nuestra casa, luego cuando paseábamos el perro, pudimos observar Tropical Kingbirds alimentando a sus polluelos en uno de los cables eléctricos que sortean el camino.
Las aves tratan de ser tan poco conspicuas como les es posible durante la estación de crianza. Entendiblemente, ellos no quieren que otros predadores los vean en sus respectivos nidos. Así que cuando la gente nos comenta que ven menos aves en los comederos de su patios o jardines entre Abril y Mayo, nosotros decimos “Bien! Sus estrategias funcionan!’’
Clay-colored Thrush nestlings. Photo by Alison Olivieri.
Además hay otra razón por la cual el detrimento muy notable de avistamientos casuales de aves: las especies migrantes están dejando el país, desplazándose al Norte para reproducirse en Norte América donde encontraran menos predadores y donde (afortunadamente) encontraran más fuentes de alimento y espacio donde puedan establecerse. Tres aves comúnmente encontradas en los comederos NO los veras más como es el Baltimore Oriole, Tennessee Warbler and Summer Tanager.
Thrushes, flycatchers, warblers, orioles and tanagers estan incluidos como los grupos de migrantes neotropicales que dejan los trópicos alrededor de Abril y regresan después de reproducirse en Norte America, en Octubre y Noviembre . Acerca de un 25% de las especies de aves de Costa Rica coinciden en esta categoría. Para proveer una perspectiva local, tenemos 21 especies de reinitas que pueden ser vistas alrededor de San Vito con un esfuerzo relativamente bajo, pero solo 6 de ellas son residentes anuales (se quedan todo el año).
A la vez, nos escucharan muy entusiasmados cuando se puedan observar especies migrantes del Sur que vienen a nuestro país en esta época del año a reproducirse en Costa Rica. Estas incluyen las adorables y omnipresentes Gavilán tijereta, roba nidos o Piratic Flycatchers asi como los joviales Yellow-green Vireos.
Golden-hooded Tanager at Finca Cantaros. Photo by Harry Hull.
Aun así dado que algunas especies de aves nos dejan temporalmente, con un pequeño esfuerzo podemos observar a las que se quedan deliberadamente a escondidas en su época de reproducción y más aun pudiendo apreciar su comportamiento reproductivo. Nosotros decimos ‘’Levántense y vayan afuera con sus binoculars!’’ Nunca verán esto si están adentro viendo la televisión (o leyendo sobre el tema en su computadora) dado que fuera las aves están poniendo un show increíble que definitivamente no te quieres perder!
San Vito Bird Club 
You must be logged in to post a comment.