Please join us for a Nature/Bird Walk this weekend at the beautiful Wilson Botanical Garden (also known as ‘Las Cruces’). We will meet at 7:00 am at the Reception Center and, as always, we’ll have binoculars to lend and a guide to lead.
The walk usually takes about an hour; after that we have a sociable Coffee Hour in the dining room. If you feel expansive, bring a few colones to leave for the kitchen ladies who have to wash our cups and saucers.
Common Tody-Flycatcher, photographer unknown.
It’s a fun way to spend the morning! We look forward to seeing you there!
Just a reminder, as promised, to join us tomorrow, Sunday, June 16 at 7:00 am at the Reception Building at OTS/Las Cruces/Wilson Botanical Garden.
If it is raining, we will wait a bit and if it looks promising, we’ll venture out. Birds pop out too, after the rain, to look for food — enhancing our chances of seeing them.
All San Vito Bird Club Bird Walks are free and open to the public. As usual, we will have binoculars to lend. The Walk is followed by a coffee social hour in the dining room.
At the Annual Dia de Las Puertas Abiertas last Sunday at OTS Las Cruces, the SVBC Bake Sale was a grand success — we surpassed last year’s revenue by 25% thanks to the efforts of these industrious and generous people:
Tina Esquer Christopher
Caroljo Papac
Roni Chernin
Molly Rae
Joe Ippolito
Peter Wendell
Alison Olivieri
If we didn’t run bi-monthly Bird Walks at Las Cruces and occasional forays to local ‘birdy’ spots, we might be tempted to rename the group “San Vito Bakers’ Club”. But we will stick with our walks for now and are happy to welcome any newcomers with binoculars and bonhomie.
Speaking of which, the next walk will be Sunday, June 16. Please join us at 7:00 am at the Las Cruces Reception Building. We will walk through the Wilson Botanic Garden looking for birds and will happily help you find them. The walks are always free and open to the public. One of the guides, Peter Wendell, is fluent in Spanish so if that concerns you don’t give it another thought!
It’s a lttle early to tout the Sunday Walk so we will post a brief remnder later this week. We just couldn’t wait to thank our bakers for the cakes, cookies and breads.
Following in Co-President Greg Homer’s footsteps, we had three opportunities for members to show off their bird expertise at the recent Annual Meeting and I think we were all pleasantly surprised. All members were invited to participate in the Cornell eBird annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). The GBBC was one of the first online projects to collect information on wild birds and was also instrumental in the creation of eBird back in 2002. Our local winner was Anna Bilberry with 68 species!
Anna and her adorable dog, photo by Lydia Vogt
At the meeting, attendees participated in two challenging bird games: the Bird Call Contest required sharp hearing and quick recall as the vocalizations of 14 local birds were played, and answes had to be written down.
The second game of Bird Trivia required mostly general bird knowledge (members were warned before the meeting to bone-up on eBird facts), and ten questions separated the casual contestants from the eager.
In both of these games our members did very well, and Anna was again at the top, with Nancy Warshawer only a point behind! But one fairly new member exceeded the score of everyone — Rodney Briggs, of the Finca Cantaros Environmental Association (and Lilly’s dad). He has obviously spent the last two years doing more than planting trees.
Missing only one bird call (the tough Rufous-breasted Wren), he had a total on both games of 21 points.
Rodney Briggs, photo by Alison Olivieri
Congratulations to all the members who gave it a try — and especially to Anna and Rodney!
Over the years the San Vito Bird Club has held its Annual Meeting in several different locations, including the beautiful Las Cruces Research Station.
Chef Jairo Alemán and family were thrilled to have us return for our 20th anniversary to his restaurant at Cascata del Bosco.
Cascata has hosted many SVBC meetings over the past 20 years — and they really excelled this year. Jairo and Ligia made delicious Huevos Rancheros, while the whole family prepared accompaniments.
We had a great time Sunday, February 25 at Cascata Del Bosco and wish you could have been there. This year we had two themes: Celebrating 20 Years of Birding in San Vito and the incomparable Resplendent Quetzal.
Our three main speakers — Dr. Lilly Briggs, Alan Poole and Henry Barrantes — were excellent. So that you don’t miss a thing, their talks will be summarized in forthcoming posts.
For now, we begin with a short history outlining our three major achievements. (Eventually, we will add a ‘page’ to this website citing the Club’s accomplishments, small and large.)
In 2004, we began a 10-year Avian Monitoring Study with Principal Investigator Dr. Steve Latta of the National Aviary and Judy Richardson, Master Bander from the Connecticut Audubon Society. The core group included Julie Girard Woolley, Cecilia Sansonetti, Lydia Vogt, Kate Allen Desvenain, Daniel Martinez, Juan Pablo ‘Chespi’ Elizondo and many other local and international volunteers. It was a lot of work and resulted in a published paper and an article in the bulletin of the Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica.
In 2011, we cut the ribbon on a Canopy Tower that had taken three years of fundraising to complete. We’re happy to report it is still standing — at the Organization for Tropical Studies Las Cruces Biological Research Station — and attracting visitors from all over the world.
Finally, in 2012-13, we began presenting an environmental education program from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, ‘Detectives de Aves’ (in English: BirdSleuth International), in local elementary schools. This program continues to this day and much more about that will be forthcoming in another post.
From left to right, 20 years ago, Alison Olivieri, Terrie Moss (formerly of Linda Vista, now of St. Louis, MO), Daniel Martinez (former Biologist at Las Cruces, now of the Ornithological Council of Costa Rica) and Julie Girard Woolley (who needs no introduction).
Please join us on Sunday, February 18 at the OTS Las Cruces reception building at 7 am for a Bird Walk lasting about an hour. We will have binoculars to share and guides to help with bird IDs. After the walk, we’ll have a social coffee in the Las Cruces dining room.
Reminder: to qualify for the Bird List Competition at our forthcoming Annual Meeting (on Sunday, February 25 at Cascatas del Bosco, starting at 8:00 am), you must send your list of all birds seen or heard from Feb. 14-16 to Julie Girard Woolley @ julgirar@gmail.com. Hopefully tonight, you will hear an owl or a potoo!
See you Sunday! Please bring friends and family; the Walk is free and open to the public.
Fiery-billed Aracari: we will see one or hear one (with any luck at all).
As promised, we have further information about the upcoming Celebratory Annual Meeting 2024!
Traditionally, we’ve had a lively contest among members as to whose bird feeder hosted the most species. Now that feeding wildlife is prohibited by law in Costa Rica (hip hip hooray!), we have a new race to the top for you.
Following in the footsteps of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Big Backyard Count, please add up all the bird species you see or hear from Feb. 14-16 in your home territory. International Members* are invited to participate but no going far afield! Stay home! Count your birds! (We will know if you locals rush off to Guanacaste.)
Please email your list to Julie Girard: julgirar@gmail.com by Feb. 24. That is plenty of time as the cut-off date is Feb. 16. This contest starts tomorrow — Valentine’s Day — so get cracking. Our Secretary-Treasurer Lydia Vogt has a nice prize in mind for you with the longest list!
PS Gray-headed Chachalacas count…….
We also know where this one lives…………..
*If you are competing from afar, please tell Julie where you live when you submit your list. If you win, we’ll need your address to mail the prize.
Please join us for a Bird Walk at the beautiful Wilson Botanical Garden this Sunday! We will meet at the Reception Building at 7:00 am and have binoculars to share and guides to lead us.
Why come? To spend a tranquil free hour, walking leisurely through the plant collections, all the while looking for colorful and fascinating local birds. If you are a Spanish speaker, you can practise your English at the coffee hour that follows the Walk. If you are an English speaker, you can learn some new words in Spanish!
Please bring a small donation for the ladies who make the coffe and wash the cups.
All our Bird Walks are free and open to the public; hope to see you there!
This is a Yellow-throated Toucan, the largest species of the Costa Rican toucan group. They are often seen on our walks and can be heard calling for a very long distance.
Please join us for a Bird Walk at the Wilson Botanical Garden (aka the OTS Las Cruces Biological Station) this Sunday, November 5, at 7:00 am.
We will meet at the Reception Building and have binoculars and field guides to share. As always, the Walk is free and open to the public so bring your friends and neighbors!
We will walk for about an hour after which we will have coffee in the dining room.
Maybe we will see a Common Tody-Flycatcher!
Northern Waterthrush: a migrant to watch for! Photo by Gail Hull
Or one of these tail-bobbing migrants………….you never know!
San Vito Bird Club 
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