(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)

We have exciting news to share with all our members from last Sunday’s Annual Meeting 2023. A unanimous vote cast by attending members forged a strategic alliance with the Finca Cantaros Environmental Association (FCEA) to present the ongoing Detectives de Aves education course in local schools.

It is a happy and natural fit. The sole mission of the FCEA is environmental education and, as you will see in the video below, they are coming at it in many different and innovative ways.

Your restricted gifts over the years to support this effort will be — as always — channelled directly to teachers, transportation and supplies.

Meanwhile, the San Vito Bird Club will remain involved and work closely with the team at FCEA. Please contact us if you have any questions or comments; we always want to hear from you.

Here is a message from Dr. Lilly Briggs, the Director of the Finca Cántaros Environmental Association:

Finca Cántaros Environmental Association (FCEA) considers the San Vito Bird Club (SVBC) one of its most important allies, and we are grateful for all the ways that SVBC members have supported our work. Learn more about how FCEA got started thanks to connections through the Club in the following video, and about how we are fulfilling our environmental education goals through the themes of forest restoration and birds.

HERE is a link to the video!

We are very excited about the positive changes that this collaboration will bring to the Cantón of Coto Brus, and to all of us as well who have had the pleasure and honor to work together to build a better community.

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.

From SVBC executive officer Lydia Vogt.

We are finally getting into some chilly weather here in Southern California,
and even a bit of rain- a lovely respite from our ongoing drought, but very
modest compared to the torrents those of you in Costa Rica are
experiencing this month. One of my favorite resident birds doesn’t seem
to mind the rain at all- the California Quail. Our resident covey seems to
have had a mast year, and Big Daddy now is supervising over 20 females
and juveniles, as they dart from shadow to shadow, running along the
ground as if they were rolling on a tiny wheel. Their behavior is unique and
as identifiable as the male’s adorable black topknot.

But the young, as in many species (including our own,) are impatient and
brash, and yesterday a beautiful young fellow, frightened by something
unknown, flew from across the driveway at warp speed and hit a sliding
glass door on my patio. Even though the screen door was in front of it, it
was a fatal strike. He was just too impulsive. I picked up the warm, limp
body, and he briefly struggled, then collapsed in my grasp, sending an
explosion of lovely, soft, breast feathers all over. His head lolled, the tiny,
hooked beak opening a closing a few times, then grew still. A little later as
darkness fell, the Chief called to his group from an unseen low perch. It’s
a wonderful, unique 3-syllable call, chi-CA-go, very high-pitched on the
2nd syllable, and is used to call the family together. Sadly, although he
made numerous calls, tonight there was one family member absent.

To hear the iconic call, follow the link below, click the green ‘Listen’ button, then select the 2nd option.

https://ebird.org/species/calqua