Well, well, it has been some time since we have put up a Quiz Bird for you!
It is hard to resist this one as it is: 1) too far away, 2) unlikely positioning and 3) a terrible view. Nonetheless, please send your guesses to: alison.w.olivieri@gmail.com — you might win something!
Here’s a hint: these birds were found on the grounds of the Colegio CTP Umberto Melloni in San Vito about two weeks ago.
Watch this spot for a Bird Walk announcement later this week. It will be Sunday morning, as usual, and we hope to see you there.
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!
Here’s your next challenge; Bird Jumble #2. Again, rearrange the letters below to make the name of bird that can be found within an hour or two from San Vito.
Following those jumbled letters, the parenthesis lets you know how many words there are in the solved puzzle.
Cabin fever getting to you? Tired of counting the flowers on the wallpaper?
The San Vito Bird Club is here for you with a fun new, new, new contest!
We call it ‘MIXED UP BIRDS’.
Below you will see ten birds that are found around here…but the letters have been all mixed up. Your job is to rearrange the letters into the correct bird name.
Example:
erased tee = Seedeater
Some may be quite easy, others not so much. As a tie-breaker, an eleventh bird is included at the bottom This one could be much harder (hint: it is two words). Good luck!
The Costa Rican Brush Finch (Arremon costaricensis) is primarily a secretive ground dwelling or dense understory bird. Similar Coto Brus birds: Black-stripped Sparrow, Orange-billed Sparrow.
What visual clues did our Quiz Bird photo offer to ensure a proper ID?
All white throat.
Thick black mask (only partially seen in quiz photo).
Greenish back.
Thank you all for participating. Complete photo of the Costa Rican Brush Finch shown below; courtesy of Gail-Hewson Hull.
San Vito Bird Club 
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