We had a lovely day for the meeting! It was wonderful to see so many people come out in support of the San Vito Bird Club and to simply enjoy each other’s company.

After Alison Olivieri, one of our founding members and President Emeritus, presented her fascinating and humbling account of the 20 history of the Club to a very attentive audience, as can be see above, I proceeded to put them all back to sleep with some off-the-cuff ramblings before getting down to what I was supposed to talk about — Club Business.

Although we have stopped directly administering the Detectives de Aves program, we are very involved in the community. Last year we provided financial and logistical support to:

• The Wilson Botanical Gardens for their Open House during which we had the chance to promote birding and Detectives de Aves to our neighbors while chatting and doing all of the important and irreplaceable “work” of getting to know people in person.
• The Finca Cántaros Environmental Association for the Migratory Birds Festival. For the third year in a row we provided financial support for the young people’s Drawing Contest.There were over 60 entries from all over the country. Yours truly was also one of the judges — much to the chagrin of the other judges.
• The Christmas Bird Count. The San Vito Bird Club, OTS, The rural tourism cooperative, TURIBRUS, and the Finca Cántaros Environmental Association joined efforts once again to sponsor, promote and organize the official Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count. We had 50 birders participating from all over the country and abroad. After only 3 years this count has become one of the most successful in the country and we have plans to expand it to include even more micro-climates in the area. Coto Brus really is a birder’s paradise. They will soon be beating down our doors to participate in the count. Seriously.
• I have been involved as a representative of the Club with TURIBRUS which is on the verge of opening up the Pittier entrance to the Amistad International Park to legal tourism. This is very important for us since birds are one of the main attractions there, and legal, responsible and sustainable tourism one of the ways to protect them while bringing much needed income to the area. The Club will have a role in helping to promote and improve these efforts.
• And of course we held LOTS of free bird walks!!

Well that was more than I said at the meeting, so you all reading this now know more than those who came to the meeting about what we’ve been doing. That’ll teach me to go off-script!

With your continuing support, effort and friendship we can have another wonderful 20 years. I hope I am here, meaning still alive, to see the 40th anniversary of the San Vito Bird Club and I hope you are too!

We will be holding the Annual Meeting of the San Vito Bird Club on Sunday, February 25th at the Cascatas del Bosque. This year is a celebration to mark the 20th anniversary of the Club! To celebrate this landmark the food and coffee will be free for everyone! More details about the meeting will be forthcoming. We have also simplified our dues. There is now only one price for Resident and International members:

$30 or 15.000 colones for an Individual

$50 or 25.000 colones for a Family

Remember that the meeting is open to members only.

Dues are payable at the door the day of the meeting. If you would like to pay in advance in by PayPal please use this LINK. You can also pay by SINPE móvil to Peter’s number in colones only. Just send an email to vp@sanvitobirdclub.org if you don’t have the number. I don’t want to post it on a public website.

Please let us know if you are planning to attend by filling out THIS form. We really need to know how many people will be coming so we can plan the food accordingly.

We hope to see you there!

THERE WILL BE NO BIRD WALK THIS WEEKEND! We are slaving away on preparations for the Annual Meeting 🙂

We failed miserably to reach 45 species last Sunday. The shame is so overwhelming that we have decided to try again this week so we can put it all behind us. Sooo, let’s meet again at 7 AM at the Wilson Botanical Garden Reception. All eyes and ears are needed. (Seriously, we don’t care about the count. Just come and have fun!)

Sufrimos un fracaso total la semana pasada. Apenas vimos algunas 30 y pico especies. La vergüenza es tal que decidimos intentar otra vez esta semana para quitar la memoria del cerebro. Pues, reuniremos este domingo a las 7 a la Recepción del jardín botánico Wilson. ¡Ocupamos todos los ojos y ooids posibles, evidentemente! (La verdad es que estamos muy tranquilos respecto al conteo. ¡Venga y disfrute el día, no más!)

So, two weeks ago we counted 38 species. Last week we saw 41. This week we’re shooting for 45. Be there or be…not there. Please join us a 7 AM this Sunday at the Reception of the Wilson Botanical Garden and we’ll see what we see.

Hace 2 semanas vimos 38 especies. La semana pasada fueron 41. ¡Este domingo ocupamos ver 45! Si quiere ayudar venga al jardín botánico Wilson a las 7. Reuniremos a la recepción. ¡Nos vemos entonces, ojalá!

Since last week was so popular, we’ve decided to do it again! Please join us at the Wilson Botanical Gardens this Sunday for a Bird Walk. We’ll meet at the reception at 7 AM and there will be binoculars! Let’s see if we can beat last week’s 38 species.

Porque la semana pasada fue un éxito enorme, ¡decidimos hacerlo otra vez! Habrá otra caminata para ver aves este doming al jardín botánico Wilson. Nos reuniremos a las 7 a la recepción y tendré los binoculares listos…ojalá. Intentaremos sobrepasar las 38 especies que hemos visto el domingo pasado.

So I lied. There will be another bird walk this year! We’ll meet this Sunday at 7AM at the WBG reception to bid goodbye to 2023 and say hello to Swallow-tailed Kites who just got back. I hope to see you there!

Pues, yo mentí. Habrá otra caminata este año. Reuniremos este domingo a las 7 AM al recepción del jardín botánico Wilson para despedir al año 2023 y saludar a los Gavilanes Tijeras que acaban de volver al país. ¡Espero verles allá!