Please help support the Wilson Botanical Gardens and have fun, too! This Saturday is Open House Day once again after a long, pandemic break. It starts at 9 AM. Don’t miss it!

¡Por favor apoye el jardín botánico Wilson y divertirse también! El día de las puertas abiertas volverá este sábado después más de 2 años Todo empiece a las 9. ¡No lo falte!

Este sábado la finca Cántaros sigue con el Sábado Artesano, un espacio que pretende apoyar la economía local artesanal del cantón. Esta vez habrá la exposición de la artesana Edith Lopez, quien realiza bisutería con semillas recolectadas en el bosque, de una manera respetuosa con los recursos naturales. Ella estará en la entrada de la Finca este sábado en horario de atención al público de 9 am a 3 pm.

This Saturday Finca Cántaros continues with its new initiative “Artisan Saturdays,” an activity that supports the local craft economy in our region. The featured artist this week is Edith Lopez, who makes jewelry with seeds collected from the forest in keeping with a philosophy that respects our natural resources. She will be at the entrance of Finca Cántaros this Saturday during our visitor hours from 9am to 3pm.

#FincaCántaros #Artesaníalocal #educaciónambiental

We’ve had unseasonable rain for about a month and the forecast says this will continue for another few days……

Are we tired? Depressed? No: just struggling along with the barometric pressure! It seems more like October than May at the moment.

All of this is to say we will not have a Bird Walk this weekend but we encourage you to go out and look around — in between showers — because, guess what, there are birds’ nests galore out there!

And here’s a Pop Quiz just to keep you sharp! Identify this nest — the first correct answer sent to: alison.w.olivieri@gmail.com wins a prize. We promise.

My pleasure to meet SVBC members as I am a recent International Member with plans to migrate to San Vito in Spring 2023 with a month-long visit in Aug/Sep 2022. While I’ve been birding for decades, I remain a novice. Since I live on the Houston Ship Channel, shorebirds are a constant. However I looked at the migration patterns and see that Red-winged Blackbirds’ range is to Panama.

Each morning the pup and I watch the chest-bumping patches of red signal dominance for the feeder. One chirps from a nearby shrub and then swoops in — wings back, chest out — and creates space and dominance — if not but for a seed or two. As seed protection, feeder sensitivity is set to to allow two Red-wings at once (finches up to four). Each grabs a seed, hops to the left, cracks seed, dumps hull, and enjoys the effort. “Conk-la-ree!”

Red-wings are ubiquitous on Texas coastal plains. Some flocks register in the tens of thousands. Red-wings were the first wild bird I learned to identify. Maybe that’s why red, black and yellow remain my favorite colors.

Small bits, brief memories, filling our lives with joy — we all have these! Let us share them, from us to you and you back to us.

We’ll start: every day I walk my small dog and need a sturdy bamboo stick for balance (plus sunglasses, phone and keys). By the time binoculars and, worse, a camera are added it becomes completely unmanageable so the equipment is left at home.

I hear birds all around and see movement everywhere but am forced to concentrate on my steps to stay upright so it can become a vexation.

But suddenly the little dog will stop and spend minutes inspecting one or two blades of grass during which I can look around and this is when the Tiny Moment might happen.

The other day, two Yellow-bellied Elaenias popped onto a nearby wire fence and began to dance, each showing the other both their sides with fully poofed-up crests.

They make a noisy, vomitous call and thus are more often heard than seen. Needless to say this was new, thrilling and an out-of-myself moment — we all live for these!

Please send us one of yours (with photos if you’d like) to me: alison.w.olivieri@gmail.com or Greg Homer: eltangaral@gmail.com.

Please join us this Sunday at 7 AM at the Wilson Botanical Gardens for a bird walk. The upside of the rainy weather is that everything is now incredibly lush and green and the gardens will be spectacular. Pretty much all of the migrants are gone now, or should be, even the last, stubborn Swainson’s Thrushes, but there are lots of residents to enjoy still. A small and large breakfast will be available after the walk for $5 and $8 respectively. Please fill out THIS form if you are planning to have breakfast. I hope to see you there!

Por favor júntese con nosotros el próximo domingo 8 de mayo al jardín botánico Wilson para una caminata para ver aves. Un aspecto provechoso de la lluvia es que ahorita todo luce muy verde y resplendente en el jardín. Casi todos los migrantes ya se fueron, incluso los últimos Swainson’s Thrushes muy jupones, pero hay muchos residentes para disfrutar aún. Habrá un desayuno pequeño o grande disponible después de la caminata para $5 o $8 respectivamente. Por favor llene ESTE formulario si quisiera un desayuno. ¡Ojalá que nos vemos entonces!

We are the recent lucky recipients of a sizeable gift from Nancy Nelson and Dan Fender, earmarked to pay for transporting the Detectives de Aves teachers who are spreading out all over Coto Brus. From Chánguena to Mellizas, from Agua Buena to La Casona, this talented and dedicated group is on the move and it is expensive!

Nancy and Dan have been volunteers, members and supporters of the SVBC since our mist netting project that ran from 2003-2013 and the Detectives de Aves program from then until now. That is what? About 20 years of generous help? So, when they asked how they could help this year we said, “Please buy us a car!”

No, we didn’t really say that — but we did plead for money to provide gas and expense reimbursement for one teacher who has a car and funds to help the others with bus fares, ride sharing and occasional taxis.

Here’s where you come in: could you match some of these funds? Nancy and Dan donated $1,000+. Two anonymous donors have stepped in with $100 apiece so now we have $1,300+ tucked safely into the budget. If we could leverage Nancy and Dan’s gift to $2,000 we would have no transport worries for some time to come.

Please join us for a relaxing bird walk this Sunday at 7:30 AM at the Magic Road. (see map below). Many of the migrants have already left, both avian and human, but there are still a lot of local species to enjoy! Binoculars will be available as always!

Por favor júntase a nosotros para una caminata para ver aves muy tranquila este domingo a las 7:30 a la calle Mágica. (Vea el mapa por arriba). Muchos de los migrantes ya se fueron — aves y humanos — pero hay muchas especies locales para disfrutar. Habrá binoculares disponibles como siempre.

Breakfast will be available after the Bird Walk on Sunday. As usual, it is $5 for the Small Breakfast and $8 for the large. Please fill out THIS form ASAP if you intend to have breakfast. I’m sorry for the short notice, but moving house has out me out of sorts 🙂

El desayuno estará disponible después de la caminata este domingo. Como siempre, el desayuno pequeño cuesta $5 y el grande $8. Por favor llene ESTE formulario cuanto antes si ocupe desayuno. Lo siento por la poca noticia, pero cambiar la casa me ha enredado 🙂

As I’m sure most of you already know, our first annual meeting in two years is this Sunday at the Wilson Botanical Garden. We start at 7 AM with a Bird Walk and the meeting starts at 8 AM. There will be coffee, fruit, muffins during the meeting and a brunch afterwards, all for $15 or 9.750 colones. I will attach the full agenda at the bottom of this post. Please come! It will be fun! If you do plan to come, please fill out THIS form to let us and the Garden know. Thanks!

Estoy seguro que ustedes ya sepan que nuestra primera asamblea anual por 2 años será el próximo domingo al jardín botánico Wilson. Empezamos con una caminata para ver aves a las 7 y la reunión empiece a las 8. Habrá café, fruta, pan de arándano durante la reunión y un brunch después para $15 o 9.750 colones. La agenda completa parece abajo. ¡Venga, por favor! ¡Será muy divertido, ojalá! Si intenta venir, por favor llene ESTE formulario para avisar a nosotros y al jardín Botánico. ¡Gracias!