Our local members have undoubtedly noticed San Vito has no movie theaters, yes? So what happens? We watch movies on our TVs, desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. . . .
But on February 22, we can all watch a movie together — a beautifully-filmed, inspiring and timely film, The Flyway of Life by Tomas Koeck.
Yes, it is about birds (also other creatures), nature, the beauty found in nature, geography, landscapes, struggle, success and defeat. Some of it was filmed right here.
It is going to be an unforgettable evening and FREE to San Vito Bird Club members.
Please pay your membership dues today! You can do that by clicking on ‘Support the Club’ on the Home Page of this website if you want to use PayPal. Or you can pay by cash to Peter Wendell or Alison Olivieri: $30.00 (C15,000) Individual Membership or $50.00 (C25,000 Family Membership).
Be on the lookout! We want the fill the seats for this unusual Annual Meeting, Please join us — it will be astonishing! And we’ll have snacks, soft drinks, beer and wine at the event.
As you can see by the exciting video below (just click on the image to play!), elementary and secondary students in San Vito and Sabalito had a banner year with Detectives de Aves classes taught by the wonderful people of Finca Cántaros.
The Finca Cántaros Environmental Association team reached 184 students: 81 primary students and 103 secondary students! This was accomplished by weekly visits to schools and through a pilot collaboration with the Sabalito Natural Reserve that funded site visits for several high school classes with mornings of ‘mini-modules’ and birding. Plans are in the works for continuing this successful model next year.
We’re sure we don’t need to tell you that costs are going up — even here in San Vito — and we want to help the FCEA continue teaching this amazing education program from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
You can send a donation directly to Cántaros. If you prefer to send it to us, we will make sure it gets into the Cántaros coffers immediately and will be earmarked for Detectives de Aves. Thank you, as always, for your generous support.
You send us a list of all the birds you can think of with red-related names.
Rule #1: have to be real birds
Rule #2: doesn’t matter how weird the color sounds as long as it’s kinda red
Ready? Set? GO!
We will wait a week from the first submission and then announce the winner. A local winner will be treated to a fancy barista-type coffee; an international winner will receive some local coffee in the mail.
HONORABLE MENTION: The Bird FKA Cherrie’s Tanager — don’t even try this one; let us introduce you to George Kruck Cherrie (1865-1948) who endured upwards of 40 Central and South American expeditions, including Theodore Roosevelt’s South American Expedition of 1913-14. From 1889-1897, he worked as a bird curator at the Costa Rica National Museum in San Jose (!) and the Field Museum in Chicago . . . there’s more — he was busy.
We will wait for you at the Las Cruces Biological StationReception Building at 7:00 am.
As usual, we’ll have binoculars to lend plus birds to see and hear.
After the walk — about an hour — we’ll have coffee and a social hour in the Dining Room.
Cake may appear — you never know!
If you would like to join the Bird Club for 2025, please bring $40 or C 20,000 for an individual or $50 (C 25,000) for a family. Thank you in advance for your support!
On our last Bird Walk (Sunday, January 12) we were surprised and delighted to have seen a White-winged Tanager. These beautiful birds stay high in the canopy and are easy to miss, but this one was lower than usual and gave us a thrill.
Photo by Charlie Gomez
This Sunday (January 26), we will have another Bird Walk at the Wilson Botanical Garden/OTS Las Cruces Biological Research Station, at 7:00 am. As usual, we’ll meet at the Reception building and have binoculars to lend. Who knows what wonder awaits — this is why we go!
Dinner to Support the Arts
From natural beauty and art to created beauty and art, please make a reservation for a fundraising dinner at Cascata del Bosco on Saturday, January 25 to support the forthcoming Arts Fest Coto Brus 2025. Go to the website: http://www.artsfestcotobrus.com or use WhatsApp +1 (970) 759-9262 to reserve your dinner choice. In addition, music to dine by will be provided by Roger Madison — a wonderful evening is in store
And here is the White-winger Tanager again, from a different angle (because we just can’t get enough of this bird…..):
During the past 20 years, the SVBC has gradually and naturally changed. We still lead Bird Walks and regular forays to birdy spots like the rice fields near Cuidad Neilly and the Tres Ríos River. But we also have a ‘How Can We Help You?” sensibility, especially if your concern will help birds and people of the local community.
Along those lines, we have some history of contributing to educaton and project enhancement for our volunteer mist netters — many of you will remember the Avian Monitoring Project that ran from 2003-2013. Back then we encouraged — and financially supported — participants to travel to other countries to take part in a bird banding training workshop in Peru and an international bird conference in El Salvador.
Now Finca Cántaros Environmental Association (FCEA) has begun a new bird banding program which combines nicely with projects that emerged as a result of installing Costa Rica’s second Motus Station on site in 2020 (motus.org).
Coming up this year, we have an exciting opportunity to help fund travel and education for two young women who are being trained as banders at Finca Cántaros.
Meet María Sandí and Alisson Vargas, dedicated naturalists who have also been trained to teach Detectives de Aves classes and want to do more — and know more.
In February 2025, NABC certified bander and ornithologist Holly Garrod (who has been leading the banding trainings at FCEA this year) will offer intensive training in the Dominican Republic — this is our chance to help María and Alisson. If we can provide a stipend of $1,000 each, they are off — off to a world of ornitholgical collaboration, new colleagues, international sensibility and professional skills enhancement.
Academics and practicitioners in the field of conservation have repeatedly highlighted the importance of engaging young people in the local community and creating jobs for rural youth. Longtime loyal SVBC (and Detectives de Aves) supporters can feel proud that our investment is really achieving this goal. María Sandí was one of the first students in the Detectives de Aves classes when we launched the program in 2013 — she credits this experience with inspiring her interest in nature and her motivation to pursue this path, personally and professionally. Flash forward 10 years and she is actively involved in many programs at FECA in additional to the bird banding and Women Committed to the Earth.
Are you reaching for your wallet? Before you make your contribution, please know that Finca Cántaros now has tax deductible status in the US. To make a tax deductible donation, please visit their website: http://fincacantaros.org/donate/
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.
San Vito Bird Club 
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