Category Archives: Special Event Reports

Bakers Take a Bow!

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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.

And the Winners From the Annual Meeting 2024 Are . . . .

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Written by Lydia Vogt

Fun and Games!

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!

Better Late Than Never: thank you!

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In early June, OTS Las Cruces Biological Station and Wilson Botanical Garden held its ‘Annual Dia de las Puertas Abiertas’. This event offers activities for all ages, tours, food and fun — and a chance to collaborate with other, like-minded groups.

Traditionally, the SVBC offers up a Bake Sale (with profits going to Las Cruces, of course) and this year was no exception.

Huge thanks to our volunteer bakers:

Tina Esquer Christopher

Roni Chernin

Peter Wendell

Joe Ippolito

Along with ‘Lemon Bars From Connecticut’ (thank you, Cathy O’Donnell), offerings included Banana Bread, Oatmeal Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Spice Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and last year’s favorite, Chocolate Ganache Cake.

Migration Is On: Sweepstakes Early Spotting Prize to Judy Richardson!

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Judy Richardson, photo by Juan Carlos Calvachi

Herewith we announce the Early Migrant Sweepstakes winner: Judy Richardson!

Wait, what? You didn’t realize we had a Migrant Sweepstakes going on? Neither did we until a minute ago. Never mind, we have it now and the first bird reported was a beautiful Orchard Oriole.

Orchard Oriole, photo by Mark Garland

Judy found him in early August at Hacienda Pino Collina, next door to the Wilson Botanical Garden; her home in San Vito where she’s been passing Covid-19 pandemic time birding, gardening, reading and cooking.

Let’s get into the swing of this people! How about we run a Migrant Spotting Contest from now until September 30? Just go outside with your phone and the two apps from Cornell, Merlin and eBird, and get started. Send your list to our Birder-in-Chief Greg Homer at: eltangeral@gmail.com by September 30, 2020 and we will see who finds the most waterthrushes, warblers, flycatchers and more.

Or, if you’re still operating like it is 1970, take a pencil, notepad and the Garrigues and Dean field guide outside and get going with those.

We will give you a prize, promise!

Judy is going to have one of her favorite desserts: Sticky Toffee Pudding with vanilla ice cream — delivered to her door. Just think what you might win?! Yum yum!

Bird Feeder Contest Winners! 2020

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Congratulations to the following San Vito Bird Club members; winners of our Bird Feeder Contest-2020.

Category #1: Most bird species at a single location feeder—Charles and Sara Beeson-Jones (see below)! The Beeson-Joneses lured 30 different species of birds to their feeder (located at Michael and Alison Olivieri’s rental house).

(photos courtesy of Helen LeVasseur)

Category #2: Best Bird Feeder Photo

The great Julie Gerard-Woolley won with this wonderful multi-Tanager feeder photo.

Category #3: Best Feeder Photo of an Unusual Bird Species—Jo Davidson with this spectacular photo of a Red-legged Honeycreeper on a papaya.

Many thanks to all who participated.

Tree Planting Photo Essay, June 30, Concepcion

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Thanks to an army of volunteers last Sunday, the Restoration Project in Concepcion on the Gamboa Property was a huge success!

Rodrigo de Sousa organized this large group for a morning of grunt work that resulted in 450 new trees planted, new fencing installed to curtail bovine wandering and reforestation to benefit the community’s future.

Troops fanned out going out and around the pasture and watershed; a morning well spent.

Even the youngest members of this volunteer group worked all morning, digging holes, staking young trees and ensuring an enhanced habitat for wildlife. Special thanks to San Vito Bird Club stalwart supporter Terry Farling for these photos!

Great Day at OTS/Las Cruces on Saturday, June 1, 2019

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The SVBC activities at the Annual OTS/Las Cruces Dia de Las Puertas Abiertas were better than ever this year due to our stellar volunteers.

Here, for example, is the Bake Sale table that brought in more than $100 — the most we’ve ever made in more than five years of rustling up muffins, cookies, bird nest delicacies, cakes, cinnamon rolls and more!

Kathy Bauer, Karen Kennedy and Betty Peterson enhanced the day with painting activities including the ever-popular face painting so that by the end of the day we saw butterflies, puppies, parakeets and hummingbirds running around the trails.

Bird Walks and a mini-course on bird bill evolution were conducted by our own SVBC President Peter Wendell and Detectives de Aves Instructor Marco Mora, seen below preparing to push off with a family group. Thanks to one and all for volunteering your time and expertise.

Marco Mora, second from right, Peter on right. Photo by Jo Davidson

Bird Feeder & Bird Feeder Photo Winners: 2019

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Congratulations to the following San Vito Bird Club members!

Judy Richardson: WINNER of the 2019 Bird Feeder Contest with 27 species!  What with the amazing bio-diversity of Judy’s beautiful property we can expect an even greater number of species in years to come.

Charles and Sarah Beeson-Jones: 2nd Place winners.  A total of 26 species for the Beeson-Jones’, including TWO hummingbird species.  FYI: Putting a hummingbird feeder on your regular feeder may be the wave of the future!

Jo Davidson: Winner of the Bird Feeder Photo Contest.  This beautiful but somewhat sloppy Speckled Tanager is our winner!  What perfect light.

Speckled eating papaya

Watch this video of Detectives de Aves in Guatemala! Mira el video de Detectives de Aves en Guatemala!

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Because Detectives de Aves is THE most exciting program sponsored by the SVBC, we decided to re-post this 7 minute video from the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology — they hit it out of the park with this short film!

In April, two of our teachers — Carla Azofeifa and Paula Mesen — went with SVBC President Peter Wendell to the highlands of Guatemala to share teaching experiences and learn from indigenous teachers Vilma, Gilda and Norma.

That visit was reciprocated in May when Tara and Rob Cahill came to San Vito in May with Vilma and Norma — all from the Cloud Forest Conservation Society — to participate with us in local schools. These travels were funded by a grant to Dr. Lilly Briggs from National Geographic. (See a report here.)

It’s just a GREAT program and we are proud to play a part. In this presentation, those of you who don’t live here will meet Carla Azofeifa and Paula Mesen, two of our wonderful teachers! Please consider sending a donation to continue this program in local schools by visiting our Support the Club page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYUQPDudw8I&feature=youtu.be

Ya que Detectives de Aves el EL programa más emocionante patrocinado por el SVBC, decidimos volver a postear este video, de 7 minutos, del Laboratorio de Ornitología de la Universidad de Cornell. ¡Realmente se lucieron con este corto video!

En abril, dos de nuestras maestras Carla Azofeifa y Paula Mesén, fueron junto al Presidente del SVBC, Peter Wendell, a las tierras altas de Guatemala para compartir sus experiencias de enseñanza y aprender de las maestras indígenas Vilma, Gilda y  Norma.

Vilma y Norma nos devolveron la visita en mayo, cuando vinieron junto a Tara y Rob Cahill, de la Cloud Forest Conservation Society, para participar en nuestras escuelas locales en San Vito. Estos viajes fueron financiados mediante una donación del Dr. Lilly Briggs de National Geographic (vea el reporte aquí).

Este es un GRAN programa y estamos orgullosos de tomar parte. En esta presentación, aquellos de ustedes que no vivien aquí, ¡conocerán a Carla Azofeifa y Paula Mesén, dos de nuestras maravillosas maestras! Por favor considere enviar una donación para continuar con este programa en nuestras escuelas locales, visitando nuestra página Apoye el Club

Teacher Exchange: What Fun–What Success!

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A Detectives de Aves (BirdSleuth-International) teacher exchange program between San Vito Bird Club (San Vito, Costa Rica) and Community Cloud Forest Conservation in the highlands of Guatemala recently concluded, with bilateral reports of great success, good fellowship and a promise for the future of Detectives de Aves.

Our San Vito Bird Club education team–Paula Mesen, Carla Azofeifa and SVBC President Peter Wendell–returned from the beautiful highlands of Guatemala in April after spending a week observing and learning from their Guatemalan counterparts. Also attending the visit was Dr. Lilly Briggs from Cornell University, coordinator and leader of  this very special project.

In early May, the Guatemalan education team reciprocated by visiting us and participating in our local classes.  Again, many, many thanks to Dr. Briggs for her guidance and vision.

Based on reports from the Detectives de Aves teachers from both San Vito and Guatemala, this exchange of teaching techniques and styles proved very valuable to all involved and we hope that more of these international visits will become available in the future.

As always, your generous donations to the SVB and the Detectives de Aves classes are much appreciated.

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