Please join us for the first walk of 2022 at Hacienda Pino Colina, next door to the Wilson Botanical Garden/Las Cruces.
Judy Richardson has kindly invited us to visit her beautiful homestead where we have seen nesting Rufous Jacamars, White- crested Coquettes, White-winged Tanagers and more, so much more!
Rufous-tailed Jacamar, photo by Yeimiri Badilla
Drive through the open gate to the right (just north) of the main Pino Colina gate at 7 am. Follow the road down the hill and park near the bodega. Judy will meet us there; as always, we will have binoculars and guides to share.
Here is a photo of our last walk of 2021 at Las Cruces/Wilson Botanical Garden.
From left to right: Petra Heck, Judy Richardson, Peter Hulsinck, Tomas Wilkinson, Steffano from New Zealand, Tom and Portia’s granddaughter Ada, Portia Wilkinson and Julie Girard Woolley — photo by Alison Olivieri
Hope to see you there for fabulous birds and gorgeous gardens — it will be a real treat!
Please join us for a November bird walk at the Wilson Botanical Gardens this Sunday November 14 at 7 AM. There will be tons of migrants to see! There will be coffee and breakfast available after the walk. Admission, coffee and tea are free. Like last time, there will be two breakfast options as follows:
Option #1. Complete tico Breakfast: Gallo pinto, egg (scrambled or omelet), fried plantain and local fresh cheese with hot drink (Coffee, tea or aguadulce) and season fruit for USD $8.00/C5,000.
Option #2. Small breakfast: Egg sandwich (local cheese, bacon or ham, and egg) on whole wheat bread with hot drink (Coffee, tea or aguadulce) and season fruit for USD $5.00/C3,000.
Please fill out this form to let us know if your are planning to attend and if you want breakfast. This is just to let the Garden know how much food to prepare. Or you can contact Alison or me directly.
Por favor venga y llevar a la familia también al jardín botánico Wilson este domingo 14 de noviembre a las 7 AM para una caminata para ver aves. Estarán muchas aves migratorias para disfrutar. Habrá café y desayuno disponibles después de la caminata. Las entradas, café y té son gratis. Como la última vez habrá dos tipos de desayuno:
Opción 1: Desayuno grande y completo con pinto, huevos, queso, etcétera par $8 o C5.000.
Opción 2 Desayuno pequeño con un sandwich de huevos, jamón y queso y fruta aparte para $5 o C3.000
Las dos opciones incluyen café, té o aguadulce.
Por favor llene este formulario para indicar su intención de asistir y desayunar. O puede contactar a Alison o a mí.
Please join us for a bird walk at the Wilson Botanical Gardens this Sunday at 7 AM. The entrance will be free thanks to the generous donation of a Club member. The female White-crested Coquette has been seen hanging around the pollinator garden, and maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see her. The comedor will be open for those who would like coffee and conversation afterwards. Binoculares and guides will be available as always.
Por favor venga al jardín botánico Wilson este domingo al las 7 AM para una caminata para ver aves. Las entradas serán gratis por una donación muy amable de un miembro del Club. La hembra Coqueta crestiblanca se vea actualmente en el jardín de los polinizadores. ¡Tal vez tendríamos la suerte de verla! El comedor estará abierto para los que ocuparán un cafecito y conversación después de la caminata. Habrá binoculares y guías disponibles como siempre.
(From San Vito Bird Club Taxonomy Tsar, Jo Davidson)
Not even a global pandemic can keep the Taxonomists of the American Ornithology Society from their appointed duties. Right on schedule, as always, they have announced the classification changes for this year. I’ll start with the three birds that have changes to both their English and scientific names. Let’s begin with one of my local favorites. The Rufous-capped Warbler has been split into two separate species:
The easiest way to differentiate the two is that the Chestnut-capped Warbler has an entirely yellow belly, and in the Rufous-capped, the lower portion of the belly is grey. There are other small differences, but they are very difficult to distinguish in the field. All the pictures I have taken in Coto Brus are of what is now called the Chestnut-capped, so I am guessing that one is more abundant in our usual birding spots.
Next on the list is the Tropical Gnatcatcher, which has also been split: White-browed Gnatcatcher (Polioptila bilineata) Tropical Gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea)
The Costa Rican species is now called White-browed Gnatcatcher. The species retaining the Tropical Gnatcatcher name resides in South America.
The Costa Rica resident species, which has an astonishingly small range in the Cartago area, is now called the Grass Wren. Note that the scientific name has not changed. The other species, which kept the English name but was assigned a new scientific name, is found in the U.S. and Canada.
Finally, here are the birds which have had changes to their scientific names only: Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianum) is now Nannopterum brasilianum Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) is now Caracara plancus Striped Owl (Pseudoscops clamator) is now Asio clamator Elegant Euphonia (Euphonia elegantissima) is now Chlorophonia elegantissima Magenta-throated Woodstar (Calliphlox bryantae) is now Philodice bryantae
Please join us for a Bird Walk this Sunday, June 20, at the OTS/Las Cruces Research Station aka Wilson Botanical Garden. We will meet at the Reception Building at 7:30 am and have binoculars to share.
As guests of the SVBC, you will enter for free; however, if you want to make a voluntary donation, that would be most welcome. (The Entrance Fee is $10 for tourists and $3 for residents.)
Please join us for a Bird Walk at the incomparable Finca Cántaros on Sunday, June 6 (tomorrow!). We will meet at the entrance gate at 7:30 am and have binoculars to share.
The walk will last for about an hour.
If we have more than 6 walkers, we will go in two groups and run a little competition to see which group sees the most species.
A Voluntary Donation to the new Finca Cántaros Environmental Association would be most welcome. Hope to see you there!
It is still standing and an attraction for visitors to the OTS/Las Cruces Research Station and Wilson Botanical Garden.
This photo, from 10 years ago, will remind you of pre-pandemic SVBC events! The Tower requires a climb of 75 steps to reach the top. All of the folks you see in the photo above have done it; many times. Photo by Harry Hull III.
The slender and powerful young man in this photo, however, is the only person to have made the climb in less than one minute while toting 36 pairs of binoculars, 20 birding books and 120 juice boxes … Peter Wendell, head of the SVBC, standing alone. That’s what a pandemic will do for you. Photo by Alison Olivieri.
Thank You Again!
Speaking of which, we would like take some space here to honor the major donors to the construction of this amazing gateway to another world: Wildwood Foundation, Judy Richardson, Peggy and Fred Sibley, Jean and Fred Schroeder, Patricia J. Scott, Lauren and John Royer, Theodore Wickwire Royer and Zak Zahawi.
Finally, this is how small you look from the top; photo by Peter Wendell.
Something great has come out of this strange and terrible pandemic: the Finca Cántaros Environmental Association. With the Class A brain of Dr. Lilly Briggs whirring and whirling while the world was at a seeming standstill, here comes a new nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental education, forest restoration and research with three key action words: “Learn. Connect. Act.”
Canada to Costa Rica and Back
Based in Canada but operating in San Vito, the FCEA will have impact and influence in the Canton of Coto Brus but also the entire country. Working with Proyecto Cerulea partners Ernesto Carman and Paz Irola, Lilly had the country’s second MOTUS tower installed and has already downloaded information on migrating Swainson’s Thrushes, originally tagged in Canada(!).
The Website
And that is just ONE of the myriad projects being worked on by Lilly’s knowledgeable and energetic team. They have just launched a new English-language website — we encourage all our members to take a look. It is beautiful and packed with information about the ongoing projects, plus you can meet the team.
The Projects
Interested in, well, birds? Of course! Weekly Bird Counts are conducted at Finca Cantaros following strict protocols. What about bats? Monthly site visits by the Monteverde Bat Jungle crew are gathering information on local bats and watching natural reforestation in action, especially in the Children’s Rain Forest of Coto Brus, just outside Cántaros’ forested area. Reforestation? There’s a Tree Nursery collaboration with Osa Conservation! Sustainable food production? Women Committed to the Earth is a program working on agroecology practices applicable to local conditions. Art and Science? What about Nature Sketch from the Robert Bateman Foundation? And finally we circle back to the SVBC sponsored program, member-supported Detectives de Aves, now being taught in local schools for the first time in almost two years.
Jeisson Figueroa and Randall Jiménez leading a Detectives de Aves Field Trip, photo by Alison Olivieri
Please join us this Sunday for a free Bird Walk on the Poro Road. We will meet at 7:30 am down the hill where we leave the cars. As always, we will have binoculars to lend.
Riverside Wren with nesting material. Photo by Sarah Beeson-Jones
Directions: from Las Cruces toward San Vito, take the first unpaved (lastre) road to the right after the hospital. From San Vito toward the hospital, take the unpaved road to the left after Soda La Negra.
The walk will go for about an hour. If we are lucky, we might see a pair of nesting Riverside Wrens or Double-toothed Kites! We don’t have a sign-up link this time — we will be there anyway.
REMINDER: International Migratory Bird Day and a Global Big Day occur the day before, on Saturday, May 8. Don’t forget to bird around your house, along the road or at your favorite spot and submit your list to eBird.
Double-toothed Kite. Photo by Randall Jimenez Bourbon aka Ciccio
As part of the Finca Cantaros Environmental Association’s Earth Day Celebration, SVBC members’ ovens were fired up for a Bake Sale. Take a look at the yummies below and place your order via PayPal. It’s easy as pie (!) — all you do is go to your PayPal account and search for ‘Finca Cantaros‘ or ‘info@fincacantaros.org‘ to make your donation.
Galletas de Dulce by Pedro
Now for the Strawberry Cake:
Queque Rosada de Fresa
And, while you are at it, please go to the brand new English-language website of the Finca Cantaros Environmental Association: www.fincacantaros.org — prepare to be impressed and proud to participate!
Watch this space for an article about this new nonprofit organization. We are so excited to have these wonderful neighbors and when you meet the team, learn the vision and hear about ongoing events and activities, you will be too.
Oh, wait, if you really DO want cookies or cake, email us and the next time you are near we will see that you have some.
San Vito Bird Club 
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