Join us for another May Bird Walk next Sunday, the 25th! Fingers crossed we will see this beauty while we look around for an hour of natural history:
Brown-hooded Parrot, photo by Alison Olivieri.
As usual, we will meet at the Reception Building at 7:00 am and have binoculars to lend.
The Walk is free and open to the public, so bring all your friends and neighbors. We’ll have a social chat after the walk with coffee and (maybe) some cake!
Hope to see you there!
Well, well, it has been some time since we have put up a Quiz Bird for you!
It is hard to resist this one as it is: 1) too far away, 2) unlikely positioning and 3) a terrible view. Nonetheless, please send your guesses to: alison.w.olivieri@gmail.com — you might win something!
Here’s a hint: these birds were found on the grounds of the Colegio CTP Umberto Melloni in San Vito about two weeks ago.
Watch this spot for a Bird Walk announcement later this week. It will be Sunday morning, as usual, and we hope to see you there.
Take advantage of the morning sun and join us for a guided Bird Walk this Sunday, May 11, at Las Cruces/Wilson Botanical Garden.
We will meet at the Reception Building at 7:00 am and have binoculars to share.
This walk is free and open to the public, so please bring your friends, neighbors and family.
We have an excellent chance to see AND hear the beautiful Streak-headed Woodcreeper while we are there.
This photo was taken by Helen LeVasseur.
Coffee and social hour follow the Bird Walk — come one, come all!
Please join us for a Bird Walk this Sunday, April 20, at 7 am — we’ll meet at the Reception Building at OTS/Las Cruces/ Wilson Botanical Garden.
The weather is and has been amazingly beautiful for several weeks and we can’t believe our luck. Birds are in breeding plumage — some are feeding young — and butterflies are skittering along from one flower to the next in all their glory! In fact, bring your butterfly book, why not?
The Walk is free, open to the public and we have binoculars to lend.
Hope to see you there.
And no, despite this image we are not going to peer into birds’ nests, just watch them coming and going…….
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…..):
Another photo from Charlie Gomez
We look forward to a New Year with its accompanying opportunities, challenges, frights and gifts.
Thank you for your interest in the San Vito Bird Club and your support over the years. Our new motto is: Let’s Survive 2025!
Yesterday, we had a wonderful Bird Walk at the Las Cruces Biological Research Station’s Wilson Botanical Garden. Highlights included two Swallow-tailed Kites, South American migrants who return each year to nest; a brilliant Baltimore Oriole; a young, male Summer Tanager in transition plumage — from yellow to orange to red — and a Wedge-tailed Woodcreeper! (Considering we started in a damp, thick fog, things went our way in the end.)
Additionally, two outstanding members — Anna Bilberry and Terry Farling — brought baked goods to share at the Coffee Hour. Yum yum and thank you!
Please join us whenever and however you can.
P.S. We’ll update you shortly on our efforts to support travel for María Sandi and Alisson Vargas to Bird Banding Training in the Dominican Republic — life-changing for them and uplifting for us. We proudly work on this project with the Finca Cántaros Environmental Association.
Take Two: we will try again this Sunday for a Bird Walk — wish us luck!
Our last attempt was two weeks ago and we were chased away by rain (continuing to fall as I write . . .).
In between drops, however, birds and butterflies are still about so please meet us at the Las Cruces Reception Building at 7:00 am.
We’ll be there for the usual free, open-to-the-public Bird/Nature Walk — your friends and family are invited.
We will have binoulars to lend and, as always, beautiful sights to see.
Crimson-fronted Parakeet, a Wilson Botanical Garden/Las Cruces regular.
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/
Please join us this Sunday, November 3 at 7 am in the Wilson Botanical Garden at the Tropical Studies Las Cruces Biological Station.
We meet at the Reception Building and have binoculars to share.
On our last Bird Walk, we saw two of these beautiful birds and one of them was carrying nesting material. Let’s go look for a glimpse of one, sitting on the nest!
After walking for about an hour, we will have coffee and social time in the dining room. These Nature Walks are free and open to the public. Please bring your friends, neighbors and families.
Hope to see you there.
Crested Caracaras. Photo by Helen LeVasseur
Please join us for Bird and Nature Walk at the Wilson Botanical Garden this Sunday, October 20.
We will meet at the Reception Building at 7:00 am.
Binoculars will be available, as always. These Walks are free and open to the public so please invite your friends and families.
After the Walk, we will repair to the dining room for coffee and chatting. And maybe we will spot these beauties along the way!
San Vito Bird Club 
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