Tag Archives: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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!

Annual Meeting 2024 Report — for Far-Flung Members and Supporters

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We had a great time Sunday, February 25 at Cascata Del Bosco and wish you could have been there. This year we had two themes: Celebrating 20 Years of Birding in San Vito and the incomparable Resplendent Quetzal.

Our three main speakers — Dr. Lilly Briggs, Alan Poole and Henry Barrantes — were excellent. So that you don’t miss a thing, their talks will be summarized in forthcoming posts.

For now, we begin with a short history outlining our three major achievements. (Eventually, we will add a ‘page’ to this website citing the Club’s accomplishments, small and large.)

In 2004, we began a 10-year Avian Monitoring Study with Principal Investigator Dr. Steve Latta of the National Aviary and Judy Richardson, Master Bander from the Connecticut Audubon Society. The core group included Julie Girard Woolley, Cecilia Sansonetti, Lydia Vogt, Kate Allen Desvenain, Daniel Martinez, Juan Pablo ‘Chespi’ Elizondo and many other local and international volunteers. It was a lot of work and resulted in a published paper and an article in the bulletin of the Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica.

In 2011, we cut the ribbon on a Canopy Tower that had taken three years of fundraising to complete. We’re happy to report it is still standing — at the Organization for Tropical Studies Las Cruces Biological Research Station — and attracting visitors from all over the world.

Finally, in 2012-13, we began presenting an environmental education program from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, ‘Detectives de Aves’ (in English: BirdSleuth International), in local elementary schools. This program continues to this day and much more about that will be forthcoming in another post.

From left to right, 20 years ago, Alison Olivieri, Terrie Moss (formerly of Linda Vista, now of St. Louis, MO), Daniel Martinez (former Biologist at Las Cruces, now of the Ornithological Council of Costa Rica) and Julie Girard Woolley (who needs no introduction).