San Vito Bird Club Annual Meeting 2015

Pepe Castiblanco, naturalist guide and co-owner of Casa Botania, with Robert Dean (photo by Harry Hull).

Illustrator of The Birds of Costa Rica and The Birds of Panama, Robert Dean was the featured guest at the SVBC Annual Meeting 2015.

Robert led a Bird Walk at the Wilson Botanical Garden on the morning of the meeting, Saturday, Feb. 21, that ended with an all-time high species count of 65!

Following the walk, members adjourned to Cascata del Bosco for a mid-morning brunch. At the business meeting, President Alison Olivieri summed up club activities in 2014, Treasurer Fred Schroeder gave a financial report for fiscal year 2014, BirdSleuth-International Teacher Roni Chernin provided a detailed report on the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology Education Program in local schools and Communications Chairman Harry Hull reported statistics from our website.

Brunch dessert! (Photo by Jean Schroeder)

Big Bird Feeder Competition

A Consolation Prize was given to Gail and Harry Hull of Finca Cantaros for the unhappy appearance of Species #27and #28 two days after the official closing date. Wendy Russell took Second Runner Up with 25 species. The feeders at El Tangaral made Greg Homer First Runner Up with 28 species but Roni Chernin swept First Place with her bananas from Finca Paz y Flor! Congratulations to all and let’s beat Roni’s 28 in 2016!

Additionally, members faced a challenging Bird ID Quiz created by Member Jo Davidson featuring her photos of 40 species commonly seen in and around San Vito. ONLY our guest, Mr. Dean, correctly identified 100% of the birds!

Robert then spoke about his role in creating a new field guide, The Birds of Costa Rica, with Richard Garrigues nine years ago. The newly revised edition published in January was available for members so Robert finished the day by sharing his unpublished artwork and signing books, new and old!

A Bird Walk led by Robert Dean, top step with Julie Girard, kicked off the Annual Meeting 2015 (photo by Harry Hull).

The Man Who Loved and Planted Trees

The SVBC Annual Meeting 2015 was dedicated to Member Ernie Vogt who never failed to encourage and generously support the Club’s activities during his and Lydia’s time here with us in San Vito.

ERNIE VOGT 1942-2015

While the rest of us were walking around, peering through our binoculars, oohing and aahing: “Oh, it’s a White-throated Spadebill” and “Ooooo, look, a Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant”, Ernie was busy planting trees. We understand, after talking with Lydia about this on several occasions, that Ernie was always fascinated by trees. Many of you know they had an avocado orchard in California. Many of you also know that Ernie started planting trees the year they arrived – 2009 – and that year managed to put 500 new trees into the forest at Finca Sofia. Eventually, the number of trees he planted grew to 2,000.

Ernie appreciated birds and even got excited about them. But Ernie knew that birds need trees – and he knew they’re not alone. We all need trees: insects, mammals, birds, reptiles and even rain forest fish need trees to survive. So, please raise your coffee cups to Ernie who understood the Big Picture in a way many of us do not. And let’s all plant trees this year and think of Ernie.