Costa Rica Bird Post

Slaty-tailed Trogon. Seconds after this picture was taken
the bird swooped down to a lower branch, where it
quickly grabbed a large green caterpillar. Moments later
I was covered in gooey caterpillar guts that went flying
as the bird bit down.

     I decided to devote a post to my experiences with the birds down here. Most of these pictures are pretty bad quality, as most of them were taken while working with the birds, so getting off a clean, well lit shot was not first priority. I'll keep narration to a minimum.

Here they are!


Some bird banding in the Tortuguero area. Cano Palma Biological Station, 8km North of Tortuguero. Owned by COTERC (Based in Canada).

The first surprise of the morning: American Pygmy Kingfisher!
I remember being jealous when I saw a picture of Carolyn
Sedgwick holding one of these at La Selva.

The banding station

At 11:30am we were all ready to close the nets, as it had slowed
down considerably. The two girls went off to check nets 11-15,
while I went to check nets 1-5. Net 2 had one bird in it, not
too bad... net 3 had five birds in it at once! And two of
the birds were nothing less than:

Keel-billed Toucans! These were two of the five birds in the
net. I had never heard of toucans being caught in a single
net, much less in the bottom pocket.

It was a good thing that I had some cloth snake bags in
my pocket. The bird bags that I had with me were
hardly big enough for thrushes.

The color on these birds are amazing; even their feet are blue!
And they can bite hard! Glad I got that out of the way early.

We give the birds a pretty new anklet, record a bit of data,
and then set them on their way.

Northern Barred Woodcreeper. This is one bird that
I regret not taking the time to get a good picture of.

Northern Barred Woodcreeper. The tail feathers are
extremely firm, almost spike-like.

American Redstart with slightly unusual plumage.

This Gray-chested Dove caused a bit of confusion due
to the color of its iris.

Bare-throated Tiger Herons were common along the canals.

A few random birds

Mottled Owl at Cerro Dantas

A beautiful and inquisitive Mottled Owl

This Spectacled Owl was found eating a sub-adult
Green Iguana- Osa Peninsula

Blue-crowned Motmot - Monteverde

Collared Redstart- This is the most common bird in the
clearing at Cerro Dantas, 2050m asl.

American Pygmy Kingfisher - Carara National Park

Great Curassow- female, La Selva

Here are some hummingbirds from the Monteverde area

One of my favorite birds- Bananaquit

Bananaquit at a hummingbird feeder in Monteverde

Coppery-headed Emerald- 3 inches

Green Hermit

Violet Sabrewing - One of the largest hummingbirds

Green Violet-ear

Green Violet-ear

Purple-throated Mountain Gem (Great name!)

Stripe-tailed Hummingbird

A rare site, everyone getting along at the dinner table.

A more common scene

 Purple-throated Mountain Gem- female

Earlier this year I spent a few days at Finca la Escondida, just outside of San Isidro de General

Golden-naped Woodpecker, Green Honeycreepers,
Blue-gray Tanagers, and a Golden-hooded Tanager
at the feeder in the morning.

Five bird species at once- Blue-gray Tanagers, Green
Honeycreeper, Baltimore Oriole, Golden-hooded Tanager,
and Cherrie's Tanager.

Palm Tanager

Female Shining Honeycreeper, Bay-headed Tanager, Blue-gray
Tanager, Palm Tanager

Palm Tanager, male and female Shining Honeycreeper

Speckled Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager

Golden-hooded Tanagers

Fiery-billed Aracari

Golden-hooded Tanager

Shining Honeycreeper

Speckled Tanager

Speckled Tanager

And now here's a little love for Rara Avis

Broad-billed Motmot sitting on the bridge over the
Rio Atelopus. This was from January of 2010. I remember
taking this picture and then running to Josh to ask him
what kind of bird this was. Wow how things have changed...

Emerald Tanager in the clearing at Rara Avis

A fledgling Emerald Tanager that had just fallen from the nest.
As any good ornithologist would do, Lauren Harter banded
the young bird. 

My first White-tipped Sicklebill! He was caught in the
comedor one morning, trapped in the vegetable storage area.
These large hummingbirds have evolved to pollinate the
Heliconia plants that they feed on. The tops of their heads are
almost always covered in yellow pollen.

White-necked Jacobin- male, one flashy bird!

Violet-crowned Woodnymph- male. A common species
around Costa Rica.

Green Hermit- One of the first pictures I took in Rara Avis,
January 2010

Still Rara Avis, but I thought a special section was deserved for the bird work done in March 2011.

Bird Team 2011
Forman Rainforest Project
Chris Moran, Faye Curran, Matt Markelon,
Donald Filipiak, Frank Gallo

Matt weighing a bird that was captured in a mist net.

Chris posing for a picture before releasing
this Carmiol's (Olive) Tanager

Faye recording data for an Orange-billed Sparrow

Team work! White-collared Manakin- female

Wood Thrush
The purpose of this on going study is to track North
 American migrant species that spend the winter in Rara Avis.

This Water Thrush was also a migrant from up North.

White-collared Manakin- female
This was a commonly caught species.

Bay Wren and Frank
This photo hardly does this bird justice. 

White-shouldered Tanager

Cinnamon Becard

I'll end with some flashy birds captured in March

Shepack (2011) proposed the new name Blueberry Bird. It is
yet to gain community wide acceptance, though time will tell.

Red-legged Honeycreeper- male

A rarely seen side of the Red-legged Honeycreeper. As if
this bird needed any more bright colors!

Royal Flycatcher raising his crest trying to scare us. Normally
the colorful crest sits flat against the top of his head. What
you can't see in this picture is that the bird is twisting his head
around like the Exorcist! 

The minute Black-bellied Hummingbird- male

Another one of my favorite birds, the
Scale-crested Pygmy Tyrant is one of the smallest members
of the flycatcher family. Common at Rara Avis, it took me
over a year to finally see my first one. 

Green Honeycreeper- male

Tawny-capped Euphonia- male

Black and Yellow Tanager- male

Thanks for a great time!

Total number of bird species seen in Costa Rica: 322

Total number of bird species caught/banded in Costa Rica: 53

If I may gush for a moment...

I would like to express my deepest and most sincere appreciation for the guidance, support, and inspiration I have received from Lauren Harter and David Vander Pluym- two orithologists, tropical biologists, naturalists, and friends that I look forward to sharing MANY more field hours with in the future. 

Lauren, I remember the exact moment that you opened my eyes to a world of more than just snakes and frogs. Spring of 2010, late afternoon, standing at the East entrance of the Rancho. You explained and attempted to show me a mixed flock that was passing through the clearing at Rara Avis. You called out bird after bird, and even with your binoculars I could not spot a single one. And then, for the briefest of seconds, the iridescence of an Emerald Tanager flashed through the lenses and I was in awe- hooked for life.

Thank you.

And to Frank Gallo for taking the time to teach me while I attempted to teach others. The lessons learned were innumerable; I look forward to many more to come.

PURA VIDA

Don