Rain

This week was a soggy one. Tortuguero, Costa Rica, with an excess of 6000mm (19.7feet) a year, is one of the rainiest places on the planet and the rainiest in Costa Rica. The pattern seems to be that we get a late night storm, followed by and early dawn one. The next one usually comes after we have been dropped off from the boat into the middle of nowhere with no shelter to open the nets leaving us entirely soaked for the rest of the day. Banding during these days can be tough as we must close the nets when rain starts. With 15-20 nets and some of them with birds to be untangled, this can be a tricky maneuver. Luckily, tropical birds seem to be less affected by the rain than the northern species and certainly the risk of hypothermia is drastically reduced. Still we aim to have the nets emptied and closed when a storm comes in only to reopen them one hour to get rained on all over again. The incredibly high rainfall contributes to the amazing amount of diversity that can be found in Tortuguero such as this male Emerald Basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons).



This along with Costa Rica's 2 other basilisk species are collectively know as the Jesus Christ Lizards because of their ability to walk on water when frightened. Another reptile found in Tortuguero is the Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus).



Caimen like to hide in the shore vegetation waiting for some passing, unsuspecting prey...



Possible this beautiful migrant Yellow-Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) will fall victim to the waiting Caiman


Or this locally common Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa).





Or maybe this Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga).



Despite the rainy days that we encountered we still managed to catch a lot of cool birds. The highlight was catching 3 new birds including one lifer, the beautiful BAY WREN, a new migrant for me in Costa Rica a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, and the hard biting painful to handle BUFF-THROATED SALTATOR who let me know what he felt about his new band applied gently to his right leg. These were all captured at the Airport site, a 45 minute walk or 10 minute boat ride to the north after a morning of heavy rainfall.

Bay Wren (Thryothorus nigricapillus) captured in highly disturbed secondary forest near Tortuguero, Costa Rica

Northern Waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis), a Neotropical migrant which breeds in northern U.S. and Canada captured on its wintering grounds near Tortuguero.

Buff-throated Saltator (Saltator maximus), a relative of the Northern Cardinal near Tortuguero, Costa Rica.

Common Tody Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) a commonly captured bird in Tortuguero. This is one of the smallest flycatchers I have ever seen, similar in size to a kinglet.

I just wanted to quickly revisit last week's post in which I talked of determining the sex of Prothonotary Warblers based on the amount of white in the under tail feathers as per Peter Pyle's Identification Guide to North American Birds used by banders. I didn't have a good photo of the male, but I got lucky this week and caught one. Notice how the male shows extensive white in all tail feathers whereas the female lacks white in some of the tail feathers.







These are some of the things that banders use to determine age and sex of birds in the hand. Some characteristics are obvious and easy to see such as white feathers in the tail whereas others are more subtle and take much more practice and experience such as recognizing molt limits or determining age based on feather wear. I learn a bit more with each bird I handle and have learned much from the various other banders I have worked with.

Finally, there have been several reports of a boa being seen at night by the night security man Don Victor. I told him "Victor, si U.D. ve a una culebra mas gruesa que el brazo, me tiene que despertar". If you see a snake thicker than your arm you must wake me. Sure enough I got a knock on my door at 11PM this past Tuesday night. Hiding in the vegetation by the lake shore was a Red-tailed Boa (Boa Constrictor), a long sought out snake by me that I had never been able to see in Peru. Here is a horrible photo of the snake at night. Next week we are off to the primary forest sites. Hopefully we continue to capture interesting species.

1st week of banding completed

This week we finished our first full week of banding here in Tortuguero. We have 5 banding sites, including our home site at Caribbean Conservation Cooperation (CCC) which we band every other day. CCC has 20 nets which we aim to open at 5:40, before the sun rises just as the first rays of light are penetrating the rainforest. The timing can be tricky, as we learned this week when we found ourselves extracting bats not birds from a net opened too early. Our home site consists of 5 nets arranged in the coastal scrub habitat, and 15 nets in the adjacent highly disturbed secondary forest. So far our most captured birds at CCC seem to be residents such as White Collared Manakin (my first bird banded in Costa Rica), Variable Seedeaters, and 3 common hummingbirds - Long-tailed Hermit, Bronzy Hermit and Rufous-tailed hummingbird. There are also some migrants hanging around, Prothonotary Warbler being the most common capture, but we also have duplicate catches of Chestnut-sided Warbler, House Wren, and Yellow-throated Vireo. Baltimore Orioles and Yellow Warblers also seem to be abundant, but we have yet to catch one.





A migrant female Prothonotary Warbler (above). The sex of these birds can be reliably determined based on the amount of white on the tail feathers (below). The males will have white in all tail feathers whereas in the females it will be lacking or barely visible in the inner tail feathers.




A Chestnut-sided Warbler, common throughout Costa Rica during the winter months. This, the first CSWA we caught, was already banded indicating that it had successfully migrated to North American last spring and returned to winter again in Tortuguero selecting the same exact area to winter as last year!!



White-collared Manakin (female above, male below). The males preform complex dances in leks in hopes up attracting a mate in which they produce a loud snapping sound with their wings. The snapping sound is a constant early morning occurrence however I have yet to find a dancing bird. Video of manakin dance




We also have a banding site located in the Parque National de Tortuguero. This expansive park was founded in 1975 to protect the important nesting grounds on the beaches for sea turtles as well as the surrounding rainforest. Banding here involves an early morning hike of about 25 minutes to the park where we set up our nets. Consisting of mostly primary rainforest we see (and hear) a totally different array of birds than at CCC. This place is a paradise for birders and the mornings are filled with bird songs such as the beautiful Song Wren (3rd link) Song Wren Song We spotted a White-Crowned Pigeon in the coastal scrub and unknown to me, this is an extremely rare sighting for Costa Rica. Upon entering it in ebird I received a confirmation email asking for more clarification. Luckily I snapped a terrible, documentation quality photo which I submitted and word got around in the birding community initiating a steady flow of birders in the country into the park to search for it. My first Costa Rican rare bird!


Documentation photo of a White-Crowned Pigeon in Tortuguero National Park.


Tortuguero National Park is home to a spectacular amount of biodiversity including 375 species of birds, 400 species of tree and over 2000 species of plants. It is also known for its abundance of the dangerous eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii). This beautiful but highly venomous snake is present in many color morphs. It certainly keeps me on my toes and adds a whole new element to banding birds. I make it a rule to not step or touch anything without looking carefully. We took great care when we set up the site to make our net lanes wide to provide ample space to walk by the nets without touching vegetation. I have so far seen 2 (both of the yellow phase) in just 3 trips to the park.



An Eyelash Viper (below possibly a juvenile based on its much smaller size)



Next week we will band 3 times at CCC as well as travelling to 3 sites (the Airport, Cano Palma - a Canadian run tropical research station in old growth primary rainforest, and Tortuga Lodge - a tourist lodge located within primary rainforest where pale-billed woodpeckers, a relative of the ivory-billed woodpecker, are sometimes caught. With any luck I will get to band one myself).

Tortuguero

A lot has happened since my last post. Spent a couple days in San Jose getting to know the common bird species. I was lucky enough to be able to visit INBIO, the Costa Rican equivalent of the Smithsonian. I got a private tour of the insect taxonomy lab and was blown away by what I saw. Picture a building the size of a high school gym, filled with specimens. One entire wing, bigger than my house, was dedicated solely for beetles and butterflies which are pinned in trays stacked 35 high 15 long and hundreds of rows. You do the math, millions is what you will find. Each tray has 10-100 insects depending on size, rhinocerous beetles, weevils, fireflies, click beetles, silver and gold beetles, blue, yellow, red, striped, poca dotted, zig zags, you name it. No pattern made by man has not already been displayed on a tropical beetle. This place turns out new species weekly, in fact it has been calculated that in their first 20 years (celebrated this year) they have described a new species every 3.5 days!!! There is also a little park on the grounds that has a impressive array of birds to be found. I saw some beautiful life birds such as RUFOUS CAPPED WARBLER, and NORTHERN JACANA as well as some familiar migrant birds such as YELLOW WARBLER and BALTIMORE ORIOLE.

On Monday, we left for Tortuguero, this involves a 2.5 hour bus ride to Cariari through the perfectly preserved primary rainforest of Braulio Carrillo National Park. The bus rides up over the mountains offering breathtaking vistas of steep precipices blanked in rainforest without a human blemish as far as one can observe. From Cariari we took the bus 1 hour to Las Pavonas and transfered to a boat which took us to Tortuguero an hour further. Tortuguero is one of the wettest rainforests in the world with nearly 6000mm of rainfall each year. There are no roads and the only means of transport is boat which winds through the maze of canals that penetrate in every which direction. The town itself is situated on a narrow sliver of land between the caribbean and Tortuguero lagoon and at the opening of the massive Tortuguero National Park and this is where I am staying at a turtle investigation center.

This past week has consisted of the grueling job of opening the trails and banding net lanes reclaimed by the jungle from when banding last occured this time last year. The machete is the best tool assuming you don't slice though an eyelash pit viper of which I was very careful not to do. We were able to clear one site a day. I have found only one snake so far, a non venomous tree snake. I have seen lots of new birds including 3 species of trogon and 2 manakins as well as the absolutely stunning golden hooded tanager (you must google this bird).

Tomorrow we open the nets for the first time here at CCC. I wonder what the first bird will be.

A Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)feeding on Tortuguero Beach

Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)

Cane Toad (Bufo Marinus)

Bare-throated Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum)

A very cool insect

Bienvenidos al San Jose

Tropical Kingbirds are common in Downtown San Jose. Public Domain Photo by Unknown Author

San Jose is the gateway to the rest of Costa Rica. Inevitably anyone who wants to witness the treasures of the country must past through this bustling city whose beehive marketplaces can both dazzle and frighten the traveler. I am staying at a popular hostel in the financial district of town. I am already familiar with the country's two most popular beers Imperial, and Pilsen, which are made by the same company and actually taste the same. Surely they just slap another label on the bottle and call it something different. Last night I got a chance to see the University, and the busy district adjacent not to unlike an American college town. Chespi who will be overseeing our work in Tortuguero, took us out so that we could go over some of what we will need to know, however the noise from the bar made communication difficult. Hopefully I will have another opportunity to listen to what he said.

For me, the one thing that always assures me that I am traveling and no longer at home, is hearing the the different pigeon songs of the morning. I think this was even true before I was a birder. The one here seems to be White-winged Dove, whereas this summer I was awakened by Eurasian Collared Dove. Both songs are very different than the locally abundant early morning singer the Mourning Dove. So far I have been able to track down: Rufous-collared sparrows, Tropical Kingbirds, Great-tailed grackels, Rufous-tailed hummingbird, Rock dove, and some unknown parrots. It promises to be a good trip filled with new birds. Today I will visit the metropolitan park of the city, and will have special permission to bird the research section thanks again to Chespi.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Tortuguero for a few days of machete work to reclaim the net lanes from a season of jungle growth and hope to be banding birds by Monday.

The widespread Rufous Collared Sparrow. Public Domain Photo by: Dario Sanches

Hello goodbye

Goodbye

Hello

The new year has arrived and brought much change, new home, new state, and new places to look for birds. The recent move from Annapolis to Charlottesville has wreaked havoc on my bird records. It will be tough to leave behind my Anne Arundel county life list of 217 species and shift to a new county. Nonetheless, Albermarle county will be a pleasure to bird and I look forward to learning all of its secret spots privy to birds and yet unknown to me. I am currently at 39 species two behind the leader after adding Common Raven, and Yellow-rumped Warbler yesterday. The lakes are frozen solid eliminating chances for any ducks I may find.

Even though I have just arrived, in 3 days I will leave for the tropical warmth of Costa Rica on assignment to operate the bird banding station at the Caribbean Conservation Corporation Tortuguero Biological Field Station located within Tortuguero National Park on the northern Caribbean coast. This is a real paradise in the world with staggering biodiversity and I feel privelaged to have been selected to work at the banding station. The bird life in this park is phenomenal with over 300 species occuring within the park boundries alone. Taking a detour from birds, I have spent the day trying to become familiar with the reptiles, most specifically the venomous snakes of the region. Few of you may remember that before my obsession with birds, I was equally obsessed with snakes and frogs and sought to find and photograph as many as I could. Having had the opportunity to participate in a research project collecting reptiles and amphibians in south eastern Peru in 2005, I am familiar with many of the species found in Costa Rica. However many of them will also be new and given the time that I will spend in the forest, I will inevitably encounter a venomous species. Don't worry, I won't touch the venomous ones. Here are a few pics of snakes I took when I was working in Tambopata National Reserve in Peru.

Oxibelis fulgidus

Coral Snake (although I forget which one) Micrurus spp.

Lead Herpetologist Wilfredo Arizabal catching the very venomous Fer de Lance, Bothrops atrox

Me, practicing my snake handling skills on the non-venomous but beautiful Rainbow Boa; Epicrates cenchria

And now for something completely different...

killdeer

American Pipit

Savannah Sparrow, Sandy Point Beach

A pair of American Pipits on Sandy Point Beach

Northern Shrike, Chino Farms in QA county, Maryland

Merlin - Near the shrike

Ruby-crowned kinglet - Thomas Point Park

Hermit Thrush - Thomas Point Park

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Sandy (Snowy) Point Park, Truxton Park

The bridge leading into Truxton Park over Spa Creek

Contrary to the norm, I used this blizzard of nearly 2 feet snow to get out and have some adventure in and around Annapolis - and find birds. On the day of the storm, I strapped on Uncle Bob's waders (bequeathed to me by Eliza's uncle who was in his day an avid Maryland birder) and headed out to Truxton Park on foot. Diversity was not great, but the birds that were present were active and easily visible as they tended to stay up out of the snow. The plumage colors were strikingly vivid compared to the widespread colorless background of fallen snow. Even a tufted titmouse commanded my attention for several moments as I noticed, possibly for the first time, the extent of rufous in the flanks.

Frozen Spa Cove

Yesterday, Dan Haas had the idea to venture out to Sandy Point Park in hopes of finding Snow Buntings, or some other unusual bird taking advantage of the limited foraging area available on the wave beaten but snow-less beach. His instinct was right, although we didn't find any buntings there was a misplaced HORNED LARK, as well as 2 SAVANNAH SPARROWS. The lark was Anne Arundel County bird #203 for the year, a number I am quite pleased with. That places me at a solid third for top Anne Arundel lists of the year behind Dan with a stunning 237 and Stan Arnold at 233.

A Horned Lark forages on Sandy Point Beach

A Savannah Sparrow does the Same

A first winter Ring-billed Gull

Snow, Beach, Lighthouse - Sandy Point MD

Purple Sandpipers

Thomas Point Park has been has been a very productive birding hotspot this month. The Northern Gannet show has been impressive. They have been present in large numbers nearly everyday this month and it seems that there are more each time I go. It has also been a great spot to see the scoter species as well as Bonepart's Gulls. My friend Dan Haas found a Purple Sandpiper today, or rather two. I have been expecting the arrival of this hardy winter sandpiper. These guys prefer rocky shorelines such as jetties where they feed upon insects and mollusks. They are very tame and approachable and the lighting was perfect for a great photo session.

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Red-breasted Mergansers at Greenbury Point

Lastly, here are a few scenic pictures I have taken over the last few weeks. They are from Greenbury Point in Annapolis, and Old Trail Park outside Crozet, VA.