Poised for Flight: Beautiful Birds

So, I could talk about rain in all of my blogs. I could talk about the 11.7 inches that fell in 18 hours flooding half the town. (It is hard for this place to flood badly mainly because it is already flooded). I could talk about the 3 mile walk home from the airport banding site along the beach in drenching downpours, strong Carribean winds, amongst lightning bolts and falling coconuts; but I am not going to talk about rain. Instead I am going to talk about cool birds. Like this Royal Flycatcher that we caught at Cano Palmas Tropical Research Center. This amazing bird rarely displays its spectacular crest unless courting or agitated. Banding sessions are a great way to see the crest because the bird leaves it open constantly in defense. This bird is rare in the Carribbean, but has been caught in the past by the banding teams here. Last one was in 2008. This is a bird that I actually banded in Peru in 2004 and depending on some sources they list it as a different species meaning that I have banded 2 different species of Royal Flycatchers!

Another amazing bird that I am going to talk about is this Red-capped Manakin. Like the white collared manakin that we catch very frequently and other manakins, the males preform spectacular courtship dances in hopes of wooing an available female. This bird's dance is so elaborate it has earned the nickname the "moonwalking bird" because of its slide dance that it preforms. MOONWALK VIDEO

We also band hummingbirds. Here in Costa Rica there is an astounding diversity of hummingbirds. My guide book lists 57 species! Compared to the one species on the east coast of the US the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (which incidently is a winter resident in Costa Rica) the skies are filled with tiny flying jewels. We have captured 6 species. This bird, the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is our most frequently captured hummer.

The bands we use are very very tiny. They come in a pre printed sheet of aluminium which we then cut out, trim, shape, sand, and polish so that they are safe for the birds. This bird we captured early in the season, a Long-billed Hermit (below), was already banded. Since no banding has occured since last winter, we know that this bird has survived here for at least a year. Pretty impressive given the numbers of hawks, kites, falcons, lizards, snakes, and other predators that would love to eat one of these.

Another Long-billed Hermit (below 2). This beautiful bird is large for a hummingbird, topping the scales at about 6 grams compared with the Ruby-throated Hummingbird at about 4 grams. In the extremes, Bee Hummingbirds of Cuba weigh only 2.2 grams while the largest hummingbird in the world, the Giant Hummingbird of South America, can weigh 20 grams (think song sparrow size).

Notes from the field:

Get ready all you northerners. (Which from here includes just about everyone). Migration is starting down here. Shorebirds are increasing in number especially Sanderlings which have arrived by the hundreds compared with the small numbers seen this winter. I heard a Yellow-throated Vireo, and winter resident here that is normally silent, sing its full song. We have also seen an increase in the number of new bands applied to Prothonotary Warblers. (We have been just catching the same 9 or 10 individuals over and over again but today we applied 3 new bands). Five times a day we conduct migration counts from the beach and note all birds moving north. As you can imaging this was pretty boring during the winter when we only occasionally saw Magnificent Frigatebirds, or Common Black Hawks that were probably just foraging rather than migrating. Things have changed. Purple Martins and Barn Swallows are now migrating in huge numbers with our counts reaching into the hundreds for the day. Cliff Swallows and bank Swallows are also on their way in lesser numbers. It is very interesting to see how migration begins. While the resident Mangrove Swallows and Gray-chested Martins continue their normal feeding, migratory swallows take on a whole new task. The impressive feat of migrating thousands of miles north to take advantage of the available food sources that come with spring in the US and Canada. Lets hope they make it. While Costa Rica is losing birds to northern forests for the summer, some birds also come here from South America. Yesterday, I spotted 2 Yellow-green Vireos just outside the banding station which surely have just arrived from wintering further south.