Poised for Flight: It's a Jungle Out There

First off, Happy Valentine's day Eliza. I am missing you loads and can't wait till I see you again.

This past Friday afternoon while I was out checking the nets, my banding partner went to check on some bird commotion that was occuring in a tree nearby the banding station. To our surprise, we observed a Green Parrot Snake (Oxybelis fulgidus) that had caught a black-cheeked Woodpecker and was attempting to kill it with its venom. This snake is a specialist in eating small lizards and occasionally insects, birds, and small mammals such as mice. The Black-cheeked Woodpecker, extremely abundant in the Caribbean lowlands, seemed to be a very sizable prey for the snake whose neck seemed to have one tenth the girth of the medium sized woodpecker. (Similar in size to Red-bellied for those of you familiar with Eastern U.S. avifauna). It was quite an impressive feat to watch this small snake subdue the woodpecker and swallow it whole before retreating to a resting place out of site in the canopy of the tree. Numerous other birds such as yellow warbler, and Boat-billed Flycatcher participated in mobbing the snake and scolding it although they seemed to loose interest once the bird was diseased. Even though the bird was dead within 30 minutes, the whole ordeal took nearly 4 hours as the snake attempted to swallow it's prized catch. This is a snake I have handled in Peru, and if my memory serves me correctly it was quite feisty, and willing to bite, although the toxin is not harmful to humans barring an allergic reaction. What a beautiful snake. What an unfortunate woodpecker. I am happy to report that there still seems to be plenty of Blacked-cheeked Woodpeckers singing in the area.

A Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) participates in mobbing the offending snake.

In other news, I was fortunate to be able to take the company kayak deep into the park and explore the extensive canal system. After an hour paddling against the flow I reached Harold Canal (formerly Death Canal, of which I was pleased that this former name had been dropped). This is one of the best wildlife experiences I have ever had. The canals are narrow, 20 feet across, giving the whole scene a surreal jungle book experience. The wildlife is top notch, with all 3 species of monkey, as well as sloths, very easy to observe. River otters are also abundant and I saw 4 including one who was happily gnawing on a fish unaware of my presence. The birdlife is some of the best I have ever witnessed. It will take me many more trips here to figure out what all the birds singing in the canopy are but notable life birds I saw include BLUE DACNIS, GREEN IBIS, SUNGREBE, GREAT CURRASOW, and the hightlight - GREAT GREEN MACAW, the seventh species of macaw I have seen in the wild and 22nd species of Psittacidae (the family that consists of parrots, parakeets, and macaws). The pair of Great Green Macaws, a species I was really hoping to see, flew right overhead after announcing their presence with a great raspy scream. They then banked towards the water surface and sharply to the left offering me detailed binocular views of their magnificient plumage before disappearing through the light drizzle into the hidden canopy in search of fruiting trees.

One of the neat things about banding is it gives us the opportunity to catch difficult to see ground foraging birds such as wrens and sparrows. Several times I have checked the nets only to find a bird I had not previously detected despite conducting intensive area searches. I am quickly learning to appreciate wrens of the family Troglodytidae for the unique challenge they offer in locating, their beautiful and complex songs and skulking behavior. As their scientific name implies (Trogodytidae = cave dweller) the often choose to forage in dark crevices and are small and hidden except for their complex songs. Having spent a month in Costa Rica, I have now seen 4 species including the super abundant migratory House Wren which most are probably familiar with. These wrens prove to be quite unlike the Carolina Wren that I am used to from the states in that they are very secretive and not often spotted. In fact of the 4 species, I have only seen 3 because the wound up in the mist net.

Above and below: Bay Wren (Thryothorus nigricapillus)

Below: White-breated Wood Wren (Henicorhina leucosticta)

Above and below: Song Wren (Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus)

A very interesting bird that we caught this week, and one of my favorites in Costa Rica, is the American Pygmy Kingfisher. This small kingfisher has all the traits of a kingfisher except that it weighs only 18 grams, roughly the size of a Prothonotary Warbler or a Song Sparrow. They occur in thick forest along streams and canals with dense vegetation such as mangroves searching for fish and tadpoles, and occasionally insects. This particular individual we captured flew into the net right next to me as I was extracting a large spiny stick that had become entangled in the net (yes we have to take out insects as well - weevils, dragonflies, grasshoppers, massively large stinging wasps and bees).

American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) - the lack of a green breast band makes this a male bird.

We aged this bird SY (second year) due to the presence of a block of 3 older retained primaries. Visible in the bottom picture as the 7th, 8th, and 9th primary in from the tip.

A couple days later, we captured 2 more American Pygmy Kingfishers including this bird which had a strange deformed bill shaped much like it was a crossbill eating pine cone seeds rather than a kingfisher eating fish. It appeared to be an older bird due to its plumage details and we aged it at least AHY (after hatch year) since it had a fully ossified skull indicating that it is able to successfully hunt with its deformed bill.