Lista Oficial de las Aves de Costa Rica 2009

Hola a todos,

Les comunico que la lista Oficial actualizada al 2009 ya esta disponible en la web de la AOCR. También las evidencias fotográficas aceptadas por el Comité Científico y archivadas en el MNCR (Depto. Historia Natural) para esta actualización y anteriores podrán verlas en el siguiente enlace http://avesdecostarica.org/Page582.html
La actualización 2009 detallada con todos los cambios ya esta circulando en la versión impresa de Zeledonia 13,2 Nov. y pronto estará disponible en el siguiente enlace http://avesdecostarica.org/Page388.html

Saludos,

Gerardo Obando
Comité Científico, AOCR

Sept 18-20 Pacific pelagic gets new species for Costa Rica - Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata)

1. Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata). One of five individuals seen September 18-19 off Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Surprisingly the species does not appear on the main list of the AOU for North America because of possible confusion with Phoenix Petrel (Pterodroma alba) although it has been reported regularly by researchers working in the eastern tropical Pacific and is included in Howell and Webb's Guide to the Birds of Mexico. This photo shows the long straight wing, and long thin tail profile typical of the species. Photo by Noel Ureña.

2. Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata). The first individual was seen only 33 km south of the tip of the Nicoya peninsula, well within the range of a one day pelagic trip out of Los Sueños or Quepos. Photo by Noel Ureña.

3. Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata). Distinctive large bill, dark unpatterned underwing, long thin tail, and grayish rump are all marks that help distinguish this species from Phoenix Petrel (Pterodroma alba). Photo by Noel Ureña.

4. Markham's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma markhami) - another rare species we found on this trip. Two individuals were identified. Others were possible but couldn't be seen well enough to distinguish them from the more common and very similar Black Storm-Petrel. Photo by Noel Ureña.

5. Parkinson's Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni) - only one bird was observed when it came to our chum along with a handful of Wilson's Storm-Petrels and a Pink-footed Shearwater at the end of the day on Sept 19th. Photo by Noel Ureña.

6. White Tern (Gygis alba) - again, only one individual was seen, this one just before sunset on the first day, Sept. 18th about 150 km from shore. Photo by Noel Ureña.

7. Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) - Dark morph adult, the form typically found in Costa Rican waters. We've had several trips where the last bird of the day is a Red-footed Booby that tries to land on the mast for the night. Photo by Noel Ureña.

8. Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini) - a common migrant out at sea this time of year. Most, like this bird, were almost molted into their winter plumage. We found a large flock attending a trawler that was hauling in it's nets out in the Gulf of Nicoya on Sept. 20th. Among the hundreds of Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) also in attendance we managed to spot one Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii). Photo by Noel Ureña.

9. Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel (Oceanodroma tethys) - by far the most common species of storm-petrel this time of year. Photo by Noel Ureña.

10. Audubon's Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) - always a regular though usually in smaller numbers than the other regular member of the genus in Pacific Costa Rican waters, the Wedge-tailed Shearwater (P. pacificus). Audubon's Shearwater complex is split by some into several species, the one found here on the Pacific side would be the Galapagos Shearwater (P. subalaris). Caribbean birds would still be Audubon's. We also saw one Manx/Townsend's Shearwater (P. puffinus/auricularis) but were unable to see it well enough, or get photos, to tell which species it might have been. Photo by Noel Ureña.

11. Paul Murgatroyd with American Redstart that came aboard the boat out in the middle of the Gulf of Nicoya. It stayed with us for about an hour and finally headed out on its own for land shortly before we reached Playa Herradura. At first timid, it soon became bold enough to perch on anyone's head or outstretched arm. Thanks to Paul for sponsoring yet another wonderful journey aboard the Floating Bear and for his contributions towards furthering our knowledge of Costa Rica's pelagic birds. Photo by Noel Ureña.

Here is the at sea list for the three day trip - September 18-20, 2009.

5 - Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata)
13 - unidentified petrel sp.
1 - Parkinson's Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni)
3 - Pink-footed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus)
74 - Wedge-tailed Shearwater (P. pacificus)
14 - Audubon's Shearwater (P. lherminieri)
5 - unidentified shearwater sp.
9 - Wilson's Storm-Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus)
12 - Leach's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa)
(Leach's rump color: 7 white, 4 dark, 1 intermediate)
2 - Band-rumped Storm-Petrel (O. castro)
59 - Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel (O. tethys)
12 - Black Storm-Petrel (O. melania)
2 - Markham's Storm-Petrel (O. markhami)
1 - Least Storm-Petrel (O. microsoma)
33 - unidentified Storm-Petrel with white rump
3 - unidentified Storm-Petrel with dark rump
9 - Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus)
1 - Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra)
4 - Masked/Nazca Booby (S. dactylatra/granti)
1 - Blue-footed Booby (S. nebouxii)
606 - Brown Booby (S. leucogaster)
10 - Red-footed Booby (S. sula)
246 - Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
329 - Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)
1 - Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)
19 - unknown shorebird
250 - Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)
5 - Red Phalarope (P. fulicarius)
59 - Sabine's Gul (Xema sabini)
1 - Franklin’s Gull (Leucophaeus pipixcan)
4 - Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus)
1 - White Tern (Gygis alba)
9 - Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus)
41 - Black Tern (Chlidonias niger)
1 - Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)
1 - Sandwich Tern (T. sandvicensis)
1 - Elegant Tern (T. elegans)
1 - Common/Arctic Tern (Sterna hirundo/paradisaea)
3 - Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus)
6 - Parasitic Jaeger (S. parasiticus)
1 - Long-tailed Jaeger (S. longicaudus)
8 - unidentified jaeger sp.
7 - Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia)
19 - Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
10 - Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
9 - unidentified swallow sp.
1 - American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)

Visit to Veragua Rainforest July 2009

This past July, I visited Veragua Rainforest Park with Daniel Torres and Andres Daves. Both are great birders and passionate about their professions. I highly recommend it is a birding destination as well as a family destination. They have beautiful facilities and excellent habitat. The Frog exhibit and reptile vivarium are state of the art. They have a dark room to walk through with a guide to look for frogs. Their butterfly reasearch and collection are amazing.

They have reports of seeing the sulphur-rumped tanager, white-fronted nunbird, and bare-necked umbrella bird.

Veragua is 12km south from the Liverpool entrance near Limon. Very nice middle-elevation habitat.

I saw the following in a short period of time. I'm definately going to return to seek out the elusive sulphur-rumped tananger.....Lance

Great Tinamou
Plumbeous Kite
White-throated Crake
Sunbittern
Red-billed Pigeon
Short-billed Pigeon
Gray-chested Dove
Red-lored Parrot
Squirrel Cuckoo
Groove-billed Ani
White-collared Swift
Band-tailed Barbthroat
Western Long-tailed Hermit
Blue-chested Hummingbird
Green-crowned Brilliant
Violaceous Trogon
Rufous Motmot
Collared Aracari
Keel-billed Toucan
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
Northern Barred-Woodcreeper
Western Slaty-Antshrike
Chestnut-backed Antbird
White-collared Manakin
Red-capped Manakin
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Black-throated Wren
Stripe-breasted Wren
White-breasted Wood-Wren
Clay-colored Robin
Dusky-faced Tanager
Passerini's Tanager
Olive-backed Euphonia
Bay-headed Tanager
Golden-hooded Tanager
Green Honeycreeper
Blue-black Grassquit
Thick-billed Seed-Finch
Black-striped Sparrow
Black-faced Grosbeak
Scarlet-rumped Cacique
Montezuma Oropendola

Bicolored Hawk in San Ramon de Tres Rios

Today, June 17, I saw a bicolored hawk (accipiter bicolor) at a private farm in San Ramon de Tres rios, approx. 3.5 km from the Iglesia San Rafael.

It was an adult and it had just killed an Emerald Toucanet. We discovered the kill site and the hawk flew away with the Toucan in its claws.

Sharpbill y el Correcaminos en San Carlos

Hola todos. Gracias a Lance por permitirme entrar al blog.

Primero es para reportar un interesante sitio para pajarear en CR que comienzo a conocer realmente hasta ahora. En el poco conocido Parque Nacional Juan Castro Blanco, parte de la area de conservacion ACA-HN, San Carlos. Especificamente entrando por el lado Norte del cerro Platanar, no por la entrada Ciudad Quesada, Tapezco sino mas bien por Aguas Zarcas. Hay unos "casi senderos" utilizados por los pocos que todavia cazan en el Cerro, estos senderos ascienden sobre el cerro desde 800 msnm hasta unos 1800 msnm es un poco dificil pero vale la pena. Algunos de los mas interesantes registros de un par de meses atras; (27-10-08) Neomorphus geofroyi (Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo) individuo bastante oscuro (juvenil?) pasando el sendero a las 12:45 md en condiciones atmosfericas nubladas, altura promedio de 900 msnm. Tambien hace un par de semanas atras observe y pesimamente fotografie, en el mismo sendero Oxyruncus cristatus (Sharpbill) en unas copas de arboles basante altos, bastante activo se mantenia en una misma area (quiza mas de un idividuo).
Entre otros bonitos y un poco mas constantes registros estan:

Harpyhaliaetus solitarius (Solitary Eagle)
Spizaetus ornatus (Ornate Hawk-Eagle)
Selenidera spectabilis (Yellow-eared Toucanet)
Bangsia arcaei, (Blue-and-Gold Tanager)
Myrmeciza immaculata (Imaculated Antbird)
En la parte mas alta, Empidonax albigularis, White-throated FC, entre otros.
En el area mas baja y mas abierta se ven pajarillos como Icterus mesomelas (todavia incluso con los muchos jauleros que hay en la zona) y Passerina cyanea.

En conclusion me parece que el lado norte del Cerro Platanar es un buen sitio para pajarear por la variacion de alturas y por las grandes extensiones de bosque primario.
Aqui estan las cordenadas del parque por si tienen tiempo para visitarlo, a la entrada de Aguas Zarcas pueden llegar preguntando. (10° 10’ y 10° 20’ latitud norte y 84° 15’ y 84° 25’ longitud oeste)

Saludos

JD

April 3-5, 2009: Pacific pelagic proves productive.

1. Parkinson's Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni). We saw 15 individuals (1 on Apr.3 and 14 on Apr.4). All birds showed pronounced flight feather molt. The species is endemic to New Zealand (as a breeder) laying eggs in November and December. It flies across the Pacific to pass the non-breeding season in waters off Cenntral and South America. The total world population is estimated at only 10,000 birds. Photo by Jim Wolfe.

2. Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius). This bird's bill color was changing from dark (non-breeding) to yellow (breeding.) Photo by Jim Wolfe.

3. Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus) carrying a prize. This immature bird dropped out of nowhere crashing into the water near the boat to catch this squid. As is typical, we saw only one individual of this species. Photo by Jim Wolfe.

4. An adult Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus). This species has been the most common jaeger on almost all of our recent pelagic trips. We saw 79 birds over the course of three days including a raft of 16 birds settled on the water at dusk on April 4th. Photo by Jim Wolfe.

5. Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus). A bird in first summer plumage. The first we've seen after a number of voyages - a new addition to everyone's Costa Rica list. Notice how light-bodied and narrow-winged it is compared to the hulking Pomarine pictured above. Photo by Jim Wolfe.

6. Christmas Shearwater (Puffinus nativitatus) April 3, 2009, 51 km west of Cabo Blanco. This was one of our target species. It was first identified in Costa Rica by Bruce Mactavish in March-April, 2008 when he had several different sightings in this same general area. We saw two individuals of this species and managed to get some nice photos of one. Photo by Jim Wolfe.

7. Route of the Floating Bear 3-5 April, 2009. Map created by Bruce Young.

8. Christmas Shearwater (Puffinus nativitatus) with two light morph Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus pacificus). Wedge-tailed and Christmas Shearwaters often share breeding sites on islands in the central Pacific. Photo by Bruce Young.

9. Masked Booby, adult (Sula dactylatra). These impressive, long-winged birds would invariably fly straight towards the boat and circle us one or two times before heading off in another direction. Photo by Bruce Young.

10. Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus). About 104 km west of Tamarindo on April 4 we came upon 3 of these amazing creatures, the largest animal that has ever lived on earth. We were able to get close to one as it made short dives (staying down 5 minutes or so) near the boat, close enough to hear it's lungs filling with air as it inhaled. Individuals can be identified by the shape of their tiny dorsal fin and the pattern of dark blotches on their back. We sent these photos to some whale researchers in California but they didn't recognize this individual. There is a resident population in the Pacific off the Central American coast but individuals from other populations may occur here as well. Photo by Bruce Young.

On April 3-5, 2009 Paul Murgatroyd, Bruce Young, Richard Garrigues, Jim Wolfe and Jim Zook went on a pelagic birding trip out of the Los Sueños marina at Playa Heradura aboard the Floating Bear, a 52 foot Beneteau 500 sailboat, with captain Greivin Prado and deck hand Juan Lopez. Our goal was to get out to the southern end of a deep water canyon (the Middle American Trench) that runs parallel to the coast off the Nicoya Peninsula. In March and April of 2008 Bruce Mactavish compiled an impressive list of birds while working as a marine mammal observer aboard a siesmic vessel operating in this area off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In three days we managed to see most of the species that Bruce picked up on his 28 day cruise (we missed Red-footed Booby, Sabine's Gull, Brown Noddy and White Tern).

High on our list of objectives was to find and hopefully photograph a Christmas Shearwater, a species that Bruce Mactavish found last year. His sightings were the first ever for Costa Rica. He took some photos of birds in flight that provided evidence. Luck was with us on the afternoon of our first day when we spotted an all dark, relatively small and short-winged shearwater flying off to one side that we recognized as something different. It was rapidly winging away from us, but we were able to get on it with a pair of 12x image-stabilizing binoculars, and just as it was disappearing over the waves way out in front we saw it plop down in the water among a compact little group of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. Trying desperately not to lose sight of the birds we cautiously moved past them at a distance and then came around so as to have the sun at our backs and approached slowly, managing to creep up to within about 25 m of them. It was nice to have the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters right there for comparison.

Here is the species list for the three days at sea:

15 - Parkinson's Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni)
2 - Pink-footed Shearwater (Puffinus creatopus)
380 - Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus)
2 - Christmas Shearwater (Puffinus nativitatis)
19 - Audubon's (Galapagos) Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri)
4 - Petrel/Shearwater sp.
63 - Leach's Storm-Petrel (dark-rump) (Oceanodroma leucorhoa)
4 - Wedge-rumped (Galapagos) Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma tethys)
107 - Black Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma melania)
1 - Least Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma microsoma)
1 - Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus)
11 - Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra)
3 - Nazca Booby (Sula granti)
463 - Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster)
11 - Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
310 - Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)
2 - White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)
2 - shorebird sp.
51 - Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)
11 - Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)
1 - Swallow-tailed Gull (Creagrus furcatus)
4 - Franklin's Gull (Leucophaeus pipixcan)
2 - gull sp.
6 - Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus)
2 - Least Tern (Sternula antillarum)
413 - Black Tern (Chlidonias niger)
2 - Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
45 - Royal Tern (Sterna maximus)
7 - Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)
15 - tern sp.
79 - Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus)
3 - Parasitic Jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus)
1 - Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus)
24 - jaeger sp.

Results - March 7 Golfito pelagic

Wedge-tailed Shearwater, photo by Juan Diego Vargas.

On March 7, 2009 a pelagic birding trip took place aboard the "Reina del Sur" (25 foot covered ferry-panga type boat with 175hp outboard) from the dock at Mar y Luna, Golfito, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Birding particpants: Andrew Robertson, Alison Olivieri, Julie Girard, Dionisio Paniagua, Victor Pérez, Carlos Gonzalez, Janet Peterson, Juan Diego Vargas, Jim Zook. 06:10-15:05. Farthest point out into open ocean was 41.7 kms (25 miles) SW of Cabo Blanco (tip of Osa Peninsula/mouth of Gulfo Dulce). We had planned to be out until 16:00 but decided to cut it short because of wind and a choppy sea. Overall it was pretty quiet. We saw very few marine mammals, though perhaps the best sighting of the trip was a female Orca (Killer Whale). Also no fisihing boats. We had good looks at all species except for the Bridled Terns and some flying Phalaropes. Here is the species list: 10 - Wedge-tailed Shearwater 4 - Audubon's Shearwaters 14 - Brown Booby 17 - Brown Pelican 9 - Magnificent Frigatebird 3 - Phalarope sp. 43 - Laughing Gull 2 - Bridled Tern 126 - Black Tern 14 - Sandwich Tern 36 - Royal Tern 6 - Barn Swallow