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

Tropical Mockingbird in Santa Ana, March 8, 2009

A Tropical Mockingbird (Mimus gilvus) hung out in my backyard in Santa Ana (Valle del Sol, Lindora) all day today. I heard it singing earlier in the morning (I was able to get some song recordings). It continued to sing until early afternoon.

I'm not aware of a Mimus gilvus sighting in the Central Valley. Does anyone else have a report of the mockingbird in the Central Valley?

Lance

March 8, 2009