Confirmado: Evidencias de anidación del águila Arpia en el P.N Tortuguero

Más información - More information:
http://avesdecostarica.org/Page370.html

Saludos,
Gerardo Obando,
Comité Científico, AOCR

Yellow-winged Tanager (Thraupis abbas) in la zona norte

Yellow-winged Tanager (Thraupis abbas), photo by Froilan Rojas Ramirez. Compare with the Palm Tanager (T. palmarum) that is also visible in the photo

The bird was first seen by Froilan on Dec.10,2009 and last seen on Jan.20,2010. It has been visiting a banana feeder at a soda/rancho that is operated by Aventuras Arenal located along the main highway about 3 km before Los Chiles de San Carlos, Alajuela.

Like the other two Thraupis species already found in Costa Rica the Yellow-winged Tanager is a bird of semi-open country. Over the last decade the species has been moving southward through Nicaragua in the wake of deforestation. It has finally arrived in Costa Rica and it may continue its march southward.

Greater Ani again in Tortuguero

Photo of Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) taken by Kevin Easley on Jan 23, 2010 in Tortuguero.

On Jan 19, 2010 Daryl Loth of Casa Marbella found a lone Greater Ani in Tortuguero in the park along the Rio Tortuguero about 400 m north of the entrance to Canos Harold, Chequero y Mora. This is the second appearance of this species in Costa Rica. The first time a lone bird was seen for several months in late 2004-early 2005 in this same area. Before this first sighting the species had not been reported west of central Panama.

White-crowned Pigeon in Tortuguero

White-crowned Pigeon photographed by Chris Murray in Tortuguero on Jan 24, 2010. The bird was seen along the border between the park and the town of Tortuguero on the trail between the park station and the beach.

Nuevo avistamiento del Aguila Arpia en Tortuguero

Hemos recibido un nuevo reporte del Aguila Arpia en el Parque Nacional Tortuguero. El pasado sábado 16 de enero se observo un individuo en el sector de Caño Harold.

Saludos,

Gerardo Obando, AOCR.

Christmas Bird Counts

Hi All,

Will anyone be posting results from Costa Rica Christmas Bird Counts here? Why were the dates not announced here last month?

Good Birding,

Rich
---
Rich Hoyer
Tucson, Arizona
http://birdernaturalist.blogspot.com/

Senior Leader for WINGS
http://wingsbirds.com
---

Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) - new species for Costa Rica

1. Photo by José David Vargas Fernández

2. Photo by José David Vargas Fernández


On Nov 1, 2009, at 7:30 am, José David Vargas Fernández, who is a guide for Jacamar Tours S.A., found and photographed this juvenile Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) on the rocky coast between Playa Mansita, in Hacienda Pinilla, and the estuary at Playa Avellanas, Guanacaste. The lone Piping Plover was on the fringe of a large group of Semipalmated Plovers (C. semipalmatus). JD noted that the Piping Plover seemed to keep apart from the Semipalmateds and that it made high, whistled "peep" vocalizations that were different from the more nasal calls of the Semipalmateds.

On Nov 7, at 12:50 pm, JD went back with Edgar Brenes and Gustavo Mora, who are also both Costa Rican naturalist guides, to look for the bird. They were able to find it , and photograph it, again at the same spot. There have been no subsequent reports of this bird to date.

Piping Plover is ranked as a "Near Threatened" species by the IUCN. It breeds in the US and Canada in the great plains and along the northern Atlantic coast, and winters on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the southern US and Mexico, and in the Bahamas and Greater Antilles. Its occurrence south of the Yucatan Peninsula in winter is considered as accidental.

A Few Highlights From a Short WINGS tour

Dear Birders,

I've just finished leading a five-day tour in Costa Rica. There was just one avid birder in the group, a 13-year-old boy who has been birding for about a year and a half and was here on vacation with his family. His keen ears and eyes garnered us a total bird list around 250 species. Several other members of the family were also interested in seeing birds, but it wasn't a dawn-to-dusk birding group.

Just a few highlights:
At Savegre Lodge we had great views of a GREEN-FRONTED LANCEBILL hunting insects over the bridge at the entrance at about 6:15 a.m. on 29 Dec. In the gardens were two STRIPE-TAILED HUMMINGBIRDS, which I hadn't seen here before. I suspect they are usually quite a bit lower in elevation on this slope. As usual, this continues to be the best place for RESPLENDENT QUETZAL, and we watched a pair feeding from a Nectandra tree visible from the picture windows in our rooms. It was being reported that Los Lagos ($2 per person entrance) also had a very active fruiting tree.

Our morning at La Selva on 30 Dec was quite productive considering we were there for just 3 hours and that we spent time watching things such as poison dart frogs and Collared Peccaries. Great views of an immature RUDDY QUAIL-DOVE, a confiding GREAT TINAMOU, and three CRESTED GUANS by the start of the foot bridge were probably the most memorable birds, though we didn't see anything unexpected. Flocks of swifts overhead were mixed VAUX'S SWIFT and GRAY-RUMPED SWIFT.

The birding at Sueño Azul resort on 30 and 31 Dec was as good as always. A SLATY-BREASTED TINAMOU was calling a dusk at the end of the "rainforest" road, two FASCIATED TIGER-HERONS were almost always visible on the rocks downstream from the lodge, and a pair of SPECTACLED OWLS sang both nights just outside our rooms. A "whitting" empid that I did not see was probably a LEAST FLYCATCHER, but it's been long enough since I've heard a WILLOW FLYCATCHER call that I'm not sure it wasn't that species. Either would be rather rare here in mid-winter. A ROYAL FLYCATCHER on the far side of the little lake by the parking area was something of a surprise.

Finally, on the morning of 27 Dec at the Bougainvillea Hotel in Santo Domingo, Heredia, I briefly saw two birds fly over that I would have called SHINY COWBIRDS had I seen them anywhere I know the species to be common. Has this species spread into the Central Valley in recent years? I saw them so briefly that I admit I may have misjudged their size and flight style, the only other possibility being Bronzed Cowbird.

Good Birding,

Rich Hoyer