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A New Sighting of Red-br= easted Blackbirds

1= 2 October: Herson Guevara was horseback riding at Hotel Hacienda Moravia en Chirr= ipo de Turrialba (1130 m) and saw eight Red-breasted Blackbirds Sturnella militaris<= /i> in a grassy field. The local guide, German Loiza, who has worked at the hotel = for six years, said the birds have been around for the past six months. This represents the highest elevation yet reported for this species in CR.<= /o:p>

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H= erson also mentioned seeing a pair of Lesser Goldfinches Carduelis psaltria<= /i> in the hotel’s garden.

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Tody Motmot Found at Are= nal

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0= 7 October: Juan Carlos Solano was hiking up the Cerro Chato Trail at Arenal Observatory Lodge early in the morning, when he spotted a small bird perched low, about 200m into the forested part of the trail. He was quite surprised [indeed!] = to discover that it was a Tody Motmot= Hylomanes momotula! He had good lo= oks at it for a minute or more before it flew. This is the southernmost record in = CR that I know of for this species.

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Highlights of a Great Bi= rding Trip

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F= rom 27 September to 10 October 2007, I had the pleasure of accompanying Jonas Nils= son and Jim and Bonnie Olson during their visit to Costa Rica. We were quite fortun= ate with the weather and saw nearly 450 species of birds in 13 field days. Of course, with that many species there were obviously lots of great birds and fantastic moments. Here I report only the rarer findings, in addition to the migrants mentioned above.

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2= 7 Sep: A pair of Lesser Goldfinches Carduelis psaltria visiting the Me= xican Cypress trees at the Casa Vieja Restaurant (on the Cartago – Paraíso road by the entrance to Lankester Gardens) were among the ve= ry first birds on our trip list—an auspicious start!
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2= 8 Sep: A pair of Tropical Mockingbirds = Mimus gilvus was found in a garden between Paraíso and Orosi, near the entrance to Sanchiri Lodge. I was unaware of this location for the species (which we also saw at two other si= tes during the trip).

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2= 9 Sep: In the morning, while birding at Jorge Serrano’s Paraíso del Quet= zal, we had both Rough-legged Tyrannule= t Phyllomyias burmeisteri and Ochraceous Pewee Contopus ochraceus. Then, at dusk in San Gerardo de Dota, Jonas found a Scaled Antpitta Grallaria guatimalensis near the s= tart of the Waterfall Trail, just after crossing the log bridge. I’m not a= ware of previous records of this species in the valley.

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3= 0 Sep: Melvin Fernández, of Savegre Mountain Hotel, had told me that both he and Ernesto Carman had seen a male Black-throated Trogon Trogon rufus in the = area below the hotel in recent months, and we also got to see it as we birded the Los Ranchos area that morning. At 2100 m, this is an incredibly high elevat= ion for this species.

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0= 3 Oct: A Ruddy Woodcreeper Dendrocincla homochroa put in a brief appearance on the Oxbow L= ake Trail at Carara. It was very possibly the first time I’ve seen this species in Carara, and, if not, it was certainly the first sighting I’= ;ve had of it there in a long time.

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0= 5 Oct: A Rufous-necked Wood-Rail Aramides axillaris was quite coope= rative as it preened in a patch of sunlight during a brief stop we made at the Mata Limón mangrove.

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1= 0 Oct: And one of the last species to make it onto our trip list was a Blue-and-gold Tanager Bangsia arcaei that showed very ni= cely at La Virgen del Socorro.

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Streaked Xenops Seen at = Monte Sky

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0= 3 October 2007: Rafa Campos and William Granados had excellent looks at a Streaked Xenops Xenops rutilans in the garden at Monte Sky, near Tapantí= NP.

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Lance Scores a Double Bi= rdie on the Links

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0= 2 October 2007: Lance Barnett reported seeing two Southern Lapwings Vanellus chilensis= at the Valle del Sol golf course in Pozos de Santa Ana. This is apparently the first record for the species in the Central Valley.

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Yet Another Motmot Mixed Pair at Arenal=

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14 September 2007: While birding the La Peninsula road at Arenal NP with James= and Monroe McKay, late in the afternoon, I heard a motmot vocalize. It sounded = like the typical “hoarse” vocalization of a Broad-billed Motmot Electron platyrhynchum, but given the locality I decided to = play a recording of Keel-billed Motmot E. carinatum, just to see what would happen. The result? Nothing. So= , I switched to David L. Ross’s recording of Broad-billed Motmot (the one= on the Costa Rica Bird Songs CD). When the recording got to the second part, w= hich sounds like two birds giving a fast, rhythmic duet, a bird immediately flew= in and landed on a looping vine just a few meters from where I stood. A second bird followed momentarily and landed another meter away, behind vegetation.= I called James and Monroe over to see the first bird: a Keel-billed Motmot, a= nd a second-ever sighting for me! As we admired the bird, and James took photographs, the second bird continued calling incessantly. Manuevering to = get a view, I discovered that it was a Broad-billed Motmot! Curiousity got the = best of me and I played the recording again. This time, when the faster rendition began, the broad-billed flew to the vine where the keel-billed was perched = and the two performed the exact call together!!

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Rare Observation of Mammal Predation by a Toucan

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14 September 2007: James McKay took this image of a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan Ramphastos swainsonii at Hotel Villa Lapas. What the bird is holding in its beak i= s a Common Tent-making Bat Uroderma bilobatum! Unfortunately,= none of us witnessed the actual attack, and so I cannot describe how the toucan caught the bat.

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T= his species of bat roosts in Coconut Palms on the grounds of the hotel, where f= or years naturalist guides have been able to show their clients small colonies (average four to six individuals per frond) spending the daylight hours han= ging beneath fronds that they have modified by chewing part way through the leaflets, causing them to bend about 90° and thus forming a “tent.” On my last two visits to Villa Lapas, I found no bats u= nder the fronds of the small coconut nearest the restaurant, where they typically could be seen daily. I eventually found just four bats (two per frond) roos= ting under the leaves of a much taller palm beside the swimming pool.

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M= ost members of the Ramphastidae are known to take eggs and nestlings from the n= ests of other bird species, but there seem to be few reports of them predating s= mall mammals.

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Black-cowled Oriole Seen= on Pacific Side of Tilarán Range

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03 September 2007: Johan Fernandez spotted a Black-cowled Oriole Icterus prosthemelas= beside the road near the village of Dos de Tilarán. This adds to the growing number of sightings on the Pacific side of CR in recent years and is the northernmost sighting to date.

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F= or reports prior to these, please check previous Costa Rica Rare Bird Reports:

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Aug/Jul/Jun = 2007<= o:p>

May/Apr/Mar 2007

Feb/Jan 2007=

Dec/Nov/Oct = 2006

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F= or reports prior to those, please check the Gone Birding Newsletter.

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H= ave you seen a rare bird in Costa Rica, or a species in an unexpected locality, or exhibiting odd behavior? If you have any noteworthy sightings, I (and the r= est of the birding community) would appreciate hearing about them. Please send reports to Richard Garrigues gonebirdingcr@gmail.com and include pertinent details such= as location (as precise as possible), date, time, and observers’ names. = If you have digital images, all the better; however, please send images at file sizes of less than 500 kb.

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R= eturn to my home page.

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