Long-billed Curlew Reported at
Colorado Salt Ponds
14 Sep: Adolfo
“Fito” Downs, Paco Madrigal, Luis Vargas, and Gilberth Molina reported
seeing a Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus in the salt ponds at
Colorado.
I hope to
publish more interesting results of the Shorebird Count, once I receive them.
Tricolored Munias Turn Up
South of Palmar Sur
07 Sep: On
his way to the Wilson Gardens, Jim Zook “stopped at a big rice growing
area along the highway just south of Palmar Sur and guess what I saw? Tricolored Munia Lonchura malacca, a pair of adults. Amazing, the little buggers are
making themselves right at home.” This locale is nearly 200 km SW of
their previously known range within the country (see below for the earlier
update of their status).
Buff-breasted Sandpipers Found
near Chomes
03 Sep: Kevin
Easley sent this report of an incredible outing.
“A
group of Costa Rican birders got together to see what we could turn up at the
Chomes shrimp farms located on the eastern edge of the Gulf of Nicoya. I
awoke at 3:45 AM, coffee, and out the door and soon picked up Jim Zook en-route
to the coast. Steven Easley and his wife Magda picked up
Vernon Campos around the same time while Ernesto Carman and Elaida left
even earlier from Platanillo near Rancho Naturalista - all with the same goal -
to look for rare migrants that might be coming through this time of year.
“Jim
and I stopped along the entrance road to Chomes to look over swallows perched
on the wire, our best bird there were two Purple Martins Progne subis,
a transient migrant and not common to say the least. We also stopped and scanned
a ploughed field which had many shorebirds since it was high tide but we
decided to put that off till later in order to take advantage of the high tide
at the shrimp ponds.
“We
met up with Steven, Magda, and Vernon at the first ponds - Jim and I caught up
with the Least Terns Sternula antillarum and one winter
plumage Black Tern Chlidonias niger 
they had located and noticed both
Bank Swallows Riparia riparia and
Cliff Swallows Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
migrating through as well. There were lots of shorebirds present - the
usual suspects - and the largest collection of Semipalmated Sandpipers Calidris pusilla I have ever seen in
this country. After going through this group carefully, we continued
to the ponds closest to the gulf. Here we found Franklin's Gull Leucophaeus
pipixcan, Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia, Marbled Godwit Limosa
fedoa, and Collared Plover Charadrius collaris along with the other
more typical shorebirds present. Ernesto and Elaida drove up at this point
and I went with them back to the front ponds (they came in a different route)
as Ernesto needed Least Tern as a life bird. We nailed that for him and
joined the rest of the group at a viewing point over the gulf. The others
had located an American Oystercatcher
Haematopus palliatus so we caught up
with that, Yellow (Mangrove) Warblers Dendroica
petechia erythacorides were present as well which is always nice to
see, but no sign of the Parasitic Jaeger
Stercorarius parasiticus Steven
photographed just 4 days prior with Magda and Bart Brown.
“We
drove around more ponds which were full of water thus no shorebirds but did see
a Zone-tailed Hawk Buteo albonotatus fly
over. Back at the ploughed fields now and we could see shorebirds flying
about at times along with MANY Whimbrels Numenius
phaeopus but they seemed to disappear in the rows of the fields, out of
sight. We decided to try and enter the farm and after Jim talked to the
administrator we were able to drive around (aimlessly at times) to bird the
fields proper. It was frustrating to still have distanct views of groups
of shorebirds irratically flying over the fields but not get definitive looks
at them. Possible Baird's, possible this, possible that was becoming the
theme. A Pearl Kite Gampsonyx swainsonii flew over which
took our eyes momentarily off the fields to the sky above. The habitat
looked great and I felt like a rarity had to be in the next field, now the
next, another, another...and this went on for a couple of hours.
“After
making it back out to the main road we decided to give the original ploughed
field one more try. With patience we watched as shorebirds would
occasionally take flight only to disappear again except for the numerous
Whimbrel which did not hide as effectively. We could see size difference
in the Whimbrel flocks but were still not able to make out the species as they
were quite distant. Steven spotted something of potential, gave me
directions and I quickly had my scope on it. My announcement of "BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER!!!" Tryngites subruficollis was first met
with a sense of shock or disbelief (as it would me as well), but my
insistence gave everyone cause for hope and soon we had 4 
scopes on this mythical transient
migrant through Costa Rica. A new Costa Rican bird for everyone in
the group and a life bird for Jim, Ernesto, Elaida, and Vernon. Our
determination had paid off in a big way - this is a bird that I thought I would
perhaps never see in Costa Rica. There are very few records of this
species in Costa Rica - perhaps overlooked but also because there is only a
narrow window of opportunity, late Aug and early Sept being what we thought
would be the best time to find one here. Soon Baird's Sandpipers Calidris
bairdii made an appearance - another life bird for several in the
group. Steven decided to try and photograph the Buff-breasted and set off
across the field. Jim and Ernesto noticed a number of shorebirds on the
back field and they headed out that way while the others watched from the
road. Both were successful - Steven was able to get excellent photos of
the Buff-breasted and Jim and Ernesto found a lone Upland Sandpiper Bartramia
longicauda which didn't stick around long enough for the others. We
joined Jim and Ernesto and although we missed the Upland, we did have
exceptional views of two Buff-breasted and several Baird's Sandpipers which
were much enjoyed. A pause at the aqueduct to get rid of extra pounds of
mud on our shoes and we were out of there. In the end we were all
delighted with the day of birding, everyone had something to celebrate.”
In a
follow-up email, Jim Zook added that, as if the above weren’t enough,
they also had a Harris’s Hawk Parabuteo unicinctus and a Blue-and-white Swallow Pygochelidon cyanoleuca that
day—the significance of the latter being that it was most likely a rare
austral migrant.
Both the
Buff-breasted and the Baird’s Sandpipers were still in the fields on 07
Sep, when Julio Sánchez and another group of birders went looking for
them. Unfortunately, a week later, when the family and I visited Chomes as part
of the Shorebird Count on 14 Sep, there was nothing to be found in the fields
apart from a pair of Double-striped Thick-knees Burhinus bistriatus. According to a local fellow, there hadn’t
been any rain there for a week. The conditions had caused the plowed fields to
dry up and, most likely, had spurred the peeps to continue their journey.
Another Black-cowled Oriole
Sighted in the Southern Pacific Region
25 Aug:
Noel Ureña observed a Black-cowled
Oriole Icterus prosthemelas in
San Cayetano, west of San Isidro de El General. This is now at least the eighth
site on the Pacific side of CR where this (normally) Caribbean slope species
has been seen in the past five years.
Participate in the Second
Annual Gulf of Nicoya Shorebird Count
Coming up
on the weekend of 13/14 September, the newly formed Unión de
Ornitólogos de Costa Rica will be organizing the Second Annual Gulf of Nicoya
Shorebird Count. Last year’s survey of four sites yielded a total of more
than 3,000 individual birds—including a new species for the country: Pacific Golden-Plover Pluvialis fulva, photographed by Johan
Fernández.
Anyone
interested in helping out in this year’s effort is invited to contact the
Ornithological Union at 2280-6609, or uniondeornitologoscr at gmail.com, for more
information.
American Bittern Reported at
Chomes
19 Aug: Luis
Sandoval and Gustavo Flores came across an American
Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus during a visit to the old shrimp ponds at Chomes. Luis reported that the
bird was in the third empty pond—counting as one heads towards the coast
from the village along the track bordering the southern end of the pond
complex—at about 08:30. When they found it, the bird was perched in a
small mangrove shrub growing in the pond. It stayed there for about three
minutes before dropping down into the mangroves. They went looking for it, but
never saw it again.
Luis described the bird as having a small black crown and a well-defined
black malar stripe. The neck was whitish with narrow brown streaks and the body
was brownish. It perched with its bill pointing upwards. Curiously, Luis
mentioned the size as being similar to that of a Green Heron Butorides virescens, but a bit slimmer and with a longer neck. [This could just be an
example of how confusing the appreciation of a bird’s size can be, since
an American Bittern would be significantly larger than a Green Heron. However,
it does cast some degree of doubt on the identification, even though the
description of the bird otherwise fits American Bittern.] Luis eliminated the possibility of the bird
being a Least Bittern Ixobrychus
exilis by the lack of dark patches on the wings and back.
Unfortunately,
neither Luis nor Gustavo had a camera at the time.
Nesting Uniform Crake in
Guápiles
06 Aug:
Pablo “Chespi” Elizondo sent the accompanying photograph of a Uniform Crake Amaurolimnas concolor that was found nesting in Unión de
Guápiles. The nest had five eggs and was situated about 1.5 meters above
the ground in a dense tangle of vines.
Striated Heron Photographed at
Esterillos
02 Mar:
Though several months have now passed, I recently received this report of a Striated Heron Butorides striatus
that Walter Coto and his wife, Ruth
Ulate, discovered in the estuary at Esterillos Centro (09.31.770 N, 084.28.557 W). They were able to observe
the bird for about five minutes and take the accompanying photos before the
bird flew off.
Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon in Southern Caribbean
19 Jul: On his birding blog, Lance Barnett
posted news of seeing a Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon Micrastur
mirandollei while birding the trails at Pizote Lodge in Puerto Viejo de Limón.
That same afternoon, he also had a group of six Black-chested Jays Cyanocorax
affinis.
Tricolored Munia Spreading in Northwest
I had the opportunity to meet Cindy Beckman
(winner of WildBird Magazine’s Birder of the Year Award) and her husband
for a book signing in mid-July and they mentioned that they had seen several Tricolored
Munias Lonchura
malacca a few days earlier along the road to Ensenada Lodge. Since this was
the farthest south I’d heard of the species being sighted in CR, I
emailed local birders with the news. Much to my surprise, Luis Sandoval replied
that he’d observed a flock of some 500 birds near Miramar de Puntarenas
in 2005! And in 2006, he’d seen some 50 individuals, including adults and
juveniles, in the same area. He also mentioned having found two adults at
Chomes in 2006. These sites are 34 km and 18 km, respectively, to the southeast
of Ensenada Lodge, which in turn is some 50 km southeast of Guinea, the area
where this species was originally discovered in CR.
Kevin Easley added that he has now seen munias twice in the Bagatzi rice
fields, just before entering Palo Verde NP. This area is 18 km to the east of
Guinea.
And in October 2007, Carlos Jiménez spotted two adult Tricolored
Munias in an area of sugar cane fields along the new road from Comunidad to
Playa Panamá, which is some 21 km to the northwest of Guinea.
In summation, it now appears that munias can be found throughout a
swath stretching more than 110 km from Comunidad to Miramar.
Yellow-throated Euphonia in Sarapiquí
08 Jul: Joel Alvarado sent word that a male Yellow-throated
Euphonia Euphonia hirundinacea had turned up outside his house in La
Virgen de Sarapiquí and was feeding on bromeliad fruits. A life-long
resident of the Sarapiquí area, this was the first time that Joel had
seen or heard this species in the region. Seeing as it is common in the Arenal
area, it is probably just a matter of time before the species spreads to the
Sarapiquí lowlands.
Interestingly, this euphonia has been reported
on several Guápiles Aerial Tram CBCs—an area even farther beyond its
current range on the Caribbean side of CR.
Two Other Spreading Species at Solimar
30 Jun: Paco Madrigal had a pair of Southern Lapwings Vanellus
chilensis at Solimar. He and his birding group also saw a Pearl Kite Gampsonyx swainsonii there. Though not the first time either of
these species have been reported from Guanacaste, these are the first reports
to come from Solimar.
Sharpbill Nest Found in Tapantí
21 Jun: Elidier Vargas and a few other lucky
local birders were treated to great views of the seldom seen Sharpbill Oxyruncus
cristatus when news of a nest circulated in mid-June. Apparently, Randall
Ortega discovered the nest, which was in a tree right beside the road traversing
Tapantí NP, not too far beyond the ranger station. The nest contained
two young that fledged a few days after Elidier took the accompanying photo.
The only nest of this species to ever be
studied was in SE Brazil.
A Potential New Species for CR seen off the Pacific Coast
As reported in the previous edition, Bruce
Mactavish was acting as a marine mammal monitor on a seismic ship working off
the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua this past spring. He saw and
photographed a dark shearwater that has been the subject of an interesting (and
potentially unsolvable) debate. You can read the opinions of several seasoned
seabird experts by visiting this
thread on the Google Seabird group.
For reports
prior to these, please check previous Costa Rica Rare Bird Reports:
For reports
prior to those, please check the Gone Birding
Newsletter.
Have 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 rest
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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