For anyone considering ringing abroad, read the story of our experience in Costa Rica now on the
Costa Rica Bird Observatory website. You will be tempted !
"
A note from the field
By Richard Dobbins and Wendy James
Although most of our bird banding takes place in the UK we are always
keen to learn more about banding in other countries. An internet search
led us to the interesting work being done by Costa Rica Bird
Observatory (CRBO). After exceptional experiences in Uganda and Canada,
which we had thought would be hard to surpass, we immediately felt that
this sounded perfect for our next adventure.
In early November 2012 we arrived in Costa Rica full of excitement at
the prospect of putting our months of studying into practice. We had
learnt some Spanish, immersed ourselves in photos and descriptions of
the fascinating variety of birds that would be new to us, studied
banding data for each site as well as read the very informative banding
handbook backwards and forwards!
Our first location was in coastal lowland forest at Tortuguero on the
Caribbean coast. CRBO have been conducting research there since 1994.
The daily routine was quickly established, weather permitting. Six hours
of banding with migration counts every two hours and area searches of
all birds seen and heard filled our days with new birds. Although the
main migration period was over, we were still counting reasonable
numbers of Barn Swallows, Ring-necked Ducks and Turkey Vultures.
Every
day we marvelled at the richness of the habitat in which we had the
privilege to be working. Awesome is a much overused word but it
perfectly fits our daily encounters with not just the birds, but the
flora and fauna too.
ROYAL FLYCATCHER AND PALE-BILLED WOODPECKER
This Royal Flycatcher and a Pale–billed Woodpecker were amazing
examples of some infrequently banded resident birds. Making detailed
notes and taking pictures of these more unusual birds was an important
part of our work to help fill in gaps in knowledge about these species.
As well as residents we were catching North American migrants,
particularly thrushes such as Swainson’s and Grey-cheeked and warblers
including Prothonatory and Wilson’s. Our experience with migrants at
Long Point Bird Observatory in Canada proved invaluable.
Our next base was at the Costa Rica Bird Observatories station at Madre Selva, 2,400metres up in the Talamanca mountains.
Madre Selva is a homely base for the three different banding sites.
Eighteen nets scattered around the hillside at each site made for an
exhilarating day in the thin air. Apart from Clay-coloured Robin, all
the species we banded here were different to those at Tortuguero so each
bird provided great interest and education. This Slate-throated
Redstart was banded at the Lake site, a beautiful site that became our
favourite.
SLATE-THROATED REDSTART
Starting the day with a pre-dawn walk to the site accompanied by
hundreds of glow worms and watching Common Paraques displaying before
going off to roost as we opened the nets was very atmospheric.
By taking pictures showing various ageing features we were helping to
build a reference for future research. As an example, this photo of a
Black-faced Solitaire demonstrates a clear moult limit in the greater
coverts.
BLACK-FACED SOLITAIRE
As well as banding we endeavored to produce comprehensive bird lists
at each site. Over the two months we recorded 249 species at the sites
where we banded and surrounding area. The number of species we processed
was 103 so there are many more species that we could potentially catch
and study on subsequent visits.
Alongside the awe inspiring birds, people that we met helped to make
our trip so memorable. The enthusiasm that everyone has for the work of
CRBO to date and plans for the future is refreshing.
We hope to be part of that future with a return visit before long."
