Above or in the clouds for the last few days of this visit to Costa Rica.
Our standard banding sites, like Lake, are now quiet for migrants. They never heave with migrants like the coast, but a couple of new birds arrived yesterday, a migrant Great Blue Heron was probably crossing coast to coast.
We also gained a 5th Least Grebe, likely a wanderer, but both surprises at 2400m in the Highlands.
With the only migrant caught - a recapture of a Wilson's Warbler, Wendy and I banded a month ago, time to look at residents....Flycatchers.
Black-capped Flycatcher- an Empidomax that hangs around the homes like Eurasian Robins.
This another Empid...Yellowish Flycatcher, a bird of the forest edge and not particularly numerous.
The above, same bird below is a Mountain Elaenia,...
...and this is an Elaenia flycatcher not an Empid...though it looks like one.
Another, perhaps our commonest of our Highlands flycatchers,
Olive-striped Flycatcher, a Miconetes flycatcher of which we can catch several per day.
Several Costa Rican flycatchers (there are 72 species) are evolving to eat fruit berries too.
With so few migrants around the number of recaptures increases too.
62% this last 4 days, it felt more. With few migrants in the resident population and breeding productivity low this adds to the picture. With most residents species only laying one or two eggs you don't often see juveniles of some species.
Very pleased to find this very juvenile Black-faced Solitaire.
This is a juvenile Buff-fronted Quail-Dove, a much unknown species so nice to find a very young and locally bred bird.
A final note, and purely an American theme....
This Gray-breasted Wood-Wren is the 10,000th bird that I have captured and processed in the Americas.
Whatever next...
(photos Yuly)
That is a superb milestone, well done & here's to the next 10k.
ReplyDeleteLove reading the C-R blog as well as keeping up with Teifi Marsh. Thanks all!