Leatherback Turtle Nesting Begins!

Though I have referred to our buildingmates as THE TURTLE PEOPLE, as if they are the odd ones out, the station where Amanda and I work is focused on sea turtle conservation, the main attraction of the town of Tortuguero itself, and we are the outcasts of the group as THE BIRD BANDERS. A few of these turtle folk have joined us for banding, so we decided we could not pass up the opportunity to see some seriously huge animals. Though our first night (9pm-2am) beach survey was not fruitful, last night we lucked out with TWO Leatherbacks before midnight. It's hard to describe how prehistorically structured these things are, but with a rugby-sized ball head, tennis-ball sized eggs, and a carapace of four to six feet, our minds were blown. No pictures are allowed, as it would disturb the nesting, but we were lucky enough to find our first turtle midway through digging out her nest, which meant we got to see the hour+ process of digging, laying (66 eggs for this one), covering, and camouflaging the nest.

So, in the same vein as last nights dino sighting, here are a few extraordinary non-avian beasts that we have encountered recently and regularly.

Iguanas are everywhere. Some big, some small, but all very fast runners, sprinting away at your approach, and diving into the canal if need be.


The main reason we can't swim in the fresh water around here...


This is the same species as previously posted, but its just so darn pretty, taking after the trogon's lashes.


A lizard (whip-tail of some kind) taking on a katydid.


Brazilian Long-nosed Bats






Tomorrow we are off for a final five day stint in the mountains. Goodbye, until our final night in Costa Rica.

Some end of season highlights

Amanda had caught a pair of these a couple of months ago, but I had yet to see one until yesterday, when we caught two, including this young male, which was still filling in the patchy spots of his beard. Violet-crowned Woodnymph


Also a new bird for us, the Checker-throated Antwren! We caught a pair, the checkery throated one being the male, and the other we were not sure about. It could have been a young male or an adult female, a conflict of ages and sexes that often occurs.





White-collared Manakins are definitely the most commonly captured bird here in Tortuguero. They're nice birds, but can get old, as most of them are either young, or female, leaving us without the good looks and white collar of the aptly named male. Until yesterday, we had only caught 2 or 3 males in three months, but somehow ended up with four for the day.


As a nice change to the usual we caught our third Red-capped Manakin of the year a few days ago. Though not the brilliant red of the adults, this young male gave us a look at the start of manakin manhood.


This post makes me realize how much I love pale-eyed birds.

A few stars

One week left here in Costa Rica, with our last day of banding in Tortuguero tomorrow. Though we have been here for almost three months, I'm still seeing new species regularly, though most of them are North American migrants, leading the charge north.

Today we had our second day ever banding at Caño Palma, one of the sites down the canal. Usually another local bander, Charlotte, takes care of this site, but lucky for us we squeezed in another day there. Though only a 25 minute boat ride away, it's the only place I've spotted a few species (like the Checker-throated Antwren and Blue Dacnis) and it clearly has more to offer that we will not have a chance to discover, shucks. However, today (and yesterday actually) there was a good showing from a few stars and we caught a whopping 19 birds!

Our first Semiplumbeous Hawk, yesterday. When I first saw this I really hoped I was seeing two feet planted on the branch and a third one coming out of the belly.


But it wasn't to be, and turns out to be something that they just do, as this was a different bird from today.


By far the best looks I've had of these toucans were today. There were five of them hopping around, making frog noises and eating nuts and fruits. The Semiplumbeous Hawk made a swipe at one, but being much smaller was only laughed at. Keel-billed Toucan:


Beady-eye dinos. Pale-billed Woodpecker:


We really have not seen too many raptors since being here, but they do occasionally surface. Gray-headed Kite:

Trogon eating termites

Back to trogons for a second. Though we did not catch any today, I happened upon a pair feasting on a termite nest. Though I would guess their strong, serrated bills are mostly used for biting through skins of fruit, they also do the job for excavating the excavators.

Look at that dirty belly...


This must be the type of behavior that leads to the smell and grungy looks that our El Salvadorian coworker associates with trogons


When I first saw it fly and perch on the side of the palm like this I thought I'd found another nest, then debris started flying.


Post feasting

Breeding Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers

Breeding in the tropics can happen at pretty much anytime of the year. As a result, birds are born throughout the year, royally screwing with the methods of ageing and sexing birds that we are accustom to. The positive of this is that we have gotten to see a few actively nesting birds while here.

Such as a pair of Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers. Gathering for the nest.




In the nest

Highlanders

More highland birds here for you. Not only do we catch a lot more birds in the mountains, the highlanders seem to just be easier to photograph. Both of these facts seem to be a result of the habits we're banding in. Though there are plenty of birds on the humid coast here in Tortuguero, the canopy is much higher and there are way fewer ground foraging species to be captured. Oddly enough one of the only species we consistently catch in lowest pockets of our nets in Tortuguero are the woodcreepers. In the mountains there are hoards leaf litter kicking finches to fill our inadequately tall nets. Really we need to have triple (I guess MDDettling did do it...) or quadruple stacked nets in Tortuguero, but that is unheard of as far as I know, and everything would be stolen by locals within days.

Collared Trogans are easy to find with a little bit of call and response whistling


Black-and-white Warbler


Black-throated Greens are really common, but a welcome sight after seeing so many Townsend's last year.


A very young Slaty Flowerpiercer


Ruddy Treerunner


Black-capped Flycatcher

Green Vine Snake

We found this five or six foot brilliantly colored snake slowly making its way across our yard yesterday. Apparently they eat a lot of cavity nesting birds, which is not surprising considering how easily it was making its way up trees.

Boat-billed Flycatcher

Like the Great Kiskadee, we see and hear Boat-billed Flycatchers a lot, but never catch them. BUT, yesterday we did!

It swallowed my thumb.


Amanda loves this bird, can't you see?

Breaking news

We caught our second trogon today, it was a Slaty-tailed! Could have had our third (and maybe fourth) but one escaped the net before I could get it out and another was just whistling hysterical above the net. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with trogons, but seeing one in the net is something I have found myself daydreaming about on slow days. I think some of my great excitement over trogons comes from the fact that four years ago I would have never thought I would see one, let alone hold one. Check it:

Surprisingly bulky bird in the hand. The black-throated felt much smaller and more docile.




Odd flight feather proportions, reminds me a quail wing.


Our El Salvadorian coworker was never as excited about the prospect of catching a trogon as I was, she claimed they smell bad. And she's right, it was a stinky bird. Good though.

Had a nice bite too! (It was a young lady bird, very pretty lashes.)


After a rough banding session, having dropped more feathers than a mourning dove.

Hummingbirds are everywhere

Ok, so we catch and see a lot of hummingbirds. So far we've encountered 22 species through banding and birding, making them the most common family we catch, see or hear, and as you've seen, the most showy and elegant as well.

Purple-throated Mountain-gem


White-throated Mountain-gem


Volcano Hummingbird.




But because of their strong wings and small size they can be tough to hold and harder to band. Especially if you have run out of hummingbird bands for the time being, which come in big metal sheets and must be cut out, sanded down and shaped, quite the process.

But they can be easy to weigh.


They also come in all sizes, from the tiny Volcanos, weighing in as low as ~2.2 grams to the massive Magnificents, outweighing some songbirds at as high as ~8 grams.

Small


Big


Hummingbirds are also surprisingly loud, and persistently so. Green Violetears seem to be the most heard bird at our mountain site, with a clicking song that will go on for hours if undisturbed.


A youngin'


All birds can bring reptiles to mind through their look. I guess it's mostly in the legs for many birds, but does this Volcano not look reptilian to you?


Lastly, though loud, hearty and beautiful they might be, they do not appear any smarter than other birds...at least not this one. It was not injured throughout this ordeal, but after release it flew straight up into our porch ceiling, buzzing around, stuck...


Then it got really stuck...but quickly backed its way out and zipped away.