E-Canopy: An Online Newsletter from Organization for Tropical Studies

Expert and novice bird watchers gathered at La Selva on December 18 for the station's 25th Anniversary Christmas Bird Count. This year's contingent of 115 participants exceeded the previous record participation of 88 counters in 2008. The clock started at midnight and continued throughout the entire day of 19 December as teams of enthusiastic birders combed the trails, roads, and rivers searching for their avian quarry.

Th final bird count compilers, Joel Alvarado and Jim Zook, are still checking all of the entries. The counts for 2007 (369 species) and 2008 (373 species) both broke previous records. We will announce the final numbers as soon as the count is verified.

Christmas bird counts have been held all over the world for the past 110 years. The area covered by each count consists of a circle with a 15 mile (24 km) diameter. The time allotted is 24 hours. Originally the counts were only held on 25 December but the current guidelines permit a day within about a two week window in December.

The initiative for early La Selva counts came from John Blake, Rafa Campos, David Clark, Bette Loiselle, and Gary Stiles. The circle strategically includes La Selva lowlands and the foothills of the Barva Volcano slope. This year (December 2009) thirty-one separate routes, each with its own team of observers, were spread over this landscape. In addition to the La Selva groups, the following reserves within the circle also hosted teams: Lapa Verde, Tirimbina, Bijagual, El Plastico, Rara Avis, and two shelters on the Braulio Carrillo National Park transect.

Bird Count

Up through 2008, a total of 503 species of birds had been spotted within the La Selva circle. Twenty-four of these species have been seen only once in all of those years, including the red-throated caracara (1987), white-eyed vireo (1992), American wigeon (2000), Brewster's warbler (2007), and solitary eagle (2008). The species most commonly seen over those 25 years (total number of individuals) are Montezuma oropendolas and white collared swifts.

The birders most commonly seen over the years have been Joel Alvarado (23 annual counts), Orlando Vargas (18 counts), and Winifred Orcutt (17 counts). All of the long-time loyal counters deserve our thanks, as do the many newcomers, including Adriana Molina (accounting), Nidia Gongora (housekeeping), and José Walter Leiton (transportation). In all, 22 La Selva employees participated in the count. A special thanks go to the organizers of this landmark Christmas bird count-Rodolfo Alvarado, Orlando Vargas, and Enrique Castro. GREAT WORK EVERYBODY!