THIS WEEK at HILTON POND
15-21 February 2010
Installment #464---Visitor #msn live graphics

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COSTA RICA PORTFOLIO 2010:
FLORA, FAUNA & HABITATS OF GUANACASTE PROVINCE

Each winter through Operation RubyThroat we depart Hilton Pond Center and meet up in Costa Rica with one or more groups of citizen scientists from the U.S. and Canada, with the intent of learning as much as we can about Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (RTHU) on their wintering grounds in Guanacaste Province. The expeditions, organized through Holbrook Travel, always include Ernesto Carman Jr.--a tico who in the early part of this decade discovered concentrations of ruby-throats in Aloe Vera plantations around Liberia. Ernesto has been our knowledgeable, dependable, and industrious in-country guide, interpreter, and friend ever since, and this year he brought along Elaida Villanueva Mayorga--his new bride and a young tica quite familiar with our hummingbird research. Ela, Ernesto, and Operation RubyThroat trip leader Bill Hilton Jr.--known as the "Omega Group"--traveled to Guanacaste a week early and stayed another several days after the six-member "20-Tenners" crew departed. During the full three-week span the collective efforts of everyone involved helped us make new discoveries about RTHU winter behavior, summarized in last week's photo essay. Our current "This Week at Hilton Pond" installment is a portfolio of people, places, and things we encountered in far-away Costa Rica in January-February 2010, so please scroll down for a look at what we experienced.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center



All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Our primary reason for being in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica was, of course, to observe, capture, and band Ruby-throated Hummingbirds on their wintering grounds. Most years we use mist nets to snare hummers, but in 2010 we decided to also try a few Dawkins traps baited with sugar water feeders (above); the traps worked very well catching ruby-throats last fall at Hilton Pond Center, so Ernesto hung one of these contraptions on the perimeter of commercial aloe fields belonging to Pelón (formerly Carrington Labs' Finca Sabila). Meanwhile, Ela watched for hummers in surrounding trees. Unfortunately, strong winds around Liberia blew the traps around so much they were ineffective.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Numerous Neotropical migrants besides Ruby-throated Hummingbirds frequent Pelón's aloe fields in Guanacaste--including adult male Baltimore Orioles (above). Tennessee Warblers, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, and several NON-migratory hummers also find aloe flowers to be a rich source of carbohydrates. The close-up image of an immature (second-year) female Baltimore Oriole (below) shows her sharply pointed bill that is adapted for, among other things, taking nectar from short, tubular flowers. (This bill--as we know from painful experience--can also puncture the bander's skin if an in-hand oriole starts pecking like a woodpecker!)

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

One of the first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds we netted at Pelón this year was a "young" female (above). We called her a second-year bird that must have hatched in 2009; this determination was made because new body feathers she was bringing in were much darker and better-formed than the pale, brown-edged ones she acquired last year as a nestling. Differentiating immatures from adults among male RTHU is easy; it may be next-to-impossible to age most females conclusively using plumage characteristics.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Beneath the banding table at Pelón we found this interesting artifact--a lump of hard soil with numerous circular openings. We're guessing this is the mud nest of some wasp species and that the holes are exits through which a new generation of insects emerged after spending egg, larval, and pupal stages therein. (NOTE: As with other unidentified organisms on this page, if you think you know specifically what's depicted in a photo, please send a note to INFO.)


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Even though our main effort in the field in Costa Rica was to band Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, we also devoted considerable time to looking at local flora--especially flowers visited by RTHU. The 1.5"-diameter purple blossom above, which we believe is one of the Butterfly-Peas (Clitoria sp.), was growing among our net lanes at Pelón. We don't think it is a hummingbird flower, although some peas are. (NOTE: Our next installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond" will be the third and final one about our 2010 Costa Rica expedition. It will include photos and a full discussion of Neotropical plants visited--and possibly pollinated by--Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.)


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Members of the Tyrant Flycatcher Family (Tyrannidae) abound in Costa Rica, and a bunch of them are yellow-breasted. Western Kingbird and Tropical Kingbird are quite similar, but the latter--depicted above and below--has a darker back and a MUCH heavier bill. Flycatchers are among those birds with well-developed "rictal bristles"--stiff, hair-like feathers that project from the base of the bill. Some folks believe these structures funnel insects into a bird's gape; we think they also may serve to protect an avian predator's eyes while it's trying to swallow a squirmy beetle or bug.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Iguanas are everywhere in Costa Rica but--despite the appearance of the jade-colored youngster above--in Guanacaste Province the Green Iguana, Iguana iguana, is virtually absent. Instead we find lots of Black Iguanas, Ctenosaura similis. Ctenosaurs start out green (above) and gradually become brown; older males (below) develop short dorsal spines and a big dewlap, the loose fold of skin on the throat. These heavy-bodied big lizards--up to five feet long--are amazingly agile, especially in trees where they spend a great deal of time sunning.

We photographed this adult male Ctenosaur (above) on a sun-drenched boardwalk in late afternoon at Palo Verde National Park south of Liberia. He was almost oblivious to us--and apparently to the surprising number of ticks that were attached in his ear (at right in the close-up photo below) and elsewhere on his body. Some of these ectoparasites were quite distended with blood, while others were still small and at the "seed tick" stage. We counted five ear ticks and at least a half-dozen more scattered about. (In the photo above there are even two more ticks among the dorsal spines.)

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Palo Verde National Park, visited by the Omega Group before the 20-Tenners arrived, is a vast 32,000-acre protected wetland along the Tempisque River at the north end of the Bay of Nicoya. In midwinter much of the water dries up and local farmers are permitted to graze horses and cattle (above) that, in turn, keep cattails from taking over the marsh. Receding waters also tend to concentrate huge flocks of waterfowl and wading birds, including Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (above and below).

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Along with the whistling ducks in the photo above are two Black-necked Stilts (at right), an adult Jaçana (lower left) and an immature Jaçana (above left). We also saw, among other waders, several Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Limpkins, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets, and--of course--Cattle Egrets.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

It's hard to tell just how many Black-bellied Whistling Ducks are standing around in the Palo Verde wetlands until a Peregrine Falcon buzzes through. When that happens, enormous flocks of ducks lift skyward (above) and wheel around for several minutes before settling back down in the marsh. Anyone care to count?


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Palo Verde National Park is so-called because it is home to a common tropical tree bearing that name. Parkinsonia aculeata (formerly Cercidium sp.), the Mexican Palo Verde. Palo verde literally means "green stick," appropriate because this plant can photosynthesize through its chlorophyll-laden trunk. Found widely from the southern U.S. into Central America, it is the state tree of Arizona.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

The Mexican Palo Verde has big clusters of yellow flowers (above) that branch from among thorny stems and leaves with hard little knobs along their margins. It is drought-tolerant and a perfect plant for arid Guanacaste (AND Arizona).

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

By far the biggest reptile in Palo Verde National Park is the American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus (above). Adult males can grow to 13 feet in length and weigh more than 800 pounds--a creature to be treated with caution and respect. The individual in the photo above was an immature only about three feet long, but we could tell from the glint in its pale eye it would probably take a nip out of us if we wandered too close.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

After a week of preliminary work by the Omega Group, our six 20-Tenners flew in from various parts of the U.S.; first stop leaving the airport was the Laurel House (above), a fine open-air restaurant that served our crew their first traditional Costa Rican meal.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is by far the most common trochilid we encounter in Guanacaste--really nice considering it IS our target species. We capture other hummer species occasionally, including the red-billed, rusty-breasted Cinnamon Hummingbird (above). This species--a bit larger than a RTHU--is sexually monomorphic, with males and females looking alike. (The immature bird in the photo above had malformed bill tips that were slightly crossed.)


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Costa Rica is home to about a hundred species of snakes, but we seldom see any of them on our trips to Guanacaste; this is partly because many of them are nocturnal. On one of their first nights at Buena Vista Lodge the 20-Tenners encountered the snake above slithering around on concrete outside the dining hall. We took several flash photos and then had to distract the night watchman who wanted to cut off the hapless animal's head. We're happy we could shoo the snake--as yet unidentified--into nearby vegetation where it was not seen again, even though the watchman went after it with a spotlight and a machete. It's hard to tell from the photo, but this 18" serpent had vertical-slit pupils and appeared from a wide section of its body to have eaten recently. (If you know this snake's identity, please send a note to INFO.)


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

In much of Central America, vultures are like pigeons in a city park in the U.S.--almost fearless of people and sometimes getting underfoot as they hop awkwardly toward refuse and dead animals along the street or trail. We almost tripped over the Turkey Vulture above while it was intent on eviscerating the carcass of a Cane Toad flattened by a passing vehicle. The vulture flew up onto a low-hanging branch and stared at us intently until we departed and left it alone with its lunch. Note the bird's head appears red because that's the color of the vulture's cranial skin; young Turkey Vultures have gray head skin. The bird's legs also are red-skinned, but they appear discolored in the photo because of dried fecal material. Vultures may defecate on their legs to help keep the animal cool through evaporation and/or to help kill bacteria from the vulture's decomposing prey.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

One of the fun aspects of traveling to faraway places is thinking and talking about neat things you've seen. At the end of each day, the 20-Tenners gathered at Mirador (above) to watch the sunset and compile field notes and birding checklists that would provide a permanent record of the trip.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

And speaking of featherless heads on birds, this close-up (above) of the face of a male White-winged Dove shows a bare patch of cyan skin that surrounds an eye with a blood-red iris. Note also the iridescent feathers and blue-black spot on the neck. (The female dove will be somewhat paler.)


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

One afternoon during their nine days in Guanacste we took the 20-Tenners to Santa Rosa National Park, where they got to see the tropical DRY forest--an endangered habitat usually ignored by visitors to Costa Rica. The dry forest includes both deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs, and vines and is home to some animals not found elsewhere. One bird NOT unique to the dry forest is the White-throated Magpie-Jay, a big 19" corvid that looks like a wildly crested Blue Jay on steroids. What IS unusual about the jays at Santa Rosa is some are further adorned with color bands on their legs (above)--bands applied at least seven years ago by researchers studying behavioral ecology. Each bird is identifiable through binoculars or spotting scope--without recapture--because of its unique combination of colors.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Birds aren't the only animals marked with color bands at Santa Rosa, as we learned when we entered an old hacienda that was the site of a famous battle in 1856. Clinging to high wooden walls in several rooms were three species of bats, and some of these had plastic bands attached to their wings. Many bats worldwide are threatened or endangered by habitat loss, insecticides, and disease, so researchers are interested in how well these aerial insect (or fruit or nectar) eaters are doing in Guanacaste. (Let us know if you can identify this bat species by sending an e-mail to INFO.)


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

After our Santa Rosa tour we went on to Junquillal Beach Sanctuary for a look at the maritime forest. There, in trees along the Pacific Ocean, were troops of White-faced Capuchin monkeys (above) gorging themselves on flowers.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

On the way back from Santa Rosa, we timed the bus ride to arrive at the intersection of the Pan American Highway and the road to Cañas Dulces just before sunset. After stopping there we surprised the 20-Tenners with a spectacle discovered a few years ago by Ernesto: The trees at this corner are the evening roost of perhaps 3,500 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (above). It was quite a sight to see these long-tailed Neotropical migrants swarming and perching in full view before settling into denser vegetation to spend the night.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Guanacaste this, Guanacaste that, but what does "Guanacaste" really mean? Above is the fruit of a Guanacaste tree, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, AKA for obvious reasons as "Monkey Ear Tree." (That said, we don't think guanacaste directly translates as "monkey ear.")


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Our 2010 Operation RubyThroat hummingbird expedition to Costa Rica coincided with the country's national elections. Some political devices--e.g., billboards and bumper stickers--were familiar to U.S. citizens, but one big difference was that every candidate had his or her own flag and citizens showed their preferences by hoisting the appropriate banners (above). Our favorite campaign slogan: "Vote for Fishman; he's the least-worst candidate for President."


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

The road from Cañas Dulces aloe fields to our accommodations at Buena Vista Lodge passed through scenic country and often provided views of interesting flora and fauna. Shown at left above was a large Strangler Fig (Ficus sp.) that had long since choked out the host tree on which it grew. This particular tree had borne in previous years--beneath it we once saw a Coyote dining on fallen figs--but in 2010 it was literally blanketed with fruit. Normally the tree would look dark green as we approached but even in the photo above one can see the color shift caused by millions of white and red figs ripening on the branches.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Closer views of the figs (above and below) show they are tightly clustered along tree twigs. Interestingly, a fig is not really a "fruit" but a hollow, globular receptacle inside of which hundreds of small fleshy flowers face each other. Each variety of Strangler Fig is pollinated by a tiny species-specific wasp that enters the receptacle through a small opening; inside, the fertilized flower produces a tiny fruit with seeds.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Also along the road to Buena Vista Lodge was a small pond that most days was populated by a trio of Least Grebes. This year the water also seemed to attract Barn Swallows, including the immature perched at left on the wire above. On the right is what Ernesto said was a rare sight in Costa Rica--a migrating Violet-green Swallow. (NOTE: This species is best identified on the wing, which we did.)


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Back in the aloe fields, we captured an adult male Ruby-throated hummingbird we then placed in a paper tube for weighing and banding. When so inserted (above), this bird exposed some of the heaviest wing and tail wear we had ever seen on a hummer. It's pretty obvious this individual would need all new wing feathers before he could ever attempt a flight back north to the U.S. or Canada.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

On their last day in the field the 20-Tenners caught a couple of birds that were incredibly colorful. One was an immature Lesser Ground-Cuckoo undergoing molt from its juvenal to breeding plumage. Yet another Costa Rican bird with featherless facial features, this youngster looked like it had been made up with blue mascara and yellow eye shadow--all highlighted by a yellow-orange lower mandible and rusty throat. Imagine how it will look with less-scruffy adult feathers!


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

The other brilliant bird that last day was an immature male Canivet's Emerald (above), just beginning to bring in the jewel-like green feathers that eventually will coat its entire body. We had caught apparent female and adult male Canivet's before, but never had we seen an "in-between" male like this one.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

In the photo above, Ernesto examines a hummingbird held temporarily in the mesh lingerie bags by which hummers are transported from mist nets to the banding table. We like these bags because they're soft and airy and we can quickly see what's in them. The blue tarp assured our bagged birds were always in the shade.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

After the 20-Tenners departed for their homes in the U.S., the Omega Group continued banding and scouting for a few days. One afternoon at the Cañas Dulces aloe fields we got killer views of a pair of short-tailed, stout-bodied White-necked Puffbirds (above), one of which perched in full view as the sun neared the horizon. Richard Garrigues describes the near-passerine Puffbird Family (Bucconidae)--which includes nunbirds and monklets--as "a somber-looking group of sit-and-wait predators." With that big bill, you can rest assured a puffbird will make short work of an unsuspecting grasshopper or lizard.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

If your first thought on the bird above was "Common Yellowthroat," you'd almost be right. It's actually a male Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, whose thick, bicolored bill is unusual for a Wood Warbler. This species occurs at lower elevations throughout Costa Rica.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

The biggest hummingbird we net in Guanacaste Province is also the species with the longest bill: Plain-capped Starthroat. In macro view (above) this bird superficially resembles a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but only the lower gorget is metallic red; the upper portion of the throat--the surface that accepts pollen from some tubular flowers this bird visits for nectar--is flat black.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

When our work in Guanacaste was complete, the Omega Group packed up our hummingbird banding gear and headed for Ernesto's home in Paraíso, east of San Jose. Along the way we made a side trip to visit a butterfly and hummingbird habitat an enterprising Costa Rican had established north of San Ramon. As the route took us to higher, cooler, more humid habitat there was a marked change in vegetation. At one place, the shoulder was literally blanketed with bright orange flowers (above). Upon closer examination these turned out to be terrestrial orchids, Epidendrum radicans. Roadside orchids; what a glorious sight this was!


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

When we got to the hummingbird habitat at Los Cocoras, we found that the entrepreneur had installed hummingbird flowers and hung four sugar water feeders at just the right height for photography. Ela (above) and the rest of the group grabbed cameras and fired away--thank heavens for digital!--and managed to capture a few good images of several cloud forest hummers that came into view.


All text, charts, maps & photos © Hilton Pond Center

One of our favorite shots at Los Cocoras was of a male Green-crowned Brilliant (above), the first we had ever seen. According to Ernesto, this big hummingbird--at 5" almost twice the length of a ruby-throat and three times heavier--often perches sideways on a vertical stalk (or feeder wire), showing the full glory of its iridescent throat and crown.


All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

It wouldn't be a travelogue without a sunset photo, so we end our current installment with an image of Old Sol going down over the Pacific Ocean some 20 miles west of Mirador--the inspirational lookout at Buena Vista Lodge. That's "Big Sugarloaf" in the left foreground, our view of which always seemed to provide a feeling of peacefulness at the end of the day. We hoped you enjoyed our Costa Rica Portfolio for 2010 and that you'll consider going with us someday on one of our educational, enjoyable, and entertaining expeditions to study Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the Neotropics.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center


For complete reports on all our successful Costa Rican hummingbird banding expeditions, please visit
"This Week at
Hilton Pond" at the following links:
22-28 Feb
2009
(5-year Summary)

JOIN OPERATION RUBYTHROAT FOR 2011
HUMMINGBIRD EXPEDITIONS TO THE NEOTROPICS

Week 1: COSTA RICA (29 Jan-6 Feb)
Week 2: NICARAGUA (9-17 Feb) Postponed to 2012
Week 3: GUATEMALA (20-28 Feb)
Week 4: BELIZE (3-11 March)

Multi-trip discounts available as we move northward in Central America, following Ruby-throated Hummingbirds as they head
out on spring migration in 2011. Stay tuned for details.

A summary of our successful 2010 expedition is at
The 20-Tenners In Costa Rica.


Comments or questions about this week's installment?
Please send an E-mail message to INFO.

Be sure to scroll down for an account of all
birds banded or recaptured during the period,
plus other nature notes of interest.


Thanks to the following fine folks for recent gifts in support of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History and/or Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project. Your tax-deductible contributions allow us to continue writing, photographing, and sharing "This Week at Hilton Pond." (Please see Support if you'd like to make a gift of your own. You can also contribute by ordering an Operation RubyThroat T-shirt.)

  • Holbrook Travel, especially Debbie Sturdivant
  • The six members of the 20-Tenners who underwrote, in large part, our 2010 hummingbird expedition to Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica: Pat Barker, Abigail Cooke, Anne Fuller, Brenda Piper, Ken Wood & Levi Wood.
  • Elaida "Ela" Villanueva Mayorga for her diligent volunteer work extracting hummingbirds from mist nets during our 2010 field studies

"This Week at Hilton Pond" is written & photographed
by Bill Hilton Jr., executive director of
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History.

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BIRDS BANDED THIS WEEK at
HILTON POND CENTER

15-21 February 2010

SPECIES BANDED THIS WEEK:
American Goldfinch--71 *
Chipping Sparrow--17
Song Sparrow--5
Northern Cardinal--1
Purple Finch--18
*
House Finch--8
Blue Jay--1
Mourning Dove--4

* = New species for 2010


WEEKLY BANDING TOTAL
8 species
125 individuals

2010 BANDING TOTAL
10 species (29-yr avg = 66.8)
160 individuals (29-yr avg = 1,851)

29-YEAR BANDING GRAND TOTAL
(since 28 June 1982, during which time 170 species have been observed on or over the property)
124 species
53,802 individuals

NOTABLE RECAPTURES THIS WEEK
(with original banding date, sex, and current age)

Chipping Sparrow (6)
03/13/02--after 8th year unknown
02/28/07--after 4th year female
03/24/08--after 3rd year unknown
01/01/09--after 2nd year unknown
01/01/09--after 2nd year male
03/09/09--after 2nd year unknown

American Goldfinch (5)
01/12/07--after 5th year male
04/20/07--after 5th year male
02/26/09--3rd year female
02/28/09--after 3rd year male
03/01/09--3rd year male


This Week at Hilton Pond
is part of the

Nature Blog Network

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

OTHER NATURE NOTES OF INTEREST
--A Chipping Sparrow recapturd on 18 Feb at Hilton Pond Center was banded on 13 March 2002, making it at least an after 8th year bird that could have hatched no later than 2001. This bird is approaching the known longevity record for its species.

--American Goldfinches arrived in good numbers sometime while we were in Costa Rica, and this week we trapped and banded 71 of them. Purple Finches also showed up, albeit in smaller numbers. Our best banding day was 17 Feb with 36 new birds handled.

--Wood Ducks are more plentiful on Hilton Pond this year than in most winters past. On 19 Feb we counted six drakes and five hens. On 16 Feb we observed a female woodie entering one of our six nest boxes; we assume she's already laying eggs and may even be incubating. On 23 & 24 Feb we finally had a chance to replace the two 25-year-old boxes on the larger impoundment that is partly on Hilton Pond Center property. (The other four on Hilton Pond itself were replaced last fall.) One old box couldn't be occupied yet because the lid had blown off last winter; the other was full of dead leaves (probably deposited by an Eastern Gray Squirrel) and a big wad of inner bark strips from an Eastern Red Cedar (likely the abandoned nest of a Southern Flying Squirrel). It may be too late for these new boxes on the lower pond to be occupied this year, but at least they're finally in place.


VAGRANT HUMMINGBIRDS THIS WEEK
NONE THIS WEEK


Operation RubyThroat has teamed with EarthTrek so citizen scientists--like YOU--can contribute observations about hummingbird migration and nesting behavior. Membership is free for this great new opportunity to help increase scientific understanding of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. On-line data entry forms are now live, so please register today at EarthTrek.

NOW is the time to report your RTHU fall departure dates from the U.S. & Canada, and fall arrival dates for Mexico & Central America. Please participate.


Oct 15 to Mar 15:
Please report
your sightings of
Vagrant & Winter
Hummingbirds


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