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La Selva CBC; Blake's farewell; Little Gulls



Hi Carolinabirders,

Sorry to be so talkative today, but there's so much going on!

First, forwarded below from my sometime birding buddy Norm Douglas is an
account of the CBC in La Selva, Costa Rica, where they tallied a mere 365
species. And you thought the Alligator River or Southport CBC was good...

Second, a post on the Georgia listserv suggests that Sandhill Cranes are
already migrating north. Might explain the recent spate of them here, and
why the Pee Dee birds are already gone... Another one from Noel Wamer near
Jacksonville, FL reports Pomarine Jaegers also heading north; something to
look for from Nags Head, for those of you heading to the CBC meeting.

Third, several people e-mailed me after I mentioned Blake Maybank's
farewell message on BIRDCHAT, wanting to read it for themselves. Blake's
customarily graceful (I never would have been as polite or tactful had I
been in his shoes, but that's just the way he is) goodbye to the ABA Big
Day and List Report can be read on-line at
http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0112B&L=birdchat&P=R2899

I've already renewed my ABA membership for 2002, but my renewing for 2003
will likely depend at least partially on the performance of the next Big
Day and List Report editor, whom they haven't hired yet. Folks may or may
not remember or have heard about the ABA's dismissal of Paul Lehman as
editor of Birding magazine in 1997, which caused a great furor at the time
and angered several nationally prominent birders into ending their ABA
affiliations; several posts about this are in the BIRDCHAT archives as
well. You can search for them from
http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=birdchat

On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, Chris Hill wrote:
>
> Anybody seen any Little Gulls on the Outer Banks this year?  I've got a
> Little Gull itch, and can't decide if I can scratch it better from shore
> or with Brian Patteson.

I've always heard that you can see them from shore in large flocks of
Bonaparte's Gulls. However, I have yet to see any sizeable flocks of
Bonaparte's Gulls from shore on the Outer Banks in any of my winter trips
there. I've seen many more in Jordan and Falls Lakes (and heard that
somebody, maybe Ricky Davis, once had a Little on Jordan). It took a
Patteson pelagic for me to finally break my Little Gull curse; I think it
was the Wings Over Water 2000 pelagic.

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 12:54:23 -0500
From: Norm Douglas <nad@duke.edu>
To: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>

Dude, you should get to Costa Rica...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 365 Bird Species Observed at La Selva in 24 Hours
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 16:29:22 -0500
From: Christina Cheatham <ccheatha@duke.edu>
To: (OTS Friends)

RECORD BIRD COUNT
By Orlando Vargas, James Zook & Joel Alvarado

The Annual Christmas Bird Count at La Selva Biological Station was
conducted December 29, 2001.  Good weather and plenty of qualified
observers led to another record year with highest counts yet for both the
number of species (365) and individuals (9,546).  The cumulative species
total now stands at 480 species after 17 consecutive years (1985-2001) of
the La Selva Christmas Bird Count.  Seven new species were added to the
cumulative species list this year:

         Spotted Wood-Quail (Odontophorus guttatus)
         Plain-breasted Grownd-Dove (Columbina minuta)
         Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)
         Traill?s Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum-traillii)
         Townsend?s Warbler (Dendroica townsendi)
         Canada Warbler (Wilsonia canadensis)
         Dickcissel (Spiza americana)

The 2001 La Selva Christmas Bird Count (formally known as Lower Braulio
Carrillo National Park - La Selva Biological Station) was held on December
29th and ran from 00:00 hours to 24:00 hours.  The count covered a 7.5 mile
radius (177 square miles) centered 1.7 miles south of the Magsasay shelter
on the Peje River.

Eighty-eight people participated in the count (80 Costa Ricans)
representing various organizations (UNA, UCR, Museo Nacional, Tirimbina
Rainforest Center, Guides of Monteverde and Naturalist Guides of Sarapiquí)
and included other ecotourism guides and amateur birders who were organized
into 22 parties.  Fourteen parties walked the La Selva trails and boated
the Sarapiquí and Puerto Viejo rivers.  Eight parties surveyed other areas
including the Braulio Carrillo Altitudinal Transect at the 500 m and 1070 m
shelter sites and the El Ceibo Ranger Station, Tirimbina Rainforest Center,
Chilamate town, Rara Avis Lodge, El Plástico and along roads in open
country.  A total effort of 240 hours of observation and 160 miles of
travel resulted in the 365 species and 9,546 individuals recorded.

Check out the OTS web site
http://www.ots.duke.edu/en/laselva/species/birdcounts/ for the complete
list of species for 1999 and 2000 Christmas Bird Counts.  The list for 2001
will be posted soon.

Come visit La Selva and see the birds in person! Contact Helen at
hbristow@duke.edu to make reservations for your group or course. To make
individual reservations visit
http://www.ots.duke.edu/en/comevisit/index.shtml
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