Hello!!

My name is Jo Garrett and I’m a television producer based in Madison, Wisconsin. I am also a BIG-TIME Osa admirer since I had the pleasure of traveling there to shoot a documentary called, “Our Birds.”

We produced the documentary for Wisconsin Public Television and you can view it at this link:

http://wpt.org/ourbirds/

The “we” is our production crew: location sound recordist, Kerman Eckes, me, and our videographer, Frank Boll.

So why was a Wisconsin television crew in the Osa? Our documentary began as an investigation into some of the problems confronting Wisconsin’s migratory birds.

Every spring and fall more than 240 species of birds travel to and through Wisconsin as they migrate between their summer breeding grounds in the north and their wintering grounds in Latin America.

These migratory birds are very treasured in Wisconsin. It’s a big deal when these beautiful birds arrive every spring. Wisconsin residents put up feeders outfitted with orange slices and grape jelly to feed hungry Baltimore Orioles, birders join “warbler walks” to catch sight of these beauties, and even the tiny hummingbirds are treated to sugar water served in bright red containers. Spring is a delight when they arrive and we miss the birds when they leave in fall.

We love “our birds” and conservationists in Wisconsin are working hard to tackle problems such as habitat loss and collision with windows. Some of that work is profiled in the documentary. (There is a very happy ending for a Canada Warbler that crashes into a skyscraper in the city of Milwaukee!! Check it out!).

But it became clear that an important part of the story of Wisconsin’s migratory birds was to look at what happens to the birds while they’re in their wintering grounds.

We came to the Osa to profile some of the amazing programs that Osa Conservation and partners are engaged in to save “our birds” AND, to show how important it is that we work together if these birds are to survive and thrive.

Conservation Birding is a concept whereby people who come down to the Osa on fantastic birding trips agree to make a donation to Osa Conservation to support protection and restoration of bird habitat and avian programs. These trips result in the raising of critical funds to protect not only migratory, but resident endangered bird habitat as well (in addition to supporting local jobs in eco-tourism and bird guiding!)

A picture is worth a 1,000 words so here are a few production stills from our trip

If you save the ocelot, you save the oriole. We explored that connection with Wild Cat Researcher Ricardo Moreno seen in the image above. He and fellow researcher Aida Bustamante have set up one of the largest camera trap grids in the world to capture photos and garner information about Costa Rican wild cat populations.

Ricardo got a photo of a margay that day. What a rare occurrence. Reason? Margays live in the trees of the rainforest and seldom, sometimes never, touch the ground. Amazing. The canopy cat.

Early morning. Rio Tigre. Barefoot. Working. I think this is a great production photo. Frank and Kerman are intent on their job, gathering images and sound, and all around them the day is unfolding

We were all changed by this trip. Kerman was so inspired by our shoot in the Osa and Thompson’s birding conservation trips that she returned to bird with Osa Conservation the next year!!

Frank has retired from Wisconsin Public Television but please note that he’s now in Peru on a three week shoot, volunteering his time as a videographer to document other conservation efforts. I know that the dedication of the folks in the Osa was SO inspiring for him. We talked about it when we retuned back home. He spoke of how determined he is to “give back” to conservation groups in his retirement, in part because of his experiences in the Osa and with Osa Conservation.

As for me, I have a renewed focus on how best to communicate the importance of caring for “our birds:” preventing window collisions, saving habitat, planting our backyards with the native plants and bushes that give these spent, exhausted migrants the food and shelter their need during their migrations.

I am writing this blog entry from Madison, Wisconsin on November 8th. We’re under a “winter storm watch” and the snow is tumbling down, winds are howling, and I’m so glad the birds we share (the Baltimore Oriole, the Indigo Bunting, the Scarlet Tanager, and all those many, many Warblers) are all safe and sound in the forests and wilds of the Osa.

Take good care our little feathered friends!! We’re counting on you!

We’ll do our best to watch out for them in Wisconsin.

Thank you!!

-JoAnne Garrett
Wisconsin Public Television

Let emily.angell@osaconservation know if you are interested in birding opportunities in the Osa!

Female Yellow-billed Cotinga on the day of her tagging Feb. 15, 2011

It really is like no other bird that I have seen. These birds are truly beautiful with movements and behavioral characteristics unique to its species.   These big black eyes belong to a male Yellow-billed Cotinga (Carpodectes antoniae), a highly endangered Costa Rican resident bird species.  It is also know locally as the Cotinga Piquiamarillo.

He is just one of a dwindling number remaining here in the southern pacific coastal slope of Costa Rica and hopefully the north pacific coast of Panama.  I say hopefully because historically this species was found on both sides of the border inhabiting coastal mangroves and adjacent mixed rainforest.  Loss and degradation of habitat for this regional endemic bird is the main cause of its decline with a population estimated to only be somewhere between 250 – 799 birds remaining.  Because of the several intact mangroves that are found around the Golfo Dulce and up around Térraba-Sierpe National Wetlands of Costa Rica, the Osa Peninsula and its environs now appears to be this species one and only remaining stronghold.

The male and the female look quite different; the female sporting a mottling of gray, white and black on her wings and back while the male is a stunning pure white with slight hints of soft light gray all over.  Its signature yellow beak with its central black stripe is what sets it apart from the Snowy Cotinga, its closest relative found on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica.  You won’t find much yellow in the females’ beak however except along the base of the bill.  The fledglings look like mom while the sub-adult males, probably not much older than one year, have that in-between look going on.   As far as vocalizations are concerned any form of communication that may be used between individuals is not readily apparent to those of us on the ground.

Now picture about 6 male Yellow-billed Cotingas in a single tree snag branching out in all directions each male swooping down and back up into an adjacent tree, mostly leafless or semi-leafless, all in an effort to gain the attention of a nearby female.  Just imagine a gymnast on parallel bars.  This is the courtship display and is also a movement that is seen by males throughout the breeding season.   Once the female has made her choice it is thought that she then takes on 100% of all parental duties.  The males spend their time feeding and returning to their core areas to make their territorial rounds day in and day out.

So let’s go back for a second and let me reiterate something before moving on.  There may be as few as 250 Yellow-billed Cotingas remaining on the planet, not found anywhere else!

Because of this, Friends of the Osa in partnership with the American Bird Conservancy took on the task of investigating this species actual distribution in a study completed in 2009, and a more specifically aimed study currently looking at its habitat use patterns and its spatial and temporal movements during the reproductive and non-reproductive times of the year.

Male Yellow-billed Cotinga 2011

We are able to determine the birds movements via radio telemetry.  We have placed small radio transmitters on three cotingas, one adult female and two adult males from a small population which breeds in the mangroves of Rincon de Osa located on the north end of the Osa Peninsula along the Golfo Dulce.  We have been able to follow all three birds around their breeding grounds via their radio frequency signals since their capture in mid February.

Essentially what we have done is take geographic satellite positions (waypoints) of birds locations throughout the day using a hand held GPS unit.  With an accumulation of waypoints we are now able to determine each individual’s home range which is basically the size and configuration of the area the bird occupies or uses.  As the birds disperse into other areas of the peninsula during the winter months between June and December we will track their movements and map the areas used in order to more precisely determine which areas are in need of protection and possible conservation measures.

Not only will results from this study reveal important patterns of movements throughout the year of the Yellow-billed Cotinga, it will also serve to safeguard sensitive mangrove habitats and better protect other species which also rely on the mangrove and rainforest ecosystems unique to this part of the world.

YBCO with his unique black bill stripe

Other species to keep an eye on that specifically rely on mangroves are the Mangrove Hummingbird which is a Costa Rica endemic species and the Prothonotary Warbler, a North American  migratory songbird.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank George and Luke Powell for their tireless assistance in capture techniques (including net construction and radio harness placement) as well as home range data analysis, and to Luis Vargas for his energy and tenacity during many weeks of work towards what ended up being a successful capture and beyond- high tides and all! Thanks to Manuel, Courtney and Christina for all the long hours climbing mangroves and wading through rivers.  We would also like to thank the owners of El Chontal Cabinas, and ADEPAS for providing us lodging and the staff of Friends of the Osa for constant support and feedback.  Thanks also goes out to Optics for the Tropics for their donation of binoculars for field staff and to Andrew Judd Pruter of Psycho Tours for supporting this project with climbing equipment used during the cotinga capture.   And this list is growing…

Please keep your eye out for more information on the Yellow-billed Cotinga project…

Piro Research Center

Tree samples waiting to be process by Greg Asner´s working team, January 2010.

Piro Research Center is our Costa Rican biological field station and has:

• Three cabins, each with three rooms and a bathroom (total capacity 36)
• Laboratory/classroom area
• Reference library
• Dining hall/common area

Staying here will give you quick access to mature rainforest as well as to the coastal habitat along the Pacific, making this campus ideal for researchers, field biology student groups, and sea turtle volunteers.

Greg Gund Conservation Center

The Greg Gund Conservation Center is an educational campus located on the Cerro Osa property. Here you have the option to stay in the bunk house or on a camping platform; no matter which you choose, you won’t regret the breathtaking view looking west to Corcovado National Park and the Pacific Ocean.

• Bunkhouse with two bathrooms (total capacity 12-16)
  

  View for the GGCC

• Three screened-in platforms (total capacity 12)
• Dining area
• Education Center (under construction)

The Cerro Osa property where this campus is located, is a 1,500 acre tract of land that is contiguous with the Piro Research Center property. You can get here either by walking the Cerro Osa trail or by car on the access road. While the Greg Gund Conservation Center isn’t as close to pristine rainforest as the Piro Research Center, the land use history of Cerro Osa makes it an ideal location to study tropical forest regeneration since the forest directly surrounding the campus is recovering plantation.

If you’d like to book a stay with us, or if you have questions about accommodating a group, please visit www.osaconservation.org or email our Station Manager: carlosmonge@osaconservation.org

Recording a Stream Soundscape: Jeff Woodman, Luis Vargas & Leo Garrigues

By Karen Leavelle & Jeff Woodman

The Osa Peninsula is known for its high level of biodiversity and is one of the most “biologically intense” places on earth according to National Geographic. The Osa has over half of all species found in Costa Rica. This is evident in the over 400 bird species found here. That’s quite a few birds for such a small area. Well, its time then to make them heard; to record their songs, calls, mews, ooo’s, churrs, drumming and scolding notes and make them available for all to listen to.

That’s exactly what Jeff Woodman, board member of American Bird Conservancy and Amazon Conservation Association, Luis Vargas, ornithology student at the University of Costa Rica, and Tim Burr, recordist for more than three decades thought when they met at a recording workshop held by Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology last summer. Partnering with Friends of the Osa, The Osa Recording Project began in December 2009 when Jeff, Luis, and Tim joined Al Houghton, Bob Levy, and Bob Schallmann on the Osa Peninsula. There they met up with Liz Jones and Abraham Gallo from Bosque del Rio Tigre Lodge and Kory Kramer, Guido Saborio, and Manuel Sanchez from Friends of the Osa to begin the somewhat daunting task of recording as many bird, mammal, amphibian, and insect sounds as they could. The first trip was highly successful

Jeff Woodman, Tim Burr, Luis Vargas and Bob Schallmann recording birds on the road from the Osa Biodiversity Center to Puerto Jimenez

prompting the group to once again descend upon the Osa for round two in mid April. The expertise of the group expanded significantly with the addition of Costa Rican birding experts Leo Garrigues, Gary Feliz and Oscar Herrera, and with Karen Leavelle with Friends of the Osa. Now Gary, Oscar, and Karen who reside on the Osa can simply walk outside and record when they wake up in the morning!

This recording group has travelled from Luna Lodge at Carate to Friends of the Osa’s Osa Biodiversity Center, out to Cabo Matapalo and Puerto Jimenez, Bosque del Rio Tigre Lodge and everywhere in between. This group has even gone all the way over to the Rincon mangroves on the Golfo Dulce side where one can find the endangered Yellow-billed Cotinga and the Mangrove Hummingbird.

So why record all this wildlife?  Education, Education, Education. One intention is to create one or more CDs that could facilitate the training of aspiring local naturalists. Also, birders who come to the Osa can learn some songs before being inundated by the local avifauna when they get off the plane at Puerto Jimenez. Researchers and students will also benefit as well as local guides who work in this amazing environment. We also hope to have songs linked to the Friends of the Osa website along with a bit of natural history and images to allow folks to make visual connections with Osa wildlife.

Oscar Herrera, Lana Wedmore, Leo Garrigues, Tim Burr, Jeff Woodman, Gary Feliz & Luis Vargas at the end of a long recording trip.

We will of course keep you updated on this amazing project and gigantic undertaking as we progress.  You can already begin to hear bird songs on our Featured Bird blog post which is put up every Saturday where we are showcasing a particular bird species, its ecology and the bird’s song or call in its partially edited version. Final edits will be made by recording specialist Al Houghton out of New York.

Hatchling Sea Turtle at Piro Beach - FOO Sea Turtle Program - photo: S DePolo

Manuel Sánchez is the field coordinator for this season, accompanied by his field assistant, Ronald Villalobos; both an example of the efforts of FOO to hire local people for its projects. Manuel was born in the area and has spent his life on these beaches, on the Piro river estuary and the lands of the Osa Biodiversity Center (OBC). Not only is he finely attuned to the rhythms and behaviors of the turtles, he is an expert spotter of all kinds of wildlife and an aspiring photographer.

We would like to send out a very BIG thank you to all of our 2009 volunteers and an even BIGGER thank you to our two Research Field Assistants, Jim Ward and Liam Hogg, who both dedicated three months to FOO’s sea turtle conservation program in 2009.  We couldn’t have done it without you!

In 2009, Friends of the Osa protected 240 nests on Piro Beach and 164 nests on Pejeperro Beach of the Olive Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea).  We were able to protect all 12 Black Turtle nests (Chelonia mydas – agassizii) we discovered on Pejeperro Beach. No Black turtles were observed nesting on Piro Beach in 2009. As for Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas agassizii), just three nests were reported in Pejeperro. These three turtle species are threatened.

Activities included: two teams doing nightly patrols of the two beaches, monitoring the arrival of the nesting turtles, counting nests and attempts at nesting (false crawls,) marking confirmed nests,  tagging and measuring of sea turtles encountered while nesting. Patrols visited the beaches each morning, and where possible placed wire mesh over nests to cut down on predation by wildlife, such as coatis, and feral dogs. Nests were visited after the hatching, and shell remains and nest mortality were tallied. In addition the team did daily and nightly collection of sand temperatures at the depths sea turtles bury their eggs. Our presence on this remote beach has also helped to reduce poaching in the area. In response to the concerns about turtle egg poaching, MINAET (the Costa Rican Ministry of the Interior,) has been conducting patrols on roads and on the beach, which have been effective at reducing the presence of egg-looters in the area. Overall predation has been low this season, as a total of 24 nests have been preyed upon in Piro and only two in Pejeperro.

Piro and Pejeperro beaches, extending northwest from Matapalo point, are wild and untrammeled, far from any city or town, facing directly into the powerful Pacific currents. Situated near the OBC campus, they represent a rare habitat in this hemisphere where the rainforest touches the ocean. The sea turtles nesting here are returning to the beaches where they were hatched. They travel long distances across the Pacific in their feeding, mating and nesting. The female hatchlings that leave the beach each year may not return to nest for up to 20 years. Females may need to make multiple attempts to nest successfully, and some will return to lay more than once a season. They face a gauntlet of hazards, from wildlife predation as hatchlings during their first hours on the beach and in the ocean, to suffocation as adults from ingesting plastic bags mistaken for jelly fish. Above all, to nest  they must brave a wall of death off the Pacific Coast in the form of fleets of long-line fishing boats. The turtles face drowning when they are accidentally ensnared.

These magnificent, ancient creatures fascinate with their timeless migrations–yet their long term survival is uncertain. Our efforts will continue on  Piro and Pejeperro beaches, and in conjunction with other local and international efforts, until their survival can be assured.

For the 2010 season, Friends of the Osa, with support from El Tigre Fund and in partnership with Carate lodges, is expanding our Sea Turtle Conservation Program to cover Oro Beach and Carate Beach.  For this effort to be successful, we will need the help of many more volunteers!

Please visit our volunteer page to sign up for the 2010 season.  Volunteers patrolling Piro and Pejeperro Beaches are housed at the OBC’s rustic but pleasant facilities, and give a donation to cover the cost of the three daily meals prepared by the OBC’s staff. Or you can sign up with a partner lodge and help protect the endangered sea turtles on Oro and Carate Beaches.

Measuring Turtle Tracks on Piro Beach

Also in 2009, locals from the Carate community, including nature guides, were trained on sea turtle conservation and techniques. The community is getting organized and is considering creating a turtle hatchery, with the help of the Sustainability Committee of Carate, La Leona Lodge, Luna Lodge, Finca Exótica, Carate Wildlife Refuge, El Trigre Fund, MINAET and FOO.

A project of Friends of the Osa (FOO), the OBC lies in the midst of thousands of acres of rainforest which border the wild beaches and estuaries on the Pacific coast. Numerous endangered species are located here in one of the most biodiverse places in the world. The OBC provides accommodations for researchers, students and volunteers working on programs designed to support the survival of this important ecosystem. Costa Rican staff members work with individuals from all over the world drawn here in this effort to protect irreplaceable neo-tropical habitat. Ocelots, Scarlet Macaws and four species of monkeys make their homes in the forest surrounding the OBC and the beach at Rio Piro is the nesting place of several species of sea turtles. Our Sea Turtle Conservation Program is a major focus and the time of year when we see the most volunteers.

The OBC has three bunk-style cabins to accommodate visitors, a large dining area, an office with a reference section and a wet lab that doubles as a common area for gatherings and lectures. With thousands of acres of forest surrounding us in the Osa National Wildlife Refuge, we can conduct research and monitoring of many species, and provide a valuable resource to researchers. We have many plans for the future, so please check back, stay informed, and get involved!

Friends of the Osa (FOO) also known as Amigos de Osa, runs a research station and field programs working to protect the globally significant biodiversity found on the Osa Peninsula.

At the Osa Biodiversity Center work centers around supporting scientific research and environmental education, as well as hands on programs like the Sea Turtle Conservation project. Each year researchers and volunteers follow the arrival of several species of sea turtles that nest on the nearby beach, tagging turtles, protecting nests and hatchlings, and compiling important data on the numbers of animals and the success of their nests.

At the Cerro Osa Station, FOO is working to reforest areas adjacent to the Osa National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR), a stewardship program in partnership with local landowners. This important refuge forms a biological corridor through the privately held lands outside the protection of the nearby national park. Managing this important corridor for the Osa’s monkeys, jungle cats and other species is another of our projects.

At our offices in Puerto Jiménez, the small town where most of the local population live, our Costa Rican staff are involved in several programs designed to help the region deal with rapid development, and the rising amount of trash and pollution that come with it. Here our work on clean water and recycling efforts have had the most impact.

Osa is a rare and exceptional place, for it’s beauty and because of the high diversity of species, one of the most biodiverse places in the hemisphere. Despite this world class status, it is a remote and often ignored corner of a developing nation. It is under extreme threat as pressure to develop and modernize reaches Costa Rica. Threats include projects for industrial scale fish farms, increase in the scale of gravel mining, efforts to reopen old gold mining operations, even within protected areas, over-development for tourism including increased air traffic, new airports, water use by and sewage from hotels. Meanwhile, global climate change and increased pressure on species outside the peninsula threaten to make Osa a biological island. There is a dire need for the completion of the plan to create protected corridors between Corcovado Park, the major national park on the peninsula and the Piedras Blancas Park on the mainland.

In Washington DC, our staff work to provide funding and to raise awareness about our programs. We have worked to build strong alliances with local, regional and international partner organizations including The Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, ACOSA, MINAET (Costa Rica’s Ministry of Energy and Environment) and others.

Your support is important to us, too, and by signing the email list and keeping in touch, by fanning our facebook page and getting your friends to do the same, or by becoming a volunteer and helping us in our work, or by donating and showing that you think what we are doing is important.

Any way that you can join us means a lot. So keep reading this blog, check back and comment on what you see.