Hand-collected seedlings in Osa Conservation's tree nursery

By Max Villalobos

The arrival of May brings heavy rain to invade the forests of the Osa Peninsula. It is a time of great change and exceptional beauty. Millions of tiny trees and leaf litter form a living carpet across the colorful forests. These seemingly insignificant small seedlings are invaluable because they represent the renewal of a healthy ecosystem and over time, they will slowly become the forest of tomorrow.

Native tree saplings ready to plant in Osa Conservation's restoration plots

Rainy season has meant a lot of activity at Cerro Osa because it is the time for one of the most rewarding tasks of our work in conservation and land management, tree planting. This year we will plant 8,000 trees of 50 different native species in our forest restoration plots. These new trees will begin the process of ecological succession that will allow us, after several decades, to recover biodiversity in these degraded areas and get a forest that serves as habitat to such important species as the Spider Monkey, the Puma, the Peccary and hundreds of birds.

So I invite all those who are interested to have fun restoring the Osa rainforest with us as volunteers in our forest restoration programs.

Contact reservations@osaconservation.org

Our executive director Manuel Ramirez and conservationist Theo Gund planting a tree in our forest restoration plot.

Mapping our sighting points from both surveys (Red = dry season, 2010; Purple = rainy season, 2011) shows high-use areas for marine fauna inside the gulf, especially near Puerto Jimenez, the upper coastline of Piedras Blancas National Park and the large river outlets.

As one of only four tropical fiords in the world, the Golfo Dulce is worthy of both exploration and preservation. Much like its terrestrial counterpart, the surrounding Osa Peninsula, the unique oceanic inlet supports an abundance of critical wildlife. Despite this diversity scientific publications about the gulf’s extensive marine life remain limited. So when a proposed tuna farm near the mouth of the gulf gained footing in 2009, I proposed a research project to Osa Conservation to collect baseline data about what marine species utilize the embayment and which areas they frequent.

In 2010 and 2011, with vital support from Osa community members and funding from a Greg Gund Memorial Fellowship, two multi-species sighting surveys were conducted in the Golfo Dulce from a small boat — one during the dry season, and another in the rainy season. I was the principal investigator, but the work could not have been done without the expertise of research assistant and boat captain Jorge Largaespada. Jorge has almost 40 years of experience living in the Osa and working and fishing in the Golfo Dulce. He is a masterful guide on land and by sea and can spot wildlife, especially dolphins, from an astonishing distance.

Throughout both surveys, Jorge and I logged a total of 424 systematic observation hours during 55 days on the water. We recorded 458 sightings for over 38 species of fauna, and our study revealed some interesting things.* What were the highlights? Well, here we begin a blog series to help distill some of our most important findings. In the coming posts I will cover a variety of species from whales and dolphins to sea turtles and sea snakes, and share a few photos along the way. I hope you enjoy this peek at some of the amazing wildlife we observed in the Golfo Dulce.

By Brooke Bessesen

*Should you prefer to read a more detailed account of our study, there are two papers available on the website of Osa Conservation: Project Report and Summary of Multi-Species Marine Sighting Survey in Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, January–February 2010 and the Rainy Season Extension of The Multi-Species Marine Sighting Survey in Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, July–August 2011.

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!

DECEMBER 17-22

Space is still available on our Holiday Birding Trip, so join us for spectacular birding through the tropical forests of the Osa Peninsula! This five-day trip includes extensive birding, forest hikes, and nightly talks and excursions with our staff of biologists and conservation professionals.  The trip culminates in the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count—where you, along with thousands of other citizen scientists throughout the Americas, can participate in the longest running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations.

The Osa Peninsula is the wildest, yet most under-birded, corner of the country.  It is home to over 460 species of birds, including the healthiest population of Scarlet Macaws in Central America, Red-capped Manakins, Yellow-billed and Turquoise Contingas, and even the Harpy Eagle.  Osa Conservation’s birding trips are led by resident ornithologist, Karen Leavelle, as well as trained naturalist guides who are intimately familiar with the bird species and tropical ecosystems of the Osa.

Your participation in the Holiday Birding Tour directly supports OC’s avian conservation and education programs. We invite you to be part of our mission to conserve the Peninsula’s globally significant biodiversity and we hope to see you on one of these fantastic trips!

For more information on our Holiday Birding Tour, or to see a trip itinerary, please visit our website at www.osaconservation.org/ConservationTrips.html. For trip registration or questions please contact Emily Angell at emilyangell@osaconservation.org or Karen Leavelle at karenleavelle@osaconservation.org.

Male White-crested Coquette

Of all the hummingbird species, the coquette males that are most highly adorned with ornate feathers that are there to likely help in territorial defense and enhance species recognition.  The White-crested Coquette (Lophornis adorabilis) is the only coquette found here on the Osa Peninsula and is regionally endemic to south western Costa Rica and Western Panama.

The male of this species, which is also sometimes called Adorable Coquette, is known for its white crest and long green cheek tufts and may be arguably one of the most sought after birds to see when one visits this region.  They wander through forests high in the canopy and low along forest edges feeding on the nectar of flowering Inga, Vochysia, Stachytarpheta and Lonchocarpus plants and will also take small spiders and insects.  They hover with their tales cocked upward while feeding.

Male White-crested Coquette showing cheek tufts.

While courting a female the male will make short arcs side to side not much more than about a foot in either direction in front of the female.  He uses his colorful good looks to defend his flowers within his territory and the female takes on all nest duties with no help from the male.  The small lichen covered nest holding two minute white eggs is placed on the fork of a branch along the forest edge or a clearing and is not very well concealed.

They are said to be found from 300 meters up to 1220 meters but we have seen them here at the Piro Research Center which is near sea level as well as up along the Greg Gund Conservation Center’s northern border at Cerro Osa which sits at about 300 meters all within the last month.  At the moment they are engaged in reproductive behavior which takes place during the rainy season from December to February with courtship seen as early as October.   The male will lose his ornate regalia when the breeding season is over.

Red-legged Honeycreeper

The Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) can be found here on the Osa Peninsula and can often be seen wandering through humid forest canopies and open areas with its other Honeycreeper relatives the Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza), the Shining Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes lucidus) and the Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana).  For those novice birders trying to get their bird bearings here in the tropics, one can at first glance mistake the Blue Dacnis or the Shining Honeycreeper for a Red-legged Honeycreeper.  At least I did the first few weeks, but all you have to do is look for the distinctive red legs or the long decurved bill if you’re not yet Dacnis proficient.  Also, one surprise that the Red-legged Honeycreeper has for any onlooker is the bright yellow color of the underneath portion of the wing.

Honeycreepers used to be classified in a separate family with the Bananaquit and flowerpiercers, but are now part of the Tanager family which may seem a bit odd considering their nectar feeding habits and bill morphology.  Any commentaries on why they were lumped with tanagers are welcome here by the way.  But whether you’re a lumper or a splitter, tanagers display more colors and color patterns than any other tropical American bird and Honeycreepers definitely fit the bill.  If you’re not sure what I mean find images of Golden-hooded Tanagers and Bay-headed Tanagers and you will see what I’m saying!

Female Red-legged Honeycreeper

Red-legged Honeycreepers extract nectar from the flowers of Inga, Calliandra and other legume plants.  They also eat small insects, arillate seeds and many other fruits in fairly open edgy areas.  We have seen them moving in mixed-species flocks high up in primary and secondary closed canopy forests as well as right in the gardens of the Osa Biodiversity Center at Friends of the Osa during our early morning avian monitoring point counts.

This species is an open cup nester building a nest of fine rootlets and grass raising two young between February and June.  Pairs are monogamous and both take care of incubation and nesting duties.  Oh, and in case you’re curious Red-legged Honeycreepers weigh about 13.5 grams, about half the size of a House Sparrow.

Visit Photographs by Bob Levy for more beautiful birds of Costa Rica.

Male Turquoise Cotinga. Photo by Ulises Quintero

This week as promised I am bringing you the Turquoise Cotinga (Cotinga ridgwayi).  This is definitely one of those species of bird that makes you go “WOW” when you see it.  This is also one of Costa Rica’s most sensitive species to loss of forest habitat.  BirdLife International has this Cotinga species listed as Vulnerable which puts it one step away from be considered Endangered.  It is a regional endemic only found on the Pacific slope of central and southern Costa Rica and western Panama.  Its population is estimated to be between 2,500 – 10,000 birds and declining.

So why the decline?  As with many species, the Turquoise Cotinga is faced with deforestation and severe habitat fragmentation.  This coupled with an already naturally small range makes it difficult for the Cotinga population to remain stable.  This is also true for its closest relative the Yellow-billed Cotinga also found here on the Osa Peninsula whose population is estimated to be much smaller between 250 – 1,000 birds (more on this species in the weeks to come!).

Because of the Turquoise Cotinga’s conservation concern and its rarity, it is a special occasion when we see one.  Now you must know there are certain areas on the Osa Peninsula where this bird is quite common such as Carate and Corcovado National Park and folks flock to these areas to see them.  Since we at Friends of the Osa are in the middle of our seasonal avian monitoring we have had the distinct pleasure to have encountered several Turquoise Cotingas in the last two weeks within our monitoring points and just up the road from the Greg Gund Conservation Center on Cerro Osa.  It is possible that Turquoise Cotingas are more common than once thought on Friends of the Osa property especially outside of the breeding season when they are seasonally migrating in search of food resources.

This passerine species is found mainly in the canopy of humid rainforest and secondary growth and can also be seen along forest edges and in tall trees within shade grown coffee plantations.  They will wander throughout the canopy of wet forests and are known to rest on high exposed perches.  They consume the fruits of fig trees, Cecropia and parasitic mistletoe Psittacanthus and will go down low to gather pokeweed berries Phytolacca in clearings on occasion.  In case you were wondering it weighs in at about 50 grams, just under the size of a Red-winged Blackbird.

The males and females apparently do not form pair bonds.  The males gather in group display leks to attract females.  The female then builds the nest and rears the two young all on her own.  Nesting takes place between January and May.

Conservation measures are to investigate current distribution and discourage the conversion of shade coffee to full sun grown coffee.  Unfortunately very little information is available on the behavioral ecology of this species so the more we learn the more we will bring to you.

Pale-billed Woodpecker Male. Photograph by Alan Dahl

Of the eight woodpecker species that are found on the Osa Peninsula, the Pale-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus guatemalensis) is the largest with a length of 35 cm (14 inches) rivaling only the superficially similar, and range overlapping Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus).  In fact, the Pale-billed Woodpecker is most closely related to the extremely elusive north temperate species the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, both belonging to the same genus, Campephilus.  This species ranges from southern Mexico to Western Panama.

The Pale-billed is distinguished from the Lineated by its fully red head.  Only the female, pictured here, has a black center crown, neck and throat while the male’s head is completely red.  When their bright red crest stands up on end they look like the punk hoodlums of the bird world.

These birds are actually quite common here on the Osa and can be found right here at the Osa Biodiversity Center anywhere between the Greg Gund Conservation Center and Piro Research Center.  There is a pair that is excavating a nest right now in the month of September in our NRDC forest restoration plot located approximately 6 meters up in a snag.

Pale-billed Woodpecker Female. Photograph by Gianfranco Gomez

The nesting period typically ranges from August to December.  Pale-billed Woodpeckers excavate their own nests, but are sometimes taken over by Araçaris while under construction.  Both parents incubate the two eggs typically layed and also care for their young.  They roost in large cavities similar to those used for nests and can use the same cavity for roosting for several months.

They commonly eat the large larvae of wood boring beetles excavated from the trunks and limbs of large trees and dead and decaying wood.  When not eating beetle larvae they have been known to take fruit from Melastome trees.

Sounds include the vocal “bleating” sound and the non-vocal drumming “double-rap” similar to that of other Campephilus species such as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.  The NRDC pair is in the habit at the moment of counter-rapping with its nearest neighbor who is only about 100 meters away.

We would like to thank Alan Dahl from Focused on Nature photography and Gianfranco Gomez from the Drake Bay Rainforest Chalet for allowing us to show off their amazing photographs of the Pale-billed Woodpecker.

The information generated by this project was included in the latest update workshop of the conservation status of amphibians in Costa Rica for the IUCN Red List, held in San Jose in July this year. The workshop was organized by the University of Costa Rica’s School of Biology and the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN. The workshop summary will soon be published by the organizers, and we’ll share that report through the blog.

Dermophis occidentalis

As part of this project, and with some good luck, we’ve observed many interesting species of amphibians.  One species in particular which has attracted the most attention is the caecilian seen in this photo.

Caecilians are a group of amphibians that has invaded the underground environment, so that their bodies are elongated, they have no limbs and their eyes are vestigial – all characteristics that allow them to squirm through their subterranean tunnels. Because of their penchant for the underground, these animals are rarely seen, and therefore, little is known about them.

According to the latest review of this group in the Osa Peninsula, there are three species of caecilians, one of these endemic (Oscaecilia osae), which has been reported only twice in Corcovado National Park.

The species that we have been observing, Dermophis occidentali, has been found at both the Piro Research Center, and the Greg Gund Conservation Center (GGCC).  The individual in the photo was found at the GGCC by Kory Kramer, in one of the buildings. This was in early July, when the onset of the rains saturates the ground forcing caecilians to surface.  If you’re lucky, you’ll see one. On this occasion, all Friends of the Osa staff were gathered for an activity so that everyone had the opportunity to observe this rare species.

Chestnut-backed Antbird. Photo by Alan Dahl

Chestnut-backed Antbirds (Myrmeciza exsul) are common residents of the Osa Peninsula and one of the most abundant species found here.  It is difficult to walk outside here at Friends of the Osa’s Osa Biodiversity Center and not hear two or three individuals counter-singing.  Often times when the rest of the forest has become fairly quiet you can always count on a Chestnut-backed Antbird to let you know that all is as it should be.

The signature look of three species of Antbird found on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica is the blue orbital skin (the skin surrounding the eye).  The Chestnut-backed Antbird is one of these species and is distinguished from the others by its slate colored head and chestnut back.  The other antbird that you are likely to see here with the blue orbital skin is the Bicolored Antbird, but it is distinguished by its white neck and belly.

As you can tell by the name, Chestnut-backed Antbirds follow army ant swarms; however, they only do this occasionally and are not considered obligate, or professional, army ant followers.  They are strongly associated with the dark undergrowth of wet tropical forests within dense vegetation especially near overgrown treefalls or dense thickets.  They often join mixed species flocks but won’t necessarily move along the forest with the flock, but will rather join them while ant swarms are moving through the dense thickets in which the Chestnut-backed Antbirds are found.  Once the army ant swarm or the mixed species flock is gone, they will remain in the undergrowth found in their territory.  Many tropical birds follow army ant swarms to pick up insects flushed by the ants, not to eat the ants themselves.  Chestnut-backed Antbirds mainly hop along very low lying perches or along the ground and peck their prey, which mainly consists of insects and spiders from the ground or near the ground vegetation.

Chestnut-backed Antbird. Photo by Gianfranco Gomez

They are territorial throughout the entire year and both the male and female sing duets back and forth to each other and in response to their nearest neighbors.  When disturbed, they will pump their tail downward, droop their wings, and fluff up their feathers.  They nest low in small bushes or debris during the rainy season from April to October.  They usually lay two eggs and both parents incubate and tend to their young.

We would like to thank both Alan Dahl from Focused on Nature and Gianfranco Gomez from the Drake Bay Rainforest Chalet for allowing us to showcase their photographs.