On January 7th, 2012, the Rainforest Biodiversity Group coordinated the 4th annual Maquenque Christmas Bird Count. This year a total of 23 people participated at 5 sites within the Maquenque Bird Count Circle. While the weather wasn’t very cooperative, the participants still managed to find an impressive 2,850 individual birds of 218 species. This represents a 560 (16.4%) decrease in individuals and 3 (1.4%) species. Again, it was a very close contest for the lodge with the most species, Laguna Lagarto Lodge and Mi Pedacito ended up with 121 and Finca Pangola tallied 118.
This year’s count added TWO new species to the Rainforest Biodiversity Group’s bird list! A Violaceus Quail-Dove was spotted by the Laguna Lagarto Lodge crew and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was observed foraging in a teak tree at the Finca Pangola lodge. Congratulations to both groups on their great finds!
Click here to view the bird list for the Christmas Bird Count.
As the count takes place in the winter, species known as neo-tropical migrants are of course taking advantage of the available food sources in the tropics at this time of year. During this year’s count 9 species of migratory warblers were observed including 64 Chestnut-sideds, 11 Yellows, and 1 Golden-winged warbler!
Rainforest Biodiversity Group would like to personally thank all of the participants for making the 2010 Maquenque Bird Count possible: Adilio Ant. Zeledón M., Lisbeth Mora Rodríguez, Ken Miller, Jose Fallas, Antonio Cortez, Walter Alvarado, Jose A. Salazar, Gustavo Flores Y., Pablo Elizondo, Leandro Arias C., Victorino Molina, Robert Dean, Kathleen, Carolina M. Vasquez, Arturo Angulo Sibaja, Natalie Baker, Mark Wood, Johan Kuilder, Ineke van Leeuwen, Juan C. Mungria, Dan Fender, Nancy Fender, and Andrea Fender. Also, thank you to all the sites and to the Costa Rican Ornithological Society for helping enter the data gathered.
