Bird News
No matter how many times I visit Costa Rica, there is always something new to experience. Many think of lush tropical rainforests or jungles when Costa Rica comes to mind, but there is another biome in this small Central American country that is equally fascinating. That is the tropical dry forest.
Although spring is in the air, the recent snow still makes birders dream of different habitats and warmer weather. Travel out of the country is becoming dearer and air travel is about as irritating as it gets. So perhaps a road trip to Florida is an option. The image that comes to mind for most folks when I mention Florida is Disney/Epcot, Miami or Cape Canaveral. There is much more to Florida than those areas and the birding is spectacular, even in Miami and Cape Canaveral.
“Guyana — isn’t that where all those people drank Kool-Aid at Jonestown? Why would you want to go there?”
“New birds, new habitat, new country, that’s why!”
Guyana is a very small country located on the northern bump or eastern shoulder of South America. Very close to the equator, this small country that used to be called British Guiana is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the north, Venezuela on the west, Brazil on the south and Suriname (Old Dutch Guiana) on the east.
Which is it, a short nasal cah-ah or a full-voiced caaw? That is the question that will help distinguish between the unusual fish crow and the ubiquitous American crow.
The Vineyard bird hot line received a fascinating report from Edo Potter, out on Chappy, who noticed a rowdy mob of crows outside her house around dawn last Friday.
The crows were ganging up on something they had pinned to the ground — just what wasn’t clear, but it was large and, when Edo’s husband Bob flushed the crows, it flew off to some nearby bushes.
Driving around the Island recently, one is likely to encounter flocks of American robins. They seem a little more conspicuous at this time of year since, other than starlings, there are few flocks of anything around.
At this time of year the robins are eating fruit and seeds, so places with crab apples, bittersweet berries, juniper berries, etc., are good places to find them. Often they will concentrate in an area until nearly all the food is gone and then move on after a day or two.