Birds of Costa Rica 2: part 2

Steak-backed Oriole (turpial dorsilistado aka. turpial de fuego (lit. Fire Oriole!))
Peninsula de Papagayo, Liberia, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica
May 2024
Member of the Blackbird Family

{Etymology Corner} Another local name for the bird is bolsero dorsilistado, which translates to Streak-backed Purse maker, which refers to these birds really cool looking nests. These birds (along with several others) construct what is called a penduline nest, or a woven structure made from grass and other foliage that hangs from a tree branch. These are really cool looking. Here is one such nest, also from this trip to Costa Rica.

Gray-breasted Martin (martín pechigrís)
Peninsula de Papagayo, Liberia, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica
May 2024
Member of the Swallow Family

§A Scream of Swifts§ (Ok, I know, I know, these are Martins, not Swifts, and that's not even the same family (SOMEHOW), but I hadn't heard 'scream' as a term of venery before and I thought it was neat. Guys, the well is DRY on this bird, there are no other interesting facts about it. If you know anything about swallows or swifts, you know everything there APPARENTLY is to know about these birds. Ok, fine, fine, here's something-)

~True Bird Fact~ They can't walk, their little legs are only for perching. See!! That was the best I could do. That's barely interesting at all and something you probably would've assumed just looking at this thing. This bird blog was held up SIGNIFICANTLY while I tried to come up with something to say about this Gray-breasted Martin, which, BY THE WAY, this might not even 100% be, because Swallows are hard to ID. So LAY OFF!

Turquoz-browed Motmot (momoto cejiceleste) aka. Torogoz aka. Guardabarranco (lit. Ravine-guard) aka. Pájaro reloj (lit. Clock Bird)

Peninsula de Papagayo, Liberia, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica
May 2024
Member of the Motmot Family

★National Bird of both El Salvador and Nicaragua★

{Etymology Corner} I think we got a famous one here ladies and gentleman. It's always a good sign when a bird has like 6 plus names, and they're all really expressive and beautiful, and that's the situation we have here. In El Salvador, he's called Torogoz, which is a reference to the sound he makes (you be the judge). In Nicaragua he's called Guardabarranco (lit. Ravine-guard). In the Yucatán, he's called Pájaro reloj (lit. Clock Bird, for the way he moves his tail). And in Costa Rica he's called Pájaro bobo (Foolish Bird) for his comfort around humans. That's the good stuff!

~True Bird Fact~ So, that tail- it's referred to as 'racketed' and serves a couple of purposes. First, they use it for sexual selection- i.e. a male with a long tale is a more desirable mate. But interestingly, they also use it to communicate with predators (!). They wag their tail back and forth, like a clock pendulum, to signal to a predator that they have been observed, and that pursuing them would be pointless, because they will fly away if approached. This is called a 'pursuit deterrent signal'.

~Real Bird Myth(?)~ Look, I don't know what to trust anymore in regards to the internet. But there are lots of claims that the Motmot is a significant bird in Mayan cultural tradition (and why not, look at it!). Most of the stories I found were on travel websites, and they all had a theme of how the bird lost most of it's tail feathers, leaving only the aforementioned 'rackets', usually as a result of arrogance. Here's my favorite one of this genre, which I totally can't vouch for as legit, from this website.

The motmot’s Mayan name is toh, and it features in local legend and lore. According to one story, the motmot liked to meet his fellow royal birds and spend the day telling stories and feasting on insects while other birds were working. He was such a beautiful creature and so proud of his glossy tail and plumage that it made him arrogant and overbearing.

One afternoon, when black clouds were massing on the horizon heralding the approach of a storm, Oc, the king vulture summoned all the birds to a meeting and they decided to build themselves a shelter. Chujut the woodpecker, Panchel the toucan, Mox the parrot and Xtut collected timber, Baax the chachalaca and Cutz the wild turkey carried the heaviest branches and the hummingbirds collected grass, herbs and leaves for the roof. Other birds gathered fruit and seeds to tide them over the storm. Only the motmot refused to help, saying that he was an aristocrat, not a worker.

When the storm burst, the motmot found a crack in a stone wall that he thought would be a good place to hide. He crept in and went to sleep without noticing that his elegant long tail was still out in the open.

Much later, the motmot woke up and emerged from his shelter to sing in the sun like the other birds. He was astonished to find that all that was left of his beloved tail were two bedraggled and naked barbs with a small clump of feathers at the end. The wind and water had done their worst. Horrified, realized what a fool he had been. Pride soon got the better of him and he decided to shun his former companions for fear that they would mock him. He flew off into the depths of the forest and dug a hole where he hid until this very day. He still keeps to himself; perching on branches overlooking cenotes where he swings his long tail from side to side incessantly like the pendulum on a clock.

Verdin

Verdin
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Verdin Family (known outside the Western Hemisphere as the... Penduline Tit Family)
§No Name for A Group of Verdins§

Zippy
His cavalier attitude worries his older, more responsible brother
Never really had a career goal
Young enough to still feel invincible

In addition to being the only member of his bird family in the new world, Verdin is quite an accomplished nest builder. That means it's time for another episode of Bird-er Homes and Gardens, featuring a Verdin's nest.

So these buddies build nests, like, non-stop. One pair was observed to construct 11 in a single year. They have nests for breeding and nests for roosting. As you can see from our intrepid builder here, the rooting nests have a soft, downy interior, which insulates the nest in winter. In the summer, they build the nests with the entrances facing a breeze to make them cooler. Smart little guys, and another bird in our current series on surviving harsh desert conditions.

Usually the male builds the hard stick exterior and the female does the lining, which makes our male here out front a little unusual. Or maybe he has just gathered the lining for the lady, who may be inside. Who knows. I'm not about to judge this Verdin for embracing a non-traditional role in homemaking.

What Kind of House is That, House Sparrow?

House Sparrow aka. English Sparrow
Battery Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
July 2015
Member of the Old World Sparrow Family
§A Host of Sparrows§
★The Most Widely Distributed Bird★

{Etymology Corner} The word Sparrow derives from the Old English word for speed. Makes sense, I guess, but there are faster birds.

~"true" bird fact~ Things this bird is claimed to 'represent' by various sources; loneliness, solitude, insignificance, loyalty, lust, sexual potency, commonness, vulgarity. People projecting all over this sparrow, dang.




What makes something a house and what makes something a home? This is a question a House Sparrow surely deals with often, since he has 'house' in his name. Is that really a house, House Sparrow? Are you living up to your name?

Nest Details
Construction: man-made hole in a traffic light, lined with coarse, dried vegetation.
Location: Bushwick, Brooklyn, NYC intersection.

PS- This is another bird released into New York City by the crazy guy who wanted all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare to live in the new world. You know, the guy responsible for all these Starlings all over the place.

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin
Bird Island, Nova Scotia, Canada
Member of the Auks, Murres, and Puffins family
★Provincial Bird of Newfoundland and Labrador★
§A Puffinry of Puffins§

~true bird fact~ Puffins have small wings, so they have to beat them over 300 times per minute to stay in flight. Good thing they don't have to fly much. In fact, they are small birds overall, being usually about 10 inches tall and weighing about as much as a can of soda.

~real bird ritual~ On the Icelandic island of Heimaey, fledgling Puffins who leave their nests for the first time sometimes get lost on their way to sea, so local children take turns paroling the town at night and rescuing the Pufflings (really called this). There's a children's book about this event.

Avid readers
Likes to have the same daily schedule every day, almost compulsive about it
Favorite food- soft serve ice cream
Are serious birds, and work really hard, so please don't call them 'Clown of the Sea' or 'Little Brother of the North' or other embarrassing names. Sheesh.

Nest Details
Construction: Burrow. Often beginning as a natural indentation in the sea rock, but dug out by the puffin using his strong beak. Inside there is a narrow shaft, 2 or 3 feet long, leading to a nest lined with foliage and feathers. Puffin homes often include a separate bathroom area (!!) so that the puffin chicks don't get themselves dirty.
Location: Sheer cliff face on islands that lack terrestrial predators. In this case, Bird Island in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton. Often the only way for people to see these birds is on chartered boat tours. I pause here to briefly plug Donelda's Puffin Tours, which was overall very awesome and included lots of birds that will be making the blog in the next few weeks.
Occupants: Puffins pair off monogamously and stay in the same burrow every year. They lay only one egg each year and share parenting duties. Very traditional, puffins are.

Cliff Swallow (and nest)

Cliff Swallow
El Sobrante, California, USA
Member of the Swallow Family
§A creche of young swallows§

~true bird facts~ Cliff swallows show a lot of interesting social characteristics. They usually live in colonies, which, out west, can be up to 3700 nests. When a swallow finds a source of food (they eat flying insects, mostly), they sometimes call out to their colony using a special cry, alerting them of the meal. Swallows also sometimes raise each other's young, placing one of their eggs into another swallow's nest. Let's not speculate on the rational or evolutionary reasons for these behaviors (like many other websites) and just assume that swallows are really into communal living.

Has been through some stressful times, but is doing great now

Open to new experiences
Very into the colony, makes good use of the considerable support they provide
Likes physical closeness

Nest Details
Construction: Mud pellets, which the swallow caries from up to a mile away, one mouthful at a time. A nest is made up of 900-1200 mud pellets. Inside it is lined with grasses or vegetation.
Location: The San Pablo Reservoir recreational area, under the awning of a restroom.
Occupants: A pair of cliff swallows, their young. A male swallow sometimes begins construction of the nest before he finds a partner, but they build it together for the most part. While the swallows only have one partner that they raise young with, they continue to "frequently mate outside of the pair bond". Thanks for describing bird polyamory in such a dry way, allaboutbirds.org

Orange-fronted Parakeet

Orange-fronted Parakeet aka. Half-moon Conure
Playa Tamarindo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Member of the Parrot Family
§A Company of Parrots§

~true bird fact (birdter homes and gardens edition)~ The Orange-fronted Parakeet makes his home inside a hanging termite nest. A nesting pair will choose an appropriate spot and spend about a week burrowing into it from below and making a rather intricately laid-out nesting chamber. The birds then give the termites another few days to seal-off their tunnels to this area and voila, a nest that is hidden from predators, insulated, and dry. A guy in Costa Rica told your amateurnithologist that it was also a source of easy food for the young chicks, but I can find no corroboration of that claim on the internet. Let it never be said that I don't do the research!

Never complains, always seems to have a good mood
Laughs easily, big fan of pratfalls and physical comedy
Never talks philosophy or politics
Enjoys his free-time unashamedly, loves to relax

But that's not all parrot-fans. Your favorite bird blog has caught parrot fever! That's right, this month will be all parrot-posts all the time. If you're a fan of these lively and interesting birds, check back in the coming weeks. We've even got a birding expedition to attempt to find the notorious wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill of San Francisco! Will we succeed?! Keep checking the blog to find out.

Birdter Homes & Gardens: Swallow's Nest

Home Details
Description: A mud nest, the construction of which took over a thousand trips for the swallow
Location: Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Center, Stonewall, Manitoba, Canada
Occupants:A Barn Swallow, presumably her eggs. Wait a second, did I just successfully take a picture of a swallow?! The calls for a celebration!


Barn Swallow
Oak Hammock Marsh, Manitoba, Canada
Member of the Swallow Family
*true bird facts*~ The most abundant and widely distributed swallow in the world, some estimate that there are 200 million of her in the world. That's a hard number to... swallow.

A free spirit, no one can tell her what to do
Mentions her favorite inspirational quotes frequently
Shops at the farmer's market
Has never really known hardship, but cares deeply about issues
Knows about flowers

Birdter Homes & Gardens: Father's Day Edition

Birds can make a home anywhere. Even though people have largely destroyed the planet, birds remain successful. One of the great secret skills of birds is their ability to find a place to live. Often these places are worth photographing and cataloging themselves, doubly so when you can actually see the birds who make them into homes. Thus, a new feature is born- Birdter Homes & Gardens (please let the Amateurnithologist know if that title is just 'too much')

Home Details
Description: A metal pipe, original purpose of which is unknown
Location: Fruitvale Avenue, Oakland, California, above a Peet's Coffee
Occupants: Seem likely to be a family of song sparrows. They are looking pretty big, so perhaps they are getting ready to fly soon.

This adult sparrow would fly back and worth every 2 or 3 minutes, collecting some kind of food and returning to feed it to the chicks. Given today's holiday, we imagine this sparrow as a dutiful dad, going out and working hard to feed his kids (this may actually not be a male sparrow).

We at Amateurnithologist appreciate your many sacrifices and efforts, Dads and Birds, and wish you a happy Father's Day. Look for more posts soon!