Tricolored Bumble Bee (Bombus ternarius)
Have you ever seen a Tricolored Bumble Bee (Bombus ternarius)? This pollinator has quite a dashing look. There are actually 46 species of what most of us call “bumblebees” in the Americas north of Mexico.
Read MoreYellow-breasted Chats in New York
Earlier today I uploaded this video of a notorious skulker, the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), to our YouTube Channel. The bird was foraging for prey in dense brush and thickets. This behavior is typical of the often hidden species. While it is not necessarily shy – this individual feeling comfortable enough to feed as I filmed shows that much – it certainly knows how to stay out of sight for the most part. It made me ponder the current status of the species as a whole in Western New York and the surrounding region. Back in Connecticut I actually saw several...
Read MoreWood Thrush territory
On Thursday, December 12, during the first banding session at Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve we caught a Wood Thrush, one of our Neotropical migrants. What’s special about catching this species is it’s supposed to be a Caribbean slope migrant and at Cabo Blanco we’re on the Pacific slope. The other intriguing thing is that it’s only supposed to be a passage migrant, meaning that by early November it’s supposed to have left Costa Rica. This is the third year in a row we have witnessed this. It draws attention to the fact that we are still very unaware of where...
Read MoreYellow-bellied Flycatcher range
One of the many terrific photos Sean has sent us from Costa Rica was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) he netted and banded. The bird was captured at Finca Pura Vida. Take a look at this lively friend! That’s a great expression and a really great capture. This talkative bird made me think a bit about the species in general. You typically see them only scarcely or rarely in migration in most of the United States. I thought about the usual locations I would find them and some of the sightings I’ve had and knew that they nested in the boreal forest but…I...
Read MoreElegant Trogon (Trogon elegans) by Sean Graesser
This is an Elegant Trogon (Trogon elegans), one of the two Trogon species that can actually occur in the United States. Two years ago we first observed a female at our site in Curu Wildlife Reserve. This species was normally not found this far south on the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. The next year we caught a male in our nets, the bird pictured. The first time we saw the female we chalked it up to a vagrant that might have gone too far down during a migration in search of a reliable fruit source. But with the male being caught the next year we are trying to figure out if it’s a species...
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