A Great Read: Early on in my stay at Cano Palma Research Station I went through their library looking for something to read. I came across an absolutely marvellous book by Archie Carr: The Windward Road. Archie Carr, born in Alabama in 1909, went on to become a herpetologist and ecologist at the University of Florida. He is probably best known for his pioneering conservation work on behalf of sea turtles. Through his efforts the decline in sea turtle numbers, through over exploitation and loss of habitat, was brought to the attention of the world. His work resulted in Costa Rica forming Tortuguero National Park in 1975 (the major nesting area for Green Turtles and a significant site for Leatherbacks). He was the founder and first scientific director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
But all that aside. The book is a gem. It presents Carr’s travels through the Caribbean in the 50’s as he investigates the plight of sea turtles. But it’s his writing that makes the book so worthwhile: his use of language to capture people and places and events. Reminds me almost of John Steinbeck but with an inlay of science.
Carr finished the book expressing his concern for the long-term outlook for sea turtles given what he was seeing in the 50’s. This was before the advent of marine plastic debris and the plundering of beaches as prime tourist real estate. A view of the Caribbean at this time is, alone, worth the read. I would say The Windward Road would be the sea turtles answer to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring…..only better (to me at least).
Thermal Hopping: Right now (2:30 PM), as I write this, I can see 29 raptors through a little break in the vegetation at the back of the guest house we’re staying at in Turrialba. The larger ones – the ones that I can confidently identify – are Black and Turkey Vultures but the majority, the little specks way up there, I can put down only to buteos, species unknown.
But these are a small drop in the bucket. This morning Geoff and I walked the 4 km’s out of town to visit the CATIE headquarters. [CATIE is a Spanish acronym for Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre.] There was a light drizzle when we set out and the gray clouds stayed with us even when it stopped, probably a good thing as the high-flying birds would have been lost against a blue background. Although early in the day the raptors were on the move – it was hot enough for thermals to form and birds were taking full advantage of it. I started off seeing 2 large (200+) kettles. They were just dots, despite 8X binoculars, but all appeared to be hawks, not vultures. Finally one of the kettles disassembled and the birds began to stream speedily out of the tight spiral, in a northerly direction. The kettle behind this one then broke down and moved to where the first kettle had originally been and kettled again. And then another kettle came into view…..and then, in the far distance, another. At one point I could see 3 widely spaced spiralling groupings of hawks with birds moving between them, but only in the northerly direction. By the time I got to CATIE to do some passerine birding, I estimated that I had seen at least 2,000 raptors, most of them hawks. They were so high that the only birds I could identify were a few Red-tails and Broad-winged Hawks. The rest I would have to put down to: large buteos/small buteos and large/not so large accipiters.
We stayed at CATIE for 2 1/2 hours. On the way back birds were still kettling and streaming. Thousands of raptors will move through this area alone today. [Yesterday, I saw a similar migration as the bus from San Jose to Turrialba crossed the mountains in the Cartago area – huge kettles (500+ birds) riding the updrafts of the mountain ridge.]
By the way, if you get a chance to visit CATIE I would highly recommend it. The entry fee is only $10 (US) but it gives you access to a 45 hectare farm with a wide variety of plants and birds and plenty of trails to access it all. Open from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Addendum:
4:20 PM. I wrestled with the idea of closing my book; the already brooding sky was darkening making the page difficult to see. No…..but I’ll continue to keep an eye out for movement in the back garden. The Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds seem to have finished for the day but the Common Tody-flycatcher is still foraging, unwilling to knock off for the night on less than a full stomach. [It’s still going at 5:00!]
At one point I glanced up and in the opening in the shrubs through which I’d seen the raptors earlier I saw a swirling flock of swifts. I estimated that they numbered at least 150. Now swifts are notoriously difficult to ID at a distance; I know that. But, if pushed to come up with one I’d be pretty confident in saying they were Chimney Swifts. Too small to be any of the big ones and too big to be any of the small ones and with no white or contrasting gray. Chimney Swifts do not winter in Costa Rica but move through it – usually along the Caribbean coast but sometimes up to 1,000 m in elevation.
I could be wrong – I’d be the first to admit it – but if they were Chimney Swifts I can only imagine that this was a migrating flock looking for a place to roost for the night before continuing on tomorrow…..and some of them to Ruthven by late April/early May.
Rick