Internet site where Costa Rica bird sightings are posted? (1 Viewer)

An old entry on Patrick O'Donnell's excellent CR birding blog mentioned the Pajareros forum as a place where sightings are posted, but that site no longer appears to be active since the latest report I can find dates from 2010: http://pajareroscostarica.blogspot.com/ . Is there another site that has taken its place?

Jim

Ebird?

Niels

Yes, I'm of course aware of eBird, but while an amazing tool and repository of sighting information, it's naked data and not a substitute for verbal reports or a forum where people can immediately share the sightings they consider noteworthy. Also, a lot of people still don't use eBird--I don't believe Patrick uses it for example.

Jim

Nope, no site like that for now. Pajareros was nice but the guy who runs it is too busy with work and family duties to promote it. If you can read Spanish, local birders post information about some sightings at the site for the Union Ornitologos de Costa Rica. Most are for vagrants and rarities though which probably wont interest visiting birders for the most part (information about ducks and the first Hooded Merganser for the country for example).

No, I havent used Ebird much in the past but have been using it with more often since it has become easier to use for Costa Rica and is the main site for recording bird observation data for the country.

Although it would in no way be a substitute for an active forum, I will have to do some posts about sites where some of the rarer species have turned up.

Are there say 10 species of birds for which you would particularly like to have information about?

You can sign up for the ebird rare bird report from Costa Rica.

The person who does use it is Jim Zook.... who has been a major contributor to CR ornithology. Last week he posted ebird reports of both Green-winged Teal and Cinnamon Teal for Guanacaste. A Savannah Hawk observation was posted last week by another observer in southern CR.

This does not help your situation, Jim. I only brought it up because I like seeing what rarities people are seeing in CR. For you particular situation, I can't think of anything except the trip reports at places like Fatbirder.

Thanks all.

Patrick. That's too bad about the lack of a forum. That means CR is pretty much in the pre-internet (dark?) age of reporting bird sightings--where you probably won't hear about a rarity until several days after it's seen unless you know the right people. Also means there's less a sense of community, though I expect local CR birders are a pretty tight knit group since it's a fairly small area.

Thanks for the offer to do write-ups on particular birds. But I think you've already covered most of the birds I'm interested in on your blog. (I'll be with a bird tour group on my upcoming trip, by the way, so will have help.) One thing I like about your blog is that it helps me understand the perspective of local birders, as well as insights about local birds. Things you won't learn from field guides, but learn from experience when birding an area for an extended period. Was hoping a forum would also help me understand, but c'est la vie.

JJP--Thanks for the tip about the CR rare bird alert. I'm signed up for the ABA rarities alert, and didn't know eBird had one for CR.

Jim

J. Moore said:

JJP--Thanks for the tip about the CR rare bird alert. I'm signed up for the ABA rarities alert, and didn't know eBird had one for CR.

Jim

Click to expand...

The ebird archived version doesn't come every day for CR, but more people will eventually start using it I hope.

Here in Dallas, we rely heavily on Audubon message board information and ebird reports. And a long time ago in CR, people used to send their sightings to Richard Garrigues... and he occasionally sent out a newsletter. But I honestly don't know how it gets done anymore.

There needs to be something.

Well, there is a forum used by local birders but it is in Spanish (the forum for the Union de Ornitologos de Costa Rica). Sometimes, resident rarities get reported too. Many of the birds that people come looking for might not get mentioned though because they are regularly seen at known sites. I check this forum on a regular basis and have found out about various rarities because of it.

Some other species aren't reported because no one spends enough time looking for them (like Unspotted Saw-whet Owl and Maroon-chested Ground-Dove for example). Many of the serious local birders are guides and are often too busy during the high season to look for various birds on their own.

Other than that, local birders notify each other of "good" birds via email.

Yes, Richard Garrigues used to compile an excellent newsletter. It's still quite valuable for bird information for the country!

Birdingcraft said:

Well, there is a forum used by local birders but it is in Spanish (the forum for the Union de Ornitologos de Costa Rica). Sometimes, resident rarities get reported too. Many of the birds that people come looking for might not get mentioned though because they are regularly seen at known sites. I check this forum on a regular basis and have found out about various rarities because of it.

Click to expand...

Ok, thanks. Guess you alluded to that in your previous post, but I kind of glossed over it. My Spanish is rusty, but this might be a good way to help shake off the rust.

Jim