ground-nesting species in Costa Rica (1 Viewer)

[djringer]

In April, I birded Savegre Mountain Hotel in Costa Rica. I was walking one of the trails along a stream when I accidentally flushed a small, grayish passerine from right beside the path. As it flew, I saw a pale horizontal line along the length of each wing, but no other marks were visible, and it did not perch up in the vegetation long enough to get binoculars on it. I did not hear it make any vocalizations.

I looked down to see where it might have come from, and I saw a nest in a small, mossy depression on the stream bank. It contained two small eggs, whitish and speckled with fine brown marks, more heavily so at the larger end. There is a photo posted here (and if you don't believe in photographing nests, then you don't have to look): http://djringer.com/photos/v/0804-savegre/nest-with-eggs.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Any thoughts?

David

 

[Motmot]

There are many species that like that location for a nest in CR but your description made me think a poss Yellowish Flycatcher. Nest ands egg colours look good for a small flycatcher. After checking its nest/eggs description I think I may be right.
An extract taken from Stiles/Skutch:
"A deep cup of green mosses and liverworts.....up in shallow niche in massive trunk, earthen bank or cliff, often screened by drooping ferns and grasses....
Eggs 2-3, dull white, speckled and blotched with pale brownish-cinnamon or rusty brown, densely on broader end. March-June."

Sounds good but a couple other small flycatchers in the same area (Mountain Elaenia, Tufted Flycatcher) share most of this. According to their nest descriptions none of them nests in banks, so still my vote goes for Yellowish Flycatcher even though it is not a grayish bird (better for Mountain Elaenia) and it is possible those species do use banks on occasion.
Cheers,
Eduardo

 

[djringer]

Interesting, Eduardo, thanks. I did see several Yellowish Flycatchers of course, and I watched one building a mossy nest on a ledge of a boulder over a stream. My gut reaction is that the bird I glimpsed was too gray and cold-colored to have been a Yellowish Flycatcher (or a Tufted, for that matter), but it was a quick look in poor light, and as you say it could have been one of the other flycatcher species. The description you quoted of the nest, location, and eggs certainly does fit.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

How about torrent tyrannulet? They're found along the streams in Savegre, although I don't know anything abouttheir nesting habits.

 

[Motmot]

How about torrent tyrannulet? They're found along the streams in Savegre, although I don't know anything abouttheir nesting habits.

According to Stiles/Skutch its eggs are plain coloured, without spots or marks.