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The Cattle Egret Expansion

10,000 Birds

I’d like to introduce you to a diminutive heron, the Cattle Egret Bubuclus ibis. The Cattle Egret is native to Africa, where it is a familiar sight among herds of large mammals. Cattle Egret is more closely related to herons in the genus Ardea then the species termed egrets in the genus Egretta.

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What Flies Over Costa Rica in the Night?

10,000 Birds

but there are other birds, many stopping to stay, many others moving to South America. We don’t see so many on the ground but with both Yellow and Black-billed hightailing it to South America, you know that their long wings are carrying these caterpillar gourmands far overhead and straight on to Colombia.

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Avian Expansion in Two Acts

10,000 Birds

It has no avian endemic species (only one subspecies), and its most spectacular birds like Venezuelan Troupial and Fiery-Topaz Hummingbird can be found in greater numbers across a narrow strait in mainland South America, where you can pick up an additional 400-500 species besides. With few exceptions, almost no one does. Of course not.

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Racking up the numbers

10,000 Birds

And while all three of our common Egrets ( Great , Snowy , and Cattle ) are to be seen everywhere you look, only the American White Pelicans are as common as the Shovelers and Pintails. And Wilson’s Phalaropes are supposed to spend the winter in South America, but nobody told this group. How many were there?

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Expectations and Suggestions for Caribbean Lowland Birding in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

They used to be but a burgeoning population in need of more living room and land for cattle and crops destroyed a fair portion of those rainforests during the 20th century. Over there on the Caribbean (that’s what we call the Atlantic Ocean in Costa Rica), the lowlands are supposed to be blanketed in lush, over-vegetated rainforests.

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Awesome Birding at Aripo Savannah

10,000 Birds

The lush pastures of the Aripo Livestock Station sustained herds of happy Buffalypso , a special breed of T&T beef cattle named for their Water Buffalo heritage and Calypso-happy country. Where we entered the area, the savannah seemed more like Aripo Ranch. In fact, it was. In that regard, Aripo was amazing.

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Zero Gravity Brewing Company: Bobolink Saison

10,000 Birds

Even the names we give to some birds reflect their dependence on the cultivated landscape – we have Barn Owls ( Tyto alba ) and Barn Swallows ( Hirundo rustica ) over much of the world, and Orchard Orioles ( Icterus spurius ) in the Americas really do have a fondness for fruit groves.

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