Caño Palma

White-whiskered Puffbird

I returned yesterday to the "CCC" Biological Station in Tortuguero from a few days bird banding at another Biological Station, only a 20 minute boat ride from here, called Caño Palma.

Here are some fairly gratuitous photos of birds encountered there. I loved the banding at this site, where the emphasis is more on resident birds, less on migrants. That said, the most exciting capture probably was of a migrant: a recaptured Northern Waterthrush. This bird was first captured in Tortuguero in March of 2006, when its fat score was 'zero', and then again a month later, when it had fattened up for migration to a 'six'. And now we caught it again. Assistant bander Eveling Tavera caught and processed it, I actually never saw the bird. Thus, I have no photos of it.

But I've got shots of some pretty neat residents. The bird at the top is a male White-whiskered Puffbird, a bird found from southeastern Mexico to Ecuador.

Red-capped Manakin

This strikingly handsome bird is a male Red-capped Manakin, rarely seen at the CCC site but fairly easily observed at the Caño Palma site.

White-collared Manakin

The  male White-collared Manakin is also good-looking. The green females are common around the CCC site, in fact it's one of the most commonly caught species. But I have yet to catch an adult male. The adult males tend to hang out near their leks, where they perform a dance that involves a wing snapping movement, which produces a sound not unlike that of popping popcorn. These males also are easily seen and heard at the Caño Palma site.

Golden-hooded Tanager

Golden-hooded Tanager. This species is common in the station's yard at Caño Palma.

Collared Aracari

Collared Aracari.

With the banding site well-prepared now, I think I will be back there once or twice before I go. It's a hundred times buggier (mosquitos) than the CCC site, and a bit more rustic, but it also has lots of interesting birds.