261 species found during the IV Bird-a-thon in El Salvador
During the weekend of 14–15 October 2006, 17 observers in 6 teams recorded 261 bird species on El Salvador’s fourth annual Bird-a-thon. The teams each covered a different department, visiting Ahuachapán, Cabañas, Chalatenango, San Salvador, Santa Ana, and Usulután. The sites visited include El Imposible, Montecristo, and San Diego y La Barra national parks, Jiquilisco Bay, Cinquera and Nancuchiname forests, and the El Pital mountain.
The Bird-a-thon in El Salvador is repeated each October, as part of the World Bird Festival activities, promoted by BirdLife International, and its national affiliate in El Salvador, SalvaNATURA. The event raises funds for the Permanent Bird Monitoring Project that SalvaNATURA carries out within three national parks, each a proposed important bird area (IBA). The project is run by biologists of the Conservation Science Program in SalvaNATURA, which includes a team of four professional ornithologists and dozens of volunteers.
The Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea (left) and the Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra (right), in Chalatenango during the Bird-a-thon. These birds have been seen in the country before, but photos from El Salvador have not been published previously. Photos, O. Komar.
Each bird-a-thon is noteworthy for the rare species discovered during the event. This year, in Chalatenango Departament, Oliver Komar and his team-mates observed White-throated Swift (Aeronautes saxatalis), Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), and Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). At Lake Güija in Santa Ana Department, Álvaro Moisés and team-mates found a Franklin’s Gull (Larus pipixcan), a species almost always reported from the coast or coastal plain, but never reported before from the lake. Both teams managed to find the Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), among the rarest species in El Salvador, which lives only at two places in the country where pine forests grow at an altitude of 1500–2400 m above sea level. At El Imposible National Park, the team with observers Jesse Fagan, Lety Andino and Vicky Galán found a Mountain Elaenia (Elaenia frantzii) where the species is presumed to be a very rare visitor. Other species rarely reported in El Salvador were the Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) at the mouth of the Jiboa River (seen by Tom Jenner) and a Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) migrating at Cinquera Forest (found by Esmeralda Martínez and Marvin Rivas).
The last species to be added to the bird-a-thon count was the Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), a migrant from North America that was found on Sunday night, when one flew into the home of one of the bird-a-thon participants in the city of San Salvador! (see photo). The species normally winters in marshes in the lowlands, but was not found in those habitats by the bird-a-thoners.
The only Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) reported was this immature male that was migrating through the city of San Salvador and tried to spend the night in the home of one of the bird-a-thon participants. Photo, Oliver Komar.
SalvaNATURA extends special thanks to the 17 observers: Lety Andino, Enrique Choussy, Luis Cristiani, Jesse Fagan, Vicky Galán, Néstor Herrera, Tom Jenner, Oliver Komar, Jaime Luna, Esmeralda Martínez, Álvaro Moisés, Marvin Rivas, Lorena Rosales de Komar, José Roberto Santamaría, Manolo Torres, Ricardo Velásquez y Carlos Zaldaña. We are also very thankful to the persons who have contributed funds to the bird-a-thon this year. If you would like to do so, but have not yet donated, please send your contribution as soon as possible (use the donation form that accompanies this report). The Permanent Bird Monitoring Project needs your support!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND PLAN TO PARTICIPATE IN 2007! The Fifth Annual El Salvador Bird-a-thon will take place the weekend of 13–14 Octubre 2007. We need more teams of observers. Please plan to join us in the field in 2007.
For more information, contact:
Oliver Komar, okomar@salvanatura.org
Conservation Science Program
SalvaNATURA
Tel: (503) 2279-1515
Fax: (503) 2279-0220