Rare Costa Rican bird tracked for the first time

03/03/2011 08:31:38 Three yellow-billed cotinga captured in mist nets
March 2011: Three endangered yellow-billed cotingas have, for the first time, been captured using mist nets, fitted with tracking devices and released unharmed near the Costa Rican town of Rincon.

Little is known about this rare bird, which is endemic to the Pacific slope mangrove forests of Panama and Costa Rica. Its capture and study is part of a project being carried out jointly by the American Bird Conservancy and Friends of the OSA.

KEEPING TRACK: The birds were fitted with  radio transmitters before being released back into the wild

‘This is a bird that we believe used to exist in large numbers but is now increasingly difficult to even glimpse, much less study. This is an outstanding opportunity to acquire information on this bird and take action to address its habitat needs now before it is too late,' said Andrew Rothman, ABC conservation biologist who oversees ABC programmes in Costa Rica.

‘This is a great opportunity'
‘Placing a radio transmitter on a rare and endangered species such as the yellow-billed cotinga is a tremendous responsibility as well as a great opportunity which will open the door to a wealth of ecological and behavioral information - especially information on its seasonal movements and habitat use - that will guide us in protecting this little known bird,' says Karen Leavelle, chief investigator with Friends of the Osa.

The birds were captured in mist nets last months, and the radio transmitters will allow them to be tracked for between six and ten months. Researchers will look at home range, feeding and reproductive habits, and habitat use to develop a conservation plan for this species in the Osa peninsular. All three captured cotingas are now moving around the Rincon area. Researchers plan to capture two more.

Yellow-billed cotingas are about the size and shape of a pigeon and are strong flyers. Males are bright white, with yellow bills and perform swooping flight displays to attract females. Despite their efforts at being conspicuous, little remains known about this species due to the lack of scientific research on the species. Much of their former range has been deforested in both Costa Rica and Panama, so the birds are thought to be in decline.

Gaps in protection
In 2007, ABC and Friends of the Osa began working with local birding guides to monitor birds in the Osa Peninsula and Golfo Dulce region of southern Costa Rica, thought to be the stronghold for the yellow-billed cotinga. The two organisations conducted bird counts across the region, with a focus on areas where they might find cotingas.

 

Since then, multiple sightings of adult females accompanied by fledglings have occurred in mangroves and males have been seen displaying in forests far from coastal mangroves though no evidence has been found that females nest there. Therefore, it seems that this is a bird that prefers to nest in mangroves and dine in the forests - requiring both habitats, probably in close proximity, to survive.

The Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica is blessed with a significant number of large national parks, national wetlands, and forest reserves. However, many of the most important places where mangroves and forests meet, where the cotingas appear most abundant, fall within unprotected gaps outside this system of protection.