This past week in Costa Rica, we’ve been nicely struck with good fortune by the birding powers that be. A Yellow-billed Tern somehow came here and, even better, it has stayed long enough for birders to see it in excellent conditions!
In other words, in birding terms, we’ve got a twitchable Yellow-billed Tern. If you haven’t heard the term “twitch” in birding lingo, it basically means going to specifically try and see a rare bird. While that is essentially true, in reality, twitching a bird has other implications, including:
- Getting excited with near subsequent anxious feelings that the bird will leave before you get there.
- Using Zen birding techniques in an attempt to calm yourself and lower expectations (not everyone does this).
- Deciding whether or not the distance, time investment, and neglecting other obligations and responsibilities make the twitch worth it.
- Rushing to the site ASAP.
- Breathing a sigh of relief if you see it and doing your best to be just as pleased with seeing other birds if you don’t.
A “twitchable” bird is one found in an accessible spot that stays long enough for a good number of people to see it. I’m not sure how long that has to be but do know that if a bird is only present for one day, it earns the forlorn “one day wonder” status. And that’s not all! Even within one day wonder parameters, we can have bird sightings ephemeral, you absolutely need be there when it happens.
A couple examples that come to mind are when Ned Brinkley identified a fricking White-tailed Eagle migrating north through upstate New York (it soared into view and kept on a going), when a friend of mine saw a Virginia’s Warbler in his garden in Buffalo, NY, and when birders see rare and crazy flybys at a seawatch. Those seabirds in particular are real one minute, living the moment twitches as they fly into view and then fly back out of view, straight into birding oblivion.
It’s why you gotta be observant all the time and go birding all the time too.
Ok, that’s undoubtedly extreme but, such once in a lifetime sightings are a good reminder to go birding as much as you can and on a regular basis. On a personal note, I’m reminded of when I saw a Black Bushbird at the Tambopata Research Center in Peru. Despite birding the same trail dozens of times, it’s the only one I saw and I never saw it again!
Fortunately, our recent Yellow-billed Tern has indeed been fantastically twitchable. I mean, you don’t even have to trudge through mud or get your car stuck! It also stayed in the same spot until the weekend; a vital factor that allowed me and Mary and many others to see it. Its weekend status gave us a chance to leave early enough to make the 3 hour drive to the site, have plenty of time to watch the bird, and then leisurely make our way home.
But why go through all that trouble to see a Yellow-billed Tern? Why not just fly to Amazonia to see one? Yeah, because that’s what you usually need to do. This South American bird represents the fourth record for Costa Rica and is the only twitchable one. Many thanks goes to the local guides and birders who checked the shrimp ponds near the Puente de Amistad on July 25th. Who know what else shows up at this and other underbirded spots? Interestingly enough, one of the other records for this species in Costa Rica is from early August but where it’s slightly more expected,on the Caribbean coast.
After getting our fill of the “non Least Tern”, we started our drive back, stopping in Puntarenas on the way. Noon isn’t the ideal seawatching time at Puntarenas but, since you never know what’s out there, I had to take a look. Whether because the time of day or algae blooms, there was almost no activity near shore, not even pelicans or Royal Terns. However, scoping revealed a fair number of birds flying well offshore. A ferry ride would have given close looks at flocks of Black Terns and maybe turned up another thing or two. I’ve gotta do some morning seawatching there soon, maybe take the ferry too.
Headed to Costa Rica? If you want to see the tern, check eBird for the location and latest sighting. If not, there’s always lots of other birds to see at tons of birding sites in Costa Rica!