Cats and the Christmas Bird Count - With Roger Melendez

While many in the US are out counting birds for the annual Christmas Bird Count, our friends in Latin America are doing the same. At Costa Rica’s La Selva Research Station, they’re counting resident tropical birds and those that have migrated south for the winter, like this Baltimore Oriole. Though the numbers fluctuate annually, many species, especially migratory ones, have declined. Predation by domestic cats in the United States may be to blame. Who knew the positive effect of keeping your cat indoors could be felt all the way to Costa Rica?

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Cats and the Christmas Bird Count –

Featuring Costa Rican Birding Guide Roger Melendez

Interviewed by Chris Peterson

This is BirdNote!

[Tropical rainforest ambient +song of Gray Catbird]

Chances are good that while many in the U.S. are out counting birds for the annual Christmas Bird Count, our friends in Latin America are doing the same. At Costa Rica’s La Selva Research Station, for example, they’re counting both resident tropical birds and those that have migrated south for the winter. These include the Wood Thrush [song of the Wood Thrush] and the Baltimore Oriole [song of the Baltimore Oriole.]

More than 500 species of birds have been documented at La Selva. And though the numbers fluctuate from year to year, many species, especially migratory ones, have declined. Costa Rican birding guide, Roger Melendez, reflects on one reason why:

“…We’re counting the birds by numbers of species and individuals by the species. …So we have some species they were the most common last year and they are not this year. …Who is affecting that? So I think if you have pet, if your pet is a cat, so the cat is one of the principal predator for birds in United States, so please keep your cats indoor…because I think this is the principal reason why some birds are not really common anymore in Costa Rica, if they are coming from the United States.”

[Song of Gray Catbird]

Keeping your cat indoors – Who knew the positive effect of your action could be

felt all the way to Costa Rica! For BirdNote I’m Mary McCann.

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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Song of Gray Catbird [69267] recorded by G.F. Budney; song of Wood Thrush [40807] by G.F.Budney; Baltimore Oriole [12483] by A.A. Allen.

BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Chris Peterson

ID# cbc-08-2013-12-9 cbc-08Sony disk Costa Rica Group 37 Track 1

https://birdnote.org/blog/2013/03/plan-your-next-birding-trip

Organization For Tropical Studies – La Selva Research Station http://www.ots.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=162&Item…

https://birdnote.org/show/organization-tropical-studies-turns-50

https://birdnote.org/show/ots-facilitates-research