Bird Monitoring Program

 
 

Tours

 

Scientific Avian Tourism

 

We would like to invite all national and international bird enthusiasts to participate in our Scientific Avian Tourism program. Participants will have the opportunity to join PMA staff and volunteers in identifying local and resident birds in the field, visit active bird mist nets, and learn to identify and understand the physical characteristics and conditions of captured species.
 
Many participants will have the unique experience of literally having a “bird in the hand” during the release of monitored species.  The PMA monitors six unique habitat types over a two-week period:

 

  • Abandoned coffee plantation
  • Shade coffee plantation
  • Cacao plantation
  • Cane field
  • Live fence in pasture
  • Forest

 

PMA staff can inform you of the habitat type and monitoring rotation schedule.

 

Monitoring Event Information

 

  • Bird monitoring events are conducted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
  • Program staff and volunteers leave for the monitoring sites between 5:00 a.m.  and 5:30 a.m. from the GAMMA building at CATIE (monitoring will not be conducted
    if it is raining).
  • Cost is US$10 per person
  • If you would like to participate please contact us no less than twelve hours prior to a monitoring event.

 

If you are interested in participating in a monitoring event please contact us.

 

Color Banded Resident Avian Species Observation Program

 

If you are unable to participate in the Scientific Avian Tourism monitoring program, birdwatchers visiting the CATIE campus can still help the PMA staff through our color banded resident avian species observation program.  The PMA staff has selected and banded specific resident species where color bands are most visible and most easily observed.  If during your visit to the CATIE campus you observe a bird with color bands on its legs, PLEASE send us an e-mail with the following information:

 

  • The name of the species observed
  • The specific colored bands on each leg (i.e. left leg=red, right leg=black) Note: some individual birds may have more than
    one color band per leg, we will need all color bands on each leg please.
  • Location observed (ie. CATIE lake, coffee plantation, botanical garden, etc.)
  • Date and time you observed the bird

 

Your collaboration is essential to our understanding the movements of these species through our agricultural landscapes.

If you are interested in keeping a list of species you observe at CATIE during your visit, a complimentary list of bird species observed on the CATIE campus can be acquired at any of the CATIE entrance guard stations throughout campus or click here for a downloadable version.