After the excitement of finding two species new to my house list this week, yet another appeared yesterday. The Cinnamon Becard (Pachyramphus cinnamomeus) is a common bird in the Caribbean lowlands but my garden, where a pair appeared yesterday morning, is at 1288 m elevation in San Antonio de Santa Cruz, Turrialba, well above this bird’s normal range. I have seen it quite frequently at nearby San Diego, close to 1000 m, but even there the elevation is considered too high for this species. Naturally I am delighted to record yet another new species here but clearly something is different. Is this merely range expansion or is it climate change?
There are 5 species of becards in Costa Rica but the Cinnamon Becard is the only one in which males and…
View original post 217 more words
