Category Archives: Travel

They Follow the Army Ants

February 11, 2026Bird Behavior, Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

Ocellated antbird (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

11 February 2026

There’s a group of tropical birds in the Western Hemisphere whose lives are so closely intertwined with ants that their names include the word “ant” —> Antbird, antshrike, antvireo, antthrush, antpitta, ant-tanager, antwren. These birds don’t eat ants. Instead they follow army ant swarms to eat small prey the ants scare out of hiding. Ant-named birds are not the only ones who do this.

About 462 species of birds opportunistically feed near army ant swarms. Within this group, 16-29 species require army ants for their livelihood and don’t hunt without them. These obligate army ant followers would die of starvation if there were no army ants. The ocellated antbird (Phaenostictus mcleannani), shown at top, is one of them.

The most reliable way to see antbirds is to find foraging army ants but first you have to know something about the ants.

Army ants form nomadic colonies of 10,000 to 10 million ants. Since they have no fixed home they gather in a bivouac, a defensive interconnected “ball” with the queen, eggs and larvae in the middle surrounded by workers and soldiers.

Diagram of army ant (Eciton burchelli) bivouac (from Wikimedia Commons)

Those that forage above ground during the day are the ones that attract the birds. Army ant foragers leave the bivouac in a long line …

A foraging group of army ants heads out in a line (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

… then they fan out over the forest floor and plants.

Because army ants have extremely poor vision they use their sense of smell to detect each other and sense of touch to detect their prey. As they fan out they touch everything with their antennae. If something moves it’s prey and they immediately surround, attack and dismember it. Word to the Wise: If you are out ahead of an army ant swarm and it catches up to you, Don’t Move!

Watch ant swarms, birds and researchers at work in this video from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. It begins with two blue morpho butterflies winking in the forest. And then the ants and birds show up! (The video lasts 10 minutes. If you don’t have that much time the first 3-5 minutes will show you a lot.)

(video embedded from Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

p.s. Yes there are more than just antbirds following the ants. Wikipedia lists others found in Panama:

Birds that frequent army-ant swarms include the white-whiskered puffbird, rufous motmot, rufous-vented ground cuckoo, grey-cowled wood rail, plain-brown woodcreeper, northern barred woodcreeper, cocoa woodcreeper, black-striped woodcreeper, fasciated antshrike, black-crowned antshrike, spotted antbird, bicolored antbird, ocellated antbird, chestnut-backed antbird, black-faced antthrush, and gray-headed tanager.^[
— WIkipedia: army ant foraging

Warblers at Home in Costa Rica

February 8, 2026Costa Rica, Migration, TravelKate St. John

Prothonotary warbler at Magee Marsh, 2014 (phoot by Chuck Tague)

8 February 2026, Pittsburgh

When this morning dawned at -6°F (-21.1°C) it was hard to imagine spring but I really want to. What better way to “Think Spring” than to talk about warblers?

Last month on the Road Scholar birding trip to Costa Rica we saw 15 species of warblers, the majority of which (8) were northern migrants spending the winter in Costa Rica. The rest (7 species) are residents of Central and South America and many of them are related to North American breeding warblers.

North American migrant warblers seen in Costa Rica, January 2026

In just 2-3 months — in late April and early May — warblers currently in Costa Rica will start arriving in Pittsburgh. Six of the species we saw look the same year round so they were at their best. The most numerous warbler on our trip, the Tennessee warbler, as well as the bay-breasted warbler were still in non-breeding plumage. They didn’t look as snazzy.

See the list and links below the slideshow.

Central and South American resident warblers

The other seven species on our checklists are residents of Central and South America. Just one reaches into North America as far as Mexico. See the list below the slideshow.

Best warbler on the trip? Prothonotary! We often saw them when touring the mangrove and wetland forests by boat. They were a bright flash of yellow as they flew across the river in front of us.

p.s. Speaking of low temperatures, Pittsburgh will have an amazing warm-up starting tomorrow, Monday 9 Feb 2026, at 7:00am. The low at 7:00am Monday will be -6°F. The high at 2:00pm on Tuesday will be 44°F. That’s a 50 degree temperature swing in just 31 hours. It will feel like Spring!

Seven Streaked and Spotted

February 5, 2026Bird Anatomy, Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

Fasciated tiger-heron, Costa Rica (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

5 February 2026

Understory birds in Costa Rica’s rainforest are often streaked, spotted and striped for camouflage while they move in dim and dappled light near the forest floor. Out of all those streaky birds I have seven favorites from my trip to Costa Rica last month. Six are forest skulkers, the seventh, shown at top, is not an understory bird at all so I don’t know why he’s striped. NOTE: These photos are not to scale; almost all of them are from Wikimedia Commons.

Fasciated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma fasciatum)

The best way to see a fasciated tiger-heron is to check the edge of a rushing stream. We found two fishing in the Sarapiquí River at Selva Verde Lodge. Obviously the stripes do not camouflage them in this setting. Maybe those stripes are for a different reason.

Fasciated Antshrike (Cymbilaimus lineatus)

This species posed nicely for us. He also posed for his Wikimedia Commons photo below.

The Fasciated Antshrike forages, mostly for large insects, in the midstory of tropical lowland forest. He’s found in vine tangles and dense mid-story canopy.
— Birds of the world account

Fasciated antshrike, male (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Streak-crowned Antvireo (Dysithamnus striaticeps)

I saw this Life Bird during the Sky Walk at Arenal while there was a pause in the pouring rain. He was on my Wish List.

The streak-crowned antvireo ranges from Honduras through Nicaragua to Costa Rica, living in the understory and mid-story of lowland and foothill evergreen forest. He forages for insects and is often in mixed species flocks (paraphrased from Birds of the World).

Streak-crowned antvireo (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Spotted Antbird (Hylophylax naevioides)

Spotted antbirds are …

Frequent–though not obligate–followers of mixed-species foraging flocks that track insect-flushing swarms of army ants across the forest floor.

The Spotted Antbird’s scientific name means a “spotted watcher of the woodland.” In Panama’s Darien province the species is locally known as ‘corregidor‘ (mayor) for its apparent behavior of directing the activities of other birds found with it, presumably at army ant swarms.
— paraphrased from Birds of the World

Spotted antbird (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Spot-breasted Wren (Pheugopedius maculipectus)

What a skulker! This bird is said to be common but it is very hard to see.

Generally common. Found in a wide variety of wooded habitats, including second growth and plantations, where it forages, apparently for insects in low tangles and other dense vegetation.
— paraphrased from Birds of the World

For a brighter photo, see this one from Wikimedia Commons.

Stripe-breasted Wren (Cantorchilus thoracicus)

Very cute wren more often heard than seen.

The Stripe-breasted Wren has two distinct singing ‘styles’, which are sufficiently at variance to sound as if they were made by completely different types of birds. The first is a series of whistles on the same pitch, somewhat like the calls of a small owl, which song, usually given at dawn, is typically given by a single bird. The second is a series of up to ten bubbling whistles, which is far more typical of the Troglodytidae, and is given in a duet.
— from Birds of the world

Stripe-breasted wren (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Bay Wren (Cantorchilus nigricapillus)

When this wren turns his back on you, you can’t see him. If he hadn’t shown his chest I would never have known he has stripes. No photos from the trip; all I have are happy memories. These photos are from Wikimedia Commons.

Bay wren back and chest (photos from Wikimedia Commons)

Barn Owls at the Supermarket

February 4, 2026Birds of Prey, Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

American barn owl at the supermarket in Las Iguanas, Costa Rica, 26 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

4 February 2026

While in Costa Rica with Road Scholar on 26 January: On our way to Arenal we needed some snacks and bottled drinks so we combined a visit to the grocery store with a stop for barn owls. Yes, there were barn owls at the grocery store.

Supermarket in Las Iguanas, Costa Rica (screenshot from Google StreetView)

Inside the building it was a typical supermarket with a wide selection of food.

Road Scholars checking out at the grocery store, 26 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

However, there was a ledge close to the roof peak and on that ledge was a pair of American barn owls (Tyto furcata).

Barn owls perched up high at the grocery store, 26 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

I digiscoped the front-facing owl (at top) but the second owl was harder to see. Gary Levinson-Palmer captured these photos.

Barn owls at the supermarket, Costa Rica, 26 Jan 2026 (photo by Gary Levinson-Palmer)

Because there was sunlight behind them, I believe the owls come into a gap between the roof peak-section and the main roof. These gaps are needed for ventilation and heat reduction. Here’s an (exaggerated) example from Wikimedia Commons (not in Costa Rica).

Corrugated iron roof, photo from Wikimedia Commons

This sighting was a first. I’ve seen house sparrows at a Pittsburgh grocery store but never owls!

Leafcutter Ants: A Living River

February 2, 2026Costa Rica, Insects, Spiders, TravelKate St. John

Two leafcutter ants grapple with a leaf at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

2 February 2026

While in Costa Rica last month I had several opportunities to watch leafcutter ants marching in long lines and carrying leaves. Their dedication to task was fascinating.

Leafcutter ants are farmers that grow their own food — a fungus — inside their underground nests. They tend the fungus carefully, feeding it freshly cut leaves, flowers or grasses and removing mold and pests that threaten it.

Each of the 55+ species of leafcutters cultivates a particular species of fungus. The fungus thrives because the ants tend it. The ants thrive because their brood eats the fungus.

I recorded two sets of leafcutters traveling to and from their nest. You can hear the voices of other members of our group in my video.

At the nest the entrances are busy with activity (photo from Wikimedia).

Leafcutter ants’ nest, exterior (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Inside, the workers tend the fungus (photo from Wikimedia).

Leafcutter ants’ fungus garden inside their nest (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Here are some cool facts about leafcutters paraphrased from Wikipedia:

Leafcutter ants are endemic to Central and South America and occur as far north at Texas.
Their nests can contain more than 3.5 million individuals and span up to 6,460 sq ft (600 m²).
A leafcutter ant can carry up to 50 times her body weight.
Her jaws have a bite force of 800mN = 2600 times her body weight.
A colony is founded by one (or more) fertilized queen(s) who starts her own fungus garden from bits of the parental fungus mycelium she has stored in the infrabuccal pocket in her oral cavity.
The ants and their fungus have a mutualistic relationship. It is so intertwined that it’s best described here: Wikipedia leafcutter ant-fungus mutualism.
Safety of the foraging line is so important that there is a caste of worker ants that patrol the line to attack any enemies that threaten it.
A large troop of leafcutters can denude an entire citrus tree in less than 24 hours!
Worker ants take out the garbage of used substrate, discarded fungus and a parasite that threatens the fungus, and deposit it in a designated area.
Humans can use the ants’ own refuse to deter them: “A promising approach to deterring attacks of the leafcutter ant Acromyrmex lobicornis on crops has been demonstrated. Collecting the refuse from the nest and placing it over seedlings or around crops resulted in a deterrent effect over a period of 30 days.”

Leafcutter ant in Costa Rica (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Leafcutter foraging lines are like a living river.

Until We Meet Again: Birding Costa Rica with Road Scholar

January 30, 2026Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

Sunset at La Ensenada Lodge, 20 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

30 January 2026

I’m at home now in Pittsburgh after nine full days of birding in Costa Rica with Road Scholar. What a trip and what great friends we became! Today I’ll show you a few of our activities. In the days ahead I’ll describe the birds, mammals and much more. But first …

Special thanks to our Road Scholar guide Erick Guzman for his excellent leadership and for finding so many special birds for us to enjoy. Also a big thank you to our driver Chicho who carried us safely on all types of roads in northern Costa Rica and twice over the Continental Divide!

Every day (except one) the weather was hot — definitely short-sleeves-and-sandals. Here we stopped for gasoline and a group photo on our way from the Pacific to Atlantic watersheds and Caño Negro. (Sandy is taking the photo so she’s not in it.)

Group photo on our way from La Ensenada to Caño Negro (photo by Sandy Colburn) [Gary, Ken, Susan, Elizabeth, Kathy, Iris, Wendy, me, Heleen, Rhonda, Kevin. Our guide Erick Guzman down in front]

We traveled by bus …

Chicho at the helm as Erick Guzman describes what we’ll see at Arenal, 26 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

… by boat …

Birding the mangrove forest at Gulf of Nicoya, 21 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John) [Sandy, Rhonda and Erick in photo]

… and on foot. (here: after a downpour on the rainforest SkyWalk at Arenal)

On the SkyWalk at Arenal, 27 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman)

We learned from local experts about restoration of the land, the habitats and endangered species. Here Edwin tells us about the restoration of the land at Canto del Rio. The bird-filled forest behind us grew back in only 20 years.

Edwin tells us about his project at Canto del Rio, 28 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman)

Every evening we stopped to review the day and update our paper checklist. Erick also shared his eBird checklists to us.

Doing the checklist at Selva Verde Lodge, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Gary Levinson-Palmer)

We had three excellent photographers in the group. Our guide, Erick Guzman

Erick Guzman photographing the spectacled owls, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

… Iris Winslow from Port Angeles, WA.

Iris Winslow takes photos from the boat on Gulf of Nicoya, 21 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St, John)

and Gary Levinson-Palmer from northern California who used his Pixel 10 cellphone at 48x zoom(!)

Gary Levinson-Palmer takes photos of the spectacled owls using his cellphone, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

It was a great and unforgettable experience.

At the Skywalk overlook at Arenal, 27 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman) [Erick, Rhonda, Wendy, Gary, Susan, Kevin, Sandy, Kathy, Iris, Ken, Heleen, Kate(me) and Elizabeth]

Yesterday my trip home to Pittsburgh took almost 24 hours with an 11.5 hour layover in Miami airport(*). Today I woke up to brilliant sunshine, the remains of 12″ of snow and -8°F (-22°C).

Clear and cold and no wind in Pittsburgh this morning, 30 Jan 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

I’ll be catching up on my sleep today … as I did during a break at La Selva Biological Station 😉

Kate takes a quick nap at La Selva Biological Station, 25 Jan 2026 (photo by Erick Guzman)

What a great trip with Road Scholar Birding in Northern Costa Rica. New friends, new birds, and a renewed appreciation for Costa Rica.

Until we meet again, my friends, Pura Vida!

(*) My journey home: Yesterday I was awake almost 24 hours. Got up at 2:00am to leave Costa Rica; got home this morning at 1:30am. No travel difficulties, just the airlines sweeping up the remnants of cancellations and major delays caused by Winter Storm Fern at the beginning of this week.

Flying Home

January 29, 2026Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

View from an airplane window (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

29 January 2026: Day 11, Flying home to Pittsburgh from Road Scholar Birding in Northern Costa Rica

Today I’m flying from San José, Costa Rica to Pittsburgh via Miami. If all goes well I’ll be home at 1:00am tomorrow after 18+ hours of pre-flight waiting, flying, 12-hour layover (ugh!), and ground transportation.

It will take a lot longer for the prothonotary warblers who winter at Caño Negro to reach their breeding grounds in North America.

Prothonotary warbler at Magee Marsh, 2014 (photo by Chuck Tague)

I wonder when they’ll start flying north.

Gorgeous Black-Crested Coquette

January 28, 2026Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

Black-crested coquette, male fluffed (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

28 January 2026: Day 10, Cloud forest, then heading back to San José— Road Scholar Birding in Northern Costa Rica: Tanagers to Toucans

Seen yesterday at Arenal National Park, the black-crested coquette (Lophornis helenae) flies like a bee to nectar. Colorful males flaunt their beauty by puffing out their feathers, raising their crests and posing with beak open. There are many photos of this behavior, which appears to be territorial, but I cannot find any literature on it.

Laura Wolf captured a series of photos found on Wikimedia Commons.

A video of two males puffed and perched shows the behavior in action. Interestingly they display while perched near each other and don’t chase.

video embedded from Anthony Lujan on YouTube

Today we leave Arenal for San Jose. Tomorrow we leave for home.

Sky Walk on the Arenal Hanging Bridges

January 27, 2026Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

Arenal volcano and Lake Arenal, Costa Rica (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

27 January 2026: Day 9, Arenal Sky Walk— Road Scholar Birding in Northern Costa Rica: Tanagers to Toucans

Today we’ll be eye-to-eye with birds, high in the forest canopy on a sky walk at the Arenal hanging bridges. Some of the bridges are wide, some are narrow, but all of them — thankfully! — have high sides. I will avoid looking down.

Arenal Hanging Bridge (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Arenal hanging bridge, side view (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Arenal hanging bridges with people on them (left and right photos from Wikimedia Commons)

Canopy sky walks are the best way to see birds who never come down from the treetops. Today’s highlights include these potential Life Birds, some of them on the ground.

Streak-crowned Antvireo (Dysithamnus striaticeps) Feeds singly or in pairs on insects and spiders. Typically 5 to 25 feet above the ground. It also hover-gleans.

Slaty Antwren (Myrmotherula schisticolor) Named for the slate-colored male, female below is rusty. Forages in dense vegetation 3 to 20 feet above the ground, will go as high as 40 feet, will also follow prey dropping to the forest floor. It must be hard to photograph this bird because so few photos exist.

Slaty antwren (photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Flickr Creative Commons license)

White-fronted Nunbird (Monasa morphoeus) This bird has a wide range and 7 subspecies. Wikipedia says (paraphrased): “Diet is mostly insects and other arthropods, small lizards and amphibians, some fruits. Follows troops of monkeys, army ant swarms, and flocks of caciques and oropendolas to capture prey dislodged by them.”

White-fronted nunbird (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Keel-billed Motmot (Electron carinatum) is listed as Vulnerable to extinction at IUCN and is rare in Costa Rica. Two cool things about him: (1) His genus name is Electron. (2) He has a unique voice. Read more at the links above.

Keel-billed motmot (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Purplish-backed Quail-Dove (Zentrygon lawrencii) This Life Bird should be easy to find on the ground if he’s not a skulker. He lives only in Costa Rica and Panama and is abundant though declining with a 20,000 to 49,999 population. Listen to his call. I’m surprised I haven’t seen or heard him on prior trips.

Purplish-backed quail-dove (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. at 5:00am: Though this is the dry season it’s been pouring off and on since 3:00am. We’re going to get wet today.

Arenal: The Near Perfect Cone

January 26, 2026Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

26 January 2026: Day 8, travel to Arenal Volcano area — Road Scholar Birding in Northern Costa Rica: Tanagers to Toucans

Today we travel west from La Selva to Arenal volcano. As we approach from the east we’ll see the near-perfect cone of this stratovolcano from many miles away. A topographic map shows how very perfect it is.

Topo map of Arenal volcano, screenshot from Google Maps

Arenal is a young volcano, geologically less than 7,500 years old, that rises more than a mile above sea level at 5,358 ft (1,633m). It was active from 1968 to 2010 and, though dormant right now, still produces steam. According to Wikipedia, “future activity is likely due to its persistent magmatic supply.”

Arenal eruption, 10 November 2006 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Arenal is a product of plate tectonics, situated above the zone where the Cocos plate dives under the Caribbean plate in Costa Rica.

zoomed-in Plate Tectonics near Costa Rica. X marks the location of Arenal Volcano (map from Wikimedia Commons)

This cut-away diagram shows what’s going: Cocos Plate on the left, Caribbean Plate on the right. As Cocos dives toward Earth’s core its leading edge eventually melts. Hot magma rises in the volcanic arc of which Arenal is a part.

Diagram of subduction zone features with call-out for Arenal (image from Wikimedia Commons)

Arenal is not the only volcano. Costa Rica’s volcanic arc includes seven historically active volcanoes: Arenal, Poás, Irazú, Miravalles, Orosí, Rincón de la Vieja complex, and Turrialba.

In fact, Costa Rica would not even exist if it weren’t for volcanoes. It’s all described in this vintage article:

It Started With Volcanoes