About NPARS
The Nicoya Peninsula Avian Research Station is a volunteer-based ornithological research, education, and conservation project based on the Nicoya Peninsula of northwestern Costa Rica. For two months each year, the NPARS team operates at several research sites along the eastern coast of the Peninsula. Our main research areas include studying the site fidelity, survivorship, population demographics, and habitat partitioning of nearctic-neotropical migrants, and study of age- and sex-deterministic characteristics in neotropical resident species, with an emphasis on tropical hummingbirds.
Banding Sites
Refugio de Vida Silvestre Curu: Coastal mangrove forest and adjacent second-growth forest within a privately-owned wildlife sanctuary. Target species inlude Prothonotary Warbler, American Redstart, and Nothern Waterthrush.
Reserva Nacional Cabo Blanco: Inland second-growth forest within the Cabo Blanco national park. Target species include Swainson's Thrush and Kentucky Warbler.
Estero del Rio Panica: Coastal estuarine mangrove forest and adjacent second-growth forest. Target species at this site include Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, and American Redstart.
Finca Pura Vida: Post-agricultural second-growth forest. This is the site of our hummingbird banding station. Target species is Ruby-throated Hummingbird, in addition to nine other species of non-migratory hummingbirds.
Reserva Nacional Cabo Blanco: Inland second-growth forest within the Cabo Blanco national park. Target species include Swainson's Thrush and Kentucky Warbler.
Estero del Rio Panica: Coastal estuarine mangrove forest and adjacent second-growth forest. Target species at this site include Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, and American Redstart.
Finca Pura Vida: Post-agricultural second-growth forest. This is the site of our hummingbird banding station. Target species is Ruby-throated Hummingbird, in addition to nine other species of non-migratory hummingbirds.
Hummingbird Banding
The NPARS hummingbird banding program aims to contribute to our understanding of the winter biology of tropical hummingbirds, especially that of the migratory Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Ornithologists have only begun to scratch the surface of the complex seasonal movements, molt patterns, inter- and intra-specific competition, reproduction, and age- and sex-determination of tropical hummingbirds. To do its part, the NPARS team maintains an array of hummingbird feeders year-round at its headquarters at Finca Pura Vida. Each day these feeders attract many hundreds of individuals of eight to ten species of hummingbirds. So many hummingbirds visit this site that they collectively drink about four gallons of sugar water every day! This large volume of hummingbirds gives us the opportunity to gather data on aspects of their biology that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. Using specialized traps and nets, the NPARS team captures, bands, and collects data from hundreds of hummingbirds each winter to study their seasonal movements, site fidelity, patterns and timing of molt, and demographics.