Olive-sided Flycatcher. Photo: © Jeff Nadler, NatureServe

American Bird Conservancy has teamed up with Friends of the Osa and a number of other partners, including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, the Blue Moon Fund, and the Beneficia Foundation, to protect a key area on the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica.

This peninsula contains vast rainforests and mangrove forests, and is recognized by the Alliance for Zero Extinction as an essential site for the Black-cheeked Ant-tanager. The region is home to populations of the endangered Yellow-billed Cotinga and Mangrove Hummingbird, as well as the rare Turquoise Cotinga, Fiery-billed Aracari, Baird’s Trogon, White-crested Coquette, and Riverside Wren, plus a small breeding population of Harpy Eagles, and a large number of Scarlet Macaws. The Osa is rich in Neotropical migrants, including the U.S. WatchListed Olive-sided Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, Golden-winged Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, and Canada Warbler. Jaguar, puma, and peccary also occur there in large numbers.

Early in 2008, an important conservation opportunity arose when 1,500 acres of privately-owned land in the southern part of the peninsula came up for sale. The property is a critical part of a conservation corridor and buffer zone connected to Corcovado National Park. It shares a border with 2,800 acres already owned and managed by Friends of the Osa that includes the Osa Biodiversity Center, a conservation, research, and education facility.

Despite an existing conservation easement, the property was under threat from a hotel and residential development scheme that had already seen significant road and building construction. The developers planned to divert river water for hydroelectric power in spite of the explicit denial of permission for this modification under the easement. Under pressure from conservationists, however, the owners agreed to sell the land. The purchase was completed in late August, and returns the land to its original conservation purpose.

ABC and Friends of the Osa have been collaborating on a project to assess the distribution, abundance, and conservation status of key bird species in the area, including the Black-cheeked Ant-tanager. Friends of the Osa is currently looking for volunteers with good experience identifying Latin American birds to help conduct a comprehensive analysis of the avifauna of the new reserve. Anyone interested should contact Adrian Forsyth, Friends of the Osa,aforsyth@amazonconservation.org.