Two's company, three's a crowd

Courtesy: Greg Lavaty (2003 - 2011), PBase.com

There is a new guest in the Blank household in San Jose: a Great Kiskadee and his mate have built a home right outside our window and are eagerly awaiting the birth of Baby Kiskadees. (At least, it's our best guess at what kind of bird they are.  A Google search for "yellow belly black white bird Costa Rica" pulled up several images, and this is the one that most resembles our new neighbors!)

The Great Kiskadee nest

Besides the photographic resemblance, the description on Wikipedia pretty much seems what we know about Mr. and Mrs. Kiskadee - "the Great Kiskadee is a common, noisy, and conspicuous bird." Every morning, we hear them chirping around the house, and they make their displeasure known when we walk outside our apartment to see the nest.  Most days, if they're not tending to their nest, they are keeping a watchful eye out (usually with one leery eye toward us) by perching on a cable above our house or flitting around on the rooftop.  Some days, if I exercise outside, several birds will fly around my head, watching to make sure I don't disturb the nest. Yesterday, one dive-bombed me while I was trying to stretch my way through a yoga video.  Lucky for me, they missed.  Blanks - 1, Birds - 0.

Mr. Kiskadee watching over his nest from his perch above our apartment

Despite their somewhat antagonistic approach to us (they didn't exactly bring over a casserole when they moved in!), we're starting to have fun with our new neighbors.  And I love the way Charles Darwin described their call: "the call is an exuberant BEE-tee-WEE; in Spanish-speaking countries it is often bien-te-veo ("I see you well!").  Love our little birdie friends!