From the Editor

Several years ago, in an interview with humor writer Dave Barry, I mentioned “Neotropical migrants.” He was unfamiliar with the term, and said, “What?! Not any old tropics are good enough for them—those birds have to have Neotropics?”

It was a great line, and reminded me that the word Neotropics, which birders, conservationists, and ornithologists bandy about in general conversation, is a technical term for the biogeographic realm including Central and South America, the Caribbean Islands, and a bit of Florida. The other tropical realms are the Afrotropics, including Sub-Saharan Africa; Indomalaya, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, the South Asian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia; Australasia, including Australia, New Guinea, and neighboring islands; and Oceania, including Polynesia, Fiji, and Micronesia. In a very real sense, Dave Barry was right—not any old tropics will do for Neotropical species. However we define it, 31 bird families are endemic to the Neotropics, more than twice the number in any of the seven other biogeographic realms on earth.

Emerald Toucanet by Laura Erickson

Photo courtesy of the Neotropical Birds flickr pool

I first visited the Neotropics on January 1, 2001. I’d decided that I wanted to do something spectacular on 01-01-01, so I got a passport and headed to Costa Rica. What a splendid way to start out a new millennium! Even the most ubiquitous sounds captured my imagination, from tink frogs that sounded like fairies wielding magical hammers on diamonds, to oropendolas that made me wonder if Star Wars’ R2D2 was giggling at me from a tree. I had pictured the tropics as endless jungle, but quickly learned that even in tiny Costa Rica, there are plenty of dry forest and alpine habitats as well—and thank goodness, or where would such spectacular birds as the Turquoise-browed Motmot and Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush live? On that single trip, I saw 465 species. Many were familiar, such as our good old Great Blue Herons, Turkey and Black vultures, Baltimore Orioles, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and myriad warblers. But from Resplendent Quetzals to tiny Green Thorntail hummingbirds, many were tropical treasures that took my breath away and made me eager to explore more of the Neotropics and to commit myself to its conservation.

My love for the Neotropics makes me especially delighted to devote this issue of BirdScope to the topic. Many of the scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are studying Neotropic resident and migratory birds, and learning about their work has been both exciting and enlightening for me.

This is the first issue of BirdScope to include advertising. The extra funding helps support our outreach efforts and has enabled us to expand this issue of BirdScope from eight pages to twelve. As always, please let us know what you think.

—Laura Erickson