Saturday, April 30, 2011
Ring-billed Gull in Santa Clara beach
Labels:
Laughing Gull,
Ring-billed Gull,
Santa Clara beach
How many tones of yellow you see?
Probably the contrast with the black parts makes its yellow to look brighter... or maybe it is simple BRIGHTER! Well, now compare these two with the modest Yellow-bellied Elaenia's yellow belly. I think it is attractive in spite of its dullness, giving a bit of color to a mostly grayish bird.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFBi3BSZZX_HY7sPvj9zd8-ZYRNGv67Oqp6RIVhjEaZo8A5NqC_Q_oxTNIk8US0nTPhR7RfX_xaDGeGnY7OkaKOWBPIe4IGqPb0X-4cRcOg9HncsZvu8Q9IGXidMjthL_K3pFbb_Mn7RV/s400/CSC_0562.JPG)
In general, the small tyrannids are simply duller than others species. In a short walk near the s
tream, bordering the property, I found almost side-by-side a Mouse-colored Tyrannulet (thanks to its characteristic call, which to me sounds like a maniac little laugh) and a Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant (also by its pretty loud call, specially considering that it is a really tiny bird). Both are dull yellowish, one with brown tones, the other more greenish. Notice the pale legs and the white
iris of the Pygmy-Tyrant. Both species are typical of dry areas, so its ocurrence around Penonome is completely expected because the town is located almost in the heart of Panama's dry arch, the area of coastal lowlands in the Pacific slope of central Panama with a marked
dry season. Of course we found others birds typical of this habitat too, like Lesser Goldfinches, Lance-tailed & Golden-collared Manakins (the former with no yellow at all I have to admit, but seriously gorgeous), Tropical Kingbirds, and Rufous-sided Warblers showing also its nice yellow underparts. I found several of these active and curious warblers while walking along the stream, in the most shaded areas. I think they are my favorite birds in Penonome due to their curious behavior and the contrasting patern of the head with the underparts. It was a nice combination of yellow tones and good birds!![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuTALCPurqrOn60L2cj8GcO7q7FXeYUWVRiaA6AsVOA34OqDAgGEsONphhEELOFLwTNfMq48t3cdjMQ2qAA4vYWkMdPT1bGVvNUy8__oJ2mFZgIOiGO5nIgdL3sHH3wzcAiHLqoIF-gO4/s400/DSC_0611.JPG)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Easter Holidays in Darien. Part III
Photographic oppotunities like that can not be wasted, so we spent almost 30 minutes with the woodpecker! After that, we continued our walk, entering the forest again. It was magical, with tall trees and hanging bridges, tons of butterlies and, of course, birds.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1iVcjaMv0JGbskzb7HJ_OUqv2AlqRErPsU77iA5cjrAekthj0qH-YPWjlQC9qMj0diaAEaeQOYQzyVEoTbhl97VASga1e7hBtWOajHDp2gjcYIGF-Wc_9VucAoFAefoZxIUEDduMC9y3/s400/DSC_1065.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1iVcjaMv0JGbskzb7HJ_OUqv2AlqRErPsU77iA5cjrAekthj0qH-YPWjlQC9qMj0diaAEaeQOYQzyVEoTbhl97VASga1e7hBtWOajHDp2gjcYIGF-Wc_9VucAoFAefoZxIUEDduMC9y3/s400/DSC_1065.jpg)
We started hiking uphill, finding Slaty-tailed Trogon, Golden-crowned Spadebill and an Olivaceous Flatbill in the way. Eventually, we reached our main target: a Golden-headed Manakins lek. It was crazy... around twenty gorgeous males were together in the same group
of contiguous trees, making noise, exhibiting themselves, doing the "moonwalk" dance (moving backwards on its perch rapidly without evidently moving the feet... amazing!), and acting as really wackoes each time a female approaches (which occurred very often, so I suppose the competence was fierce). We even saw an immature male (notice the bright soft parts) performing the dances! The place was quite dark, so most of my photos of the gaudy males are not
good enough to show you how really great are these birds. The deep black body contrasting with the bright yellow head and those expressive white eyes visible from far away are hard to forget! Again, we stayed long enough to impress that amazing spectacle in our minds and, reluctantly, started the way back. The raucous calls of a Red-throated Caracara helped us to
locate the bird just under the canopy of a distant tree, but despite the distance I think the photo was very good. Formerly well distributed in Panama, now it is mainly restricted to the eastern part of the country, with scattered records from the western half, one of them recently from the Chiriqui highlands. In the way back to Panama City, we stopped at the San Francisco Reserve, near the town of Torti, and again in the Rio Mono bridge (both in eastern Panama province), adding more eastern Panama's specialties (with One-colored Becard at the bridge as highlight). After all it was a succesful trip, full of special birds, many of them not found in any other part of Panama, nor Central America (notice that I posted photos of thirteen species not found any further than Panama into North America in this three-parts account, starting here with Part I). We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did!![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYhvj1Tjz4_jWbTH0uO2ATpHEeOSf2oTqTLt0RkR18NABJyQxe6JfjuKNzacQ1IjsvI7xh7JiBdnWeJPBufBnQ179djlemPPpN9kUf_qq8gE7A6NZWkQFdQ1hXBAezbJxf-XsGA_yyVWx/s400/CSC_1076.JPG)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Easter holidays in Darien. Part II
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter holidays in Darien. Part I
Usually, you have to break your neck to get only belly-views... but there, I even got its back in the frame!![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZRNH1NiS93_S7fI3E2HiZHS5HyUzA6v-M7HmNQq0antp68Q4cC0QU1u5Zrl18AOZKg2aNMhMqKVOjdW3swOzMX5RmoQ89Faxde8ixjn7SuVvNDGKWiEVBES8JoTUvp8Na82228dijAue/s400/CSC_0632.JPG)
Eventually, we reached the town of Meteti, in central Darien province, our base for the next two days of birding. As a fun fact, the Hotel Felicidad, where we stayed for the night (waiting for the next day), was submerged in the loud calls of several Clay-colored Thrushes... not supposed to be in Darien, so I guess we started with the right foot our trip!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Dry arch's fruits and birds
It has been a while since my last post, I have been busy at work this month... but somehow I managed to accomplish some short trips to the
dry coastal lowlands to the west of the former Panama Canal Zone, an area known as the dry arch for its weather conditions, very popular for its white sand beaches and many resorts along the coast. At almost the end of the dry season, tons of fruiting trees are fully loaded in some tropical, tasty and colorful candies. If you drive along the PanAmerican highway in this section you will see lots a tiny fruit stops where you can buy them. One of the most abundant fruit is the plum. Despite we call it a plum, these fruits p
robably are not related. The plum trees are popular as fence's posts around the properties and houses. Grape-shaped, these fruits are hard, turning red and fleshy while maturing. In fact, many people eat them still green, calling them then "cracker plums" due to the sound they produce with each bite. Many birds visited the plum trees at Gloriela's relatives property in G
orgona (western Panama province, at the eastern end of the arch), including Blue-gray, Palm and Crimson-backed Tanagers (a gaudy male in the photo), Red-crowned Woodpeckers and Brown-throated Parakeets; but, to be honest, I saw none actually eating the fruits. Another common tree loaded in fruits was the cashew. If you don't know from where the cashew nuts come from, then just check my
photo and you will recognize one of them attached to that yellow fruit. The fruit itself have a funny taste, I like it more in juice, or "chica" as we say in Panama (in other countries of the region, the term chicha implies some alcohol in the content of the drink... it is not the case in Panama). Again, many birds are attracted to these fruits, but also the insects and others critters that also attracte
d other non-frugivorous birds, like the female Barred Antshrike or the singing Rufous-browed Peppershrike that I'm showing here, both of them photographed near the fruits while catching the insects. But by far, probably the most iconic tropical fruit in this part of Panama (and perhaps, everywhere) is the mango. There are too many varieties of this fruit,
with so many regional names that it is impossible to list them all, but here is a little sample: mangos calida', chupa-chupa, hilacha, huevo 'e toro, papaya, etc... If you know more mango varieties or any other dry arch's fruit missing, let me know in the comments.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Bird of the month: Ovenbird
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gd_zC4tdvmokj18-zvYA-7ooyu0o3g6PZ7EHTu6odPyEIXMPABCef8Fc0Vt8SohXE7hHivPocyOWxuwLHa1SFMJpK1j0OXv1inbBXPANT4txIvVZQbqhE81Rr5M8EpR5NpJawnqdhKPn/s400/Ovenbird+%2528Seiurus+aurocapillus%2529.jpg)
You can check this week's most interesting posts at Bird Photography Weekly # 136.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAYwlj2HR2kSogKxUDVo9BnRIi7qD5OQ0O_fMPioMb3cG-zGUR-_XRd4uDddsU_IG_Bw8TQirPD8dRck2gJV2pRdqDT1YUANLUO5yBSyLvA7CgUuNMBQi2_9wzP5NfHTAKRQdG8N7m1wBl/s400/DSC_0378.JPG)
Literature consulted:
1. Ridgely RS, Gwynne J. A guide to the birds of Panama. First spanish edition 1993.
2. Angehr GR, Dean R. The birds of Panama. A field guide. First edition 2010.
3. Lovette IJ, Hochachka WM. Ecology 2006; 87:S14-S28
Labels:
Bird of the month,
Escudo de Veraguas,
Ovenbird
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)