Beach Weekend (and more)!

Sometimes, you only need to get away and relax.  My wife and I decided that it was time to have an escape to a secluded beach in order to enjoy the sun and the marine breeze.  Luckily for us, doing so is as easy as taking a ferry to the paradisiac Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama, mere one to two hours from busy Panama City.  We chose a beach club at Viveros Island that we visited earlier this year and loved it then.  The pristine turquoise waters and the fine white sands of the beach are irresistible!

At 3:00 pm, the ferry picks up the few visitors back to the city, but we booked a room in advance (because the place only has two rooms) and, essentially, had the complete club and the beach exclusively for us the rest of the afternoon.

Playa Honda, Viveros Island, at sunset

But this is a birding blog, and I'm sure you're waiting the birding story here... and yes, there is a birding story.  Early in the morning, I explored the surroundings with my camera.  After watching some common species, I started to hear an unfamiliar call (to me that is).  After recording it, I realized that the bird doing it was an adult male White-fringed Antwren that I managed to photograph in spite of how far away it was.

White-fringed Antwren, adult male

This species is restricted, in Panama, to the largest islands of the archipelago, where it is represented by the endemic subspecies alticincta.  It is not found in the mainland, and the closest population occurs in Caribbean Colombia.  I was expecting it at the island because my friend José Pérez photographed it  here last year for the Global Big Day (thanks for the instructions José).  HBW Alive states that the song of this endemic subspecies is unknown, so I uploaded mine to Xeno-Canto, where you can listen to it (HERE is my recording) and compare with the recordings of other subspecies of the complex (notice that they recognize alticincta as part of Northern White-fringed Antwren).  The ant wren was a great addition to my year list, but certainly other birds also showed well, including a cooperative Jet Antbird and an impressive Hook-billed Kite perched few meters away.

Jet Antbird, adult male 

Hook-billed Kite, adult female

So what else you can ask?  Spending time at a beautiful beach alone with the girl you love while recording -probably for the first time- range-restricted and endemic subspecies of antwrens is my  definition of paradise on Earth!

P.D.: more photos at Gloriela's Intagram