Around Penonome

Every time I go to Penonome (Cocle province, central Panama), I try to wander around, taking photos not only of birds, but of every interesting stuff I can find... however, this is a bird-photos post from Penonome.  I traveled with Gloriela, Gabrielle and some relatives, starting around the "finca", in the outskirts of the town, where Gloriela's dad have a cabin surrounded by fruiting trees, including many papayas trees with mature fruits.  It turned out to be a natural feeder for a big bunch of Red-legged Honeycreepers, including several males in alternate plumage (very colorful).

Around the cabin, a little creek surrounded by a not-so-tall gallery forest holds several pairs of Blue-crowned Motmots.  I already posted a rationale about calling these birds Whooping Motmots... they have a distinctive voice; however, the AOU do not recognizes the split, neither the Panama Audubon Society.

We then visited a stretch of the mighty Zaratí river, in a place called Barrigon.  The rapid-flowing river in this part is bordered by huge barrigon trees (Pseudobombax sp.),  with some understore... a perfect habitat for this Cocoa Woodcreeper, despite we usually think on this bird as a forest inhabitant.

Back to our house, even the live fence have its own birds.  The only antbird present in this part of town is the Barred Antshrike.  This species exhibit a strong sexual dimorphism, the male is totally barred white and black, while the female (pictured here) is rufescent.

The White-tipped Dove is very common (but quite shy)... its voice is a familiar sound of the coclesian savanna... reminiscent of blowing through a bottle.

Well, it is always nice to wander around Penonome!

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 probably 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 Gorgona (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 attracted 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.

Walking the Pipeline Road

I'm back from an early visit to Gamboa and Pipeline road (central Panama) this morning with Osvaldo Quintero. As usual, we started at the Gamboa Ammo Dump, where the activity was great, with lots of common birds in the surroundings. Among the flycatchers, the chachalacas, and the jacanas, we found a cooperative pair of Barred Antshrikes feeding at eye level. Curiously, these are the first individuals of this species that I see this year, despite they are pretty common in the city (and perhaps elsewhere). I really like its call, a ba-ta-ra-ra-rarara-RA! frequently heard, and the origin of the spanish name for the group (Batará). Many people think that the female is prettier than the black-&-white male, what do you think? Close to them, two or probably three Buff-breasted Wrens were skulking, giving loud notes eventually... they were simply too shy for my camera! We left the Ammo Dump and headed to the entrance of Pipeline road, where a huge fallen trunk blocked it. We had to left the car in the entrance and started to walk the first part, which usually we by-pass to go directly to the Juan Grande bridge or to the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center (PRDC). It was a good think actually, because we got some others birds in the short walk, and we also joined Jennifer Wolcott who arrived earlier to the road. We found a group of skulkiers in the undergrowth, including Dusky Antbirds, Dot-winged Antwrens and a Black-bellied Wren that I barely captured with my camera... you can have an idea of the tangled and dark habitat this wren prefers by looking at the photo. In an area with tall grass (where we never stop with the car), I detected little activity in some vains, it was a warbler and I managed to take these photos (you can enlarge them):

Not the best photos (Osvaldo's are much better), but at least you can see the mostly bright yellow underparts with white vent and undertail coverts and the narrow black line through the eye of a Blue-winged Warbler, another rare warbler for this season's collection! In the field was very evident its two white wing bars over the blue wings. It was foraging alone, despite there were two Squirrel Cuckoos and several Lesser Greenlets close to it. The cuckoos stayed for photos, the warbler did not. It is so nice to have such a gorgeous and big cuckoo as a common species in Panama. We walked beyond the Juan Grande bridge, but we only heard more antwrens, some fruitcrows and a pair of Black-breasted Puffbirds, so we decided to walk to the Rainforest Discovery Center. Good choice because the activity was crazy there, both of birds and people... several birders and non-birders groups were in the Center, even George Angehr (author of the new field guide to the birds of Panama) arrived there later. After saying hello to the staff, and after having some sodas and a snack, we started birding the surroundings. A huge mixed flock was passing by, with Yellow, Bay-breasted, Chestnut-sided and Golden-winged Warblers, Brown-capped Tyrannulet in a Cecropia tree (usually only heard, this is a canopy-dweller, tiny flycatcher), White-winged Becard, Dot-winged Antwren, another Black-bellied Wren and several Scarlet-rumped Caciques. We heard the characteristic call of a Moustached Antwren, and after a quick search we found him with the flock high in the canopy.... again, only marginal photos of this tiny, but attractive bird. At the end, it was worth the effort to walk into the road, instead of driving it.