A Visit to Finca Los Lagos (aka Ibis-Land)

The news spread like fire!  A Bare-faced Ibis returned to the same area where it was seen for the first time in Panama last year.  As you heard it, the Bare-faced Ibis found in Darien province (eastern Panama) by Pepe Castiblanco and Erasmo De Leon was the last addition to our national list of birds, but after the first few sightings, it disappeared... until now.  It reappeared in the same general area last month, and since then, several twitchers have found it with the help of Erasmo.

Finca Los Lagos, Darien

So, last Sunday I decided to try for it.  Erasmo's nephew, Jean, showed me the way through pasture land and dry riverbeds until we reached Finca Los Lagos, property of Erasmo's parents, at first light.  It was evident why it attracted so many birds... the surroundings were extremely dry due to the harsh dry season, but the place holds a lake with marshy vegetation and other wetlands that attracts tons of life.  Also, the property borders an extensive forest too... a nice combination.  We did the first try before breakfast... and I'm going to kill the suspense right away because the very first ibis we saw mere 100 meters from the house was THE ibis!

Bare-faced Ibis with Blue-winged Teals and a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

The ibis was not a lifer for me to be honest... but it was the first time ever I see one in Panama!  With its growing number in South America, I wonder why this species have not yet "invaded" our country. It was quite shy and I only managed distant shots... but hey, I got my target and I was just starting!  With the ibis in the bag, we decided to bird along the forest border in direction to a nearby wetland.  As you can imagine, we found several other species... but as suggested by the title, I was impressed with the diversity of ibises species.  In quick succession we saw Glossy, Green and White Ibises feeding on the wetlands!

Glossy Ibis

Green Ibises

White Ibises (immatures)

I don't recall any other site in Panama where you can see four different species of ibises at the same time (the Panama list of birds have seven species of ibises, with the other three extremely rare, just as the Bare-faced), indicating the quality of the habitat at the site.  The ibises were not the only one attracted to these wetlands, the ducks were well represented with large numbers of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and Blue-winged Teals, plus at least 150 Muscovy Ducks, which are hunted in other sites.  Even a beautiful drake American Wigeon posed for photos!

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Muscovy Ducks

American Wigeon with Blue-winged Teals

We saw hundred of herons, egrets, jacanas and other aquatic birds... but there were other specialties too.  The flycatchers were well represented with several species, including Cattle Tyrant (in spite of its preferred habitat, it is still scarce and erratic in Panama), Pied Water-Tyrant, Rusty-margined Flycatcher, Great and Lesser Kiskadees, Tropical and Gray Kingbirds, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Long-tailed Tyrant, and many more!  A female Golden-green Woodpecker also showed well, specially considering how difficult to find usually they are, and by the river, the nominate subspecies of Boat-billed Heron (with white-ish- breast and face) was resting in the open.

Cattle Tyrant

Long-tailed Tyrant

Golden-green Woodpecker (female)

Boat-billed Heron

In the way back, Jean took me to a little marsh where he thought the Bare-faced Ibis liked to wander.  Using some bushes as hides, we managed to approach very close to the marsh.  Effectively, the ibis was there... and this time I managed some great shots and even tape-recorded it guttural vocalization, which you can heard from this eBird checklist.

Bare-faced Ibis

What a great way to end a twitch!  My four-and-a-half-hours drive back to Panama City was definitely more bearable with the feeling of mission accomplished!  I greatly recommend contact Erasmo for a visit to this private property in eastern Panama... write him at ecotourdarien@gmail.com or through his page at EcoTourDarien.  Happy Birding!

A promising pond

If you are planning a trip to eastern Panama province searching for the Whistling Heron (last time seen this monday, july 28th), remember to visit the pond that is to the left of the Panamerican highway just after the turn-off to the heron site.  As many others have noticed, this pond is full of life and, certainly, will produce some goodies in the future.  After seeing the nesting Pearly-breasted Cuckoo in Bayano, we stopped for a while to check this pond.

Wood Storks

Of course, the first thing we noticed was the immense number of Wood Storks.  More than 200 birds gathered there... they seemed to be just resting and relaxing.  This species is rather odd, with its bare head... but in the air its elegance has no parallel.  Here is another shot of part of the flock.

Wood Storks

Second after the storks were the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks.  They were farther away, so my shot is not very good.  Along with the whistling-ducks, we also saw Neotropic Cormorant, Least Grebes and a Common Gallinule.  The pond is perfect for migrant ducks, and in the past both American Wigeon and Northern Shoveler have been present.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

There were some migrants too: Least, Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs and Black-necked Stilts (although the last one could be a resident population).  Along with these migrants were Wattled Jacanas and Purple Gallinule.  The rice fields nearby had produced Paint-billed Crakes (!) and Long-billed Dowitchers (!!) too.  We also got many herons (seven species), including no less than four Cocoi Herons.

Cocoi Heron

Most of the small birds and the whistling-ducks flew off when an Aplomado Falcon showed up... yes, an Aplomado Falcon!  It was too fast for photos... but, as you can see, this pond promises good birds in the future, so keep an eye on it!

An unusual sighting

At this point, you may know that several Whistling Herons have been observed in Panama in an unprecedented.  Yesterday, I joined Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck in a search of the most recent record of these species (a pair near Gorgona beach by Euclides Campos).  At the site, we met Venicio Wilson and Ezequiel Jakub who where after the heron too.

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

We did not find the heron, but found some goodies instead.  I only got photos of the Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, but we also heard a couple of Gray-breasted Crakes, saw some Purple Martins migrating with other migrant swallows and a pair of American Kestrel of southern subspecies.  The pond after the Malibu development was full of Least Grebes and other aquatic birds... but no Whistling Herons.  In one extreme of the pond, both Venicio and Zeke found an unusual duck.

Masked Duck

The distant shot with my DSLR camera shows an adult male Masked Duck!  Why so excited?  Despite being considered frequent by Ridgely & Gwynne, this species is rare and local, as best described by Angehr & Dean.  Retiring and shy, this species is mainly crepuscular (even thought it was nocturnal!).  This was only my third sight, and the first male with its alternate plumage.  Through Venicio's scope we were able to see the beautiful patterned back... I even managed a nice digiscoped picture of this bird.

Masked Duck

The chick close to the Masked Duck is a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck one of five chicks that approached the duck each time it resurfaced from its dives.  Mommy was close however.  I spite of not seeing the heron, this duck worth the effort!

P.D.: that same day, a Whistling Heron was spotted by members of the Panama Audubon Society in the rice fields of Santa Maria in the Azuero Peninsula... this is an invasion!

Code 5: Whistling Heron!

Almost exactly one year ago, a new bird for Panama (and North America), a Whistling Heron, was found in the pastures close to the town of Chepo, in eastern Panama (45 minutes from Panama City).  Intensive search at and around the site were unsuccessful.  Personally, I visited the site several times (chronicles here).  A previous record (from february 2010) was validated in eBird only after photographic evidence was sent to the regional reviewer (me).  Then, my friend and professional birder Guido Berguido (from Advantage Tours, found another Whistling Heron yesterday close to the original site while guiding a birding group late in the afternoon!  In a show of camaraderie, he sent a report almost immediately through social networks, with specific details of the site.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Although I considered going there early today, my job duties prevented me of doing so... but then Rafael Lau photographed the bird this morning almost exactly in the same site.  I took advantage of a gap in my agenda, waited for Gloriela and Gabrielle and went to the site.  It took me one and a half hour to reach the site due to the traffic jams in the city, leaving me only one hour to search the area and find the bird before returning to my clinic with the patients!  Coincidentally, we joined our friend Justo Camargo in the road.  He spent four hours searching for the heron with no luck, so he decided to join us for another try.  He showed me the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks pictured above, and both saw some nice species, like Pied Water-Tyrant and this Striated Heron.

Striated Heron

After a while, we decided to walk into the pasture where the bird was seen in the morning.  It was around 4:00 pm and the sun was high, so Gloriela and Gabrielle stayed in the car.  I walked with Justo to some artificial ponds... a quick search with my binoculars and PAM!!!  A Whistling Heron was standing some 30 meters away.  It was shy (similar to my previous observations in Venezuela and Colombia last year), and soon took flight to some nearby pastures.  I managed a couple of flight shots.

Whistling Heron 

Whistling Heron

I decided to approach carefully, almost crawling, to not disturb the bird.  It was feeding by craning its neck and taking something in the straws with the beak (I hope it were not ticks because I was surrounded by these straws).  I got some distant shots... good for documenting the sighting.

Whistling Heron

Cattle Egret and Whistling Heron

It was larger and stockier than the Cattle Egret as you can see in the picture above.  Not a lifer for me (it was for Justo), but a HUGE Panama life bird instead!  This is just the third record of this species in Panama.  Original from the wet plains of northern and south-east South America, its range and habiat is similar to another recent vagrant to Panama and North America: the Maguari Stork.  Are they only accidental vagrants or we have to wait for a horde of south american new species in the future?  Who knows... I only know that both Justo and I will remember this forever!

JC & JC.  Photo by Gloriela

In search of THE heron. Part I

There were some clues in the air... something really important was happening to the east of Panamá City.  But in spite of all my suppositions, I never thought that it would be a NEW species for the country and North America!  The news were published in various social media and in Xenornis a week ago.  A Whistling Heron was photographed and videotaped in the outskirts of the town of Chepo, 30 minutes east of Panamá City by Kevin Easley and others.  This is an extraordinaire record, since there are no known populations of this beautiful heron close to the Panamá border in Colombia.  Two distinct populations exists, one in the llanos of Venezuela and eastern Colombia (where I took the next photo, that I published elsewhere); the other, in the open lands of Bolivia to northeastern Brazil and Argentina.

So far, some resident birders visited the place after the first report, but the heron could not have been relocated.  So, accompanied by Rafael Luck, Venicio "Beny" Wilson and Itzel Wong, I went last saturday in search of it.   After checking maps of the area, Beny chose the route, following the old road to Chepo from the town of Palo Blanco, crossing pastures and degraded habitat, but also many gallery forests along creeks and rivers supporting species typical of wetter habitats.  That is so, that in our first stop we found a Rufous-breasted Hermit... essentially unexpected for us.

Others unexpected finds were Brown-hooded Parrots, Gray-headed Kite and this Gray-lined Hawk, nicely perched atop a dead tree.

However, the most common birds were those typical of open lands and marshy areas.  In fact, we checked many marshes in the middle of huge pasture lands, and we were glad to see again some species restricted to this type of habitat.  For example, this Pale-breasted Spinetail was very cooperative, calling from exposed perches and even showing the reason of its name.

And who can't be glad of finding Pied Water-Tyrants?  This elegant bird is restricted to the eastern part of the country, and always is a great bird to see.

And what about the heron?  Well, eventually we found the very same perch where the Whistling Heron was photographed.  The tree was a preferred perch for many species in the surroundings, including  Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Little Blue Heron and Great Egrets.  We waited and searched all around, but the heron was not there.

To be honest, we were quite optimistic, considering that the area is huge, full of adequate habitat... it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  However, we kept searching... only stopping for a quick meal in town.  That habitat was also excellent for birds of prey.  Besides those already mentioned, we saw other seven hawks and kites species, including this majestic Savanna Hawk.

We also saw (or heard) four falconids, including three pairs of American Kestrels.  Formerly only a winter visitor from northern latitudes; now, South American subspecies have been established in our fields.

Notice the completely lack of spots in the underparts of this beautiful male, characteristic of southern subspecies.  Well, we didn't find the heron... but have a lot of fun looking for it!

Ducks fest!

Because a promise is a debt, as I told you in a previous post, we had an extraordinaire day at the marshes east of Panama City a week ago, seeing/photographing eight (8) ducks species!  Ok, it may not sound extraordinaire for some of you... but in Panama, this is simply a mind-blowing number of species.  Not only variety... the numbers were impressive too, just check the next photo of one of the flocks of Blue-winged Teals.

You see, here in Panamá, our bird list includes 16 species of ducks; one is considered extirpated (White-faced Whistling-Duck) while five others are considered vagrants (Comb Duck, Mallard, White-cheeked Pintail, Green-winged and Cinnamon Teals), leaving us with ten species with some kind of realistic (but not optimistic) chances to see in Panamá, since seven are considered rare to very rare, some with connotations like "local" and "irregular".  Guess what, this season, all those ten species had been recorded, and personally I have seen nine already!

Did I mention the numbers?  The above photo shows only a tiny fraction of the huge flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in the site.  This and the Blue-winged Teals are, by far, the commonest species in Panamá, the ones that we see more often, and both are well-known by the panamanians with names like "guichichi" and "salceta" respectively.  From here, all the next species are considered rare, but you have to agree that if you have seen recently a flock of more than 90 Lesser Scaups, then seeing a dozen or so that day was not unexpected.

Seeing Muscovy Ducks was not unexpected too.  Considered rare, this species is also well-known by the locals (as Pato Real), and, away from Las Macans marsh in Herrera province (central Panama), is the second most often found resident species in Panama (second after the "guichichi").  We saw two females, with little white in the wings and no crests.

And talking about resident species, one of my personal highlight was the female-plumaged Masked Duck that we found (actually twice) in one of the first ponds.  A little far for photos, the bird eventually flew (literally jumping out of the water), showing the white patches in the secondaries to land few feet away to "disappear" within a flock of other species.  Curiously, in the way out, we found a dead bird in the street.  This is only the second time I see this species, so I was really happy without knowing what else to expect.

OK, I was expecting at least one other species, a Northern Shoveler, considering the growing number of reports for this season, including five that we saw recently in Punta Chame, to the west of Panama City.  And we found a single female among a group of American Coots and Blue-winged Teals.  Again, only a distant shot.

From here the things become serious!  Among the hundreds of teals, we recognized larger birds resting with them.  It became evident that the birds were American Wigeons when we saw an adult male, and then another, and another, and then two flying... WOW, I don't know how many, but to be conservative I annotated ten birds (surely an underestimation).

But ten American Wigeons is nothing compare to forty (40!) or more Northern Pintails!!!  The last time I remember a report of this species in Panama was 14 years ago, and then only a pair was seen.  The next photos shows different groups (and I could be underestimating the numbers again, check again the first photo in this post).

So you can imagine my surprise when we saw this flock?  Not only that, this duck is elegant, beautiful, very rare and was a LIFER!!!  What a crazy day!

Birding the marshes. Part II

After a successful previous day at some marshes east of Panama City, I travelled with my family to our house in Penonomé (Coclé province, central Panamá) in the afternoon.  The sunday morning, january 20th, Gloriela, Gabrielle, Teresa and Kevin joined me in a quick visit to Las Macanas marsh, in Herrera province, and only one hour away of Penonomé.

Of course, after seeing eight duck species the previous day, I wanted to see if I could find at least 10 species for the weekend, so I targeted Las Macanas to find my ninth species: the Fulvous Whistling-Duck.  My family stayed at the facilities because of the bright sun, but enjoying the refreshing breeze instead. 

I searched the ponds close to the tower... hundreds of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, but alas, no Fulvous.  The Black-bellieds looks almost comical, with their bright orange bill and legs, and sweet voice.

Knowing that sometimes they are hard to find, I started to walk my way through dry terrain to some ponds where I had seen those ducks before (check this post).  In the way, some Snail Kites were flying over the marsh, masterly maneuvering with the tails.

Eventually, I found a flock of Lesser Yellowlegs resting close to some Blue-winged Teals.

If you enlarge the photo with the yellowlegs, you may notice that one of the ducks is actually a female Northern Shoveler!  I didn't realize it back then, but I found a pair of Northern Shovelers later in the day.  The female stayed for some photos, but I only got distant flying shots of the male.  There are many sightings of shovelers in Panama for this season, which has been exceptionally good for ducks in general.

After a while, I reached the ponds that were full of whistling-ducks, teals and even a huge male Muscovy Duck.  By that time I was tired and thirsty, but I was glad to see that, when hundreds of whistling-ducks took off, at least one of them presented the characteristic dark wings and tail with white rump band of a Fulvous Whistling-Duck, my ninth duck species for the weekend!  They were too far away for photos... so I took photos of a nearby flock of Black-necked Stilts instead.

We left Las Macanas very happy... and in the afternoon, we left Penonomé in order to reach Panama City by mid-afternoon.  Of course, we made a quick visit to Gamboa searching for the tenth duck species: the female Ring-necked Duck reported elsewhere... but they were to far away to identify with certainty, and quite dark too.  But nine species of ducks in two days, and in Panama... exceptional!