Good Friday in Flores

I spend the last Good Friday (april 6th) birding with my buddies Rafael Luck and Venicio "Beny" Wilson in extreme southwestern Azuero Peninsula of central Panamá,  at the slopes of Cerro Hoya near the town of Flores.  This was my second time in Flores, and I already blogged about it, because this spot is certainly the most accessible and easy site for seeing the endemic Azuero Parakeet!

Again, the Velasquez family received us, and Juan guided us through part of his property.  This is not exactly parakeets' season, they spent this part of the year in the higher slopes, coming down by may and june, but we want to have a shot and, who knows, maybe see some others goodies for the area.  The road going down Flores from the town of Mariato is simply spectacular, hilly, with great views of the rushing sea.

It is from close to Flores where you can see the forested slopes of Cerro Hoya... it is like a lost world in the middle of pasture lands... notice the fog and the rain covering the valley.  The humid forest of Cerro Hoya holds some interesting species, some of them only present in this particular mountain range in the world!

Juan took us through a narrow trail that steeply started to raise over the flat terrain surrounding, entering humid forest after crossing a nice creek.  The hike was a little bit exhausting for us, who were carrying photographic equipment.  Eventually we reached a flat spot where Juan had seen before the endemic (for Panama) Brown-backed Dove eating of the fallen fruits of a palm tree... but again, this was not the right time of the year for seeing them.  

However, the place was alive with the sounds of Orange-collared Manakins (only a record shot... shaking hands by the time we saw the manakins), we DID hear a pair of Azuero Parakeets flying-by upslope and heard (and saw) the characteristic double hoop of the local subspecies of Blue-crowned Motmot... which appeared to correspond vocally with lessoni, the Blue-diademed Motmot.

We walked more deeply inside the forest... the feeling of being in the middle of a tall, humid forest in Azuero is simply abstract!  We even saw birds so typical of forest interiors that we barely believed it... as for example, a pair of White-whiskered Puffbirds (photo) and a Royal Flycatcher.

In the way down, we stopped for lunch at the watering place for the cattle, accompanied by a Slaty-tailed Trogon and a young Spectacled Caiman carefully watching at us.  Circling above us were a pair of Short-tailed Hawks and, above them, a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle that we found later never has been reported for the Azuero Peninsula (I hope Rafael's photos are conclusive).

After the lunch, Juan guided us through the forest border at the lower slope of the hill.  At one stop, we delighted ourselves with a mixed flock including Rufous-browed Peppershrike, two Tropical Gnatcatchers, a Yellow Warbler and a White-winged Becard.  At the same time, a pair of impressive White Hawks were monitoring us, eventually getting tired of us and flying away majestically.

Then, Beny pointed towards some trees, evidently excited: a group of Critically Endangered "Azuero" Spider Monkey was passing by... I don't know how many, probably around 30 individuals, with many young ones, agile and gracefully were moving among the branches, sometimes stopping to have a look at us!  What a great experience... this subspecies of the Central American Spider Monkey complex is severely affected by habitat destruction... and probably only two or three populations persists only in those forests!

In spite of the torrential downpour that struck us ultimately, we spend a VERY good time with Juan... and we hope to return back soon to Flores and Cerro Hoya!

Penonome Motmots revisited

Some months ago, I adressed the Blue-crowned Motmot of Cocle province (central Panama) because this could be a potential intergrade zone between two distinct forms that have been considered as separate species by the South America Classification Committee (posted here). The day after Gloriela's Baby Shower, all the family went to the finca at the outskirts of Penonome city to have a BBQ and to breathe fresh air. With my camera, I walked to the creek and, as soon as I got there, two dark silhouettes flew from the banks to a nearby tree and immediately I heard a whoo-hoop, typical of a Blue-crowned Motmot, answered by a single hoop! by the second bird. They were incredible shy, always hiding behind foliage and flying away whenever I tried to approach them. Nevertheless, I did saw some important field marks, all of them matching the description of the conexus form, which is the expected form of Blue-crowned Motmot in that part of the country (part of the Whooping Motmot complex). They had some mud in their bills, so I think they were probably excavating a nest in the banks of the creek. In spite that the first vocalization I heard had two notes, it lacked the pause between them, characteristic of the lessoni form from western Panama and Central America (the Blue-diademed Motmot). There are still many questions about these motmots... is there any area of contact between these two forms? Are the motmots of the coclesian foothills conexus like the lowlands birds? Is there any hybrid reported? And so on... I'm pretty sure this is not the last time we hear about these guys!

Weekend at the highlands. Part I

Yeap! We saw the chance, and we took it. After attending an appointment in Penonome last friday, we decided to drive farther west to the Chiriqui highlands (western Panama) to see what we can get. After a very early start, and after a quick breakfast at Santiago, we reached the Concepcion - Volcan road around 8:00 am. As usual, I decided to stop at Cuesta de Piedra to have a look at the Macho de Monte river. The day was very cloudy and the light awful for photography, but anyway Gloriela and I managed to find some interesting species, including a new year-bird for me and some lifers for her. Probably the most interesting sight was the ocurrence of all the four resident river-dwellers in the same general area: a Black Phoebe (photo of a previous trip), two Buff-rumped Warblers, four (two pairs) Torrent Tyrannulets and an American Dipper. Not only that, we also found a Northern Waterthrush and a Spotted Sandpiper working at the same rivers... making the place very productive. We saw other species as well, including my year Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (lifer for Gloriela) and a Blue-crowned Motmot of the ssp lessoni. This is the first time I see this form since its recognition as a valid species by the AOU's South America Classification Committee (SACC) under the name of Blue-diademed Motmot... a change not yet recognized by the North America Committee (neither by the Panama Audubon Society -PAS). Anyway, this motmot was very shy. We checked all the distinctive field marks (including its general greener coloration, specially to the underparts) except its vocalization. When I fot closer in order to take a picture, the motmot concealed itself behind the leaves! Well, we left the place and headed to Volcan, where we got a room in town. For the afternoon, we decided to walk the road to El Respingo, above Cerro Punta. The weather did not improve, so we were accompanied by a light rain almost all the way up. By the entrance we found a mixed flock with Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers, Black-cheecked Warblers and my year Philadelphia Vireo (plus Yellow-winged and Brown-capped Vireos too). Next to them, a Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher was eating some berries, not paying attention to us. Higher on the road, another mixed flock brought to us a cooperative pair of Collared Whitestarts, a Slate-throated Whitestart as well, two Ruddy Treerunners, an Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, a Yellowish Flycatcher, more Black-cheeked Warblers and a beautiful Flame-throated Warbler. Not far from us, at the edge of a big clearing, a handsome Black-capped Flycatcher was quietly perched on some bushes. It was a lifer for Gloriela and only my second time ever (so, it was a year-bird for me). For an Empidonax flycatcher, it is very distinctive! After 1.5 hours climbing, we finally reached the Respingo rangers' station, at 2500 meters above sea level. The smiley park ranger welcomed us and showed us the place, which have all the facilities for staying during a night or more. After paying the entrance fee, we walked a little around the station finding Yellow-thighed Finches, Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatchers, tons of Band-tailed Pigeons, a flock of Sulphur-winged Parakeets perched (lifer for Gloriela) and a pair of Volcano Hummingbirds doing exhibition flights... amazing how fast and high these little birds get during these flights! After enjoying the magnificent view of the Cerro Punta valley from El Respingo, we went down to Volcan to enjoy a well deserved dinner at the hotel. We scheduled a visit to the Volcan lakes for the next morning, so stay tuned!

Blue-diademed and Whooping Motmots

It is official, what we used to know as the Blue-crowned Motmot now consist of, at least, five species. This after the approval of proposal 412 by the South American Classification Committee (SACC), based in the published work of F. Gary Stiles. Of those species, two occur in Panama: the traditional and well recognized (by most panamanian birders) Whooping Motmot (Momotus subrufescens) of central and eastern Panama (CO, RE, OL, AR, SU, SP and OS at the map); and the Blue-diademed Motmot (Momotus lessoni) of western Panama (LE in the map). Now, I have a question considering that the range illustrated for the Whooping Motmot doesn't includes the Cocle province... what about the motmots I have been watching this month along the Zarati river in Penonome and the one I photographed some years ago in El Valle? According to their vocalizations, and the fact that lessoni has only been registered up to Herrera province (which not appears in the map either), those birds belongs to the Whooping Motmot species. Saying this, I only have photos of the Whooping Motmot, and the only sighting that I can remember of a Blue-diademed Motmot was MANY years ago in the road to Caldera (Chiriqui province). Two things caught my attention back then: the motmot was greener and it was perched on a barbed wire, in cattleland (not forest!). It seems that my life list grew by one!

The other three species are the Amazonian Motmot, Momotus momota (MI and MO at the map); the Highland (Andean) Motmot, Momotus aequatorialis (AQ at the map); and the Trinidad Motmot, Momotus bahamensis (BA at the map).