Target Birding: Silvery-throated Jay

Some years ago, a good friend of mine, Rafael Cortés, introduced me to the "target birding".  The concept, that he learned from the late Jesús Estudillo López, consists in selecting a list of interesting bird species, either by their beaty or rarity, and then organize specific field trips in order to find those species.  In this way, many other unexpected species will show up while you're looking for the desired one!

Why this introduction?  Well, because the bigger your life list, the harder it is to get new lifers... and my Panama life list is quite long by now!  So I made my wish-list and, in order to find the first species, I organized a quick trip to the western highlands of the Chiriqui province... specifically, to the agricultural town of Cerro Punta (pictured above).

There, my objective was the Silvery-throated Jay.  This species is endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama.  In Panama, is very local... restricted to real primary forest above the town and so far only recorded (at least recently) along the famed Los Quetzales trail... entering through El Respingo rangers station.

El Respingo

A local guide and friend of mine, Ito Santamaría, helped me in my quest.  He knew exactly the right place where we could see our goal: a site known as Respinguito, about 2500 meters above sea level and two hours away of El Respingo.

Oh yeah!  There is the "Respinguito"

We saw some common species along the trail... but we were focused in the jays.  After more or less two hours climbing up and down through a lush montane forest, we finally reached the Respinguito.  Almost immediately, Ito heard the characteristic calls of a group of these jays.  The birds were working above the tall canopy, allowing only few glimpses... eventually, I got one individual in full light showing its conspicuous silvery throat and eyebrow and the metallic blue shine to the body... simply spectacular!

Eureka!,  Silvery-throated Jay!!!

The place was pretty dark for photos... and I only managed some record shots.  Actually, the two photos I'm  presenting here are the best ones.  Notice how slaty this species looks according to light conditions.  The birds turned out to be very curious... they (at least 10 noisy individuals) came closer to inspect Ito's pishing!

We stayed in the site for some 30 minutes, completely surrounded by the jays.  In one occasion, we were seeing one individual inspecting a little twig when a worm fell out to the ground.  The jay immediately followed it, landing just three feet from me!  What a great way to get a lifer!  

A mix of widespread and endemic birds

Western Panamá highlands form part of the Talamanca range, a well-recognized endemic bird area shared with Costa Rica, and a birding trip to this part of Panamá always is full of a great diversity of both Talamanca endemics and more widespread species.  During our last incursion to the highlands, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck, your blogger host and our guide, Ito Santamaría,  experienced this diversity.  We visited the Bajo Frío area, above Cerro Punta, looking primarily for quetzals (and we eventually saw and photographed them) and finding tons of birds in the way, starting with some common, widespread species.

See what I mean?  Who can't recognize an Acorn Woodpecker?  This clown-faced birds are quite noisy and conspicuous, a common sight in this part of the country.  And talking about common sights, nothing is more common in the highlands than Mountain Elaenias.  This species is found from northern Central America to northern South America.

While looking for quetzals, a covey of Spotted Wood-Quails started to sing close to us.  Ito attracted them with a recorded tape.  Eventually, we got amazing looks of several individuals, but capturing a photo is another theme.  These wood-quails are found from southern Mexico to western Panama; in fact, I have seen this species in Costa Rica as well.

As we moved to higher slopes, along the road to El Respingo, the avifauna changed, and we started to find Talamanca's endemics birds..., like this cooperative Black-cheeked Warbler, part of a flock with five or six birds foraging low in the understore.  This one was taking a sunbath!

There are too MANY endemic birds in those mountains, so I'm only showing a few... in this post of course.  However, we found the next two endemics high at El Respingo, in spite of the weird sign (as I said before, "beware of dog" is not enough in Chiriquí):

"No trespassing, tiger running free"

The Fiery-throated Hummingbird is a specialty of these high altitudes.  The "fiery" throat is hard to see (and this bird liked to stay in dark places), but the tiny white post-ocular spot and the blue tail are good marks.

Also endemic, the Volcano Hummingbird is a tiny gem.  This male was making impressive aerial displays.  The pointed throat usually looks dark, but in the right angle, it glows in an splendid purple tone!

Stay tuned for more highland specialties in the next posts!

A Resplendant day in Cerro Punta

The journey to Cerro Punta took a little more of what we expected, thanks to the awesome birds we saw in the way. Our original plan was to spent most of the morning searching for an adult male Resplendant Quetzal, which Gloriela had never seen. She had seen quetzals before, but only immature males and females. The first place we visited was the entrance of the road to El Respingo. It was very quiet, and the activity was low. The only birds showing up were White-throated Mountain-Gem, Brown-capped and Yellow-winged Vireos, Black-cheeked and Flame-throated Warblers and Mountain Thrushes. A little drab bird resulted to be a White-fronted Tyrannulet, an scarce member of its family in Panama (yellow underparts, two yellow wing bars and it was quickly raising a wing over the back). Then, we tried the Finca Ríos... only finding Scintillant and Volcano Hummingbirds and both Whitestarts. We decided to visit Finca Dracula, at the town of Guadalupe. It proved to be a good idea since its gardens and feeders were full of birds, but alas, no signs of Quetzals. A pair of Slaty Finches visited the feeders, while a big flock of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks flew around, taking advantage of the feeders too. Most of them were females, but also included was a nice adult male with its complete breeding plumage. A Red-tailed Squirrel scaped with a big banana, while a Yellowish Flycatcher and a Common Bush-Tanager acted only as spectators. A Stripe-tailed Hummingbird fed at the Heliconias in the garden, probably avoiding the insane activity at the hummingbirds' feeders. There, an agressive group of White-throated Mountain-Gem (both males and females) were banishing and chasing all the others species in the area including Magnificent Hummingbirds and Violet Sabrewings. Even a female Green-crowned Brilliant stayed only for a while due to the Mountain-Gems. The Green Violetears preferred to stay away of conflicts, singing from very high perches. It was hard to leave such a great place, but it was clear that we were not going to find quetzals there... so I played my last ace: the entrance to La Amistad International Park in Las Nubes. It was late, so we had lunch at the little restaurant of the entrance. The coocker lady told us that she had seen several pairs of quetzals that season, but not that day. While waiting for the food, we were distracted by the hummingbirds attending the feeder by the dinning room: Violet Sabrewings, Magnificent & Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds and White-throated Mountain-Gems. The only difference with the feeders in Finca Dracula was that this feeder was dominated by males Sabrewings (not by the Mountain-gems). The hummingbirds were not the only attraction. The lady filled a feeder with rice and rapidly some hungry birds appeared: Summer Tanager, a female Flame-colored Tanager and Yellow-thighed Finches. It was almost time to go, so we walked a little bit towards the ranger's station to give a last chance to the quetzals. The habitat and the light was perfect, but the quetzals simply didn't showed up. Then, when we already started the way back, an unmistakable silhouette flew against the canopy, perching very close to us: an adult male Resplendant Quetzal in full view!!!... and Gloriela was seeing it! What a great moment... I was so excited that I forgot to grab my camera. We saw the bird for 30 seconds and then it move to a distant perch (then I remembered my camera). It settled for a while and I managed to obtain a poor photo where you can see how long its tail was (OK, OK, is not its tail, but its elongated tail coverts)... notice that the end of the feathers not even appears in the photo! It was a remarkable experience, an excellent closing to our incursion to the Chiriqui province.

Birding the highlands

Today was an unusual day... I left Penonome in the morning with Gloriela, and now I'm blogging from an hotel's room in the town of Volcan, in the western highlands of Chiriqui, after seeing in Cerro Punta a completely new set of birds to which I'm used in central Panama. We are taking advantage of these days off, celebrating today our separation of Colombia and tomorrow, the day of our national flag. Panama, being so small and varied, offers the opportunity to watch dry lowland birds in the morning and then Quetzals in the evening, without any flight involved. Following directions of the Where to find birds in Panama book, we visited Cuesta de Piedra, before Volcan. It was 11:00 am so we do not find many birds, with Golden-hooded, Bay-headed and Cherries' Tanagers being highlights; but anyway, the place is awesome, with a quite deep but narrow canyon surrounded by lush vegetation. Then, we registered in our hotel and took a nap before heading to Cerro Punta, where we met with Darien Montañez (of the Xenornis). He was also taking advantage of these days to find new birds... specially those bamboo specialists. He arrived earlier and already had seen Peg-billed Finch and Green-fronted Lancebill, among others, in the trails of the "Los Quetzales" cabins, in Guadalupe. We decided to bird along the access road to El Respingo, into the boundaries of the Volcan Barú National Park. We got a nice bird activity, with common species quickly showing up: Rufous-collared Sparrow, Wilson's Warbler, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Mountain Thrush and Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers. The ethereal song of the Black-faced Solitaires filled the air, while a group of Prong-billed Barbets quickly vanished among the bushes. We spied our first Magnificent Hummingbird (a female) flycatching... certainly it was not our last Magnificent. A little farther, a tree covered with big yellow flowers was holding many others Magnificents, plus some White-throated Mountain-Gems, Slaty Flowerpiercers, Yellow-thighed Finches and a couple of hungry squirrels. Higher, we saw a cute Volcano Hummingbird and smarts Collared Whitestars. We decided to initaite the retreat when realized the long and steep stretch of trail that still we were lacking. In the way back we found more warblers, both migrants (Black-throated Green, Black-and-white) and residents (Flame-throated, Black-cheeked), plus Ruddy Treerunner, Yellow-bellied Siskin, Dark Pewee, Yellow-winged Vireo, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, and so on... We also got some flying-too-fast-to-appreciate-well birds in the form of Band-tailed Pigeons and Sulphur-winged Parakeets. It was an amazing birding evening, with nice weather and cooperative birds (most of them). A well deserved dinner and a cup of hot chocolate were all we needed to call it a day. Tomorrow we are heading to La Amistad International Park, seeking those bamboo specialists.

Going to the West

In spite of being a small country, Panama possesses five Endemic Bird Areas (EBA's) according to BirdLife International. That means more endemics birds in a little container. That's why I drove almost 2000 km in an extendend weekend (since thursday) with Gloriela to visit the western part of the country (Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro), passing through three different EBA's. Though the Panamerican highway runs along the historical limits of the South Central American Pacific Slope EBA, now what's left is only very degraded habitat in the lowlands, except for some isolated sites. However, is good for raptors. Only along the stretch of highway between Chame and Santiago we saw three different vultures species; Pearl and White-tailed Kites; Savanna, Roadside, Short-tailed and Common Black Hawks; Crested and Yellow-headed Caracaras; Bat and Aplomado Falcons and even two American Kestrels (hard to see details of the crown and chest at 80 km/hr). After a few stops in the way, we arrived to Paso Canoa, in the border with Costa Rica, and headed south to Puerto Armuelles to check the Progreso and Esperanza marshes described in the book Where to Find Birds in Panama (Angher, Engleman & Engleman 2006), finding only Cattle Egrets. We headed back to Concepcion and, eventually, Volcan and Cerro Punta, but the heavy rain and the fog prevented us to do any birding that afternoon. We stayed at the modest Cerro Punta hotel. Friday's morning was sunny, allowing us to bird the road to El Respingo above Cerro Punta, and to visit Finca Dracula in the morning. The first birds of the day were the familiar Rufous-collared Sparrow and the Mourning Doves (we started very early as you can see in the photo). A pair of Black Phoebes were working at the hotel's garden, and flocks of Band-tailed Pigeons flew over us. Then, at the entrance of the Respingo road, a female Resplendent Quetzal welcomed us with a group of Black Guans. More or less at the middle of the road, we found a big mixed flock with Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers, Ruddy Treerunner, Streak-breasted Treehunter, Yellow-thighed Finches, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush and Collared Whitestart that delighted us for an hour or so, allowing me to take some pictures. Back to Guadalupe, we had brunch in a little restaurant with Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds and Slaty Flowerpiercer out in the garden. We decided to spent the rest of the morning at the Finca Dracula. They have an incredible orchid collection, making them 7th in the world! We took the orchid tour and learned a lot about these marvelous flowers, saw the world's smallest orchid and all the different Dracula sp. that grow in their grounds, among others (hundreds of them, the finca houses 2200 species from all over the world!!). The orchids aren't the only reason to visit Finca Dracula. Being adjacent to La Amistad International Park, and the several bird feeders in their ground (fruit, seed and hummingbird feeders) make this place excellent for birding. In fact, we saw or heard many birds there, including the regular Slaty Finches, Silver-throated & Flame-colored Tanagers, many hummingbirds, and even a Red-tailed Squirrel on a banana feeder. We spent several hours in this place, crossing the sidewalks, taking pictures and watching birds. For the evening, we descended to Volcan and took the road to Santa Clara. It was devoid from birds, maybe because of the time of the day (it was hot). We reached the frontier town of Rio Sereno where we don't last much. Back in Bambito we had our dinner in an argentine grill and called it a day. Time to sleep because next day's plan included to drive over the Continental Divide to Bocas del Toro!