Post-carnival trip to the highlands. Part II

After spending the morning travelling and birding in the foothills, Gloriela and I took a deserved nap at our hotel room in Volcan before heading to the town of Las Nubes for an afternoon walk. We visited La Amistad International Park , famed by its biodiversity and for being the only of our parks shared with Costa Rica. We first had lunch at the excellent restaurant in the entrance of the park, accompanied by Violet Sabrewings, Magnificent Hummingbirds and White-throated Mountain-Gems attending the feeders. Then, we moved to the administrative installations were we paid the entrance fee. From there, we took El Retoño trail, a 3-km loop trail that reaches 2305 meters above sea level. The forest is exhuberant and the journey is very entertaining through beautiful landscapes, several creeks and bambu patches... and the birding is excellent too. Because of the time of the day, the forest was quiet... but we found scattered species, most of them quite common inhabitants of the cloud forests. Eventually, we found a nice mixed flock, first noticed by the presence of two (probably more) Collared Whitestarts. These curious little guys are confident enough to stay close to you while you are taking pictures, making them really good photogenic birds! A group of four Black-cheeked Warblers accompanied them, as well as two Flame-throated Warblers, or I should say Parulas? Yes, this warbler is a Parula, a striking one as you can see in the photo, endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama. Others members of this flock were the finches. We first noticed three or four Yellow-thighed Finches following the flock, but then two Large-footed Finches jumped in front of us... a lifer for Gloriela! As the parula, both species are also endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. A good highland mixed flock is not complete without furnariids, and another endemic made our day on that regard: a Streak-breasted Treehunter was a little less skulkier than usual, allowing great pictures. WOW, I never expected to have a good photo of such a secretive species, and Gloriela simply added another lifer to her list! Some Red-faced Spinetails and two Spot-crowned Woodcreepers also accompanied the flock, the same as both Yellow-winged and Brown-capped Vireos, the resident species of vireos in these forests. Reluctantly, we left the site in order to complete the loop, hearing Silvery-fronted Tapaculos and Black-faced Solitaires... but the best bird of the day was about to come. Suddenly, a red and green figure appeared right in front of us to perch in a nearby mossy branch, a male Collared Trogon! That was only my second sight of this bird (the first one more than 12 years ago) and a beautiful lifer for Gloriela! This trogon is not rare... but somehow have eluded me all these years. The red belly was specially contrasting and bright, and the bird stayed for a while inspecting us before flying away into the forest. Curiosly, we saw later an Orange-bellied Trogon (distant views of a male), but failed to locate a quetzal this time. Anyway, that Collared Trogon was gorgeous! It was a long day, and after 18 hours in the field, we finally arrived to our room in Volcan in order to rest for our next (and last) day in the highlands.

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!

Bird of the month: Collared Whitestart

The Collared Whitestart (Myioborus torquatus) is a smart, little warbler endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama. Is a common resident of forest edges and second growths where it conspicuously forages at low and middle levels. It has a very attractive pattern which is similar to that of the more widespread Slate-throated Whitestart (Myioborus miniatus), except for the contrasting yellow face and throat, and the black breast band. Like all the other Myioborus whitestarts, it usually is very active and agile when looking for insects, frequently making short sallies and fanning its tail, showing the flashing white feathers. More commonly is seeing in pairs, sometimes accompanying mixed flocks of other highlands denizens, like bush-tanagers and other warblers. About the name whitestart, it is a personal choice, of course, since both committees on bird names classifications (the AOU's North and South America Committees) accept the name redstart for all the Myioborus. There is an ongoing debate about this topic, with heavy arguments in favor to both sides... but by the end it is all about personal preferences. Other thing about this little friend is its curiousity... allowing great shots and beautiful pictures. For these and many other reasons is why we choose the Collared Whitestart as our bird of the month!

Literature consulted:

1. Ridgely RS, Gwynne JA. A guide to the birds of Panama. First spanish edition. 1993.

2. Garrigues R, Dean R. The birds of Costa Rica. First edition. 2007.

Birding in PILA (birding a lot)

PILA are the initials for Parque Internacional La Amistad; but, in our panamanian spanish, to say "en pila" means "a lot"... an appropiate title for this entry since Gloriela, Darien Montañez (of the Xenornis) and your host blogger watched many birds yesterday in that huge park, which Panama shares with Costa Rica. As I told you, we were seeking bamboo specialist... so we met at the small restaurant close to the hotel where Darien was staying, ate our breakfast (accompanied by a Stripe-tailed Hummingbird) and headed towards the settlement of Las Nubes, where the park's headquarters are located. It is a picturesque road across farmlands, streaming rivers and a small agricultural community. The entrance to the park gives you an idea of the impressive forest that this park protects. Tall moss-covered trees and giant tree ferns hold tons of birds and other animals. The humid and foggy environment is ideal for the survival of the epiphytes, which in turn are ideal for the furnariids. There is something about the furnariids... they aren't the most colourful nor beautiful birds, but they are so scarce in the lowlands (where I do most of my birding) that the opportunity of finding any of them thrills me. Of course, we found many furnariids in tne form of Buffy Tuftedcheek, Ruddy Treerunner and Streaked Woodhaunter. We also got many Spot-crowned Woodcreepers, but deep inside me I still feel uncomfortable by including the woodcreepers (which are very common in the lowlands) into the furnariids. We took the "El Retoño" trail, finding Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, Black-faced Solitaire, Wrenthrush, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, among others before reaching the large tracks of bamboo (Chusquea sp.). Once there, we didn't see any bamboo specialist, but we were entertained by a mixed flock composed mainly by Black-cheeked Warblers and Yellow-thighed Finches, but including also Wilson's & Black-and-white Warblers, Collared Whitestart and even a Hairy Woodpecker. We got also a nice selection of hummers, including Green Violetears, Magnificent & Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds, White-throated Mountain-Gems, Violet Sabrewing and the bird of the day: a cute Green-fronted Lancebill flycatching over the stream. It was getting late for our return journey to Penonome, so we lunched at the small restaurant in the park's entrance and said goodbye to Darien, who stayed in the area... looking for more birds (and hearing a flock of Barred Parakeets later). On the way, we found the parade celebrating the national day of our flag... a particular way to end a birding morning in the highlands.

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!