Birding the Tabasará range. Part II

In my previous post, I talked about the last trip we made to the mountains of the Tabasará range in western Panamá.  In company of William Adsett, Dan Wade and Charles Davies, we explored some forest patches at both the Pacific and Caribbean slopes, finding interesting species.  In this post, I'll show you some of those special (aka endemics) forms and species that we found.

Continental Divide

Ok, probably not all the endemics, since I'll be discussing the status of the Selasphorus hummingbirds we saw up there in another post.  But we also saw the other national endemic living in these mountains: Yellow-green Finch.  It was quite common, we found them several times in three different sites, although in small numbers, usually two or three individuals each time.  This species is pretty similar to the Yellow-thighed Finch, both physical and vocally.

Of the endemic subspecies, the most common (by voice) was the chiriquensis race of Silvery-fronted Tapaculo.  In spite of great looks (for a tapaculo!), obviously we were not able to snap a shot!  The bush-tanagers were also pretty common.  We found several groups of Common Bush-Tanagers in both slopes, sometimes with mixed flocks.  The subspecies found there, punctulatus, spreads along the highlands and foothills all the way to central Panamá, including El Valle de Antón and Altos del María.
I know is not the best photo, but at least you can see the very dark head and the characteristic drop-like postocular spot.

But we also saw Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers, both along the road to Ratón as well in the Continental Divide trail up to 1750 meters above sea level.  The form present there was once described as a valid subspecies, diversus, supposedly with yellower underparts.  They looked quite similar to the birds found around the Barú volcano in western Panamá, except for the white lateral crownstripe... its looked thinner in those birds.  My photo doesn't shows this, but this photo by William (of a previous visit) shows well what I mean.

We didn't know this, but the Ruddy Treerunners that we saw in both slopes were also represented by endemic subspecies, boultoni.  This form is redder in the under and upperparts.

However, the most interesting endemic subspecies (for me), was the bensoni race of Black-cheeked Warbler.  Reported as rare, it is seldom reported at all from the area, and surely not from the most accessible areas  along the paved road.  We saw them three different days in two sites, only one or two birds, as you can see in the excellent photo by Charles.

copyright Charles Davies, used with permission

I was unable to remember the differences with other races back then, but we all were convinced that they looked different.  Notice the slaty-gray back (with no olive tones).  Also, the lack of yellow tones to the underparts was quite obvious in the field.
Not bad at all... what you think?

AOU Checklist changes affecting Panamá

Last month issue of The Auk (the American Ornithologist's Union -AOU- publication) includes a supplement of the checklist with some important changes affecting the taxonomy of the birds in North America (and Hawaii).  I will mention only those affecting the birds found in Panamá, and I'm including not only splits and lumps, but also name changes and other issues.

In taxonomic order, I will start with the shorebirds.  Now, many species considered monotypical are now included within the genus Calidris.  That means, we now list the Surfbird as Calidris virgata, Buff-breasted Sandpiper as Calidris subruficollis and Ruff as Calidris pugnax.  The order of the species within the genus Calidris also changed, as well as the sequence of the families within the Charadriiformes order.

There are three Calidris virgata in the flock

The Green-crowned Woodnymph is re-lumped with the Violet-crowned Woodnymph and re-adopt the name Crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica) based on better understanding of the ranges and intergrades within these two forms in Colombia (however, they are not known to come into contact in our country).

Former Green-crowned Woodnymph from Ecuador

Black-crowned Antshrike (Thamnophilus atrinucha) is the new name for the Western Slaty-Antshrike due to genetic evidence indicating that our form is not related to the "real" south american slaty-antshrikes, in spite of the physical similarities.  Both subspecies of Immaculate Antbird found in Panamá (Myrmeciza i. zeledoni from Costa Rica and western Panamá, and M. i. macrorhyncha from eastern Panamá and western Colombia and Ecuador) are now called Zeledon's Antbird (Myrmeciza zeledoni), a new species different from the Immaculate Antbird restricted now to Colombia and Venezuela.  Also, the latin name of the Rufous-rumped Antwren change to Euchrepomis callinota.

Black-crowned Antshrike (it's going to be difficult to get used to this name)

As expected, the Thrush-like Schiffornis was split into four species, with two forms occurring in Panamá: the dull, uniformly olivaceous Northern Schiffornis (S. veraepacis) found in both lowlands and highlands of western Panamá, and highlands of central and eastern Panamá (except the Alturas de Nique massif) and the more rufous, gray-bellied Russet-winged Schiffornis (S. stenorhyncha) found in lowlands of central and eastern Panamá (and all elevations of the Alturas de Nique massif).

Bad photo of a Northern Schiffornis, from Altos del María

The Green Manakin is called now Xenopipo holochlora, and both Red-capped and Golden-headed Manakins changed their genus to Ceratopipra instead of Pipra.  Also, the checklist sequence of the manakins changed.

Ceratopipra mentalis

According to Gregory and Dickinson (2012), Ptilogonys (and Ptilogonatidae, the latin name of the Silky-Flycatchers family) is an incorrect spelling and has no nomenclatural standing.  The checklist corrects this and now the name of the family is changed to Ptiliogonatidae and the genus to Ptiliogonys, affecting the latin name of the Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher to Ptiliogonys caudatus.

A minor misspelling was corrected in the latin name of this common species

The latin name of the Common Bush-Tanagers changed to Chlorospingus flavopectus (however, there are no splits in this group).

Common Bush-Tanager... I was expecting splits in this species!

Some issues are pending, other were not even mentioned... notably the Blue-diademed/Whooping Motmot.  Surely more studies are needed before a formal pronunciation of the AOU.

PAS Fieldtrip to Altos del María

Last month, the Panamá Audubon Society (PAS) organized the annual fieldtrip to the foothills of Altos del María.  This gated community, located in the foothills of western Panama province, gained relevance few years ago when the birders started to report western species not readily found in the mountains just to the east (Altos de Campana) or to the west (El Valle for example).  Surely it has something to do with the great accessibility to higher and well preserved cloud forests.  Alfred Raab, an Altos' resident, guided a group of 14 PAS members through these forests during this two-days trip.  However, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck, Itzel Fong and your blogger host only participated the first day.

After meeting in the town of Sora, we followed the group to our first destination, a spot close to the Valle Bonito's gate where we saw/heard some common species.

The Common Bush-Tanagers were, indeed, common.  We crossed several flocks, sometimes mixed with others foothill tanagers, like Silver-throated and Black-and-yellow Tanagers.  The form present there is of the distinctive subspecies punctulatus, recognized by its dark head and brighter orangish breast.  Also notice the distinctive shape of the post-ocular dot.

This Lineated Woodpecker was very cooperative and entertained us while we were waiting for the main attraction.

After some minutes, we found the specialty of the area: at least two males Snowcaps were around, stoping often in some skinny branches too far away for photos, but enough for terrific views through my binoculars.  The white crown is an special feature, readily evident in my poor photo.

We moved to higher forests, around 1000 meters above sea level.  It is obligatory to take a photo with the Picacho peak in the background, as Itzel did with my phone camera.

It was a little cloudy but fresh... and we found lots of activity.  More tanagers flocks, both Thick-billed and Elegant Euphonias, Olive-sided Flycatchers, and one (or more?) Rufous Mourner that seemed to be following us.

Notice how foggy it was in the above photo... however, the weather proved to be quite unpredictable up there.  Two seconds after the above photo the sun showed up (an also the butterflies and moths).

We followed Alfred through some roads and trails.  We crossed a Canopy Lodge birding group and found many others beauties like White-ruffed Manakin, Black-faced Grosbeaks, and even a male Green Thorntail seeking for insects under the leaves of a tree.  Itzel was lucky enough to get some photos that she posted in her blog.  A highlight was a paved trail all the way to the continental divide, where we saw more typical birds... including the local subspecies vividus of Tufted Flycatcher, which is less brightly colored than the subspecies in western Panama (but brighter than the birds of eastern Darien).

This trail runs along a mountain creek and offers the ideal habitat for my nemesis: the Dull-mantled Antbird.  In fact, its spanish name say it so: Hormiguero Guardarribera, with guardarribera meaning something like the one that guards the bank.  A lovely trail for sure!

Guess what!... it is still my nemesis bird in spite of Alfred attempts to lure out one of them. It was a great trip anyway, full of MANY others special birds (including that Orange-bellied Trogon that I missed), but I'll return for my Guardarribera! 

Visiting Altos del Maria

I just came from Altos del María, a gated community in the foothills of western Panama province that have proved to be a good birding spot. Along with Osvaldo Quintero and Alfred Raab, an Altos' resident who kindly guided us through the area, we explored some nice areas with good access roads and good birds. Alfred was constantly saying that we were lucky because we found a sunny day without fog in the upper part of the housing development (La Rioca), where we walked La Coruña street finding a nice mixed flock right in the entrance, with Silver-throated Tanager and Common (very common) Bush-Tanagers, along with Rufous-capped Warblers (feeding youngs), Tufted Flycatcher, Thick-billed and White-vented Euphonias, at least two Yellow-billed Caciques and an Ochraceous Wren that Alfred immediately recognized by its Winter Wren-like call. A little farther we took a trail that leads to an observation tower, attracted by the frog-like call of two Purplish-backed Quail-Doves that eluded us despite our efforts... but bonus birds were the male Purple-throated Mountain-Gem and a shy Black Guan plus a spectacular view of the Cerro Trinidad in the distance. At the tower, we had a terrific view of the pacific lowlands, and of the forest at the foothills. It is possible to see both oceans in a clear day. We decided to visit some other sites before the fog covered everything. Among other species recorded were White Hawk, Pale-vented Thrush, a bright female Shiny Honeycreeper, Paltry and Southern Beardless Tyrannulets, Yellow-margined Flycatcher, Golden-hooded and Bay-headed Tanagers.

We start to return, stopping at the Styria gate (the "pyramid") from where you can see all the lower valley of El Maria, where the main community is. We found a big group of American Swallow-tailed Kites plus a Short-tailed Hawk soaring in a thermal. You don't very often see these birds at eye level, nor from above, so we enjoyed the sight for a few minutes. Then, we descended to the valley, to Alfred's place. Alfred have done a good job in his property, hanging feeders and making trails that hold many birds. Only in few minutes around noon we saw or heard Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Black-striped Sparrow, Plain, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens, a nesting Streaked Saltator and Lance-tailed Manakins... all of them typical of drier forest (like the Metropolitan Natural Park here in the city) than the humid mossy-covered forest that we found in La Rioca (which lies over the 1100 meters above sea level and on the Continental Divide). After a quick lunch, we headed to El Valle road (that connects Altos del Maria with El Valle de Anton), but as soon we got to the forest, the rain and the fog showed up. This part of the valley was full of flowering Inga trees that are very good for small hummingbirds (we only saw Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds) Despite our waiting, the rain didn't stop, so we decided to head back to Panama City after a great day in the foothills. Alfred: thank you for everything, I hope to see you soon!