At the end of the road

Few months ago (yes... months!), I took advantage of some spare days and went to Darien province in eastern Panama in order to find a bird that has eluded me since I started birding more than 20 years ago.  You may expect that it is a rare and range-restricted species... and until some years ago, only reliable during the expeditions that ventured deep into the jungle of the Darien Gap.

Welcome to Yaviza. Km 12,580 final from Alaska

So I drove all the way to the town of Yaviza, where the Pan-American Highway abruptly ends... the only gap in more than 30,000 km of concrete and asphalt, and where the Darien Gap officially start!  My short stop there produced Bicolored Wren, a recent colonist to eastern Panama (and Central America), but not the target of my trip.  Some forest patches near town produced some eastern Panama specialties, like Black Oropendola, Black Antshrike and the cassini  ssp. of Chestnut-backed Antbird with its distinctive white spots on wings.

male Chestnut-backed Antbird, ssp cassini 

It was late, and I drove back to Metetí, where I spent the night.  The "appointment" with my target would be on the afternoon of the next day, so I planned to spent the next morning birding El Salto road, which requires an early start... as I did.  Early next day, I caught the dawn chorus in the famous road that ends in the mighty Chucunaque river.  El Salto road is a birding hotspot of the Darien lowlands.  Many Darien specialties and range-restricted species are easily seen there... but not the one I was looking for... but it was a nice spot to spent a couple of hours birding.  In quick succession I got some nice birds like Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Double-banded Graytail, Black-tailed Trogon, Choco Sirystes and many more.

El Salto road birding hotspot

Gray-cheeked Nunlet

Time flies when you are having fun, and soon it was time to return to Metetí in order to meet an old friend of mine.  After lunch, I joined  Nando Quiroz, who is an experienced birding guide, specialized in Darien birds.  He was in a private tour with a visiting birder who kindly agreed to accept my company for some hours... so I joined them and went across the Chucunaque river into the Embera-Wounaan region, into mature, old forest.  Before arriving to the local village, Nando stopped the car at the entrance of a narrow trail.  We walked a little bit and then he pointed us a huge Cuipo tree (Cavanillesia sp.)... it had a nest with an eagle on it... a Crested Eagle!

Crested Eagle

The Crested Eagle is a rare, huge raptor of the neotropics and not very often you have the opportunity to watch one on a nest.  It was not a lifer, but just the second time ever I had the chance to experience it!  In the short way out, back to the car, we crossed Red-throated Caracaras, Blue Cotingas, Golden-headed Manakins and a pair of Blue-and-yellow Macaws, detected by their raucous calls... they were lifers for me!  Once at the village, Nando suggested to take a little "panga" at the river to have a better field of view for my target.

That's Nando at back

We were looking for a bird that  inhabits forest edges and clearings... but in Panama it seems to specialize in river banks.  So there we were, aboard a wooden canoe in the middle to the river... Nando was whistling patiently.  Then, a response in the distance... something was answering to Nando's whistling.  After some tense minutes searching the surroundings, Nando pointed out a Cecropia tree.  A small, drab bird with long and pointed bill was flycatching and returning to the same perch... I shakily managed to take some photos.

Dusky-backed Jacamar

DUSKY-BACKED JACAMAR!!!  I know it is not fancy, nor colorful... but this is a quite special bird.  Restricted to a tiny area of eastern Panama and northwestern Colombia, this distinctive species required complete expeditions in the past.  Now, there are some accesible sites along the Chucunaque river that not even need a boat ride to reach!  Of course, you need an experienced guide to take you there... and Nando certainly is one of the best!  Thank you very much!

In search of Darien's specialties

The Darien province, in eastern Panama, holds a myriad of south american birds not found in any other site in North America (OK, that is using the boundaries of the AOU's North American Classification Committee).  And... it is not necessary to mount an expedition to see some of these birds, as we prove it last month.  The group of birders including me, Euclides Campos, Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck, were ready to obtain some lifers in spite of the short time available.

We stayed at Meteti, from where we headed very early in the morning (having breakfast on route) to the wet pastures east to the town of Betzaida.  At a marshy patch with long reeds, we found one of the targets of our trip: the Yellow-hooded Blackbird... and not only one, but many singing males, displaying in a courtship behavior.

The female is duller (considerably), but distinctive as well.  We saw both males and females flying outside the reeds to a nearby farm and vice versa.  The resident status of this species was confirmed some years ago in Darien (and North America), and is expanding westward.

At the same patch, we saw a singing adult male Large-billed Seed-Finch.  Also a south american "invader", this male was feeding a young partially hidden inside the reeds.  The young had a normal-sized bill.

This bird has been found westward into Panama province (once), but the Darien is still the only regular region for it in North America, the same as the next species: the Spot-breated Woodpecker, that we found next to the road.  The lack of red malar make this a female.

We moved to the east, closer to the town of Yaviza, to a patch of tall forest remaining along the mighty Chucunaque river.  The avifauna changed rapidly, with many species typical of humid forests present, like Barred and Black-breasted Puffbirds, Black-bellied Wren, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, both Crested and Black Oropendolas and even a noisy Red-throated Caracara that perched high above a fig tree.

After a while, we started our way to the road of El Salto, which crosses a nice forest, part of it protected by the Vida Nueva Foundation... however, we stopped on route in order to watch a Limpkin atop a tree.  They are not uncommon in this part of the country, but it is always great to have sights like this!

At the road to El Salto, we crossed several mixed flocks.  The biggest one included Yellow-margined and Yellow-breasted Flycatchers, White-flanked and Moustached Antwrens, White-shouldered and Plain-colored Tanagers, Tropical Gnatcatchers and more.  Then Euclides heard the call of one of my main targets: the Double-banded Graytail.  Soon, we were seeing three individuals (including one immature) of this Darien specialty... a life bird for me!!!

What a great trip... and we only spend half-day birding!  In the return journey, we made a short stop at the Elementary School in the town of Torti (eastern Panama province) where Euclides identified a group of 30+ Brown-chested Martins perched on a wire.  This austral migrant is seldom reported despite it is quite regular in this part of Panama.  Great way to end the trip!

Easter holidays in Darien. Part II

After a long traveling day, the morning of friday 22th caught us (Rafael, José Carlos, Mahelis, Gloriela and your blogger host) in our way to the Embera village of Nuevo Vigía, in the margins of the mighty Chuqunaque river... but due to supposed securities issues, the authorities at Puerto Peñita didn't let us continue upriver in order to visit the site. So bad, after spending half morning trying to convince them, we realized that it was useless, so we decided to move to another site, (seeing an Orange-crowned Oriole as consolation prize) also in the margins of the Chuqunaque river near the town of El Salto, where Venicio "Beny" Wilson, George Angehr and others documented, probably for the first time, a nest of a Double-banded Graytail, an enigmatic ovenbird only found in eastern Panama and northern Colombia. We hired the services of a local guide, Daniel Santos, who took us to the site of the nest and through secondary forest and pastureland looking for one of the main targets of the trip (more on that later). The nest was a globular structure as described by Beny, but from a different angle, it looked like a oven (or like a donut?). No birds were seen then, so we followed Daniel, hearing Yellow-breasted Flycatchers in several places, seeing some of them eventually. You can see in the photo the characteristic broad bill and a little bit of ochre in the chin. Formerly known only from El Real (farther to the east) some years ago, this species have colonized most part of the Darien province in an accelerated way. The calls of Greater Anis, and the sightings of several Wood Storks in the skies announced that we were close to the required habitat of our main objective: Black-capped Donacobius. According to Daniel, the site was close to the margins of the river, but we started hiking inland under a merciless sun with Daniel saying every each stretch of road "only 200 meters away". After several "200 meters", we finally reached a very wet, muddy place, finding at least three Green Ibis flying away while making their loud cacophony. We were at the margins of a little marsh, covered in lilies, mud and water all the way to the ankles. At first glance, nothing moved. José Carlos played the recording and we wait for a while... nothing. Then, Daniel found a curious Black-capped Donacobius inspecting us atop some lilies in the opposite margin of the marsh! Then two others birds appeared! The three of them eventually got closer to us, stopping to sing in a duetting fashion, while "dancing" rhytmically, bouncing their heads while fanning their tails from one side to another: magnificent! In the meanwhile others birds appeared. A nice Spot-breasted Woodpecker, with its contrasting white face, was calling above us while an immature Tiger-Heron was quietly perched on a Cecropia tree inspecting us as curiously as we inspected the Donacobius. I have to admit that I need help with this bird. We can exclude Fasciated Tiger-Heron by habitat (can we?), but the others two species can be found in that habitat (open marshes close to forest). Now, according to Angehr & Dean (2010), the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron is not expected away from the coast in that part of Panama and, considering the buffy spots in the wings, making a clear band effect not found in such species, my diagnosis is Rufescent Tiger-Heron. It was to hot to saw anything, so we left Daniel at his home and went back to Meteti to have lunch and to rest a little at the hotel. In the afternoon we went back to the site, checking again the Double-banded Graytail's nest without luck, but finding a flock of Spectacled Parrotlets, the smallest psittacid in Panama, and a specialty for this part of the country. We first heard their sweet chattering calls, very different from any other parakeet or parrotlet in Panama, and then saw at least six individuals, two of them probably looking nesting sites. An excellent end for our first day of full birding in Darien. For the next (and last) day we planned a visit to the Serranía Filo del Tallo Hydrological Reserve... click here to read about it!