YES, we are still in Panamá!

Birding takes you to amazing places.  Even if you're birding close to home, you may feel that  you are hundreds of miles away.  Well, I recently had that feeling.  Alfred Raab, an old friend of mine winter-resident of Altos del María (AdM), an exclusive development in the foothills of western Panama province, invited me to bird his domains. He wanted to show me some new year-birds for my Big Year quest and I was not going to refuse it.  So, accompanied by Rolando Jordan, we left Panama City around 5:00 am and spent the next 1.5 hours driving along the dry and hot Pacific lowlands while chatting about the probabilities for the day.  Soon we met Alfred at the entrance of AdM.

Altos del María at 8:40 am

AdM development includes several private neighborhoods with paved roads and all the facilities, well-maintained trails and exuberant green areas.  It spreads from about 350 to up to 1100 meters above sea level, with habitats that includes shrubs and pasture lands, secondary dry forests and primary cloud forest as well.  The latter, being above the 1000 meters mark and near (or at) the Continental Divide, are extremely wet, almost always covered in mist and quite chilly... sure it makes you wonder if you are still in Panama!  Well, of course we headed that way!

Red-faced Spinetail (immature)

The weather is not the only thing making you feel away of your usual birding spot... the birds as well!  Those forests represent the extreme eastern end of the range of several species of the western highlands, like Black Guan, Snowcap, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, White-tailed Emerald, Black-faced Grosbeak and Elegant Euphonia... but also are home to some other more widely distributed highlands specialties that are nearly impossible to find in other central foothills (like Cerro Campana or Cerro Azul), like Scaled Antpitta, Red-faced Spinetail, Rufous-browed Tyrannulet, Sooty-faced Finch and others.  Some species are extremely difficult to find although, but still the list of possibilities is impressive considering how close to the big city it is and how developed it had become!

Common Chlorospingus ssp. punctulatus

Well, we were amazed by the activity up there... the dawn chorus was in its splendor, including five (5) different wrens species just yards away (Song, Scaly-breasted, Isthmian, Rufous-breasted, Rufous-and-White, White and Gray-breasted Wood-Wrens)!  We even got a new bird for AdM for Alfred (Gray-chested Dove).  However, the mist and rain made us move to a lower section, finding blue skies mere 10 minutes away!  Soon, we started to see flocks of Common Chlorospingus, one of the most conspicuous species in mixed flocks in AdM and represented there by the ssp. punctulatus, once considered a full species ("Dotted Chlorospingus").  The taxonomy of actual Common Chlorospingus is certainly a mess... with several different forms meriting specific status for sure!  Anyway, AdM is probable the best place to watch this form.  Other common foothills/highlands species seen or heard were Green-crowned Brilliant, Green Thorntail, Brown Violetear (lifer for Rolando), Tawny-crested Tanagers, Northern Emerald-Toucanets, White-throated Spadebill (one of my targets) and many more!

Brown Violetear

Northern Emerald-Toucanet

One of the most entertaining areas is Valle Bonito, with its trail to the Continental Divide.  It starts at an artificial lagoon with more open habitat that holds some aquatic species as well.  It is an exclusive area... even AdM residents like Alfred need a written permit in advance to enter the area.  Glad Alfred had it!  It was impressive how different the weather was: sunny and calmed... The walk into the forest produced few species (like Bicolored Antbird and Bronze-tailed Plumeleteers), while the walk around the lagoon produced a handsome Bran-colored Flycatcher showing exactly how bran color looks like!

Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer

Bran-colored Flycatcher

We decided to go back to first site... perhaps it was already clear and sunny as well and we had some targets only found at the wettest parts of the forest.  To our surprise, the place was still foggy and chilly!  We walked some trails adding few new species to our list.  One of these trails get you to a lookout that is good for soaring raptors... but we knew the chances of seeing them were very few due to weather.  Anyway, the sight of the cloud forest from the lookout was impressive.  Moss-covered trees dominated the landscape up there... it looked like another world!

Monte Azul lookout at 2:10 pm

It was a too short day at AdM with Alfred and Rolando.  We ended with more than 90 species in spite of the weather.  To celebrate, we had a quick lunch at a local restaurant accompanying our sancocho (typical chicken soup) with an excellent papaya milkshake.  It was time to go back to the city and to say good-bye to Alfred, not without promising that we will go back after those -few- species that we missed that day.  Happy birding guys!

Alfred, Jan and Rolando.  AdM

More life birds in Colombia!

After two terrific days birding Cerro Montezuma in Tatama NP, Colombia; Rafael, Luis Francisco, Jaime, Sergio and me were deciding the plans for our last morning. Taken into account that we wiped out ALL our targets in Cerro Montezuma, Sergio kindly proposed to bird the next morning in his workplace, four hours away. For most of you, it doesn't sound like an attractive alternative but trust me... most of you don't work in the Río Blanco Hydrological Reserve, above the city of Manizales. Sergio is a researcher for the company Aguas de Manizales S.A. E.S.P. which administers the reserve through the Fundación Ecológica Gabriel Arango Restrepo (FUNDEGAR). This is one of the best places in Colombia for birdwatching, due to its impressive list of birds (over 360), pristine and varied habitats, its feeding stations and great installations with hummingbird feeders (Casa Viveros) attracting more than twenty species. Of course we all agreed to visit that magical place. After an early 4:00 AM start, we left Finca Montezuma been grateful by all the given attentions. We headed to the east, passing by the city of Pereira. We had a tasty breakfast by the road and then we arrived to the busy city of Manizales. When we got there, it was hot and sunny, maybe too sunny for the birds. Before even entering the reserve we found a mixed flock with Oleaginous and Black-eared Hemispingus, Montane Woodcreeper, Rufous Wren, Barred Becard and the only Bronzy Inca of the day. We passed the entrance and drive all the way to the 2600 meters above sea level, having a spectacular view of the city below. Despite the sun, we were able to find some birds, including my life Blue-and-black Tanager, plus Golden-faced Tyrannulets, tons of Great Thrushes, Brown-bellied and Blue-and-white Swallows and a soaring Broad-winged Hawk. Sergio took us to one of the Grallaria (Antpitta) feeding stations where, confortable seated, we waited for the Grallarias to show up while he started to whistle one of their calls. An Stripe-headed Brush-Finch gave us a false alarm but then, one absolutely magnificent Chestnut-crowned Antpitta appeared, allowing great, close and prolonged views. What a glorious bird! It hopped around for a while, occasionally feeding with an insect that it catched from the leaves. Then, a second individual appeared... incredibly. In the meanwhile, we heard others antpittas in the surroundings, including the very rare Brown-banded Antpitta. It is a range-restricted ENDEMIC for Colombia, one so rare and little known that even Steven Hilty, the author of the Birds of Colombia fieldguide, was startled when he saw it in that same place some time ago. We saw an Emerald Toucanet feeding on some fruits while seated in the station (I'm not sure about the specific sub-species found there). We were about to leave the station when Sergio noted that other antpitta species was showing up: a Brown-banded Antpitta!!! The rare bird hopped in the open and catched an earthworm in front of us... wordless!! It maybe is not as colourful like others antpittas (including the Chestnut-crowned), but it ranks high among all the birds watched during those days in Colombia because of its genuine rarity. We left the station still impressed just to find more birds. An Azara's Spinetail was working the bushes along the road and a mixed flock contained several Golden-fronted Whitestarts, a Superciliared Hemispingus and a very nice Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager. The whitestarts were of the chrysops sub-species, with all yellow (not white) faces. It was getting late for our lunch in the Casa Viveros where, apart of the nine hummingbirds species recorded (and theme of other post), we saw such beauties like Masked Flowerpiercer, Rufous-crowned Tody-Flycatcher and Blue-capped Tanagers. The last surprise was a flock of twenty+ Golden-plumed Parakeets that stopped by the fruiting trees close to us. A great final for our birding trip. It was great to share all these experiences with such keen birders. The only treasure of Colombia aren't its birds... but its people too!! I hope to return soon.