Assault to the highlands

The highlands of Chiriqui province in western Panama (and all its horde of endemics birds) are too far from Panama City for a weekend trip... unless a VERY rare endemic species becomes common due to a natural phenomenon that occurs only every 15 to 20 years!  Yes, the bamboo is flowering... and many  bamboo-specialist are around!  So, I went with Gloriela in a hurry to the highlands, checking at our hotel in the town of Guadalupe at night this last saturday.  My plan was to walk the road to El Respingo the next day in the morning and then, start the 6+ hours-drive to Panama City again.  It sounded good... except the part of "walking" all the way up to El Respingo.

Yes, all the way up!

However, before getting into bed after a long drive, I contacted my friend Ito Santamaría (who is an experienced guide resident of Guadalupe) with the intention to settle unfinished business.  Somehow, after all this years visiting the highlands, one species still eludes me: Dusky Nightjar.  Endemic to Costa Rica and Panamá, Ito knew a reliable spot to find him... just few steps from his house.  So I followed him in the dark and started to search.  After a little bit of playback, a majestic male showed up allowing great views... taking a photo was difficult due to light conditions... and this was my best shot:

Dusky Nightjar

Notice the conspicuous white corners to the tail and dark rufous plumage.  What a great start!  The next morning, after taking our breakfast, we headed to El Resingo.  As planned, we parked the car where the asphalt ends and started to walk.  Quickly, we recorded several species, like Resplendant Quetzals, Mountain Thrushes, Barred Parakeets, Collared Whitestart, Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch, Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Yellow-thighed and Large-footed Finches (the last three endemics to Costa Rica and Panama).

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Large-footed Finch

As we climbed, we started to notice the flowering bamboos and the singing birds.  At first, some stayed high in the bamboo... in fact, the few Slaty Finches that we saw never approached closely...and I only got this photo of a singing male.

Slaty Finch

But then, the buzzy calls of our target became more and more common... and it was evident that the place was invaded by Peg-billed Finches!  This species is kind of irruptive in Panama... only present associated with flowering bamboo in most cases, and this was not the exception!

Peg-billed Finch

At first, we only got distant shots, like the above showing well the bamboo... but eventually, we got better views and I even managed to record the call with my cell phone.  The distinctive pointed, bicolored bill is evident.

Peg-billed Finch

Close to the entrance of the rangers' station at El Respingo, we saw a pair of Peg-billed Finches carrying nesting material into a rock crevice at no more than one meter from the ground.  The male regularly perched in a sunny spot, where I got this photo:

Peg-billed Finch

I don't know if there are nesting records from Panama... we didn't want to disturb the pair, so we left the birds in peace.  Although the drive to Panama City was tiring, we were both happy with our lifers!  I don't know how long is going to last this Peg-billed Finches invasion... but if you still need to see this Costa Rica/Panama endemic then what are you waiting for?

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!