Birds, vanilla and waterfalls

Due to an intense month in the work, I barely had time to update this blog with posts of my last trips, so I'll do so... starting with some photos of a visit to Cerro Azul (foothills to the east of Panama City), accompanied by the photography-contests-winners Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck and Itzel Fong.

We wandered through the gated community, visiting some classic spots... however, the day was cloudy and windy, and the activity -in general- quite low.  Eventually we reached the end of the Chimborazo street... and our luck changed: a mixed flock was taking advantage of a fruiting tree.

Including this male Gartered Trogon (above), many birds were all over the place... specially tanagers: Blue-gray, Palm, Summer, Hepatic, Plain-colored, Golden-hooded, Bay-headed, Speckled and Crimson-backed Tanagers side-by-side!  But, by far, the most cooperative birds were a trio of Masked Tityras.

The female was more confident, but the male is simply shocking: that red mask and pure white body is unique!

Another pair was feeding in the lower branches of a tree apart of the flock, both male and female Tropical Gnatcatchers are smart and active, intensely foraging every leaf, looking for tiny insects.

Another one feeding nearby was this tiny Paltry Tyrannulet; however, not as actively as the gnatcatchers.  You often heard its characteristic pee-yeep! revealing its presence.

After a while, we left the spot (reluctantly), passing by the Ahren's place, where they told us about a wild vanilla blooming in a nearby street... so we headed to that direction.  It was the sweet essence of the flower that finally attracted us, a marvel of nature!

It was around noon, time to have lunch at the club... but first, we decided to visit a popular site frequented by resident and visitors specially during the summer days: El Vigía waterfalls.

Half of the group could not resist the temptation of submerging in the cold (but refreshing) waters.  Can you tell who are these swimmers?

That's the way you should end every birding trip!

Day at the foothills

One of the few birding trips I made last month was to the foothills close to Panama City... the area of Cerro Azul / Cerro Jefe.  This is a popular weekend destination for the citizen; however, many people lives complete-time up there, including many birder friends.  Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck, Itzel Fong and myself departed from the city in a relaxed trip all the way up to the private neighborhood of Los Altos de Cerro Azul, and went directly to our first destination, the naturals paths at the end of the Paseo Colombia.

The day was partially cloudy, and as soon as we got out of the car, we started to watch birds.  A female Gartered Trogon welcomed us, offering excellent photo opportunities.  The eye-ring color and the undertail pattern are diagnostic.  She ate some Cecropia fruits by hovering in front of them for few seconds.

The mossy start of the path provoked a nasty fall to Osvaldo... thanks God he was not hurt... a tough guy for sure!  Seeing this, we decided to left the paths, and moved one to the highest part of the foothills, to Cerro Jefe.  The elfin forest covering the highest slopes is something special, looks like another world!

We visited the Vistamares lookout and, despite the lacks of birds, we enjoyed the views of the surrounding forests.  Notice how the elfin forest have twisted and dwarfed trees (many of them palm trees), an adaptation of the windy conditions up there... the fancy houses of Los Altos can be seen in the background.

To call it a day, we went to Los Altos Camping Club in order to have lunch.  We decided to seat in the terrace, facing a fruiting tree... for our surprise, the tree was FULL of birds!  We had a great time shooting our cameras at Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, Blue-gray, Palm, Crimson-backed, Golden-hooded and Plain-colored Tanagers, Red-legged Honeycreepers and Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, among others!

Great way to call it a day!  

Panama City, as seen from Cerro Jefe

Back to the ponds!

I returned this afternoon to the Summit Ponds (central Panama), after visiting the place last monday, this time accompanying Rosabel Miró who wanted to see the White-eyed Vireo reported there. The place was crowded with two groups of birders, one of them guided by Carlos Bethancourt himself (who reported the rare migrant in the first place, he is at the far left). They were more interested in the residents Lance-tailed Manakins, so we focused on finding the rare vireo (for Panama). Not even 10 minutes after our arrival, we found the White-eyed Vireo exactly in the same tangles where I left it last monday! In the meanwhile, both groups departed to the ponds. Since a year ago, the Autoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP) prohibited the entry to the ponds and we lost a nice birding area, but Carlos got a permission so he was able to visit the ponds and the old Gamboa road that passes through them... so I infiltrate the group! Before reaching the ponds, a male Gartered Trogon welcomed us by perching over the road and vocalizing for the delight of all the birders... specially those with photographic equipment. The yellow underparts and eye ring are enough to recognize this species in Panama. My photo is a little overexposed, but still you can have an idea of the beautiful color pattern that this creature have. At the ponds, everyone was busy watching the birds that live there. This is one of the most reliable sites to find Boat-billed Herons, and of course we found two of them quietly resting on a branch over the water... I barely saw one individual last year because I was unable to visit these ponds. Others birds, regular in the area, were Lesser Kiskadee, Amazon and Green Kingfishers and Prothonotary Warbler. Then, Carlos spotted a heron perched quietly close to the road. The excitement was evident when he revealed that he got an immature Agami Heron. Despite its youth, it exhibited the long and thin bill plus the very long neck characteristic of the species. The heron also exhibited some blue feathers, specially in the wings, and a contrasting light blue crown... simply amazing! You know is still a young bird because of its mostly brown plumage, with white throat and underparts. This is just my third Agami Heron, and my first in the Summit Ponds where it have been reported before. Carlos called Rosabel, who was still at the vireo spot showing it to her husband Karl who arrived later, and then he continue his way deep inside the road. We stayed admiring the heron, watching it fishing and moving along the fallen trunk. What a great experience. After a while, Rosabel received another phone call from Carlos. He and his group saw an adult Rufous Nightjar on a nest. He gave us the directions, and we eventually reached the place... Carlos was kind enough to come back in order to show us the bird, which was magnificently camouflaged with its surrounding, as you can see in the photo. What a great manner to end the day. Carlos, thank you again for all the pretty birds!

Saturday's morning in Campo Chagres

Yesterday, I went with Gloriela, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck and Euclides "Kilo" Campo to the Campo Chagres section of the immense Chagres National Park. This section is adjacent to the south shore of the Alajuela lake, and holds an impressive dry forest reminiscent of that of the Metropolitan Natural Park, in the city (despite most of the park's forests are very wet). The first gate was locked, so I walked with Kilo all the way to the rangers' station where one of the rangers offered to open it, so the rest of the group entered with the car. We saw and heard many birds in the road and in the station grounds, including Collared Forest-Falcon, both Common and Slate-headed Tody-Flycatchers, Golden-collared and Lance-tailed Manakins, and Rosy Thrush-Tanagers (file photo). Apart of a disjunct population in western Mexico, this species is restricted to Costa Rica, Panama and northern South America. They are terrestrial and furtive, and have a rich song that is given by a duetting pair. All these make them odd tanagers, more similar to the northern thrashers. Despite these numbers, the birds were more easily heard than seen, and the activity was a little bit low. Surely, the sunny day was not helping. Anyway, we followed Kilo into the trails, finding a male Gartered Trogon quietly perched at the entrance of the trails, the first of four species recorded for that single site (the other three were Black-throated, Slaty-tailed and Black-tailed Trogons, the last one was a lifer for Gloriela). We also saw a Blue-crowned Motmot, a Western Slaty-Antshrike and a Dusky Antbird; and heard a Thrush-like Schiffornis and a Green Shrike-Vireo. About the migrants we saw Yellow, Bay-breasted, Chestnut-sided and Golden-winged Warblers plus Yellow-green Vireos heard anywhere. These vireos breed in Panama, and have just arrived from South America where they spent the winter. Its arrival is marked with a lot of song, making it one of the most abundant species at our forests. We decided to go back to the station grounds, finding Yellow-crowned Euphonias and Summer Tanager in the same tree. While admiring a mixed flock with White-shouldered Tanagers and Golden-fronted Greenlets, Kilo heard (for the third time in the morning) the call of a Yellow-green Tyrannulet. This bird is a Panama's endemic, only recorded from the Canal Area to Darien (close to the colombian border). Only Kilo and I saw well the bird, the rest of the group only had glimpses of it. This is because is a tiny, green canopy-dweller, active as a warbler. Can you imagine how tough it is to follow the bird high in the trees with your binoculars? After a while, we decided to left the place. It was still early in the morning, so we drove to the Gamboa area and the Pipeline road (30 minutes away) for the rest of the morning... but that is another story.

AOU changes

Exciting as it sounds, the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) recently published the 51st supplement of its Checklist. The changes do not affect the total number of species for Panama, but there are lots of changes, both in English and Latin names. Also, there are lots of other taxonomic issues, involving new families and orders. Some changes were already made by the South American Classification Committee (SACC), but I suppose that we will have to wait for the AOU NACC to adopt some other changes, like the splitting of the Blue-crowned Motmot complex, new genera in the Troglodytidae (Wrens), etc... I'll be listing only those changes that directly affect Panama.

Only two changes in English names: 1) the Violaceous Trogon is split into two species, the form occurring in Panama is the Gartered Trogon, Trogon caligatus (notice that its Latin name also changed) 2) The hyphen in Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher was removed, becoming Crowned Slaty Flycatcher ( a recent addition to Panama and North America's lists).

Many changes in Latin names: 1) the White-tailed Trogon is now Trogon chionurus (Trogon viridis -the Green-backed Trogon- is extra-limital) 2) the Brown Jay is now a monotypic species: Psilorhinus morio (a juvenile in the photo) 3) the Blue-winged Warbler becomes Vermivora cyanoptera 4) the Tennessee Warbler becomes Oreothlypis peregrina (formerly in Vermivora) 5) the Flame-throated Warbler becomes Oreothlypis gutturalis (formerly in Parula) 6) both waterthrushes are now in the new genus Parkesia

Other changes of interest: 1) the Osprey recovers its status as monotypic familily, the Pandionidae 2) the Prong-billed Barbet, and the extra-limital Toucan-Barbet, conform the new Semnornithidae 3) all the Lipaugus pihas are officially cotingas (anticipated by Ridgely) 4) the Capitonidae (split from Ramphastidae) only includes New World barbets 5) other two new families arise: the Polioptilidae (gnatwrens & gnatcatchers, split from the Old World Sylviidae) and the Donacobiidae (Donacobius) 6) new orders are: Accipitriformes (kites, hawks & eagles), Eurypygiformes (Sunbittern and extra-limital Kagu), Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds, Red-billed Tropicbird in the photo) and Suliformes (boobies, cormorants, frigatebirds and anhinga) 7) the Pelecaniformes now include the herons, ibises and spoonbills (formerly in Ciconiiformes)

Well, now is time to update my lists!