Looking for lifers in Darien province. Part II

After an exciting morning finding Bicolored Wren and many other eastern Panama specialties at the town of Yaviza (central Darien province), we were on our way to our next destination... the Canopy Camp.  After a short drive from the town of Metetí, we found ourselves at the entrance road to the camp.  Right at the gate, we started to find new species for the trip, like this cooperative Long-tailed Tyrant (member of a pair).

Long-tailed Tyrant

We got early in the afternoon to the Canopy Camp and Abel, part of the staff, showed us the installations and our tent... and WOW!!!, what a tent.  Certainly it was the biggest and most luxurious tent that Gloriela, Gabrielle and I have ever seen.  Every detail was covered, and the terrace overlooking the central main area was excellent.

Gabrielle at our "tent"

While Gloriela and Gabrielle settled in the tent, I started to walk along the property with my camera... but it was hot and the activity low; however, I recorded several common species, plus some eastern Panama specialties... for example, both Sooty-headed Tyrannulets and Yellow-breasted Flycatchers were calling from the main area.

Sooty-headed Tyrannulets 

Yellow-breasted Flycatcher

I know these are not the best shots... but Darien province is the only place where you can see these  species in North America... just like my next objective.  After taking a snap, Abel showed us the exact place where a rarity has been appearing religiously every evening for some time.  Although Abel told us that the bird did not appear until after 5:30 pm, we started to wait before 5:00 pm.  Eventually, my friends Alexis Sánchez and Domiciano Alveo (both professional bird guides of the Canopy Family) showed up too with a group of foreign birders and also started to wait.  The place was full of Verbena bushes (Stachytarpheta sp.) and hummingbirds... in fact, we saw at least six different species visiting the purples flowers... then, Alexis warned us... he just saw THE bird... first, a dark silhouette:

A dark hummer... but what a nice reddish tail!

Then, all the binoculars and scopes pointed the beautiful creature: an adult male Ruby Topaz!!!  Lots of WOWs and AHHs of course!  Eventually, the hummingbird had confidence and began to feed closer to us.  The fading light was a problem... but I got some nice pictures after all.

Ruby Topaz (!) 

Ruby Topaz

Ruby Topaz

What a treat!  We clearly saw its glittering ruby-red crown and golden-yellow throat... and the reddish tail as well.  There are only few records for this species in Panama, most of them females and immature males, so seeing and adult male in all its glory was sublime!  We barely managed to eat our dinner and fall asleep due to the excitement; however, the tranquility of the place, and the calls of Mottled and Crested Owls in the distance helped.  Early the next day, we all gathered at the main area for breakfast.

Canopy Camp main area

The dawn chorus was simply great, and the birding right there was exceptional as well.  We got common species and specialties just hanging around and walking along the trails.  Personally, I recorded 80 species that morning just around the camp and the trails (eBird list here), with some highlights like Red-rumped Woodpecker, Royal Flycatcher, Barred Puffbird, Spot-crowned Barbet and Golden-headed Manakins.

Red-rumped Woodpecker

Golden-headed Manakin

A normal trip to the Canopy Camp includes visits to many other special sites around... but we were short of time.  Reluctantly, we left the camp after lunch and started the long way back to Panama City.  We want to thank all the staff of the Canopy Camp, especially Carlos Bethancourt, who always cared about making our visit as pleasant as possible.  I'm pretty sure this was not our last visit to that magical place nor to Darien province!

Last day in El Palmar

After an exciting previous day with Harpy Eagles, we decided to bird again the forests beyond the Rio Grande, which separates the states of Bolivar and Delta Amacuro in eastern Venezuela. We were joined by Carlos, a colombian merchant who kindly took us up to the place in his car.

The four of us walked the main road for a while, stopping wherever we detected activity... and we found some before it started to rain! A single mixed flock contained Spotted, Flame-crested, White-shouldered and Bay-headed Tanagers, Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo, Black-spotted Barbet and at least three or four Golden-headed Manakins (sorry for the bad photo... it was raining).

However, we were puzzled by the presence of rotten fruit deliberately hung in the trees along the road... soon we met the guys who did it: three entomologists (two japaneses and one from Barbados) who were collecting tiny butterflies, and that was their way to attract them! We chat for a while, hearing interesting facts about the mega diversity of the place. By that moment, the group of people in that corner of Venezuela was particularly diverse as well, with two japaneses, a barbadian, a mexican, a panamanian, a colombian and -only- one venezuelan!

But the best of the day was about to come. In a flowering tree, Blas showed us a tiny hummingbird perched high, in some exposed branches: we were astonished after verifying with our binoculars that the bird had rackets in its tail: a male Racket-tailed Coquette!!! What a life bird!!

After the coquette, the activity declined and the rain was imminent. It was well beyond noon and we decided to take a road close to El Palmar (the way to La Palma). The short walk resulted in many new species to our growing list, including Purple Gallinule, Plain-breasted Ground-Dove, Blue-tailed Emerald and good looks at White-headed Marsh-Tyrants, both male and females, as well as their nests. The male is so distinctive that it can be identified easily in my distant photo!

With the last lights of the day, Blas showed us a colony of Burrowing Owls, and soon, a pair of these terrestrial owls perched atop the posts of a fence. Great way to call it a day!

Back at Blas' house, in company with some of our new venezuelan friends, we enjoyed some cool drinks and celebrate for the birds and the friends. It was our last night at El Palmar and we already felt it like home! Can't wait to return my friends!

Easter Holidays in Darien. Part III

After an excellent day near El Salto town, in central Darien province (eastern Panama), our last day in Darien province started with a Pied Water-Tyrant at the grounds of our hotel in Meteti acting as a House Sparrow. This elegant bird was hunting the insects attracted during the night to the parking lot lamp. A couple of photos and we (Rafael, José Carlos, Mahelis, Gloriela and I) were ready to visit the Filo del Tallo Hydrological Reserve, to the south of Meteti. The first part of the trails, until the first creek, is full of Heliconias patches, thus making it Hermits' heaven! In fact, we saw five hermits species, including the one of the photo. The light conditions were awful, but you can see the long central rectrices tipped in white (ruling out Rufous-breasted Hermit and Band-tailed Barbthroat, both seen), the greenish back and the quite-straight-for-a-hermit bill (ruling out Long-billed and Stripe-throated Hermits, also seen), making it a Pale-bellied Hermit. Like the hermit, another eastern Panama specialty was hanging around the creek, a male Black Antshrike appeared allowing some photos (a female was there too, but was shyer). As its name suggest, it is completely black, but you can recognize the shrike-like, heavy bill characteristic of this genus. After a while, the trail runs along the border of the forest and a cleared patch with regenerative vegetation. The bird activity was great probably due to this mixture of habitats. We saw a Forest Elaenia working VERY low (it is usually a canopy-dweller, only detected by its calls), allowing us to see its yellow crown patch and an unexpected Mangrove Cuckoo (probably the first record for the Darien province)... but the bird that definitively stole the show was a very cooperative Cinnammon Woodpecker making a hole in a dead trunk right by the trail, almost at eye-level allowing GREAT photos!

Photographic oppotunities like that can not be wasted, so we spent almost 30 minutes with the woodpecker! After that, we continued our walk, entering the forest again. It was magical, with tall trees and hanging bridges, tons of butterlies and, of course, birds.

We started hiking uphill, finding Slaty-tailed Trogon, Golden-crowned Spadebill and an Olivaceous Flatbill in the way. Eventually, we reached our main target: a Golden-headed Manakins lek. It was crazy... around twenty gorgeous males were together in the same group of contiguous trees, making noise, exhibiting themselves, doing the "moonwalk" dance (moving backwards on its perch rapidly without evidently moving the feet... amazing!), and acting as really wackoes each time a female approaches (which occurred very often, so I suppose the competence was fierce). We even saw an immature male (notice the bright soft parts) performing the dances! The place was quite dark, so most of my photos of the gaudy males are not good enough to show you how really great are these birds. The deep black body contrasting with the bright yellow head and those expressive white eyes visible from far away are hard to forget! Again, we stayed long enough to impress that amazing spectacle in our minds and, reluctantly, started the way back. The raucous calls of a Red-throated Caracara helped us to locate the bird just under the canopy of a distant tree, but despite the distance I think the photo was very good. Formerly well distributed in Panama, now it is mainly restricted to the eastern part of the country, with scattered records from the western half, one of them recently from the Chiriqui highlands. In the way back to Panama City, we stopped at the San Francisco Reserve, near the town of Torti, and again in the Rio Mono bridge (both in eastern Panama province), adding more eastern Panama's specialties (with One-colored Becard at the bridge as highlight). After all it was a succesful trip, full of special birds, many of them not found in any other part of Panama, nor Central America (notice that I posted photos of thirteen species not found any further than Panama into North America in this three-parts account, starting here with Part I). We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did!