Short visit to Metro Park

I have to admit that I often visit the Metropolitan Nature Park in Panama City despite it is ridiculously close to our house.  Nevertheless, the place is just great for birding... nowhere else you'll find forest birds so close to a large and modern city (actually in the middle of a large and modern city).  For example, during my last visit (some days ago) I found this Forest Elaenia just behind the Visitors' Center.

Forest Elaenia

As its name suggest, this is a forest bird... more often heard than seen because it is a canopy-dweller; but this guy was pretty low catching juicy caterpillars in front of me.  Notice the seldom seen yellow crown patch:

Forest Elaenia... yummy!

Other forest dwellers are pretty common as well... and I'm not talking only about birds because several mammals species are present too.  During my short walk I saw two troops of Geoffroy's Tamarins, one troop of Mantled Howler Monkeys, a Coatimundi and several Central American Agoutis quietly feeding close to the trails.

Central American Agouti

Another conspicuous element in this park during this time of the year are the migrants.  I saw no less than seven species of wood-warblers along the trails, plus Summer Tanager, Baltimore Oriole and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  I manage some photos of the most cooperative birds: Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Waterthrush and Golden-winged Warbler.

Black-and-white Warbler (male)

Northern Waterthrush

Golden-winged Warbler (male)

Some of the above came with mixed flocks including resident species, like Lesser Greenlets, White-shouldered Tanagers, Tropical Gnatcatchers and Olivaceous Woodcreepers.  However, one resident species caught my attention: a pair of Yellow-green Tyrannulets.  This species is endemic to Panama, and a canopy-dweller too... so it wasn't easy to take a photo!

Yellow-green Tyrannulet (ENDEMIC!!!)

I managed this poor shot... but you can see the slender profile (similar to a gnatcatcher), two yellow wingbars and white eyering.  I noticed it first by its thrilling call and confirmed the ID after seeing it raising quickly and repeatedly its wing over the back.  Everyday with an endemic is, certainly, a good day... specially so close to home!

2014 First lifer!

Last weekend, my friend Osvaldo showed me a photo of a warbler he found in the Metropolitan Natural Park.  The bird puzzled me a little, but after much thinking I declared it a female Mourning Warbler.  He showed the photo to some local experts later, and some red flags started to appear... Osvaldo photographed a rare (for central Panama) MacGillivray's Warbler!  Not only that, he re-found the bird at the same site last friday and took new photos.

I took advantage of a tiny gap in my agenda and went to the park around 1:00 pm.  In spite of the hour and the heat of our dry season, the place was alive with tons of birds attending a flowering Erythrina tree.  These trees are special for both resident and migrant birds.  In fact, I saw many migrants, including both Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, eight warblers species (!) and this Yellow-throated Vireo.

Among the warblers, the most obliging were the Chestnut-sided Warblers.  The bright green back and the lemon-yellow wingbars are distinctive.

Of course, the Golden-winged Warbler wins the prize of the most beautiful warbler in the flock.  A distant male made a short appearance... my distant photo is useful to identify the bird at least.

Then, I saw a bird skulking in the understore exactly where Osvaldo described me.  Soon I notice it was a female Geothlypis (formerly Oporornis) warbler, but most important, in the dark of the forest, the broken arcs above and below the eyes were quite conspicuous.

The call was different to the sweet chip note I'm used for Mourning Warbler, it was harsher and rougher, but still a chip note.  The yellowish throat made me doubt... but then I see that this is quite variable (and some photos in the web show this feature in immature males MacGillivray's Warblers).  The broken eye-ring was definitively more prominent than those of the females and immatures Mourning Warblers, and the gray surrounding the throat made a complete breast band above the yellow belly, all consistent with MacGillivray's Warbler... my life MacGillivray's Warbler! 

Flycatchers, wrens and warblers in Metro Park

I went this afternoon to the Metropolitan Natural Park (Panama City) trying to find the Worm-eating Warbler reported by Osvaldo Quintero some days ago. I reached the place by noon, and in spite of the time, the activity was great. I didn't find my target (this time), but I still had a great time. The first thing I noticed was the noise: almost all the resident species were vocalizing and calling, many of them were with nesting materials in their beaks. Surely this is a busy season for them. I had the opportunity to have side-by-side views of two flycatchers species that are hard to identify: a Yellow-olive Flycatcher and a Greenish Elaenia. Both are superficially similar and share similar habitats, but you can notice the broad bill of the flycatcher and its pale iris. Also, both were calling, making easier for me the ID. Notice that both are carrying nesting material too. It was impressive the number of flycatcher species present in the Mono Tití trail (were I took all the photos): Southern Bentbill, Brown-capped, Southern Beardless, Yellow-crowned and Paltry Tyrannulets, Black-tailed, Ochre-bellied and Ruddy-tailed Flycatchers, just to mention a few! The Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher deserves a special mention... it must be the most handsome and cute of all the flycatchers in the park... just look at its face! It stayed still, curiously looking at me while I was taking the photos. Of course, I saw more than flycatchers. The forest by this time of the year is very dry, and many trees have lost most the leaves, making easier to watch the birds, including the skulkiers. I saw easily three wren species, but of course they were not easy to photograph. The Rufous-breasted Wren was the most active, but the beautiful Rufous-and-white Wren was the most vocal... you have to heard its loud and musical song to believe it! The Black-bellied Wren almost passed unnoticed, it was very quiet. It certainly have a black belly, but its white throat is very conspicuous in the dark interior of the undergrowth. Others skulkiers like antwrens, antbirds and antshrikes were also easy to see. And about the warblers, well... the site was excellent. In a same tree were Tennessee, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted and Black-and-white Warblers... but then, a flash of colour caught my attention: a male Golden-winged Warbler joined the flock, showing its bright golden wing panel... sweet!

Not only that. After a while, I detected movement in some tangles away from the main flock. A quick look with my binoculars confirmed my initial ID, a Magnolia Warbler, my second individual for this season! My poor photos are at least better than nothing, and they show at least the gray breast band over the yellow underparts and the grayish face with a white eye-ring. I also noticed in the field the two white wing bars and prominent black streaks to the flanks.

Well, very good walk in the park... and I still have an excuse to keep visiting it (still need my Worm-eating Warbler for this season).

More and more migrants

I went yesterday to the Metropolitan Natural Park of Panama City, taking advantage of the free day. The two previous day have been amazing due to the thousands of hawks and vultures that flew over the city in their way to the south and yesterday the counters at Ancon Hill (that hill with the panamanian flag covered in migrant Turkey Vultures) that the raptors stayed at the forest surrounding the former Canal Area. So, I was expecting to find many raptors in the park waiting for the day to heat-up to re-start the migration. The same did Osvaldo Quintero and Itzel Fong... they also went to the park looking for sleepy raptors. We hardly saw any migrant raptor in our way to El Mirador, but saw many migrant songbirds, specially tons of Swainson's Thrushes and Eastern Wood-Pewees (both were aboundant). At El Mirador, the activity was low... but after a few minutes we started to see some Turkey Vultures, then other group, and then another! In seconds, we saw tons of Turkey Vultures at the thermal currents gaining altitude from all the surrounding forests! Then we saw some Swainson's Hawks too approaching quite close to us, including one individual that flew so close over our heads that I barely captured part of it in the photo. By that time, the whole city was covered in migrat vultures and hawks, literally!!!

We realized that the main route was following the coast, a little distant of us, so we started to walk the way down to the parking lot at the entrance of the trails. We found a big mixed flock after passing the entrance to La Cieneguita trail with many resident species like Lesser and Golden-fronted Greenlets, White-shouldered Tanagers, one Green Shrike-Vireo and some Red-throated Ant-Tanagers; but also including some migrant warblers. The most common was the Bay-breasted Warbler. We found several individuals with variable amount of chestnut on its flanks. I checked them all very well looking for something rarer... but all seemed to be Bay-breasted Warblers in basic plumage. The other pretty common parulid was the Chestnut-sided Warbler. It is amazing how much they change... the alternate and basic-plumaged birds look like different species! However, it is very distinctive even with its winter dress. You can recognize them (even in my photo) by its bright-green crown and back, the complete white eye-ring and its lemon-yellow wingbars. The flock also included a magnificent male Golden-winged Warbler. It was so active, never stopping its quest for insects high on the trees, so I only got blurry photos. It is a shame because that bird is a real jewel. Other warblers at the park, but not in that particular flock, were the Yellow Warblers and the Blackburnian Warblers (both photos are from Costa del Este recently). The Yellow Warbler is one of the most common migrant songbird in Panama, but not in the forest. We also have a resident population, the "Mangrove" Warbler, distinctive different and considered by many as a good species. About the Blackburnians, they become very common in the park (and around the city) for a short period of time... this time I saw only one probable individual briefly while seeing the raptors from El Mirador (this species was pretty common just a couple of weeks ago). Close to the parking lot (at "El Castillo"), I saw a thrush perched quietly at the border of the trail. A quick look with my binoculars confirmed it to be a Gray-cheeked Thrush instead of the aboundant Swainsons'. Both Itzel and Osvaldo asked me: who??, so I showed them the bird, who stayed enough for some photos. It turned out that it was a lifer for both of them! Curiously, that was the second time this season that I see the bird exactly in the same place... so it was not a new year-bird for me, but an exciting lifer (and life photo) for my companions. We then drove to the Visitors Center of the park to have a well-deserved drink... but Osvaldo had a surprise for us. He took us behind the wildlife rehab facilities and in a matter of seconds, a splendid young Common "Mangrove" Black-Hawk appeared to inspect us, probably waiting for us to feed him. Of course we took tons of photos of the cooperative bird, who stayed in the nearby forest when the park's personnel released him. Great way to end the day!