2017's Top 10 Birds!

And here we are again!  This year is about to end, and everyone is looking forward to have a new beginning, with new goals and resolutions.  I'm glad to say that my last year's wish came true, to have  more life birds... and some of them, plus other goodies, are now part of this new Top 10 Birds for Panama in 2017.

Large-billed Tern

10. Large-billed Tern: extremely rare and erratic in Panama, this impressive species showed up at the Charges river in Gamboa (central Panama), where I was able to twitch it successfully.... several times!  Curiously, later in the year, a pair appeared in Finca Bayano, where I was able to photograph and audio-record them!

Buff-fronted Quail-Dove

09. Buff-fronted Quail-Dove: this secretive species was a long expected lifer for me.  I include it in this top 10 not because of its rarity or beauty, but for the story surrounding it... a long twitch with my wife Gloriela, a scary drive in the dark through an extremely rough road, and finding it quietly walking the trail in the chilly morning... simply a sublime experience!

Hermit Warbler

08. Hermit Warbler: also a long twitch to the western highlands with my family.  This rare migrant warbler decided to spent some days in Bambito (Chiriqui province).  Thanks for the alert of fellow birders, I was able to catch it during the most important festivity for the Panamanians: the carnival.

Dusky-backed Jacamar

07. Dusky-backed Jacamar: this range-restricted species, found only in eastern Panama and Colombia, used to need a complete expedition to find.  My good friend Nando Quiroz showed it to me, with many more eastern Panama specialties, aboard a little canoe and whistling it in!

Nop, there are no birds in the picture!

06. Gray-capped Cuckoo: another extremely rare and erratic species.  A Gray-capped Cuckoo appeared in Finca Bayano and stayed for three more days (at least).  No photo of this one.  It was probably taking advantage of the caterpillars feeding on the mangroves, as pictured above by my friend Rosabel Miró.  The mangroves suffered... but at least it made some lucky birders very happy!

Little Cuckoo

05. Little Cuckoo: this one appeared while trying to relocate a Dwarf Cuckoo reported in Rio Torti.  I dipped on the Dwarf Cuckoo, but this localized species made my day.  Why?  Because that was the last species missing in my very first "Wish List", which I wrote down more than 20 years ago!  Follow the link and you will see the blank space after the "Cuco Enano" entry!

Maguari Stork

04. Maguari Stork: this huge and elegant vagrant from South America was found by my friend Rolando Jordan in Finca Bayano... just the second sighting for the country.  One day later, short of time and in a hurry, I was able to relocate the bird with some friends.  I was unable to find it the first time it appeared in Panama, and curiously, it was a species that eluded me in South America as well... so it was a huge lifer for me!

Volcano Junco

03. Volcano Junco: this is the only species that was not a Panama-lifer for me in this list.  But seeing it after more than 15 years (and just for the second time) at the highest point of the country (at the summit of the Baru volcano, in the western highlands) with my wife and the fading light of the sunset... priceless!

Carib Grackle

02. Carib Grackle: this smart and adaptable species colonized Panama unnoticed!  The first records for the country are so close to Panama City that it is almost shameful.  After seeing it with a group of fine birders and friends (including Beny Wilson, Rolando Jordan and Natalia Decastro), I realized that this was the species that I saw and photograph some weeks before in Finca Bayano as well!

Russet-throated Puffbird

01. Russet-throated Puffbird: I know you already figured it out... a new species for Panama and North America!  Found yesterday by an organized birding group, I twitched it immediately with my friend Rolando Jordan, sorting traffic jams, pot-holed roads, torrential downpours and bad light conditions... well, that's probably the recipe to success!

OK, I hope you enjoyed this list as much as I did... and now, take your binoculars, go out, sort some obstacles, and lets find some new life birds in the new year!

To twitch, or not to twitch

Different birders watch birds in different ways.  Some of them like to spend the afternoon relaxing in the porch, watching the birds at the feeders in the middle of the backyard while others chase all the species possible within a region... some keep watching birds everywhere, anytime while other only birdwatch during the weekend.  I do a little bit of everything, depending on time of course.  However, sometimes a little extra effort is necessary if you want to add new birds to your life list.

Large-billed Tern at Gamboa

This year have been exceptional regarding occurrence of local rarities.  And so far, I have managed to cross the country several times searching for them... successfully!  Alone, with my family or with friends, chasing a rarity is always exciting, specially if you manage to successfully locate the bird you were looking for.  For example, the day after the first report of a vagrant Large-billed Tern in the town of Gamboa (central Panama) I decided to pay a visit in my lunch break... actually it was my only chance because I was about to leave the city later that day and for more than a week.  Gamboa is mere 30 minutes or less from Panama City, so the decision was straightforward.  After 10 minutes of my arrival, the Large-billed Tern circled above the public dock (right where it was reported) showing its spectacular flight pattern and allowing nice photos (above) and even better views.  I probably stayed only 20 minutes... yes, I saw it and that was all... back to work!

Twitching a Dwarf Cuckoo

Time is important... you better try to find your desired birds as soon as you get the news of its occurrence.  Some vagrants stay for long periods of time while others are seen only once or twice.  When the very rare (for Panama) Dwarf Cuckoo appeared in Tortí (one and a half hours to the east of Panama City) one week ago, I lost the chance to chase it... when I finally went to the site four days later, the bird was not there.  The birders that went the next day of the initial report found it by the way.  A Little Cuckoo at the site was a great consolation prize, but having a twitching trip with good friends always worth it... with or without Dwarf Cuckoo!

Little Cuckoo at Torti

But some times you get lucky... when my friend Rafael Lau published the photos of a very rare (for Panama) Hermit Warbler in Bambito (western highlands of Chiriqui province), I was in the middle of a trip with my family, thousands of kilometers away of Panama.  When I finally was able to twitch the bird, I drove more than 700 kms back and forth in the same day with my wife Gloriela and my daughter Gabrielle.  At the site, I started to search for the vagrant warbler.  It took me a while before an adult male Hermit Warbler decided to materialize in front of me, allowing some shots, like the one posted below... amazing!  We were in a rush, and only had time for another specialty of the Chiriqui highlands: strawberries with cream!

Hermit Warbler at Bambito

Strawberries & cream!

And then, just few weeks after my life Hermit Warbler, I went back to the Chiriqui highlands, again in a long twitch from Panama City with my wife.  My objective, a relative common, but secretive, inhabitant of montane forests.  Some friends of mine repeatedly reported a Buff-fronted Quail-Dove in the trails above the town of Guadalupe, within La Amistad International Park.  But a very early drive in the dark through a really bad road was necessary in order to be at the trail on time to watch the bird... and that was exactly what we did.  After spending the night at town (just after watching, for the first time, a Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl), I drove the road in complete darkness.  The road looks like a dry river bed... quite bumpy and scary... but we made it.  At first light, we were at the start of the trail.  Soon, I saw a plump figure walking toward us... I barely trusted my eyes because a Buff-fronted Quail-Dove was in collision trajectory!  When the quail-dove noticed our presence (mere five meters from us), it turned around, walking up-trail.  Then, I remembered that I was carrying my heavy camera and tried some shots... just this came out:

What a great experience!  Finding your desired bird is magical, specially after investing time and effort on it.  The above picture probably doesn't show the quail-dove in all its splendor, but I kind of like it... I can almost feel the chilly air in the morning under the canopy of the montane forest while seeing this photo!  For me, the answer to the question is TO TWITCH!