... and what a Global Big Day it was! Panama's 2018 GBD

After all the organization and enthusiasm raised during the weeks previous to this year Cornell's Global Big Day (you can read about it here), it was clear that Panama's participation would be no less than spectacular!  And what a Global Big Day it was!  Clearly, the participation was way higher than previous years... just notice how filled was the participation map for that day!

The Global Big Day started, for some, at the very first second of May 5th... by spying  feral Rock Pigeons at their roosting site in Panama City for example (yes Rolando, I'm talking about you) or starting to calling out owls in the darkness.  Soon, more and more teams started to join the event, and the list of species for Panama started to grow .  There were people counting birds almost everywhere! Towns, gardens, forests, beaches, marshes, mountaintops, deserts (not actual deserts in Panama, but anyway) and pelagic waters were all covered! To make the tale short, we achieved all our main targets for the day:  we beated our previous record by finding 750 species for a single day in Panama, we are number one for the region (and for North America!) and 6th place worldwide... W O W ! ! !

But most important, we definitively destroyed our previous participation numbers!  We sent six times more checklists than the previous years, and more than 700 volunteers travelled the country looking for birds!

Cornell's 2018 GBD Top 10 (screenshot).  May 9th, 2018

Most of the "Macro Teams" recorded unique species for the national total and, in fact, 106 species (14% of the total) were reported by only one team or individual, showing the impact that single birders had in this event.  Of course there were many highlights... some due to the species rarity, other by the circumstances under which these birds were recorded... I will list some of them here... but it is impossible to list all of them or the people involved in the effort to find such species in this space.  If you read Spanish, a great compilation of participant organizations, photos and interesting facts for Panama's GBD can be seen in this online document prepared by Sociedad Audubon Panama. 

Oilbird by the Ocean-to-Ocean Team.  Willie Mazu, Ngöbe-Buglé. May 5th 2018.  Photo courtesy Raúl Velásquez

We received interesting reports from every corner of the country, some of the rarest one included an Oilbird (!), seen by my friends of the Ocean-to-Ocean Team (Raúl Velásquez, César González and Alexander Ortega) in the foothills of Ngöbe-Buglé Comarca, the first report for western Panama; Maroon-chested Ground-Dove, Ochraceous Pewee and Silvery-throated Jay by "Los Maroons" Team leaded by Ito Santamamaría in the western highlands around Cerro Punta town in Chiriqui province.

Baird's Trogon (female) by the ADOPTA - Baird's Team (Elida Valdés, Yasmín Cerrud and Eisser García). Petroterminales Panamá, Burica Península. May 5th 2018. Photo courtesy Yasmín Cerrud

Also in Chiriqui province, but in the lowlands of the Burica Peninsula, the "Baird's Team" recorded its namesake Baird's Trogon and Golden-naped Woodpecker; while Boris Sanjur and company of the BioCRECOBIAN - UNACHI Team, photographed the third record for Panama of Eurasian Collared-Dove, close to David City; at Cerro Algodon in the Ngöbe-Buglé Comarca, Pedro Jiménez recorded the only Yellowish Pipit of the day, the first record in more than 20 years for western Panama, also for the BioCRECOBIAN - UNACHI Team.  In central Panama, Team Heliconia recorded Coiba Spinetail in, where else, Coiba Island (the only World record); Josue Ortega and company of The Naturalist Guide Panama reported Lanceolated Monklet and White-crowned Manakin in Santa Fe National Park, Veraguas province; while Ariel Aguirre et al found the Yellow-throated Chlorospingus at the forests above El Cope town, represented here by an endemic form considered by BirdLife as a distinct species (Orange-throated Chlorospingus) and Daniel Gonzáles, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Bird Collection (STRIBC) Team, contributed with the only record of Rose-throated Becard... the first confirmed nesting record for the Azuero Peninsula as you can see in this video.

American White Pelican (file photo from Panama City, Panama)

At least four different American White Pelicans were recorded, a pair seen by two teams in Las Macanas marsh in Herrera province (the team leaded by Edgardo Márquez of The Naturalist Guide Panama and the team leaded by Hector Escudero of Grupo Ecoturístico Las Macanas) and  another pair by the team leaded by Karla Aparicio of Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507 in Punta Chame, Panama Oeste province; also at Las Macanas marsh, and also of the Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507, Gumercindo Pimentel photographed two (of five) Fulvous Whistling-Ducks.  The team leaded by Fernando Guardia and Arianne Magallón photographed the resident Inca Doves in Agua Fría town, close to Penonomé in Coclé province.  At the foothills of Panama Oeste province, Faustino Sánchez, of the Canopy Family Team, recorded the only Snowcap of the day.

Herring Gull, First cycle. (file photo from Panama City, Panama)

From the former Canal Area to the east, we had great participation, including several groups along the shores of the Panama Canal and around Panama City, with the Playeros PTY Team of the Sociedad Audubon de Panama recording six unique species along the coast (including Herring Gull), leaded by Rosabel Miró and Esther Carty who also managed to accept volunteers with no experience to promote the event, as well as local authorities, including the vice-major of the city!  They even had time to educate on birds and to check identifications with personnel of the city council and the Biomuseo.  Other teams that accepted non-experienced volunteers to promote the event were the ANCON Team in Panama City, the ADOPTA - Cruz Roja Team in Altos de Campana National Park, the BioCRECOBIAN - UNACHI in David City, among others.  To the east of the city, the APAVE Team reported a late Sora, that responded to playback in former La Jagua marsh.  Two ADOPTA Teams recorded unique species not only for Panama, but for the World!  Ivan Hoyos saw a Spiny-faced Antshrike in Cerro Azul while the team leaded by Jorge Garzón found the Tacarcuna Chlorospingus at the higher slopes of Cerro Chucantí.  Wilson Félix, of Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507 reported the juvenile Harpy Eagle in Chagres National Park, one of the study birds of the foundation.  For the first time, José Pérez recorded the species of the Pearl Islands for the GBD, managing to get the best photo I had seen of a male White-fringed Antwren from there!

White-fringed Antwren, male, by José Pérez.  Isla Viveros, Pearl Islands, Panama. May 5th, 2018. Photo courtesy José Pérez

The Darién province was full of specialties.  The lowlands produced stunning species like Crested Eagle and Slender-billed Kite near Pijibasal, by the team leaded by Hayro Cunampio; a recent addition to the Panama list, the Bare-faced Ibis, was relocated by the Ecotour Darién Team near the discovery area. This species was reported for the first time during one of the scouting trips for this GBD!  Several teams birded the Darien highlands: Mario Ocaña, Ismael "Nando" Quiroz and Isaac Pizarro worked from Rancho Frío to Pirre ridge, while two ADOPTA Teams (with Euclides "Kilo" Campos, Alexis Guevara and Mauricio Hoyos) birded at the mythical Cana airstrip and the Alturas de Nique range.  They reported a myriad of rare and range-restricted species, including Choco Tinamou, Pirre and Tooth-billed Hummingbirds, Greenish Puffleg, Wing-banded Antbird, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper, Sharpbill, Golden-crowned Flycatcher, Varied Solitaire, Green-naped Tanager, Swallow Tanager, Pirre Chlorospingus and Yellow-green Grosbeak to name a few.

"Situation Rooms". Above: At the Ecological Police in Gamboa, May 6th, 2018.  Below: At Metropolitan Natural Park, May 7th, 2018.  Photos courtesy Guido Berguido

After the day of the count, the work for the members of the coordinating committee started seriously, and several "situation rooms" were set up where sightings were verified, recorded bird songs were identified and photographs of birds that were not identified in the field were reviewed. As an ebird reviewer, I also spent many hours requesting documentation of dubious records and verifying the provenance and quality of the lists that were sent... and as member of the Sociedad Audubon de Panamá, I joined others members at our own "situation room" gathering data of the count and also listening to recorded calls sent by the general public through a WhatsApp number specifically enabled for that purpose (and to receive information about the status of the habitats visited... more about that later).   The efforts paid off! At least four species were added to the national total after identifying them in photos (Pectoral Sandpiper, Gray Hawk) or audios (Canebrake Wren, Melodious Blackbird) provided by observers in the field that were unable to identify them at site.

Sociedad Audubon de Panama's "situation room". Panama City, May7th, 2018 (that is my eBird reviewer-face for the I-don't-think-so records). Photo courtesy Rosabel Miró

The logistic for the Global Big Day was no less impressive... just look at the transportation means that were used to arrive or leave the counting sites and during the Global Big Day.  By all means the Panamanian birders reached every corner of the country... invaluable volunteer hours and kilometers traveled on foot and other means were not in vain!

From upper left corner and clockwise: Canopy Family's "HawkEagle Truck" in Pipeline Road, Gamboa. May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Carlos Bethancourt); Volunteer-filled truck on route to Pirre, Darién. May 4th, 2018 (photo courtesy Hayro Cunampio); Biking and birding in Garnaderita, Atalaya. May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Lesley Sánchez); Adopta Team's horseback riding back from Cerro Chucantí. May 6th, 2018 (photo courtesy Zabdy Samudio)

From upper left corner and clockwise: Heliconia Team at open sea on route from Coiba Island.  May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Team Heliconia). Exchanging airplanes on route to Piñas Bay. Garachiné, May 4th, 2018 (photo by Jan Cubilla).  Fundación Naturalez y Ciencia 507 at Punta Chame. May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Karla Aparicio).  ADOPTA Team at Cana airstrip. May 6th, 2018 (photo courtesy Guido Berguido).

The birds were amazing, but the participation was great too! About 1300 checklists submitted placed us # 5 worldwide in participation. The vast majority of the birders sent their data through the eBird accounts of their teams instead of opening their own accounts, something we plan to improve for the next event. All the participants count; however, I would like to highlight that groups of high school students, who benefited from Cornell's "Detectives de Aves Internacional" curriculum which Katherine Araúz has been with in Panama for a while, also participated. Children are the hope of the future!  And about the habitat status data, well... we are still collecting it; however, it was clear that many participants did not want to be mere passive observers and some decided to leave their counting areas better than they found them!

Left: Team of university students of UNACHI and UTP with thrash collected after birding. La Barqueta. Photo courtesy Luis Saldaña.  Right: Team IAN Consulting-GEMAS picking up thrash in Volcano Lakes.  Photo courtesy IAN Consulting. Both photos on May 5th, 2018 

As you can see, this was a GREAT Global Big Day for Panama!  We still have to do better and with more time next year, need to solve some minor differences and polish some details, but the experience gained in these seven weeks of preparation is priceless!  I also gained tons of experience during this GBD... if you want to know how it was for me, keep tuned and follow this link: ... my Global Big Day!

Press conference announcing the Panama's 2018 GBD results (with pizza!), simultaneously transmitted to several provinces in Panama.  From left to right: Karen Ávila (Fundación Avifauna Eugene Eisenmann), Guido Berguido (Asociación Adopta el Bosque Panamá), Rolando Jordan (Asociación Panameña de Aventura y Excursionismo), Karla Aparicio (Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507), Rosabel Miró (Sociedad Audubon de Panamá).  Panama City, May 11th, 2018

More birds this 2016!

It is not a secret that I'm an avid birder... but during the last years my birding activities have dropped a little bit due to "lack of time".  The truth is that you don't need to organize a one-week expedition to exotic forests or mountaintops to watch birds... you can bird everywhere, anywhere!  One of my new year resolutions is to "watch" more birds... more accurately, to record more birds.  So far, I'm recording everyday the birds that I see from my home and from the office... and I have even taken the time to go to hotspots within Panama City, like Costa del Este and Panama Viejo.  In fact, today was the third day in a row visiting the mudflats and mangroves of Panama Viejo (at Panama City's waterfront).

Ruins, skyscrapers and birds mix in Panama Viejo

How can I ignore that?  This place holds a bird list of more than 270 species, with some rarities regularly recorded.  These last days, the place was filled with tons of Laughing Gulls and some shorebirds (godwits, willets, whimbrels, dowitchers and black-bellied plovers, among others).  A closer to look to the flock revealed some Franklin's Gulls too... and a Ring-billed Gull too!

Franklin's Gull

Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls

As I have mentioned on other occasions, you can expect only one gull species in Panama: Laughing Gull... so, three species is not bad at all.  But after checking eBird, I knew that at least two other species have been reported from the same site recently.  The next two days produced both of them... a first-year Herring Gull flying away and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull today.

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed and Laughing Gulls

Rare species so close to home... priceless.  Of course, more widespread species were present too, like cormorants, pelicans, frigatebirds, lapwings and many more... ah, and don't forget the American White Pelican that continues wandering around!

American White Pelican

So, this year I hope to watch more birds, use more eBird, get some lifers and add some new species to the Panama list this year... ambitious?   I don't think so!

Five gulls species in Panama Viejo!

If you already read my last entry about gulling in Panama Viejo, then this entry will remind it a lot... except for one thing: yesterday, I saw five (5) instead of four different gulls species in Panama Viejo!  Yes, I went to Panama Viejo after receiving reports of a huge flock of Sandwich Terns resting in the area.  As soon as I get there, I noticed the huge flock... simply amazing.

Most of these birds were Sandwich Terns and Laughing Gulls in many different ages of course.  There were some Royal and Gull-billed Terns mixed in as well.  The Gull-billed Terns are very elegant... picking up food from the water surface... not plunge-diving as many other terns species.

Laughing Gull... any guess about its age?

Gull-billed Tern

Soon I found some Franklin's Gulls among the Laughings... only three of them... all were first-winter birds recognized by its smaller size, stocky look, half black hood with prominent broad eye crescents and white outer tail feathers (conspicuous at flight).

Franklin's Gull, 1st-winter

The third and fourth species were a first-winter Herring Gull and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull... both continuing birds in these mudflats.  Both were far away for good photos... these are only record shots.  Notice the pale inner primaries of the Herring Gull and the bright yellow legs of the sleeping Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Herring Gull, 1st-winter

Lesser Black-backed Gull, adult

At this point, I was happy with my four gulls... certainly, I was not expecting another species.  So, when I saw this gull among the Laughing by the creek I got excited:

Ring-billed Gull, 1st-winter

Ring-billed Gull, 1st-winter

The Ring-billed Gull is regular in low (very low) numbers along central Panama's coasts, specially in the Pacific side.  Panama Viejo is a regular site, but my last bird there was many years ago.  Five gulls for the day!  Trust me or not, that was not the only highlight of my visit to Panama Viejo... the other was to meet Kevin Zimmer who was leading a VENT tour at the place.  I know him as a member of the South American Classification Committee (SACC), which I follow avidly, but who has not heard about this celebrity of the Neotropical birding?  Even with his experience birding in our country, that day Kevin got a new species for his Panama list: the American White Pelican that decided to winter  on our shores this season!  Great day in Panama Viejo!

American White Pelican

More rarities showing up in Panama Viejo!

The mudflats and mangroves of Panama Viejo (Panama City) are exceptionally good for shorebirds and other water birds.  The list of specialties and rarities found in this site is quite extensive... and this season, many have been reported so far.  After seeing several reports of rare gulls in the social media, I did a quick visit some days ago.  As soon as I get to the site, I checked the huge flock of Laughing Gulls resting in the mud behind the Museum and Visitor center... and this guy immediately caught my attention!

Herring Gull (1st winter) with Laughing Gulls

The immense size and brownish plumage of this first-winter Herring Gull made it very conspicuous among the Laughings.  It moved occasionally to preen, paying little attention to the surrounding gulls.

Laughing and Herring Gulls (1st winter)

Except for one.  I noticed that this Herring Gull started to walk towards a sleepy gull in the middle of the flock... I thought it was a random gull, but a closer look revealed its yellow legs and bill.

Laughing, Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls (and two Sandwich Terns)

Yes, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was hanging around too!  Both species are rare, but regular, winter visitors to Panama, an any of each can make your day... but both of them in the same frame?  Simply great!  The Lesser Black-backed Gull was not comfortable with the closeness of the gull, so it walked away from it ... approaching me and allowing some nice shots.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Three gulls species was not bad... so I started to search the flock looking for another different species.  Eventually, I saw a distant adult Franklin's Gull flying by the mangrove island.  I took some record shots.

Franklin's Gull (winter adult)

Four species in a single spot in Panama... that is remarkable.  However, my personal record is SIX species in Costa del Este some years ago (all these plus Kelp and Ring-billed Gulls).  I don't know if more species have been seen the same day in a single site for Panama, but both Costa del Este and Panama Viejo seems to be very special places for this to happen, specially if you consider that other species have been reported in these sites (Black-legged Kittiwake, Belcher's, Gray, Gray-hooded, Bonaparte's and Sabine's Gulls).  So... want to break this record?  Check the mudflats at Panama Viejo!

Brown and American White Pelicans

P.D.: Bonus American White Pelican still at the rocks behind the mangrove island!

Brown and American White Pelican

Not a Belcher's, but a Kelp Gull in Costa del Este

Confirming the early suspicions on the identity of the dark-mantled gull which appeared several times in Costa del Este last weeks, a group of experts (including, among others, Dr. Bob himself) determined it as a sub-adult Kelp Gull. A review of the description plus the photos obtained by Euclides Campos and Ramiro Duque showing the bird with a typical adult Kelp Gull (you can see the photos in Xenornis) helped with the i.d. The diagnostic features that exclude a Belcher's Gull are size (and jizz), pale yellow legs (not bright yellow), dark streaking along sides and flanks, bill shape/pattern, and a mostly dark tail (not a definitive "band"). My error! considering that I have seen both species in central coastal Perú few years ago... my own photos of that trip demonstrate the slimmer shape and its relative small size (specially if you compare it with the nearby Inca Terns in the second photo):

An extensive Google search produced few photos of confirmed sub-adult (third-year) Kelp Gulls, the most useful being those at Martin Reid's website. If you check this group of photos you can see the same bill shape and pattern, the mostly black tail and black primaries with the wings closed, while this other one also shows the mostly black tail. Conclusion: it is a sub-adult Kelp Gull... follow your first impressions.

P.D.: in spite of the several other visits, I failed to re-locate the Kelp Gull(s) at Costa del Este, but I find more Herring Gulls (up to three at the same time) and the Lesser Black-backed Gull that was reported initially by the Ahrens (thanks to Darien and the Kaufmanns). I got only a distant photo.

Gulls bonanza

*Note:  The bird called Belcher's in this entry turned out to be a third-cycle Kelp Gull.  Read this post for rationale.

If you have birded in Panama, then you know that you are a lucky guy if you find any gull species apart of the omnipresent Laughings and the ocassional Franklins'. Well, yesterday a group of birders touched gold in Costa del Este because of the huge mega-flock of gulls and terns present. I saw SIX gull species in three hours, plus lots of very cool birds (many of them were year-birds). I went with Gloriela and our nephew, Michael, to Panama Viejo trying again for the Lesser Black-backed Gull (which was not present). We found again the strange Laughing Gull but this time, the flock of Laughings was accompanied by a full adult Ring-billed Gull somewhat distant. I managed to take a couple of photos for the record. You can see the white unstreaked head and the white spots in the black primaries.

Happy with the finding, we decided to move to Costa del Este, stopping by the western corner (the part closer to the city and to the "corredor sur"), finding a great assembly of birds, including gulls, terns and shorebirds. What immediately caught my attention was a huge dark-backed gull standing alone in the shoreline. It was considerably larger than the Laughing Gulls and than the Ring-billed Gull present (more on that one later), with a bulkier shape and heavy yellow bill tipped in black, followed by red (wider in the lower mandible). Dark eye. Pale yellow(ish) legs. Head and breast completely white, with no streaking. Sides of neck, flanks, belly and upper back white with diffuse dark spots. Back and wings black... blacker in the wings and with a brownish tinge in the back (specially with the bright light). The secondaries had wide white tips. I didn't saw the tail while perched inicially. I thought first it was a Kelp Gull (as I told to Ken Allaire of the Canopy Report who also saw the bird in his way to El Valle), but then the bird took flight, showing a white rump contrasting with the mostly dark tail! It also shows a wide trailing edge on wings (the secondaries tips) and almost no pattern in the underwings (pale with lots of dark markings). Checking my photos I saw a mostly dark tail, with some white on it closer to the rump. I'm still waiting the experts consensus but the tail markings id this bird as a Belcher's Gull (aka Band-tailed Gull), a very rare vagrant to Panama! Here are the photos (only cropped and sharpened, I didn't change color or contrast except otherwise stated):

The last photo shows a complete dark tail, but then you can see some white in the base of it at the first photo.

I overexposed the next photo in the field, then I increased the contrast and did some sharpening at home. It shows better the bill pattern.

In the same site we found this Ring-billed Gull, something between first and second-winter, resting with the Laughings.

While seeing the birds, I almost step on a group of Least Sandpipers accompanied by Collared, Wilson's and Semipalmated Plovers, that were resting under a little mangrove. Those Collareds' are cute, in the words of Gloriela (I'm pretty sure that you will agree).

Eventually, we were joined by Karl and Rosabel Kaufmann and then by Darién Montañez. We decided to move to the mouth of the Matías Hernández river, but the tide was too high so we decided to have lunch and go back later. The plan worked well, because we found a massive flock of gulls at the river. A careful search with the scopes produced some Franklin's Gulls, two first-winter Herring Gulls and a first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. We didn't find again the possible Belcher's Gull. The gulls were not alone. Some Black Skimmers (more than twenty) were present too. We notice that there was a single individual with paler underwings, a definitive white tail and broader white trailing edge. May be all this is due to age, or is a different subspecies? Also, lots of shorebirds were in attendance: Marbled Godwits, Willets, Southern Lapwings and Whimbrels. Convinced that the possible Belcher's Gull would not show up, we drove to Panama Viejo again, finding more interesting birds, including two Elegant Terns and the Long-billed Curlew that has been around for a while. I ended the day with seven new year-birds, including one possible Panama life bird. Good numbers for a "trip" right here in the city.