What can a reforested finca do?

To increase the list of birds of the place!  As mentioned in a previous post, my father-in-law bought some pasturelands in the outskirts of Penonome (Cocle province, central Panama) and started to plant native trees almost ten years ago.  Now, the property is full of live!  The most conspicuous creatures are the birds for sure.  During my last visit, I found many species  that are hard to find in the surroundings pastures.  For example, watch this Rufous-capped Warbler.

Rufous-capped Warbler

Yes, this species is common in quite degraded habitat... but I usually find one or two during my walks... that day, I found no less than seven different birds!  I also found another Lance-tailed Manakin lek within the property; however, I found the next individual while it was feeding alone in a fruiting tree.

Lance-tailed Manakin

You can easily see why it is called lance-tailed.  You can also see how beautifully patterned is this guy!  My relatives barely trust me when I told them that I took the photo in the property.  Other species are not so brightly colored, but are special as well.  Think about the Yellow-olive Flycatcher or the Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, both uncommon species in this part of the country.

Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant

The flowering shrubs attracted several hummingbirds species... this male Sapphire-throated Hummingbird delighted all my family... it decided to visit the flowers right by the cabin!

Sapphire-throated Hummingbird

And this Black-chested Jay (one of three birds) was eating some nance fruits from the finca... there are several fruiting trees at the property... and the nances are quite plentiful, so I suppose I will see these jays more often (it was my first record for the area).

Black-chested Jay

But the most impressive sighting was a female Hook-billed Kite flying over the finca.  Although far away, you can see the characteristically silhouette with proportionally long tail and broad wing that are narrower at the base.

Hook-billed Kite

This species is essentially unknown from the Pacific lowlands in the dry arch of central Panama.  At the end, I recorded 42 species in 2 hours (see my eBird checklist)... not bad for a former pastureland!

Backyard birding at the finca

We like to go to Penonomé (central Panamá) for several reason... to escape of the noisy city, to breath fresh air, to share with friends and relatives and to relax.  However, I also take advantage to bird.  We spend last weekend in town, and I did a quick visit to the Aguadulce Salinas... but also did some birding in Gloriela's family finca in the outskirts of town.  Some years ago, this was pasture land... now is alive with trees and, of course, birds!

A short walk around the cabin produced several common species for this dry, secondary habitat.  The first I saw was a Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant.  The "pygmy" part of its name is well deserved; however, the pale iris is not that evident in the field.  So far, I have always encountered this species close to the creek, the most humid part of the property.

I followed the creek for a while.  It is fresher under the burning sun, both for humans and birds!  Besides, many species are only found in that area... like our resident lek of Lance-tailed Manakins.  I saw several males... but they were shy.  Only this female stayed enough for a photo.  Notice the long and pointy central rectrices.

Others species along the creek were Rufous-capped Warbler, Yellow-olive and Sepia-capped Flycatchers... but they were shier, so I went to the more open areas hoping to find more photogenic subjects.  In fact, the open savanna with scattered trees is ideal for photographing... this Lineated Woodpecker proved me right.

I also saw Tropical Kingbirds, Streaked, Great Crested and Panama Flycatchers, Yellow-bellied and Lesser Elaenias and Groove-billed Anis.  In opposition to what happens around Panamá City, in Penonomé, the Groove-billeds are the most common anis.

 

Well, just a typical day in the savannas.

Colourful birds of the dry forest

I went with Gloriela to Penonome (Cocle province, central Panama), to spent the weekend. Of course, we visited Gloriela's dad finca in the outskirts of the town where the originally-planned cabin has become a huge building, looking almost like a fortress with several rooms and gardens, but still surrounded by a nice dry gallery forest and creeks. It is always nice to walk around, feeling the breeze and hearing the birds. One of the most active and colourful is the Rufous-capped Warbler. A group of noisy four of them were working the bushes and the understore close to the house, with one of them begging constantly for food... however, it looked like an adult to me, since it had the complete rufous cap and ear covers characteristic of this species. I easily attracted them by "pishing"... these were very curious birds and I even managed a nice photograph of one of them. Close to them, I heard the unmistakable sound of a Lance-tailed Manakins lek. After a while, I found at least four adult males loosely associated, perched and vocalizing, but I saw no females around. Around the property, I have identified by ear at least four different leks of these beutiful birds, but actually seeing them is more difficult because they like the tangled understore were they perch flying only if a female, or a competitor, approaches. Sometimes, the birds are perched considerably higher in the tree than you expect. I barely got these photos, including a curious male quite high in the canopy, with a "puffy" look, raised red crest and wings dropped down (displaying?). I could spent hours admiring these guys, but I have to admit that sometimes it is frustating because you can hear them very close to you and still remain elusive! I will try to get better pictures next time.

Visiting the Metro Park

I don't know why I don't visit more often the Metropolitan Natural Park. It is right here in Panama City and holds a huge list of both resident and migrant species. Trying to change that, I went this morning to the Mono Titi trail, where I joined Osvaldo Quintero. The park is quite popular, and we crossed several groups of joggers, birders, trekkers, or people simply having a walk through nature. At first, we saw mostly big-sized birds, like the always-present Blue-crowned Motmot, Crimson-crested Woodpecker, White-tipped Doves, at least three Scaled Pigeons high on a tree, some Slaty-tailed Trogons heard and a female Black-throated Trogon that welcomed us with her calls. Is when you see the female of this species that you understand why its scientific name is Trogon rufus. Then, we started to see the smaller species of tanagers, greenlets, flycatchers and warblers that are very common in these forests. Of course, we were paying more attention to the warblers and other migrants. In the lookout, the fruiting trees were full of migrants, including several Bay-breasted Warblers, some of them acquiring parts of their breeding plumage. Other migrants present were tons of Great Crested Flycatchers, Yellow-throated Vireos vocalizing and Chestnut-sided and Yellow Warblers. Soon the lookout got crowded with a group of little children, and the place became quite noisy... time to move on. In the way out, we find others common residents of the park, like the Red-throated Ant-Tanagers, both Scarlet and Yellow rumped Caciques, and a immature male Lance-tailed Manakin calling and displaying, allowing some great pictures. As you can see in the photo, this male still have some olive in its plumage. At the entrance, by "The Fortress", a mixed flock stopped us for a while. We saw one active Black-tailed Flycatcher, fanning its tail and exposing its yellow rump, several Southern Bentbills, Yellow-margined Flycatchers and Greenish Elaenia. We also got more Chestnut-sided and Bay-breasted Warblers plus another Yellow-throated Vireo and resident Plain-colored Tanagers. A calling bird out in the open turned out to be a Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, who stayed for photos. We waited in front of a fruiting tree waiting for the mixed flocks to pass, but we only got some Red-legged Honeycreepers and more Plain-colored Tanagers. In the other side of the field, a group of birders, guided by our friend José Carlos, were focused on a patch of tangles where they heard, and then saw, a rare White-eyed Vireo (!!!), and a coperative Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant that showed well when we finally arrived to the place (but the vireo left). The pale eye of the pygmy tyrant is not very conspicuous in the field, but you can see in my photo its pale legs and mandible, plus its compact size. By the end, at a mango tree right in the entrance, a pair of Green Honeycreepers were inspecting the dead leaves... both of them stopped their duties to have a look at me. For a short walk, we saw tons of birds... definitively I will try to visit more often this place!

In the way to Penonome. Part I

We spend this weekend at our house in Penonome, sharing with friends and family and enjoying the calmness of the place. We left Panama City on saturday, but before that I did a 2.5-hours walk in the Metropolitan Natural Park while Gloriela was buying the supplies for the weekend. The place was alive with migrants! First of all, I found many Turkey Vultures resting on the trees at the entrance to the trails, surely waiting for the day to heat up in order to continue its migration. Not too much after them, I started to find tons of migrants passerines, including Black-and-white, Yellow, Bay-breasted, Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian and Canada Warblers, Northern Waterthrushes, Red-eyed Vireos, Scarlet and Summer Tanagers, Olive-sided and Eastern Wood Pewees (singing), Great Crested Flycatchers and hundreds of Swainson's Thrushes... amazing! Despite so many warblers, I was unable to get decent pictures of them... they are so agile and the day was so cloudy that I hardly got a chance. However, the resident birds did show well. I saw three species of manakins (Golden-collared, Red-capped and this semi-concealed subadult Lance-tailed Manakin), three woodpeckers (Crimson-crested, Lineated and Red-crowned Woodpeckers), Cocoa and Olivaceous Woodcreepers, many tanagers (including Rosy Thrush-Tanagers), Green Shrike-Vireo, Lesser and Golden-fronted Greenlets and many flycatchers (Social, Boat-billed, Panama, Dusky-capped and so on...). But the one that stole the show was a very cooperative Slaty-tailed Trogon quietly perched at eye-level at the "Mirador". Very good after all for a short walk!