Today is World Shorebirds Day!

All over the world we celebrate today the shorebirds!  Delicate in appearance but certainly some of the most strong flyers in this planet, many shorebirds species make, twice a year, long-distance migrations, some of them traversing more than 15,000 miles annually!  Being birds that visit whole continents, it is important to join efforts not only to protect their breeding grounds, but also their wintering grounds and stopover sites along the migration routes.

The Upper Bay of Panama, a site of hemispheric importance for shorebirds survival

That's why the World Shorebirds Day celebration was created... to raise GLOBAL public awareness about the conservation of, and research about, shorebirds (you can read more at the World Shorebirds Day Official Website).  During this past weekend, I participated in the global shorebirds counting among other members of the Panama Audubon Society in two sites of the Upper Bay of Panama: Costa del Este and Panama Viejo.  In spite of the season (in Panama, the migration season is just starting), the numbers present in both site were impressive... as usual!

Peeps in Costa del Este (September 3rd, 2016)

The most abundant species were the peeps... with Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers as the most common.  ID is difficult of course in their basic plumages... but in both sites you can get them side-by-side, making the whole thing a little bit easier.

Western and Semipalmated Sandpiper in Panama Viejo (September 4th, 2016)

The approximate count was close to 8000 peeps in Costa del Este,  a low number compared to other seasons.  We entered our records into eBird (in two checklists http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31398127, http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31419633) thus joining hundreds of other birdwatchers around the world.  Panama shorebirds were well represented, with 14 species recorded by me in both sites (12 species shared by both sites, plus another one in Costa del Este -Least Sandpiper- that I didn't manage to see, but recorded by other observer).  Here are some of them:

Whimbrels, Willets, Marbled Godwits, Short-billed Dowitchers and Black-bellied Plovers in Costa del Este (September 3rd, 2016)

Greater Yellowlegs in Panama Viejo (September 4th, 2016

Semipalmated Plover in Panama Viejo (September 4th, 2016)

All these species are regular and quite common in Panama; however, we also found a Long-billed Curlew in Panama Viejo.  This one is considered a vagrant in Panama, but one individual had spent many winters in the mudflats of Panama Viejo (but is difficult to find).

Long-billed Curlew (September 4th, 2016)

Almost all the shorebirds recorded were long-distance migrants, but we also saw three resident species: Southern Lapwing, Wilson's Plover and Black-necked Stilt.  The first one is common all over Panama, while the other two breed in small colonies in just few sites in the country.  Each winter, their populations increase with migratory individuals from other latitudes.

Black-necked Stilt at Costa del Este (September 3rd, 2016)

And you, how do you spent your World Shorebirds Day?

Waders and more waders

How many different herons species can you find in a morning. If you visit specific sites at the Upper Bay of Panama, then the answer is MAAANY! Yesterday, I went with Osvaldo Quintero to the Juan Díaz mangroves, Costa del Este and the Panama Viejo mudflats in a quick succession, twitching the recently reported American Avocet (which we did not find by the way). So, from east to west we got: Great and Snowy Egrets, Tricolored, Little Blue and Green Herons and Wood Stork (not a heron, but a wader too) in Juan Díaz.Cattle Egrets (same birds seen before) and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in Costa del Este and Cocoi Heron, a Little Blue Heron molting into adult plumage and a Black-crowned Night-Heron (yes, the flying-away bird with the black back) at Panama Viejo (behind the new Visitors Center).Nine species in just two hours. Now, consider that three other species can be expected (Capped, Great Blue and Striated Herons) and you get herons' heaven.

Bonus Long-billed Curlew at the Panama Viejo's Visitors Center, a life bird for Osvaldo (which was a nice surprise for me!).

Shorebird close to home

I almost forgot how much I like to watch shorebirds at the Panama Viejo / Costa del Este mudflats. The upper Bay of Panama is an hemispherical important site of the route of migrating shorebirds from the Artic to South America (and beyond!). Each year, hundreds of thousands peeps and other shorebirds make an stop to refuel, or to stay all the winter. But the more important fact is that it is right by the city. I went to Panama Viejo this morning, taking advantage of the early high tide, and found tons of cooperative shorebirds. If they were cooperative? Well, just check out these photos (they were all taken today):The Semipalmated Sandpipers were the most common peeps, outnumbering the Western Sandpipers.This absolutely gorgeous juvenile Least Sandpiper allowed some photos. There were many adults as well. The Spotted Sandpiper is the most widely distributed shorebird in Panama, found almost everywhere if there is water around. I still need a photo of one really "spotted".If you see a dowitcher in Panama, it certainly is a Short-billed Dowitcher. Several flocks, including birds wearing breeding and non-breeding plumages, were present. The pale, bigger bird accompanying them in the second photo is a Willet

The strong, colourful and contrasting pattern of the Ruddy Turnstone is amazing. This bird rules!

These flying birds are Surfbirds. I counted at least 40 birds in that single flock!

The Whimbrel is found year-round in Panama, but definitively is more common during the winter. At least 15 birds were scattered at the mudflats.Contrary to the Whimbrels, there is usually only one Long-billed Curlew in these mudflats. Patiently, surely you'll find it, usually feeding independently of other big shorebirds.The plovers were well represented. From top to bottom, these are: a pair of Semipalmated Plover (migrant, but the most common plover in Panama), Wilson's Plover (resident, this seems to be a juvenile) and Collared Plover (resident -and cute-, this also seems to be a young bird). I also saw many Black-bellied Plovers and three Southern Lapwings in the area (but they were not close enough). Add to this list the American Golden-Plover recently reported at Costa del Este by Carlos Bethancourt and you will get the picture of how special is this place!

I tried to find the American Golden-Plover at Costa del Este, but when I got there, all the birds were too far away in the mudflats, so I didn't find it. Anyway, a Franklin's Gull wearing most of its breeding plumage was a great consolation prize.

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.