Two hours to the west

As you probably know, we spent most of our weekends at our second hometown: Penonomé, in central Panamá.  Penonomé lies in the geographical center of the country, two hours to the west of Panama City, in the middle of dry savannas with a distinct avifauna.  That is so, that the common species around Penonomé would be rarities in the wetter Panamá City, were we live.  A short ride south of town last sunday, to what is now a regular site for us (I was with Gloriela and Gabrielle), the road to El Gago, produced a nice collection of these birds, including Crested Bobwhites.  There, they are frequently seen and heard, but usually don't stay that long for good shots, so we were lucky.

The last record of bobwhites close to Panama City was in the 19th century... just to put it in perspective.  And the last time someone recorded a Mourning Dove in Panama City (some years ago, a day previous to a CBC), it was considered a vagrant.  In that road south of Penonomé is a common sight... and what a sight!  These doves are beautiful.

The situation is a little bit different with the Brown-throated Parakeets.  They are uncommon in the outskirts of Panama City, and have been recorded right in the middle of the city (for example in Parque Omar)... but in those savannas are simply abundant.  In fact, we crossed MANY flocks that day feeding in pink flowers by the road.

Other species are so widely distributed that are quite common in both regions... but you have to work a little harder to find a White-tailed Kite in the big city.  There, we saw two or three individuals, and even one perched on a fence pole, showing its black shoulders and fiery character.

Well, this was a typical day at the savannas!

Photo safari in the savannah

Like many thousands of panamanians, I went with Gloriela, some relatives and friends to Penonome (central Panama) in order to relax and to enjoy the carnival, which is a serious celebration for most of Panama's population! Our house in the outskirts of the town was full and the responsability of being the host was heavy... but anyway we both manage to reserve a couple of hours in the morning to visit the savannah to the south of the town. Gloriela took most of the photos that appear in this post because I was driving, and I have to admit that she did a very good job (you will see). As usual, the place was excellent for raptors, with Roadside and Savannah Hawks, White-tailed Kite, a Bat Falcon and both caracaras in several sites of the road. The Crested Caracara is a fierce-looking bird with powerful flight, this individual was in the ground checking a bunch of dry leaves. Not too far, a Common Opossum, with its little cub on the back, was running away... probably the presence of the caracara had something to do with its hurry. The doves were well-represented there, with lots of Ruddy and Plain-breasted Ground-Doves all over the place, many White-tipped Doves and some Pale-vented Pigeons around... but the award for the most pretty dove is for the Mourning Dove. You only need to see its soft tones and subtle iridiscence to the neck, and that cute facial expresion to know what I mean.

They are quite shy, but we managed to approach one of them that was vocalizing... it was the first time that I heard this dove vocalizing in Panama, a soft call with three hollow notes, very low, almost unaudible.

Ridgely & Gwynne stated that this call have not been heard in Panama, but the new field guide by Angehr & Dean simply describes the call... doesn't mention nothing about how often it is heard. For a dove locally so common, I have to admit that it is weird that this is the first time that I heard it... probably the low volume plus its shy habits have something to do with this. We found most of the common inhabitants of this habitat, including many Fork-tailed Flycatchers eating a lot a fruit (and nop, none of these were Scissor-taileds... we checked them all). These masters of flight have a very distinctive trilling call that is a common sound in these fields. We also crossed several coveys of Crested Bobwhites, with one short-crested individual staying enough for a photo after crossing the road and a pair of Southern Lapwings inspecting a recently burned field. Very entertaining for a short photo safari through the savannah!

City doves

The doves and pigeons are a worldwide group of well-known and familiar birds that occupy many niches, from forest interiors to deserts, and from ground-dwellers birds to canopy specialists. Certainly, they are not limited to "natural" habitats. Many species are so well adapted to our urban environment that many big cities in the world host at least one species, sometimes with an incredible population, since they are described as "abundant" in some places. When I visited Taipei (capital of Taiwan, maaaany years ago), the dominant species were both the Spotted and Red Collared-Doves. Both remained me the Eurasian Collared-Doves that were very common at the Miami International Airport, where it is an introduced species of course, during my short connection in my way to Toronto, Canada, where the common species was the Rock Pigeon, but with Mourning Doves common as well. The Mourning Doves are THE doves in most of North America. They reach Panamá, where they are common urban birds in the western highlands, specially in and around the agricultural town of Cerro Punta. Curiously, they are found in the lowlands of western and central Panama too, but there they are very shy, usually found in the fields and open areas (not in towns like Penonome). Despite its commonness, it is weird that nobody have yet heard its characteristic mournful call in the lowlands. Contrary to what happens with the Mourning Doves, the melancholy calls of the White-winged Dove is now quite common to hear at least in the town of Chitre, in the Azuero Peninsula of central Panama. A close relative, the West Peruvian Dove of, you guess, western Peru is abundant in Lima. That city have others species as well, including Rock Pigeons, Croacking Ground-Doves and Eared Doves. It was not unusual to find all four species feeding close to each other in some parks in the middle of that huge city. The Eared Doves where the dominant ones in Bogota, Colombia, as I confirmed it during my first (and last) birding trip to that beautiful country. And what about Panama City? Well, like Lima, Panama City have several species, the most common being the Rock Pigeons, but with the Pale-vented Pigeons increasing in numbers. When I moved to the city, three years ago, they were common enough to find at least some individuals in the big trees of some parks nearby. Now, a flock usually gives me the good mornings while perched on the TV antenna of my apartment! Sometimes they are joined by others urban birds like Gray-breasted Martins, Tropical Kingbirds, Social Flycatchers, Blue-gray Tanagers or even a pair of Yellow-crowned Amazons to give some color. OK, it is not that these birds needs more color. As you can see in the picture of the Pale-vented Pigeon at Bocas town in Colon island (Bocas del Toro, western Caribbean slope), these birds are colourful if you have a close view. These social birds spent most of the day in the canopy of the tall fruiting trees that still remains in our city. During the afternoon is frequent to see flocks of these birds flying high to their roosting areas in the former Canal Zone (in the forest, for example in the Metropolitan Natural Park or the Camino de Cruces National Park). In the other hand, the White-tipped Dove is common in suburban areas, and in many towns outside Panama City. More or less a year ago, I photographed one in her nest at the neighborhood Las Nubes of Cerro Azul, just under the roof of a house. I posted the photo in one of the very first entries of this blog page. As I told you before, Panama City have many doves species in its streets... but by far, the cutest are the tiny Ruddy Ground-Doves. They are widespread birds, very well-known by most panamanians by names like "tortolita" or "cocochita". A pair of these ground-doves is always present at the entrance of the hospital where I work, always nervously walking picking food from the soil with its bobbing head and avoiding the cars! They are so funny to see! So, it is not great to share our homes with these birds?

Birding the savanna

The day after my visit to the Aguadulce Salinas, I woke early in order to visit the open fields and the savanna that surrounds Penonome (central Panama). This habitat was altered mostly by human activities, but it still holds many of the species typical of it, except for some that are harder to find now (Grassland Yellow-Finch, Yellowish Pipit), including one probably extirpated (Grasshopper Sparrow). I headed to the south, in the way to El Coco, and then I took the turn to El Gago, which passes through some cattle and agricultural land, with rice fields and some scattered bushes. Soon I was watching my first specialty of the area: a flock of Plain-breasted Ground-Doves (mostly females) that looked like a covey of tiny quails. Only the male stayed enough time to get a picture.. the females ran (yes, ran) away. Not to much after that, I got my second columbiforme of the day: a pair of Mourning Doves. We have two populations of this dove in Panama, one in the western highlands and other in the lowlands of the dry pacific slope. In the lowlands, this dove is locally common... but it seems that nobody has heard them singing here. Both of them (the dove and the ground-dove) were new year-birds for me. Other doves species for the day were the Ruddy Ground-Dove (widespread), the White-tipped Dove (quite shy here) and four Pale-vented Pigeons at a fruiting tree. Of course, by that moment I already had recorded more widespread species like Blue-black Grassquit, Great-tailed Grackle, Red-crowned Woodpecker, and so on... At a dump next to the road I got three species of Vultures (Black, Turkey and Lesser Yellow-headed) plus many Yellow-headed Caracaras in all sort of ages and two adult Crested Caracaras. I realized that I was getting luckier with the raptors when I saw an Aplomado Falcon followed few minutes later by an American Kestrel and a White-tailed Kite, while, perched in the ground, a Savanna Hawk was inspecting its territory. In my cropped picture is very hard to see the rich cinnamon color that makes this bird so beautiful, specially when flying. Eventually I reached a flooded rice field that was full with egrets and, curiously, Greater Yellowlegs. The yellowlegs were chasing each other, vocalizing. They should have been around 12 or more. I wonder if they were congregating in order to begin its northward migration. Well, it was getting very hot, so I started to return, finding both Eastern Meadowlarks and Red-breasted Blackbirds in the same field, and a flock of Brown-throated Parakeets that perched very close as saying good-bye. Many new year-birds in this short trip!