Good Friday in Flores

I spend the last Good Friday (april 6th) birding with my buddies Rafael Luck and Venicio "Beny" Wilson in extreme southwestern Azuero Peninsula of central Panamá,  at the slopes of Cerro Hoya near the town of Flores.  This was my second time in Flores, and I already blogged about it, because this spot is certainly the most accessible and easy site for seeing the endemic Azuero Parakeet!

Again, the Velasquez family received us, and Juan guided us through part of his property.  This is not exactly parakeets' season, they spent this part of the year in the higher slopes, coming down by may and june, but we want to have a shot and, who knows, maybe see some others goodies for the area.  The road going down Flores from the town of Mariato is simply spectacular, hilly, with great views of the rushing sea.

It is from close to Flores where you can see the forested slopes of Cerro Hoya... it is like a lost world in the middle of pasture lands... notice the fog and the rain covering the valley.  The humid forest of Cerro Hoya holds some interesting species, some of them only present in this particular mountain range in the world!

Juan took us through a narrow trail that steeply started to raise over the flat terrain surrounding, entering humid forest after crossing a nice creek.  The hike was a little bit exhausting for us, who were carrying photographic equipment.  Eventually we reached a flat spot where Juan had seen before the endemic (for Panama) Brown-backed Dove eating of the fallen fruits of a palm tree... but again, this was not the right time of the year for seeing them.  

However, the place was alive with the sounds of Orange-collared Manakins (only a record shot... shaking hands by the time we saw the manakins), we DID hear a pair of Azuero Parakeets flying-by upslope and heard (and saw) the characteristic double hoop of the local subspecies of Blue-crowned Motmot... which appeared to correspond vocally with lessoni, the Blue-diademed Motmot.

We walked more deeply inside the forest... the feeling of being in the middle of a tall, humid forest in Azuero is simply abstract!  We even saw birds so typical of forest interiors that we barely believed it... as for example, a pair of White-whiskered Puffbirds (photo) and a Royal Flycatcher.

In the way down, we stopped for lunch at the watering place for the cattle, accompanied by a Slaty-tailed Trogon and a young Spectacled Caiman carefully watching at us.  Circling above us were a pair of Short-tailed Hawks and, above them, a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle that we found later never has been reported for the Azuero Peninsula (I hope Rafael's photos are conclusive).

After the lunch, Juan guided us through the forest border at the lower slope of the hill.  At one stop, we delighted ourselves with a mixed flock including Rufous-browed Peppershrike, two Tropical Gnatcatchers, a Yellow Warbler and a White-winged Becard.  At the same time, a pair of impressive White Hawks were monitoring us, eventually getting tired of us and flying away majestically.

Then, Beny pointed towards some trees, evidently excited: a group of Critically Endangered "Azuero" Spider Monkey was passing by... I don't know how many, probably around 30 individuals, with many young ones, agile and gracefully were moving among the branches, sometimes stopping to have a look at us!  What a great experience... this subspecies of the Central American Spider Monkey complex is severely affected by habitat destruction... and probably only two or three populations persists only in those forests!

In spite of the torrential downpour that struck us ultimately, we spend a VERY good time with Juan... and we hope to return back soon to Flores and Cerro Hoya!

In the way to Cerro Punta

After birding the previous day in Batipa, we woke early the morning of monday, march 15th in order to leave David city (the capital of Chiriqui province in western Panama) towards the highlands, this time to the western side of the Baru volcano, to the town of Cerro Punta. Despite our original plan was to spent most of the morning searching for an adult male Resplendant Quetzal in Cerro Punta, we decided to make some stops along the way after the town of Concepción. Now, there are only few scattered patches of disturbed forest remaining along this road, but sometimes those patches can have surprises. Our first stop was at the town of San Vicente. We took the road towards the town of Escobal, but drive only few meters until reaching a bridge over a shaded creek. Almost immediately we heard the distinctive noise of a Manacus manakin and, after a little searching, we found a pair of Orange-collared Manakins. This species is a regional endemic (southeastern Costa Rica - western Panama), a really handsome one, but there are still some taxonomic issues about its relationships. Anyway, the male was very cooperative (the female dissapeared quickly), allowing many photos in full view. We only recorded common species in the area, including Chestnut-sided Warbler, Yellow-crowned Euphonia (I checked it well, it wasn't a Spot-crowned) and Piratic Flycatcher (calling everywhere). We spent about half hour in that place and then moved on. The next stop was at the Macho de Monte river, entering through the Cuesta de Piedra town. We had been quite lucky in this site before, but that day there were heavy construction works at the bridge, with lot of noise, so we were sceptical. A quick glimpse revealed common birds like Blue-and-gray, Cherrie's and Golden-hooded Tanagers plus a Buff-rumped Warbler. I also noticed a flowering Inga tree, so I decided to check it out. The first hummingbird I saw was a Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, but then, a tiny bee-like hummer appeared. Mostly rufous, with white throat and white rump band: a female White-crested Coquette!!! I took a couple of (bad) photos and then ran to warn Gloriela who was still in the car. Soon we relocate the bird, perched nicely on a bare twig, allowing more photos. We stayed for an hour or so, while the coquette remained in the surroundings. This is a very rare hummingbird (at least in Panama), with recent reports from this same place and from El Chorogo (at the border with Costa Rica in the Burica peninsula). My only other sighting was of a female too many years ago precisely in El Chorogo... I suppose that I will have to return in order to see an adult male! Eventually, we reached Cerro Punta, but it was a little bit late for birding... anyway, we looked for an adult male Quetzal in several spots before finding one in Las Nubes (more details in the next post). After that, we descended again, this time we took the road to Santa Clara and found a bunch of fruiting Cecropias by a coffee plantation. Highlights were Speckled and White-lined Tanagers, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis (all of them year-birds), Masked Tityra and a pair of Fiery-billed Aracaris feeding on the Cecropias. Great collection of birds below Cerro Punta, don't you think?

More than birds

What I like about birdwatching is that it allows you to know many sites, cultures and nature marvels while you are seeking the birds. That´s why I was so excited by my last trip. With Gloriela, Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck, I visited yesterday El Montuoso Forest Reserve, in Herrera province. Although the list of birds recorded there isn´t spectacular, the simple idea of visiting a new site for me in Panama was fascinating. Not only that, the journey was also interesting, crossing some very traditional towns, like Pesé (home of the locally popular Seco Herrerano), Las Minas de Ocú, and so on... After an overnight stay in Chitre (Herrera's capital city), we headed to El Montuoso early in the morning. That is a picturesque road, through pastures and grasslands, little towns with clay houses, and charming people with their "machetes" in hand. After Pesé, the road becomes hilly, specially after Las Minas de Ocú, with great views of the surrounding lowlands (check the photo). Around 8:00 am we reached the ANAM's Tres Picos ranger station where we met the rangers who had an special guest, professor Victor Martínez, a renowned herpetologist in Panama. He was collecting snakes with a group of students of the University of Panama. After a short introduction (and after paying the entrance fee), we walked the loop trail behind the station. It runs along a creek, crossing it several times. It is amazing that a humid forest like that one still survives in the Herrera province. Our main target was the Brown-backed Dove, a national and enigmatic endemic that would have been a life bird for Osvaldo and Rafael. Although we dipped on it, we found many others birds. In the beginning of the trail we found a lek of Lance-tailed Manakins close to a pair of Orange-collared Manakins, our other target for the day. They were not easy to photograph, as you can guess by my photo, but a regional endemic anyway! Other birds recorded were Chestnut-backed Antbird, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Black-and-white, Yellow and Rufous-capped Warblers, Blue-throated Goldentail and the third species of manakin for the day: a beautiful male White-ruffed Manakin with contrasting white vent. During the return we found another mixed flock, this time with Red-crowned Ant-Tanagers and Golden-crowned Warblers, plus one or two Orange-billed Sparrows. I saw a flycatcher accompanying the group with olive-green back and two ochraceous wing bars. When it turned around I was able to see the dusky markings in its face: a Sepia-capped Flycatcher! an unexpected life bird for me. Happy with the finding, we headed to the station where the professor ask us if we were lucky with snakes (while chasing a really BIG tarantula). He thinks that we find many snakes while birding. I didn't agree, until we find a long and thin green snake (maybe a Green Vine Snake) right in the entrance of the loop trail only ten minutes later! After watching the snake for several minutes, we continue our way, looking for the dove, which never appeared. This didn't discourage us since we were astonished by that charming forest. It is like an island in the middle of a sea of devastation, the last remaining oasis for those spectacular birds and animals in the Herrera province... at least it is protected. It was getting hot so we left the place, heading to Las Minas de Ocú where we had our tasty meal: rice, lentils and meat. The owner of the fonda where we ate offered us a "pesada"; a nance dessert prepared with the addition of sugar, flour, milk and a piece of white cheese... delicious! It is a quite common dessert in rural Panama. We took some pictures of the little town, its central plaza and its church before heading to the coast (1.5 hour away) to the El Agallito beach, near Chitre, where we had a cold beer while watching some waders and Mangrove Warblers. From pastures to forests, hills to beaches, tarantulas and snakes to life birds, that's why I like birdwatching!