First birding day in a while!

An open space with a sign that reads "Keep physical distancing"

After almost six months of confinement due to the sanitary emergency, I finally went out to have a birding day, searching for shorebirds in order to participate in the World Shorebirds Day.  The high tide was quite early, so I started with the first lights.  My plan was to visit several places along the waterfront of Panama City, following the tide.  With the water level high, I chose a rocky spot that provide resting sites for tired shorebirds when they are not foraging in the mudflats.  As expected, I found some loose flocks with some of the most common species, plus rocky shores specialists, like Ruddy Turnstones and Surfbirds.  However, they were too distant for decent photos, so I concentrated my shots in some nearby targets, like the groups of Least, Semipalmated and Spotted Sandpipers that were checking the small puddles on the rocks.

Least Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpipers

Spotted Sandpiper

After 30 minutes carrying my backpack, camera, lens and binoculars, I realized that I was exhausted!  Certainly, the sedentary routine of my confinement had something to do with that!  The air conditioner of my car was huge relief... but I had no time to waste, the tide was retiring, exposing the mudflats of my next stop: Costa del Este.  The wetlands of the Upper Bay of Panama are of hemispheric importance for the migratory shorebirds.  Millions of birds use the area during their annual paths, the reason why Panama Audubon Society has worked incessantly in protecting the site, monitoring its birds and doing environmental education in the surrounding communities... and Costa del Este is one of those communities.  From the lookout with interpretative signs depicting shorebirds, I was able to scan the extensive mudflats at the mouth of the Matía Hernández river, adding Black-necked Stilts, Black-bellied Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers and, specially, thousands of Western Sandpipers, although widely dispersed.

Greater Yellowlegs

Western Sandpipers

After my short 30-min stop at Costa del Este, I went to a nearby site for a change.  If you want to see a greater diversity of species, then you need to visit different habitats, so I went to a grassy meadow with artificial ponds, known as MetroPark.  The pond had Wattled Jacanas, Black-necked Stilts and both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, while the grassland had Whimbrels and many Southern Lapwings.  I was not the only human being at the site, several people use the open spaces to work out and breath "fresh air"... of course, following the sanitary recommendations, as explained in the multiple signs all over the place (as you can see in the first photo).  My last stop was, again, a different habitat... the only sandy beach of the waterfront, right at the Panama City's coastal belt, by the mouth of the Matasnillo river.  As expected, it produced my only Sanderlings of the day.  Two pale birds were agitatedly feeding in the sand, going forth and back with the waves.  By that time, the tide was low enough to take a break until the next high tide, in the afternoon.

Southern Lapwing

Sanderling

For the second round, I joined my friends Rosabel Miró, Venicio "Beny" Wilson and Aitor Gonzalo, who were also participating in the World Shorebirds Day.  We were after an species that occurs near the city only at one reliable site at the West Bank of the Panama Canal.  The combination of sandy and rocky beaches with tons of bivalves and other mollusks to feed is ideal for the American Oystercatcher.  we knew a place where they breed, so we went there and were rewarded with a pair of vocalizing birds that flew right above us... what a sight!

American Oystercatchers

Pitifully, we were not able to find two plovers species that are also found at that habitat: Collared and Wilson's Plovers, which are also localized near the city.  To take advantage of the few hours of light left, we swiftly moved back to Costa del Este, where the tide cornered the birds in a section adjacent to the mangroves, where these birds spend the night.  We added Marbled Godwit to our checklists, but were impressed with the thousands of peeps present at the site, mostly Semipalmated Plovers, Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers.

Almost at night, we left the mangroves (and the mosquitoes), our final count was more than 5000 peeps in that little corner of mangroves.  At the end of the day, I managed to record 19 different species of shorebirds at, or near, Panama City.. an excellent number!  So tell me, how was your World Shorebirds Day?    

All about timing!

At this point, most of you know that I'm doing a Big Year in Panama.  As in any other place, making a big year implies a lot of time and, why not, money (to travel, essentially)!  However, if you have a profound knowledge of your area birds and their natural history (or get advised by the people who has that knowledge), you may save both time and money... specially if you have a regular job that doesn't implies birding or if you are NOT taking a sabbatic year to birdwatch!

My family in front of Eugene Eisenmann's mural in Coronado, Panama (some years ago of course!)

It is all about timing... knowing when some species are most likely to be more conspicuous than usual, when is their peak migration, or when they visit more accesible sites so you don't have to organize a whole expedition to look after them.  A have many examples of how good timing helped me to find rare or unusual species... but I'll write about two recent experiences in this post.  It took me only two days to trackle down two VERY localized species for Panama, both of them represented by endemic forms that, coincidentally, are named eisenmanni, honoring Eugene Eisenmann (1906-1981), a Panamanian ornithologist well-known in the neotropics by his nomenclature arrangements.  The first one was Grassland Yellow-Finch (Sicalis luteola eisenmanni).  As many other grasslands species, this one is declining in our country due to habitat loss.  Even knowing its usual haunts, it is not easy to find this species in Panama... except during its breeding season when adult males are conspicuously singing atop low bushes in the middle of pasture land.

Adult male Grassland Yellow-Finch

Not only that... this species is absent from apparently suitable habitat, even at the SAME location where we use to spot it... El Chirú, Coclé province in central Panama.  These males are not easy to find either.  The very high-pitched song is hard to follow to the source, there are only few territories (and individuals), you need to crawl under barbed wire fences and dodge curious cattle and being expose to ticks and chiggers while trying to approach them (because if you don't lie down they will spot you right away in their preferred open habitat).  All of these is worth the effort... after just 1.5 hours of driving from Panama City to El Chirú, I was able to find this adult male right away.  Try to do the same any other month... you'll spend weeks around without finding even one!

Singing adult male Grassland Yellow-Finch

I enjoyed this male for some minutes until it flew after another adult male.  Then, I left the place and headed southwest, to western Azuero Peninsula in central Panamá. The several stops along the way (to birdwatch, of course) made a 2.5-hours drive from El Chirú to the town of Malena into a 6+ hours trip.  At Malena, I joined my friend Kees and his wife Loes, who run the lovely Heliconia B&B, my home for that night.  During dinner, we planned the next day: an early breakfast before the 1.5-hours drive to the town of Flores, in extreme southern western Azuero peninsula.  Why?  Well, nances and figs.  Yes, fruits!  Our target there inhabits the middle elevations forests of the Cerro Hoya massif,  essentially inaccessible without mounting an expedition or without an strenuous hike (probably more accesible through Río Pavo).

Kees at Río Pavo

However, during the few weeks when the nances and figs are ripe, our target descend from the mountain to feed on them at the border of the forest with cattle pastures.  And we knew a place where that happens regularly: Finca Velásquez.  Since many years now, Juan Velásquez and his lovely family have been watching and reporting the returning of the Azuero Parakeets (Pyrrhura picta eisenmanni) to their property bordering Cerro Hoya National Park.  Over the years, the ripening of the fruit has been more difficult to predict and the flocks that descend are smaller, shyer and stay for shorter time... so the Velásquez family's input is VERY important to travel there and see the parakeets!

Great Green Macaws

Juan waited for us at the entrance of the finca at 7:00 am and guided us through dirt roads to his property. As soon as we got there it was evident that the fruiting trees were attracting birds, including some parakeets and parrots species, but not the Azueros... yet.  Juan invited us to wander around since he usually sees the parakeets around 9:00 to 10:00 am and pointed us the preferred nance trees. Even before we were able to do so, a flock of resident Great Green Macaws revealed its presence with raucous calls while they flew above us to sit on a fig tree by Juan's house.  It is amazing how such huge birds "dissapeared" as soon as they perched on the fig tree!  We then took the trail to Río Pavo, finding nice activity of mixed flocks, including some western Pacific lowlands specialties like Orange-collared Manakin and Black-hooded Antshrike.  The raptors were represented by some nice species, including rare Black-and-White Hawk-Eagles and obliging White Hawk that posed for photos.

White Hawk

At 9:00 am, we were waiting in front of the nance trees pointed before by Juan.  On time, a flock of 12 Azuero Parakeets flew in and perched quietly in one of the trees!  We had excellent views while the birds were eating, but they did not allow photos.  They stayed less than ten minutes and flew away.  One hour later, the same flock arrived again and did the same.  This time I managed to obtain poor photos of an individual feeding on nance.  The Azuero Parakeet is considered part of the Painted Parakeet complex of South America; however, its extraordinaire isolation and differences in plumages respect to other forms merits it specific status according to some authorities, including the Panama Audubon Society.

Poor shot of an Azuero Parakeet feeding on nance

Without the opportune help of the Velásquez family, it would be impossible to see this species and to be back in Panama City by dinner time!  So, there were no need of expeditions nor days off at work (I already runned out of permits for this year)!  There is no doubt that good timing is everything when birding!

The quest for 600 birds in 2019 begins!

As you hear it.  This year, I'm committed to record 600+ species of birds for Panama.  In fact, I want to break my own Big Year record of 620 species in 2010, hopefully reaching 700+ species!  I joined a group of intrepid birders who, like me, want to reach the same goal this year, celebrating Panama Audubon's Society (PAS) 50th anniversary.  Some of them already are members of "The 600 Club" of Panama and I'm pretty sure they want to break their own record too.

So far, this year has been good.  I already reached 300 species by January 15th (half of my goal), my best Big Year start ever.  On January 1st I did a Big Day, recording 190 species (I was the #1 ebirder  in the WORLD for a couple of hours HAHAHA!).  It started around 4:00 am looking for owls and night birds in Panama City and Gamboa town, hearing the dawn chorus in the deeps of Pipeline road (the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center was closed, so I missed some keys species), birding different spot from Gamboa Ammo Dump  and Summit Ponds to Metropolitan Natural Park and along the coast in Panama Viejo and Costa del Este to finally end at the ponds in Albrook residences with Karl Kaufmann and Rosabel Miró (PAS Executive Director).  Since then, I have made some short trips in central Panama and have twitched some rarities that have appeared in my bird alerts, like Cape May Warbler and Maguari Stork.

Maguari Stork (Finca Bayano, January 20th, 2019)

Panama is so diverse and accesible that reaching 600+ species in a year certainly is not impossible.  In fact, the Big Year record for Panama is 800 species, recorded by Kenneth Allaire (RIP) back in 2010.  However, it takes time... and monetary resources of course.  The 700 species mark is easily reached by free lance bird guides that have no restriction of places to visit.  I mean, if your job is to watch birds all over Panama, then you have no issues with time spending birding.  However, I do not work looking for birds, and my available time for birdwatching is limited (as is the case of many birders in Panama), so I have devised some strategies to maximize my time, including my family in my trips and choosing sites that offer me more new species in a short time.

Gabrielle and Gloriela in Viveros Island (Pearl Islands) where I was looking for some restricted antbirds (like this Jet Antbird)

In fact, I'm impressed with how I have managed to take advantage of my free time so far between birdwatching and family time.  The good thing about birding sites in Panama is that most of them are also attractive for family activities.  Take for example the paradisiacal Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama where you can enjoy the turquoise waters and look for pelagic birds or restricted antbirds (like White-fringed Antwren and Jet Antbird), or the beautiful foothills forests above the town of El Cope in Cocle province (central Panama) where your family can enjoy the fresh air and chilly creeks while you look for multicolored tanagers in mixed flocks (like this Emerald Tanager).

Emerald Tanager

Well, I'm pretty sure that good birds will show up this year.  Let me know if you see something rare or invite me to your trips!  I will do the same!

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?

PAS' Owls and Wines Night

Rather than an owling trip, the Panama Audubon Society's Owls and Wines Night is more like a social event, where old and new friends meet to enjoy a pleasant night.  This year event was held in the iconic Canopy Tower at the Soberania National Park in central Panama.  I went with Gloriela and met the other ten participants a little bit before sunset... the views from the upper deck of the tower are simple overwhelming!

Jan & Gloriela

I don't know if you noticed that a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth was photo-bombing the frame! You can have eye-to-eye encounters not only with these gentile creatures, but also with some canopy-dwellers hard to see otherwise.  Here is a closer look at our friend:

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

The sloths (yes, as in plural) and birds were not the only highlights at the tower.  A set of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System (one of four installed in Panama) is on the tower, and Karl Kaufmann explained to us how it works.  The Panama Audubon Society and Bird Studies Canada made Panama the first country in Central America to track migratory birds this way.

Motus system

After that, we spend some time tasting fine wines and a selection of cheeses and caught up on environmental, political and religious issues... actually caught up on ALL the issues.  Time flew by so fast that we almost forget the owls... almost.  The forests around the tower are home of many different species of owls and other night creatures. So, aboard one of the Canopy Tower's modified trucks and under the guidance of Michael, we started the search.

Well, to be honest, I never expect many species "seen" on these trips... owling is not an exact science and you should aim to identify the birds by their field marks... the vocalizations in the case of owls.  Nevertheless, we tried. The night was bright clear... actually not very good for owling.  After several stops, we only heard frogs and crickets... until Michael found this guy:

Great Potoo

Not an owl, but a Great Potoo in the middle of the night waiting for insects on a pole.  It was the only night bird for the trip... but a good one.  I want to thank all the participants for the good company and the Canopy Family staff for the awesome night!

Time for changes! AOU 57th supplement.

As a mid-year tradition, the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) published this month the 57th supplement to the Check-list of North American Birds.  This year's changes affect a lot the Panama bird list as well.  These changes include splits, lumps, English and Latin names changes, new orders and subfamilies and changes in the linear sequence of the list.  I will mention those splits/lumps  and names changes affecting Panama birds, but you're welcomed to check the publication to know all the other changes.  Are you ready to make some changes... you may have one or two new species in your life lists!  Lets check them out:

English and Latin names changes

• Morphological, biogeographical and genetic data proved that the medium-sized Shearwaters do not belong to the genus Puffinus and are now named Ardenna, leaving the Latin names of the next species this way: Ardenna pacifica, Ardenna grisea and Ardenna creatopus for Wedge-tailed, Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters respectively.
• Due to a split, the form of Green Violetear found in Costa Rica and western Panama (including Azuero Peninsula and ranging to South America) is known as Lesser Violetear (Colibri cyanotus).  The form present in Mexico and northern Central America is called now Mexican Violetear.
• The Gray-necked Wood-Rail form found in Costa Rica, Panama and South America is called now Gray-cowled Wood-Rail (Aramides cajaneus), due to a split of the form found in Mexico and northern Central America, which is called now Russet-naped Wood-Rail (Aramides albiventris).
• Genetic data indicate that the Yellow-breasted Crake is not closely related to Porzana, thus its new Latin name is Hapalocrex flaviventer.
• After the taxonomic changes of the form of Black-mandibled Toucan found in Panama (the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Ramphastos ambiguus swainsoni), its name is changed into Yellow-throated Toucan... insipid, but quite descriptive and inclusive for both forms (with black and chestnut mandibles).

  

  Yellow-throated Toucan

• Dusky Antbird is not a true Cercomacra antbird, and is now called Cercomacroides tyrannina.
• Due to splits affecting mostly extralimital forms, the form of Sirystes found in Panama (and the Choco bioregion) is called Choco Sirystes and its Latin name changed to Sirystes albogriseus.
• The Latin names of Tawny-crowned, Golden-fronted and Lesser Greenlets are changed into Tunchiornis ochraceiceps, Pachysylvia aurantiifrons and Pachysylvia decurtata.
• The Latin name of White-thighed Swallow is changed into Atticora tibialis.

Splits and lumps

• A long-expected change, the Blue-crowned Motmot complex have three recognized species in Mesoamerica, two of them occurring in Panama: Lesson's Motmot -instead of Blue-diademed Motmot- (Momotus lessonii) in western Panama and Whooping Motmot (Momotus subrufescens) in central and eastern Panama.  The original paper mentions a gap in the ranges of these two species in central Panama; however, probably both species occur replacing each other altitudinally in the central provinces.  You can help to better understand this by recording with photos, video and -specially- audio every Momotus motmot in that region of Panama (Cocle & Veraguas provinces and the Azuero Peninsula).
• The Plain Wren is split into three (yes, three!) species, two of them occurring in Panama: Canebrake Wren (Cantorchilus zeledoni) in western Bocas del Toro province (already accepted by the Panama Audubon Society -PAS-) and Isthmian Wren (Cantorchilus elutus) in the rest of Panama.  By far, that's my favorite name change so far!

  

  Isthmian Wren!

• The Three-striped Warbler is split into three species as well, two of them occurring in Panama: the Costa Rican Warbler (Basileuterus melanotis) of Costa Rica and western Panama (east to Veraguas) and the near-endemic Tacarcuna Warbler (Basileuterus tacarcunae) in eastern Panama and extreme northwestern Colombia.  The Tacarcuna Warbler has become very rare in its past distribution in Cerro Azul/Cerro Jefe and the Guna Yala foothills to the east of Panama City, so now it is a good time to search for it.

Clearer now?  It is time to update your records and to go out after those new species around the corner!

Global Big Day: 2016 edition

I pounded the alarm at 2:30 am.  It was May 14th... Cornell Lab's Global Big Day.  For two years in a row, Gloriela and I decided to bird that day in Cocle province (central Panama), joining more than 50 registered participants for Panama (some of them grouped into "teams") in this rally of birding.  We stayed at our house in Penonome, from where we drove to the foothills above the town of El Cope, into the General de División Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park (the longest name of any Panamanian national park).  A constant drizzle accompanied us along the way... in fact, our first bird for the day was not a night bird, but a Great-tailed Grackle that vocalized at its roost when we were leaving Penonome.  The rain didn't stop until 6:00 am... not a single owl was recorded of course, but it stopped on time for the dawn chorus.

Some birds recorded up there include Pale-vented Thrush, Stripe-breasted Wren, Zeledon's Antbird and great views (again) of Purplish-backed Quail-Doves, but in general the activity was low due to the rain and fog, so we moved to the lowlands, making several stops along the way.  Our itinerary followed exactly the same route we did last year (check this post), checking several sites along the Panamerican highway.  At the Aguadulce Salinas we found a group of 30 Black Skimmers resting on the ground, with some waders... quite unusual for this time of the year.

distant Black Skimmers 

In the way out of Aguadulce, we kept checking birds out of our list: Pearl Kite, American Kestrel, Crested Caracara, Savanna Hawk, Glossy Ibis, Wood Stork... all were seen while driving along the highway.  We skipped Las Macanas marsh in order to reach El Agallito beach in Chitre to find more waders.  We reached the place a little bit late, and the surf was far away.

Mudflats at El Agallito

Anyway, we got both Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpiper, a single Sanderling, both Yellowlegs and others more at the extensive mudflats.  As you can see, the day was cloudy... and we found rain in most of the sites that we visited, including at the supposedly driest place of Panama: Sarigua.

The Sarigua National Park is usually referred as a "desert" by the Panamanians... certainly is not a true desert  because it is full of life.  Our main target there, Common Ground-Dove, was a little bit hard to find due to the rain, but eventually we heard (and saw) an individual in a thorn bush by the road without leaving the car.  We stopped by Las Macanas marsh in the way back to Penonome; the fields surrounding the marshes were alive with dozens of both White and Glossy Ibises, lapwings, herons and egrets.  We met Hector there, a local guide and representative of the Grupo Ecoturístico Las Macanas (GEMA) who showed us a place where we saw some Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Crested Bobwhites and more herons.

Glossy Ibises

Before leaving, we deliver to Hector a spotting scope donated by the Panama Audubon Society, (PAS) since GEMA always helps us with the logistics during the International Waterbird Census and is interested in preserving and sustainably develop the local ecosystem.

Hector, with the scope at the GEMA headquarters

By the time we reached Penonome it was already dark.  We decided to visit the outskirts searching for owls and nightjars.  At Gloriela's parents property we saw several Common Pauraques and heard the last bird of the day, a Tropical Screech-Owl.

Common Pauraque

It was an intense day... for us, 18-hours of continued birding, 21 complete eBird checklist and many more "incidentals" ones, hundreds of miles and 135 species.  The numbers for Panama are good too, so far we are the best Central American country and are within the world's Top-Ten!  See you next year for the Global Big Day!  

Getting ready for the Global Big Day

During last night Panama Audubon Society's monthly meeting, we had the pleasure to receive two eBird project leaders, Christopher Wood and Marshall Iliff, who talked about the next Global Big Day and eBird in general. The idea is simple... to record most of the birds of the world into eBird checklists in May 9th, 2015.  This is the first ever Global Big Day, and Cornell Lab's Team Sapsucker chose our country to tally as many birds they can in 24 hours!  So far, their scouting trips have been exceptionally successful, finding (and documentating) very rare birds for Panama and the region, like Black Swift, Jabirú, Pearly-breasted Cuckoo, among others!

Many people have shown interest in participating in this event in Panama; so far, 25 teams have signed up for eBirding along the length and breadth of our country and I'm sure this event has raised awareness about the importance of this tool for citizen science.  Personally, I'll be birding in central Panama and will try to cover as many habitats possible in the way.  Good luck to ALL the eBirders, specially to Team Sapsucker!

Chris, Jan and Marshall

Look for the flags!

Last week, I went to Costa del Este (Panama City), taking advantage of a short gap in my daily duties to see what can I find at the mudflats.  The skyline of Panama City, as seen from the mouth of the Matías Hernández river in Costa del Este, is outstanding!

Panama City

As soon as I got there, the birds started to show up.  The upper Panama Bay is a very important shorebird conservation area of the western hemisphere... literally thousands of peeps and other shorebirds were feeding at the extensive mudflats or resting at the mangroves.  I recorded 11 shorebird species, plus many other aquatic birds, like herons, pelicans, cormorants, frigatebirds and gulls.  Most of them were exhibiting traces of their alternate plumage, like this Short-billed Dowitcher:

Short-billed Dowitcher

... or these Western Sandpipers (in fact, they have most of their alternate plumage):

Western Sandpipers

These two species were close enough to shore in order to obtain these photos... and in order to notice that at least one of the Western Sandpipers was banded!

Western Sandpipers

Probably is hard to tell from these photos, but the bird had a yellow band in the right leg and a gray engraved flag in the left leg.  After many photos and field observations, I was able to read the code XAV at the flag.  This cropped picture shows the code:

Western Sandpiper

Of course, I reported this sighting at http://report.bandedbirds.org/ReportResighting.aspx .  I know this bird was banded in Panama due to the combination of colors... and because I saw when they were banded (although not this same individual) in Costa del Este some weeks ago in a joint effort of Panama Audubon Society and The Center for Conservation Biology (sponsored by Environment Canada, National Audubon Society, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service).

Banding a Western Sandpiper

So, keep an eye for these banded bird while birding at the Upper Bay of Panama!