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?    

Pewees and Empids of Panama City

If there is a group more difficult to identify than the pewees and Empidonax flycatchers (Empids) in the New World, then I don't know it... these members of the Tyrant Flycatchers family are extremely similar, specially here in Panama where most of them occur as long-distance migrants (so often with faded plumages and silent).  The "difficult-to-ID" label doesn't apply to all of them... some are quite distinctive, as those residents of Panama's western highlands (check this).  In Panama City (central Panama), there is only one resident pewee... the Tropical Pewee.

Tropical Pewee

This species is extremely similar to other migrant pewees... but this one vocalizes frequently (that's how I identified the above individual), thus making it easy to ID.  Also notice the pale loreal area (the area between the eye and the base of the bill) and the relatively short primary projection (the length of the wing/primaries beyond the tertials on a resting bird).  Compare it with the next species:

Eastern Wood-Pewee

VERY similar!  Silent birds during migration season are hard to ID, but I also heard this bird, it is an Eastern Wood-Pewee.  They become very common in Panama City as passage migrants, where they frequently vocalize as well.  Now compare this bird with the next one (that I saw in the same site that this Eastern Wood-Pewee):

Western Wood-Pewee

First of all, its darker overall color is evident at first glance.  However, notice also its straight back.  In comparison, the Eastern Wood-Pewee looks hunchbacked.  This is a Western Wood-Pewee, which is not that common at all in Panama City during migration.  This one didn't vocalize, but with careful observation it can be ID properly.  Other field marks to notice are the different wing bars, with a dull upper wing bar and a bright lower wing bar.  In Eastern Wood-Pewee, both wing bars are equally bright.  Other differences are better appreciated in the next photo of the same individual:

Western Wood-Pewee

It has a mostly dark lower mandible and a more extensive vest compared to Eastern Wood-Pewee.  Other differences in posture, primary projection / tail length ratio and tail angle are not evident in these photos... but at least you can see that it is not absolutely necessary to listen these birds to positive ID them.  It is a shame that we can't say the same about identifying Empids... check for example this one, I took the next photo the same day I saw both pewees above:

Traill's Flycatcher

Traill's Flycatcher

Prominent wing bars, eye-ring, coloration, behavior and short primary projection identify it as an Empidonax flycatcher (not a pewee)... considering the not-very-prominent eye-ring and size it can only be identified as a member of the former Traill's Flycatcher complex (Alder and Willow Flycatchers).  I took the photo last weekend, so both species are expected.  Anyone want to try?  The only other regularly found Empid in Panama City is the Acadian Flycatcher, which usually favors a different habitat (forest), is smaller and has a more prominent eye-ring... but several other very-similar species have been recorded as vagrants around and close to the city.

Acadian Flycatcher

The last pewee found in Panama is one relatively easy to identify due to its larger size, large-head look and prominent vest in the underparts, the Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

So, are you ready to ID our pewees and Empids?

Stopping by the park

Exactly three years ago, I photographed a pair of Striped Owls, with my family, right in the middle of Panama City at the very popular Parque Omar (here the photos).  Today, my friend Osvaldo Quintero showed me this Striped Owl almost in the same site, over the tennis court:

Striped Owl

The Striped Owl is rarely seen in Panama City, where there is little available habitat.  This individual was discovered due to the droppings that appeared each morning on the court since some days ago.  A second individual had just left the site, according to the tennis players.  This owl is beautifully patterned in warm brown, white and black... and have the conspicuous ear-tufts associated with owls by the non-birders.

Striped Owl

After some shots, I left the site with the owl exactly in the same site.  If you want to see it just check the branches above the tennis courts over the droppings.  Happy birding!   

Some gulls overhead

It is that time of the year when most of our wintering gulls depart to their breeding grounds in North America... and is not rare to see some species in unusual sites or in massive numbers gathering together to start (or continue) the long journey.  For example, some days ago I went to one of the huge malls in Panama City for some last minute shopping; however, something caught my attention at the parking lot:

Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls

It is not rare to see the common Laughing Gulls at the mall and at the nearby bus terminal, but this time I saw a nice Ring-billed Gull among them.  This is not the first time this species had been reported there, but certainly was the first one for me.  The Ring-billed Gulls are regular along the coast in Panama City... but this place is not in the coast.

Ring-billed Gull

I then moved to Panama Viejo, where the extensive mudflats attracts hundreds of Laughing Gulls... but this time, they were outnumbered by Franklin's Gulls.  Of course, both species are regular in Panama... but is only during migration when you can see these numbers.

Laughing and Franklin's Gulls

Not only that, most of the Franklin's Gulls were in alternate plumage, with a very nice rose color to the breast and conspicuous wing patterns and black hoods.  They were easily ID at flight as you can see in the next photos:

Franklin's Gulls 

Franklin's Gulls

There are been several reports of Franklin's Gulls flocks in northern Central America as well... so it is time to grab your binoculars to watch out these gulls passing through!

And talking about colorful migrants...

Just a short note.  After incidentally finding my friend Osvaldo while birding in Metro Park yesterday morning, he agreed to show me the city park where his son first found a wintering American Redstart some weeks ago.  It was almost noon, and the place seemed quiet... just a city park in the middle of a nice residential area in Panama City.  At first, just the most common species were evident: Blue-gray Tanagers, Yellow Warblers and Yellow-crowned Euphonias.

(Northern) Yellow Warbler

I followed Osvaldo to the spot where he relocated the redstart, finding some seedeaters, grassquits and two Summer Tanagers in the way.  Of course, the colorful migrant I'm talking about was not the Summer Tanager... but it was a nice bonus.

male Summer Tanager

After some pishing, a curious male American Redstart showed up.  The contrasting orange patches were quite conspicuous of course.

male American Redstart

This is not a rare species in Panama, but having one wintering right in the middle of the city is worth the effort.  Thanks Osvaldo for the tip!

male American Redstart

Birds migrate, eBirders count!

And it is again the time of the year where some impressive flocks of migrant birds can be seen in the sky on their annual southbound passage to South America through the Panama isthmus.  This is certainly true for the daylight migrants, like the raptors.  Since yesterday, some impressive flocks of both Plumbeous and Mississippi Kites have crossed Panama City's skies... although few Panamanians are aware of that.  For me, it was kind of special because I recorded for the first time a flock of Swallow-tailed Kites from my balcony.

Swallow-tailed Kites

Swallow-tailed Kite

Yes, now my balcony list stands at 118 species!  Just second before I recorded a huge flock of Plumbeous Kites that were new for my list too.  These birds approached from the southwest, took the thermal current very close to my apartment (thus I was able to see the black tails with white bars and the rufous primaries) and leave it very high flying eastward.

Plumbeous Kite

However, today was truly spectacular... at first, a little flock of 50 Plumbeous Kites flew low enough to see the same field marks I witnessed yesterday; then, a second group follow them with some Black Vultures... however, this were congeneric Mississippi Kites.  Notice the pale heads and pale secondaries of these birds.

Mississippi Kites and Black Vultures

While seeing this second flock, I noticed some "tiny spots" in the background.  After focusing it properly, I realized the these "tiny spots" were thousands of kites very high in the sky... too high to ID properly to species.  They were Ictinia kites for sure.  Immediately, I started to estimate the number of individuals in this Mississippi/Plumbeous Kites flock.  First, I quickly counted 100 individuals, got a sense of the proportion of the flock they take up and then extrapolated by hundreds the rest of the flock.  My estimation was 6000 birds.  It sounds straight forward... but it needs some practice; however, after a while you will make it automatically.  A very interesting article about counting birds can be found in the eBird main (or just click HERE).  Of course, to use this method you need a fairly uniform flock of the same species/group.  For example, this photo shows approximately one third of the flock I saw today:

All those dots are Mississippi Kites, with at least three Black Vultures mixed in (you may need to enlarge the photo)

For purely educational purposes, I divided this photo into four equal parts and counted individuals in one of these parties (which represent 1/12 of the original flock).  Do not pay attention to the size and shape of the red circles ... I only drew them for not count the same individual two or three or ten times!

533 Mississippi/Plumbeous Kites (and a Black Vulture); thus, a flock of 6396 individuals (533 x 12)

I did the same with the next picture, which I took with a larger zoom, and representing approximately one tenth of the flock:

Many Mississippi/Plumbeous Kites

578 Mississippi/Plumbeous Kites; thus, a flock of 5780 birds (578 x 10)

Using both estimates, I calculated an average: 6,088 Mississippi/Plumbeous Kites in that single flock (6396 + 5780 / 2).  That's why I wrote down that number in my eBird checklist and not my first estimate of 6000 birds... although they are pretty similar!  So what are you waiting for... it is time to practice and to look up for migrant flocks of birds!

Gulls and Terns by the Beltway

Coastal Beltway

Panama City's waterfront, with its manicured gardens, wide sidewalks and cycleways, sport fields and courts and several other facilities, is a very popular site to spent some time during the weekends.  Today, like every sunday, four lanes of the Coastal Beltway became a huge cycleway (38 kilometers long!) throughout the morning.  I don't bike, but took advantage of the empty sidewalks to take some pictures of the gulls and terns (and other birds) along the route.  The inshore waters were full of pelicans, cormorants and frigatebirds.  I checked a tiny beach close to the Yatch Club, where several gulls and terns (and feral Rock Pigeons) were resting.

Laughing Gull

As you can see, some Laughing Gulls are in complete alternate plumage... it is seen just for a short period of time in Panama... the same applies for alternate Sandwich Terns.

Sandwich Tern

Both species are common year-round in Panamanian coasts, but during the passage period, they become locally abundant.  I really like the light pink tones to the breast of these two species when they are in high breeding plumage... which is seldom seen in Panama of course.  After a while, I noticed another tern species mixed in with the Sandwich Terns.  Structurally very similar, both in shape and size, this individual had a yellow-orange bill:

Sandwich and Elegant Terns

An Elegant Tern!  Notice how similar it is to the Sandwich Tern next to it (thus, quite different to the Royal Tern, also present in the site).  The Elegant Tern is an uncommon and irregular passage migrant in the Pacific coasts of central Panama, with no peak of abundance... but I'm pretty sure that by this time, most of them are farther north on route to their breeding grounds... finding one of them during such a short walk along Panama City's waterfront made my day!

Elegant Tern

Meet Flubby

Yesterday, I contacted an old friend of mine, Edgardo Tejada, who have been posting photos of a nocturnal visitor to his house since almost two months ago: a Tropical Screech-Owl.  It has been a while since the last time I saw or heard this species, so I decided to pay him a visit to his house in Panama City.  It took me a bit because I was having dinner with my family ... and when we reach his house, Edgardo told us that the owl was gone.

Waxing crescent over Panama City

Too bad I thought, but Edgardo told me not to worry... he is a careful birdwatcher, and after two months watching Flubby (his girlfriend named it that way) he knew its routine... and assured me that the little bird would be back in 30 minutes.  So we walked along the street with a low-powered flashlight and under the light of the waxing crescent moon, catching up with our most recent birding trips and chatting, essentially, about everything.  Suddenly, Edgardo told me to look up into a Tropical Almond tree (Terminalia sp.)... Flubby was spying us quietly!

Tropical Screech-Owl (Flubby)

We were amazed, this little creature was very close... even my daughter Gabrielle was able to see it with her bare eyes without problems.  Compared to others Tropical Screech-Owls, Flubby seems to be both smaller and darker... certainly, it is more tame and confident than others individuals seen in Panama City.  We do not know if this is because of familiarity with people, youth or maybe it's a escapee pet (although this bird is so good hunting cockroaches and grasshoppers that we doubt it was a pet).

Tropical Screech-Owl (Flubby)

We saw (and photographed) Flubby for 15 minutes, more or less, until it disappeared as briefly as it appeared.  You can see in these photos the black borders to the facial disk, the short ear tufts and the herring-bone pattern in the underparts.  This is the fourth owl species I'm able to photograph right here in Panama City (the others are Barn, Black-and-White and Striped Owls), and I wish to thank Edgardo for giving me the opportunity to watch and photograph Flubby!

Random stops along Panama City coast

The modern and busy Panama City offers more than lush and cheap shopping, it offers the chance to watch thousands of waders and other aquatic species without much effort.  Some days ago, I visited several sites along the coast just to see what can I find.  My first stop was at the west bank of the Panama Canal, at Farfan.  This site is opposite to the Amador Causeway, where the Biomuseo is now an iconic symbol (designed by Frank Gehry).

Biomuseo

There is a huge pond just next to the beach, surrounded by a dike with overgrown vegetation.  I was able to walk along this dike for some sections.  There were many shorebirds species, including this Lesser Yellowlegs (that was not shy at all).

Lesser Yellowlegs

I was interested in the ducks, since this site produced in the past some very rare species and this season some rare ones were reported too.  I saw several groups of Blue-winged Teals, which is the commonest wintering duck in Panama.  There were some individuals far away in the other side of the pond that I was unable to ID, but certainly they were teals too.

Blue-winged Teals

Blue-winged Teals

One of these groups of teals included seven Lesser Scaups as well... can you separate them?

Blue-winged Teals and Lesser Scaups

I also saw a weird concentration of Franklin's Gulls resting in this pond.  The Franklin's Gull is a common passage migrant, but quite uncommon as winter resident.  I counted no less than 35 individuals, including this first-winter individual.  Notice the white outer tail feathers, broad eye crescents, white underparts and pale inner primaries.

Franklin's Gull, 1st-winter

Then I moved to Panama Viejo.  The number of Laughing Gulls was impressive... and there were also some Franklin's Gulls with them.  Notice the difference in wing patterns and general shape/size of the two flying adults in basic plumage.

Laughing and Franklin's Gulls in basic plumage 

Franklin's Gull in basic plumage

I also saw a very distant Lesser Black-backed Gull among the Laughings and several terns species... too distant for photos.  But several other species were close enough to appreciate well, like this Wood Stork.  Panama Viejo is a regular spot for them in the city and, as you can see, they can be effective as pest control. What major city in the world has no rat problem?

Wood Stork (having lunch)

Nearby, a flock of elegant Black-necked Stilts was feeding in the exposed mudflats.  They are found year-round in this site and are beautifully patterned in black and white with long, pink legs.  They are even more elegant when flying.

Black-necked Stilt

But nothing compares to the elegance of the American Avocet... and a pair seems to be wintering right there in Panama Viejo!  One individual literally materialized in front of me, close enough for some shots.  It was feeding in the water.  When it flew again, I noticed something rarely seen... its curious pink toes.

American Avocet

Nice collection of birds along our coast!