Off shore western Azuero: birds and mammals

It was 5:00 am last October 1st, 2016.  In spite of a not-so-favorable weather forecast, a group of intrepid birders, including George Angehr, Howard Laidlaw, Joris Deruwe, Miguel Siu and your blogger host were standing in the dark while Kees Groennedijk was taking care of the last details for our first pelagic trip of the year.  We were at the dock in Reina beach close to the town of Mariato in western Azuero Peninsula (Veraguas province).  A little "panga" took us along the Negro river and, eventually, to the fishing boat anchored off shore due to tide issues.

Part of the group at the dock in Negro river

Our pelagic trip started in the dark.  It was not after passing the 6:00 am mark that we started to watch some birds... the first one was the silhouette of a Magnificent Frigatebird.  We took the same route we did last year, navigating parallel to the western coast of the Azuero Peninsula to Punta Naranjo (the southwest corner of the peninsula), then off few miles to deep waters along the Continental Shelf break, moving to the west while chumming and then going back to Reina beach more or less in an straight line.

Punta Naranjo

Still within the Continental Shelf, our first highlight was an immature Red-billed Tropicbird that decided to swim quite close to the boat, allowing some shoots before taking off again.  The species seems to be regular in those waters according to Kees, but it was the first time I see it in the Pacific Ocean.  Eventually, we saw three to four different individuals, all of them immatures and within the Continental Shelf.

Immature Red-billed Tropicbird

Immature Red-billed Tropicbird

At Punta Naranjo we only saw two (instead of dozens) Brown Noddies flying close to the rocks.  By that time, it was evident that the most common species present was the Black Tern... loose flocks of up to 50 birds were seen each hour, specially within the Continental Shelf, plus other terns species like Royal and Common Terns inshore and many Bridled Terns well offshore... but also some resting on floating debris close to shore.

Brown Noddy 

Black Tern (basic)

Common Tern (alternate)

Bridled Tern (basic)

This time, our time at deep waters was not very productive.  At the chumming sites we only saw few Galapagos Shearwaters... the only tubenose recorded in the whole trip.  That's right... no other shearwater, petrel nor storm-petrel species that day.  At least, we were expecting two or three different species of storm-petrels... none was seen.  Were they not there?  The chum was not smelly enough?  We were not lucky enough?  Certainly, we still need to know a lot about our pelagic avifauna.

Galapagos Shearwater

Besides the birds (and lack of them), the other highlight was the number of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins that we managed to see.  Several dozens of these intelligent animals accompanied us for a while, they gave us a marvelous show!

And that my friends was our day at the sea.  No new birds for Panama and no life birds, plus a little bit of seasickness for the first time (weird, since the sea was quite calm)... but hey! that's pelagic birding!!!  Can't wait for the next one!

More on Coiba's fauna

If you only watch endemic birds during your visit to Coiba Island, off-shore central Panama, then you did it wrong.  Coiba is such an amazing place... rich in wildlife, most of it quite distinctive, reason why it is a national park including the surrounding waters, (rich in wildlife as well).  First of all, the boat ride from mainland is usually enriched with sightings of pelagic birds, whales and dolphins.  One of the most regular species is the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin... we found a pod of these graceful swimmers close to mainland.

Pantropical Spotted Dolphins

As its name suggests, they are widespread in tropic oceans; however, the next species is unique to Coiba.  It is pretty common and used to visitors around the rangers headquarters... in fact, I took the next photography right by the dinner hall.  As many other "endemics", this one looks rather similar to a mainland species; however, the Coiban Agouti differs in some skeletal (craneal) parameters.

Coiban Agouti

During my short visit to Coiba Island a couple of weeks ago, I managed to see many endemic subspecies of birds and mammals, including the agouti.  Curiously, the only mammal we actually targeted in this trip was not seen... but at least we heard it (or them) a couple of times.  For example, one of them vocalized at the beginning of this sound file recorded in Los Monos trail.

Did you hear it?  Listen carefully... just some howls at the very beginning.  Sometimes regarded as a good species, the Coiba Howler Monkey is most often considered a subspecies of the Mantled Howler Monkey.  When treated as full species, usually includes the Azuero Howler Monkey that is restricted (as its name suggest) to the Azuero Peninsula in central Panama... you can check some photos of this howler in this post.  Now another question.  Did you recognize the song in the sound file?  It was a White-throated Thrush, also represented by an endemic subspecies in Coiba.

The howlers were not the only primates recorded in the trip, we also saw a troop of White-faced Capuchins patrolling the beach near the rangers headquarters.  A lonely Bare-throated Tiger-Heron didn't pay too much attention to them, but they were the main starts during our departure of the island.

White-faced Capuchins (Coiba Island) 

White-faced Capuchin and Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

There are many endemic forms of animals and plants in the island... too many to list.  During a previous visit to the island I also saw the endemic subspecies of White-tailed Deer very close to the rangers headquarters... I managed a photo with a point-and-shoot camera... it is the smallest form of this widespread species.

tiny White-tailed Deer, ssp. rothschildi (Coiba Island)

Well, after all it was a great trip... birds, mammals and I not even mention ALL the lifers I got underwater while snorkeling with Kees at the coral reef in Granito de Oro Island... just another world!  

Pelagic off Western Azuero

The pelagic avifauna of Panama is essentially unknown.  Very few, if any, pelagic birding trips are done off Panamanian coasts, specially off the Azuero Peninsula (central Panama) where the Continental Shelf break is close to shore.  Several new species for Panama have been recorded in those trips in the last five years, including Tahiti Petrel, Pink-footed Shearwater and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, while many others have been confirmed and documented adequately.  That's why a pelagic trip in Panama is always exciting.  So, more or less one month ago, we took the opportunity to make a pelagic trip off the Azuero Peninsula again... but this time from its western side... departing from Reina beach close to the town of Mariato.  Our friend Kees Groenendijk (who runs the charming Heliconia B&B in the town of Malena with his wife Loes) organized everything: lodging, boat, captain (Tim), chum and snacks... so it was not difficult to convince George Angehr, Howard Laidlaw, Rafael Luck and Euclides -Kilo- Campos to join us in the adventure!

Rafael, Euclides, Howard, George, Jan and Kees

The Continental Shelf break was still one and a half our away to the south from the departing point, but the inshore waters were full of life, with American Oystercatchers and Collared Plovers at the sand of Reina beach, with over-summering Willets, Whimbrels and a lonely Spotted Sandpiper.  Soon, we started to see the first Brown and Blue-footed Boobies for the day, plus many Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans and even a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins close to Cebaco island.  Kees showed us some rocky islets close to Punta Naranjo (Azuero's southwestern corner) that were covered in Brown Noddies.  This tern is seldom seen so close to shore in Panama.

Rocky islets close to Punta Naranjo (and a Brown Pelican)

Brown Noddies 

The omnipresent Magnificent Frigatebird dwarfed the Brown Noddies, although they are quite large for a tern.

Magnificent Frigatebird and Brown Noddy

At this point we started to see real pelagic birds. The Continental Shelf break drops steeply VERY close to shore in this part of the Azuero Peninsula... in fact, most of the pelagic birding was done having the southern Azuero coast within sight.  Kees started to chum at several spots along the break... soon, we were surrounded by several Black and Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels attending the slick. I have to admit that this was the first time I saw those species so close and in detail!

Wedge-rumped and Black Storm-Petrels

Black Storm-Petrels

Black Storm-Petrel

Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel

These small tubenoses are well adapted for the rough seas, in spite of their size.  Most (if not all) of the Black Storm-Petrels seen were in wing molt, probably indicating non-breeding birds on its second cycle (year) at this date.  About the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels... I don't know if they can be ID to subspecies in the field.  Both the nominate tethys and kelsalli forms have been recorded in Panamanian waters.  These birds were evidently larger than the Least Storm-Petrels seen nearby and the wings looked narrow and long, with a shallow tail fork (they looked square-tailed in the field and in the photos), all consistent with nominate tethys.  As I mentioned earlier, we also saw some Least Storm-Petrels.  They showed little interest in the chum and only visited the slick for few seconds; however, I managed a diagnostic photo showing the graduated tail and the dark plumage resembling Black Storm-Petrel.

Least Storm-Petrel

The storm-petrels were the highlights of this trip due to the prolonged and detailed views of the birds, but we also recorded several Galapagos Shearwaters (all of them of the "light-winged" variation), a definitive Pink-footed Shearwater (fifth report for Panama, second one documented with photos) and a Nazca Booby flying to the west above the Continental Shelf break.

Galapagos Shearwater

Pink-footed Shearwater

Nazca Booby

The pelagic birds were not the only highlights of this trip.  At some point, we saw no less than four Humpback Whales, with one young animal leaping off the surface almost completely!  This, plus the dozens Pantropical Spotted Dolphins off shore in a feeding frenzy, the Bottlenose Dolphins inshore and the Spinner Dolphins spotted by some of the group (not by me), made it a four-species-day of cetaceans!

Humpback Whale

Pantropical Spotted Dolphin

I wish to thank Kees and Loes for receiving us and for organizing this amazing trip.  I know I'll be back to western Azuero soon... and not only for the pelagic birding because the area is home to many endemic taxa and other nature marvels.  See you soon!