Visiting Finca Bayano

Since the closure of the former Tocumen marshes to birders some years ago, we have been visiting a rice farm to the east of Panama City known as Finca Bayano, looking for those open habitat species of birds difficult to find around Panama City.  The site is promising since it have a nice mixture of habitats: pastures, gallery forests, scrubs and bushes, cultivated fields and so on...  So we visited it last weekend, reaching the place at sunrise.

Finca Bayano

I joined Rosabel Miro and Bill Adsett for this birding adventure... and to be honest, I was expecting a regular day in the field, however, we soon noticed that everything was set to have a great day!  Literally hundreds of herons, egrets, ibises and storks were feeding on the flooded fields.

Well, but all these species were common ones... then we started to notice some shorebirds in the same fields... first some scattered groups... by the end of the trip we saw no less than 100 Pectoral Sandpipers, both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted, Solitary, Western, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers... but more important, we saw at least two Stilt Sandpipers, pretty uncommon for Panama. I took a short video showing some Pectoral Sandpipers (is the first time I saw so many of them!).

As you can see, my digiscoping abilities are close to zero... but I just wanted to document the numbers.  The waders were not the only highlights.  We saw many species with nesting materials or feeding young.  In fact, we saw several pairs of elegant Pied Water-Tyrants making nests and at least two Pale-breasted Spinetails feeding young birds (they look rather plain).

Pied Water-Tyrant

Also impressive was the number and variety of raptors in those fields: both Caracaras, Bat and Laughing Falcons, Pearl, White-tailed and Hook-billed Kites, Common Black, Roadside, Gray-lined, Savanna and Zone-tailed Hawks were hunting all over the place... in fact, we just saw this Zone-tailed Hawk to grab a whiptail lizard from the ground.

Zone-tailed Hawk with whiptail lizard

However, the most surprising bird (at least for me) was another raptor... but not a diurnal one.  Over a field with dry grass I saw a ghostly figure approaching low to land over a bush facing away.  After a while, the bird turned its head 180º towards me... a Barn Owl was making eye-contact with me under a bright sun!

Barn Owl

Any day with an owl is a good day!

Trying again eastern Panama province for THE heron

Officially, we are experiencing an invasion of South American species into Panama.  The most remarkable example so far is the influx of Whistling Herons, the last ones seen in Gorgona (West Panama province) and another close to the town of Santa María in the Azuero Peninsula, both 100 and 200 km to the east of the first report close to Chepo! (see this eBird map).  In a random afternoon, I went to the original site close to Chepo with Osvaldo Quintero, who still needs the heron for his life list.  When we arrived, the place was very dry and hot.  We decided to explore the surroundings because the Whistling Heron was not in the original site.

Great Egret

Cattle Egret

We saw other herons species, like Little Blue Heron and both Great and Cattle Egrets.  The last two breed very close to the site; however, these were not the heron we were looking for!  Back in the site, we decided to wait.  Some common species started to show up as the afternoon wore on and the temperature descended.  We noticed a pair of active Pied Water-Tyrants picking insects from the ground and flying to some low bushes at the banks of a pond.

Pied Water-Tyrant 

Pied Water-Tyrant's nest

As you can see, they were carrying food into a globular nest... probably for some hungry chicks.  The minutes passed and the heron did not appear.  To protect me from the sun, I waited under the shade of a tree... and I was accompanied!  This little friend was also taking advantage of the shade to capture some ants.

Yellow-headed Gecko

Yellow-headed Gecko

This is a male Yellow-headed Gecko.  In the field, its body looks all dark... but a closer look reveals an intricate pattern of silver lines all over the body, except the lower belly and the tail, that has a white tip.  Also notice the blue spangles under the eye... sublime.  According to my grandparents, the introduced (and now abundant) House Geckos replaced this species in and around the houses... but this is prettier!

Buff-breasted Wren

After five hours, we saw no signs of the heron.  This Buff-breasted Wren said goodbye with several phrases of its sonorous song.  The bars in the closed wing were more evident in the field, just like those in the tail, separating it from the similar Plain Wren that is also present in the same habitat.  After all, it was a nice day in eastern Panama province!

Bird of the Month: Pied Water-Tyrant

The Pied Water-Tyrant (Fluvicola picta) is a small, active and attractive bird found from eastern Panamá to northern South America.  As its name suggest, this bird is always found close to water, in marshy habitat and sometimes open areas and even gardens.

In Panamá, it is found in the eastern half of the country, including around Panamá City, where it used to be common... now is difficult to find due to lack of adequate habitat.  I took the next photo in Costa del Este, many years ago, when the site was a huge marsh.

Both sexes look alike, and both contribute to incubate the eggs and raise the chicks.  They are often parasited by cowbirds.  In fact, we saw many cowbirds in the same fields where I took most of the photos appearing in this post.

For these, and many others reasons, is why we chose the Pied Water-Tyrant as our bird of the month!

Literature consulted:

1. Angehr G, Dean R.  The birds of Panama. A Field Guide. 2010

2. Del Hoyo J, et al. Handbook of the birds of the world Alive. Lynx editions.

In search of THE heron. Part I

There were some clues in the air... something really important was happening to the east of Panamá City.  But in spite of all my suppositions, I never thought that it would be a NEW species for the country and North America!  The news were published in various social media and in Xenornis a week ago.  A Whistling Heron was photographed and videotaped in the outskirts of the town of Chepo, 30 minutes east of Panamá City by Kevin Easley and others.  This is an extraordinaire record, since there are no known populations of this beautiful heron close to the Panamá border in Colombia.  Two distinct populations exists, one in the llanos of Venezuela and eastern Colombia (where I took the next photo, that I published elsewhere); the other, in the open lands of Bolivia to northeastern Brazil and Argentina.

So far, some resident birders visited the place after the first report, but the heron could not have been relocated.  So, accompanied by Rafael Luck, Venicio "Beny" Wilson and Itzel Wong, I went last saturday in search of it.   After checking maps of the area, Beny chose the route, following the old road to Chepo from the town of Palo Blanco, crossing pastures and degraded habitat, but also many gallery forests along creeks and rivers supporting species typical of wetter habitats.  That is so, that in our first stop we found a Rufous-breasted Hermit... essentially unexpected for us.

Others unexpected finds were Brown-hooded Parrots, Gray-headed Kite and this Gray-lined Hawk, nicely perched atop a dead tree.

However, the most common birds were those typical of open lands and marshy areas.  In fact, we checked many marshes in the middle of huge pasture lands, and we were glad to see again some species restricted to this type of habitat.  For example, this Pale-breasted Spinetail was very cooperative, calling from exposed perches and even showing the reason of its name.

And who can't be glad of finding Pied Water-Tyrants?  This elegant bird is restricted to the eastern part of the country, and always is a great bird to see.

And what about the heron?  Well, eventually we found the very same perch where the Whistling Heron was photographed.  The tree was a preferred perch for many species in the surroundings, including  Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Little Blue Heron and Great Egrets.  We waited and searched all around, but the heron was not there.

To be honest, we were quite optimistic, considering that the area is huge, full of adequate habitat... it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  However, we kept searching... only stopping for a quick meal in town.  That habitat was also excellent for birds of prey.  Besides those already mentioned, we saw other seven hawks and kites species, including this majestic Savanna Hawk.

We also saw (or heard) four falconids, including three pairs of American Kestrels.  Formerly only a winter visitor from northern latitudes; now, South American subspecies have been established in our fields.

Notice the completely lack of spots in the underparts of this beautiful male, characteristic of southern subspecies.  Well, we didn't find the heron... but have a lot of fun looking for it!

Birding the marshes. Part I

Last saturday, I joined Osvado Quintero early in the morning to explore some marshes to the east of Panama City where someone told us that he was seeing "clouds" of duck every morning since a while. Intrigued, we followed the directions and eventually found the site, surprisingly next to a huge urban development and a neighborhood.  Our first sight: CLOUDS of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks darkening the sky... amazing!

If you have the time (and patience) to count the dots, no less than 1500 birds are present in that photo... and this was only part of one of the flocks!  Eventually, we saw and photographed eight (8) ducks species that morning, definitively a record for Panama (but more about that in another post).  Quantity and quality, everything was exaggerated.  For example, we saw tons of American Coots, just the next photo shows more than 20!

Or the absurd numbers of Cocoi Herons and Wood Storks all over the place, but specially in a big pond where I took the next photo (just half of the pond in this photo).

We also recorded Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Striated Herons, among many others as you can see in the next photo (although I accept comments about the Striated Heron).

Of course, the Pied Water-Tyrant could not be absent.  We were so impressed by the immense flocks of other species that we saw only two of this smart flycatcher.

However, one of the highlights were two (YES, TWO!) Long-winged Harriers.  We saw first a dark bird with the characteristic profile and facial pattern, pale panels in the primaries, white rump band and many white tail bands.  We even managed to take some photos of this individual.  Then, we saw another individual, a brown one with creamy underparts and dark chest, surely a female.

With just a handful of reports, this was exceptionally good... rethinking it, I have been quite lucky with this species, and that day in general will be hard to forget!

Two different marsh birds

During a recent trip looking for good "birdable" marshes close to Panama City, I was able to register two different species of birds that, in spite that both shares the same habitat, are notably different in several ways.  The distinctive two-notes call of the Pale-breasted Spinetail revealed its position inside a bush... however, the skulking habits of this bird made it difficult to locate.

The Pale-breasted Spinetail is one of the most common and widespread furnarid (ovenbird) in Panama.  Like many other members of its family, it has a distinctive voice (to me it sounds like a little sneeze), furtive habits and modest plumage in different shades of brown, gray and white.  In fact, I managed to took these photos only because this bird react to a tape-recorded call.

By the other hand, the Pied Water-Tyrant is a conspicuous, active and silent member of the tyrant-flycatchers family, and, in Panama, is restricted to the central and eastern parts of the country.

Beautifully patterned in black-and-white, this bird always highlight any birding trip.  Easy to see and quite confident with the observers, I can't think in a more vivacious bird!

And what you think, quite different don't are they?

Easter Holidays in Darien. Part III

After an excellent day near El Salto town, in central Darien province (eastern Panama), our last day in Darien province started with a Pied Water-Tyrant at the grounds of our hotel in Meteti acting as a House Sparrow. This elegant bird was hunting the insects attracted during the night to the parking lot lamp. A couple of photos and we (Rafael, José Carlos, Mahelis, Gloriela and I) were ready to visit the Filo del Tallo Hydrological Reserve, to the south of Meteti. The first part of the trails, until the first creek, is full of Heliconias patches, thus making it Hermits' heaven! In fact, we saw five hermits species, including the one of the photo. The light conditions were awful, but you can see the long central rectrices tipped in white (ruling out Rufous-breasted Hermit and Band-tailed Barbthroat, both seen), the greenish back and the quite-straight-for-a-hermit bill (ruling out Long-billed and Stripe-throated Hermits, also seen), making it a Pale-bellied Hermit. Like the hermit, another eastern Panama specialty was hanging around the creek, a male Black Antshrike appeared allowing some photos (a female was there too, but was shyer). As its name suggest, it is completely black, but you can recognize the shrike-like, heavy bill characteristic of this genus. After a while, the trail runs along the border of the forest and a cleared patch with regenerative vegetation. The bird activity was great probably due to this mixture of habitats. We saw a Forest Elaenia working VERY low (it is usually a canopy-dweller, only detected by its calls), allowing us to see its yellow crown patch and an unexpected Mangrove Cuckoo (probably the first record for the Darien province)... but the bird that definitively stole the show was a very cooperative Cinnammon Woodpecker making a hole in a dead trunk right by the trail, almost at eye-level allowing GREAT photos!

Photographic oppotunities like that can not be wasted, so we spent almost 30 minutes with the woodpecker! After that, we continued our walk, entering the forest again. It was magical, with tall trees and hanging bridges, tons of butterlies and, of course, birds.

We started hiking uphill, finding Slaty-tailed Trogon, Golden-crowned Spadebill and an Olivaceous Flatbill in the way. Eventually, we reached our main target: a Golden-headed Manakins lek. It was crazy... around twenty gorgeous males were together in the same group of contiguous trees, making noise, exhibiting themselves, doing the "moonwalk" dance (moving backwards on its perch rapidly without evidently moving the feet... amazing!), and acting as really wackoes each time a female approaches (which occurred very often, so I suppose the competence was fierce). We even saw an immature male (notice the bright soft parts) performing the dances! The place was quite dark, so most of my photos of the gaudy males are not good enough to show you how really great are these birds. The deep black body contrasting with the bright yellow head and those expressive white eyes visible from far away are hard to forget! Again, we stayed long enough to impress that amazing spectacle in our minds and, reluctantly, started the way back. The raucous calls of a Red-throated Caracara helped us to locate the bird just under the canopy of a distant tree, but despite the distance I think the photo was very good. Formerly well distributed in Panama, now it is mainly restricted to the eastern part of the country, with scattered records from the western half, one of them recently from the Chiriqui highlands. In the way back to Panama City, we stopped at the San Francisco Reserve, near the town of Torti, and again in the Rio Mono bridge (both in eastern Panama province), adding more eastern Panama's specialties (with One-colored Becard at the bridge as highlight). After all it was a succesful trip, full of special birds, many of them not found in any other part of Panama, nor Central America (notice that I posted photos of thirteen species not found any further than Panama into North America in this three-parts account, starting here with Part I). We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did!