Our Global Big Day

Last May 9th was held the Cornell Lab's Global Big Day around the world, and Panama was not the exception.  In fact, Cornell's Team Sapsucker did its big day in our country, with amazing results.  Of course, my wife and I participated in this great event, and instead of choosing a route along the Canal Area and Panama City (aiming to a probable list of more than 200 birds), we decided to mobilize towards the interior of the country to begin our count in the foothills of Coclé province.  We stayed at some lovely cabins the previous day above the town of El Cope, where we finalized the details for the big day.

That's Gloriela "finalizing the details"

The alarm went off at 3:30 am.  We hardly sleep last night thinking about the day that awaited us.  As we loaded the car, we heard the distinctive nasal call of a Common Nighthawk above us, making it our first species for the day!  Our plan was to drive the dirt road all the way to the General de Division Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park, best known as El Cope NP (as you can see it has the longest name for a national park in Panama), and spent one to two hours owling; however, our car was unable to climb a slippery slope almost one mile before the park entrance (then we learned that day that no one could climb the slope), so we had to walk upslope in the dark, reaching the park entrance short before sunrise (I took the next photo later, with better light of course).

The place was foggy, dark and windy... and we heard few species during the dawn chorus (and no owls).  We waited a while to walk the trails inside the park... it was too dark to see anything, so we birded by ear...  I was in charge of the identification issues, bird photography and driving; Gloriela, of annotating the species, individuals, effort data and non-bird photography.  For no apparent reason, we called our team "The Penguin Squad" (yes, I know, we were only two of us... but it sounds cool).

The foothill forests of this national park are the most beautiful in Panama, and are the extreme eastern end of the range of several western species, like Chiriquí Quail-Dove and Black-breasted Wood-Quail (both heard at dawn).  Other species are more widespread, like Black Guan, Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, Pale-vented Thrush and Yellow-throated Chlorospingus, among others.

A shy Black Guan

Purplish-backed Quail-Dove

The Black Guan (found by Gloriela by the Visitors Center) was the only one for Panama during the event, so far.  The day was low... and we feared we would not have enough time to find some key species; however, we found our friend José Pérez and his wife Yissel birding along the main road inside the park.  They planned to bird most of the day and to submit their sightings to eBird, so we thought the place was well-covered and decided to start our way down to the car, with roughly 50 different species for the site after four hours.  We added many more species in the way down, with mixed flocks of tanagers and honeycreepers as the main highlights.  In the way down to the dry lowlands, we picked up new species everywhere: Boat-billed Flycatcher and Buff-throated Saltator at the town of El Cope, Brown-throated Parakeets, meadowlarks and Zone-tailed Hawk at La Candelaria, tons of herons, egrets and Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures at the Rio Grande savannas, and so on... eventually reaching the Aguadulces Salinas (saltflats).

A monument to the salt workers at Aguadulce

It was a little bit dissapointing... the saltflats were devoid of birds, dry and hot.  The things looked better at El Salado beach, where the exposed mudflats (part of the Parita Gulf) attracted the first waders for our day list: Whimbrels, Willets, Black-bellied Plovers and Black-necked Stilts, among others, were new for the day.  Leaving Aguadulce, we headed west along the Panamerican highway and then south, along the National highway into Herrera province... becoming the only eBirders for that province during the event.  Our first stop was the Santamaría ricefields, adding Savanna Hawk and Glossy Ibis.  Then, we headed to Las Macanas marsh.  Again, hot and dry... but at least we managed some great additions to our list, including this Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl:

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

The big lagoon was full of herons, including an absurd number of Great Blue Herons, Caspian Terns, Blue-winged Teals and two Lesser Scaups.  Several new species in that site... but we had to move.  Our next stop was the most arid and dry place visited on our trip, and protected by its own national park too: Sarigua.

Notice the barren terrain and the xerophytic vegetation in the above picture.  Probably not the first option for a bird-a-thon like this; however, because this was a nation-wide effort, we chose this place to look for a localized species.  It took some time before finding our goal.  Despite its name, this species is actually "common" only in Sarigua.

Common Ground-Dove

Yes, Common Ground-Dove!  The Panamanian population is isolated from populations both to the north and south, and probably merits recognition as a distinctive subspecies.  We found three different pairs close to the ranger station.  We also saw (and heard) several White-winged Doves, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyants and grassquits.

Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant

As expected, the place was very hot... so we headed to Chitré (Herrera province capital city), and then to El Agallito beach.   Although we reached the place late in the afternoon, the tide was just raising... and the exposed mudflats were extensive.  From shore we were able to spot hundreds of waders in the distance... so we put on our rubber boots and started to walk towards them.  And what a great place... flocks of Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers and five plover species among many more were wading on these mudflats.

That's me, looking for some shorebirds

When the sun began to hide, we picked the last diurnal species along the highway back to Penonome, where we were going to spent the night (at our house, of course).  We reached Penonome at night, and after a short break for dinner, we found Common Pauraque and Tropical Screech-Owl at 9:30 pm... making it a 19-hours day of intense birding!  After traveling 300 km by car and over 5 km on foot, 14 complete checklists (and other 9 incidental sightings) and lots of cokes and snacks, we managed to record 151 species for the day!  We had a lot of fun participating in this first Global Big Day, and it seems that Panama did very well... with more than 600 species recorded for the day.  What an achievement!   

Visiting Altos del Maria

I just came from Altos del María, a gated community in the foothills of western Panama province that have proved to be a good birding spot. Along with Osvaldo Quintero and Alfred Raab, an Altos' resident who kindly guided us through the area, we explored some nice areas with good access roads and good birds. Alfred was constantly saying that we were lucky because we found a sunny day without fog in the upper part of the housing development (La Rioca), where we walked La Coruña street finding a nice mixed flock right in the entrance, with Silver-throated Tanager and Common (very common) Bush-Tanagers, along with Rufous-capped Warblers (feeding youngs), Tufted Flycatcher, Thick-billed and White-vented Euphonias, at least two Yellow-billed Caciques and an Ochraceous Wren that Alfred immediately recognized by its Winter Wren-like call. A little farther we took a trail that leads to an observation tower, attracted by the frog-like call of two Purplish-backed Quail-Doves that eluded us despite our efforts... but bonus birds were the male Purple-throated Mountain-Gem and a shy Black Guan plus a spectacular view of the Cerro Trinidad in the distance. At the tower, we had a terrific view of the pacific lowlands, and of the forest at the foothills. It is possible to see both oceans in a clear day. We decided to visit some other sites before the fog covered everything. Among other species recorded were White Hawk, Pale-vented Thrush, a bright female Shiny Honeycreeper, Paltry and Southern Beardless Tyrannulets, Yellow-margined Flycatcher, Golden-hooded and Bay-headed Tanagers.

We start to return, stopping at the Styria gate (the "pyramid") from where you can see all the lower valley of El Maria, where the main community is. We found a big group of American Swallow-tailed Kites plus a Short-tailed Hawk soaring in a thermal. You don't very often see these birds at eye level, nor from above, so we enjoyed the sight for a few minutes. Then, we descended to the valley, to Alfred's place. Alfred have done a good job in his property, hanging feeders and making trails that hold many birds. Only in few minutes around noon we saw or heard Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Black-striped Sparrow, Plain, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens, a nesting Streaked Saltator and Lance-tailed Manakins... all of them typical of drier forest (like the Metropolitan Natural Park here in the city) than the humid mossy-covered forest that we found in La Rioca (which lies over the 1100 meters above sea level and on the Continental Divide). After a quick lunch, we headed to El Valle road (that connects Altos del Maria with El Valle de Anton), but as soon we got to the forest, the rain and the fog showed up. This part of the valley was full of flowering Inga trees that are very good for small hummingbirds (we only saw Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds) Despite our waiting, the rain didn't stop, so we decided to head back to Panama City after a great day in the foothills. Alfred: thank you for everything, I hope to see you soon!

Birding El Cope N.P.

The General de División Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park is located above the picturesque town of El Cope (that's why is aka El Cope N.P.) in the central coclesian foothills and it harbors lots of western highlands species not found farther to the east. It protects one of the most beautiful montane cloud forest in Panama. The promise to find rare and elusive birds led me, Osvaldo Quintero and Hildegar Mendoza to this special place last sunday, blessed with an unusually good weather. After a 3-hours drive from Panama city, we met our local guide, Mr. Santana, at the rangers station and then we moved to the Visitor Center, where Rafael Luck and Euclides "Kilo" Campos were already waiting for us. They were returning from an intrepid one-day trip to Cobachón, following the instructions posted here (and yes, they saw the Azuero Parakeet). They had a surprise. While waiting for us, they walked the first part of the Snowcap (La Rica) trail finding several individuals of Bare-necked Umbrellabirds plus a Lattice-tailed Trogon!!! Wow... hoping not to miss the birds, we literally ran to the trail. Santana was the first to spot two short-crested Umbrellas' with no visible bare skin. They were feeding, one of them seemed curioser, allowing us to take some pictures (confirming our impression that it had white markings in the underparts... maybe a young bird?). After several minutes, a third bird appeared, this one being bigger and heavier with a partially hidden dull red bare skin in the throat, but a short crest. It fed in a more eminent way, shaking the branches wherefrom it was taking the fruits and even catching really BIG insects, striking them violently before swallowing them. Occasionally they vocalized, probably in response to our recording. We found a mixed flock, while watching the Umbrellabirds, composed by Tawny-crested, Black-and-yellow and Speckled Tanagers plus a group of three or four Yellow-throated Bush-Tanagers and a female Black-and-white Becard. Hildegar called my attention toward a tiny "baby" hummer that proved to be a female Snowcap, while Osvaldo was watching a Stripe-throated (Little) Hermit face-to-face. Farther in the trail we found another mixed flock, this time with Golden-olive Woodpecker, Carmiol's (Olive) Tanager, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Spot-crowned Antvireo, Slaty Antwrens, Tawny-faced Gnatwrens and Gray-breasted Wood-Wrens. Santana showed us a perched male Ruddy Quail-Dove that stayed for a couple of minutes. We started to return and then, someone flushed a reddish bird that landed a few meters away on a branch for a few seconds, enough to recognize it as a Chiriqui Quail-Dove, a bird only found at higher elevations, but seasonally common in that place according to Santana. You can see in the photo by Osvaldo (used with permission) the uniform reddish colour, the totally gray crown and the marked lores. The neck scalloping was more evident than the moustachial stripe in the field. Happy with the finding, we met again with Rafael and Kilo at the Visitor Center where we heard a Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, the third Quail-Dove of the day. Rafael and Kilo birded the Rana trail, finding a mixed flock of tanagers plus a Orange-bellied Trogon and a Striped Woodhaunter. We decided to walk the Helechos trail, a short loop trail behind the Visitor Center. Osvaldo had been lucky in this trail a year ago so he wanted to give it a chance. He played a recording of a Black-crowned Antpitta two or three times when suddenly it materialized only a few feet from me, responding with all its forces. A really spectacular bird as you can see in my photo. Also note the clay on the bill, maybe it was excavating a nest or looking for earthworms? Currently, taxonomic issues put this bird with the south american Gnateaters, all of them smaller than the Pittasoma. For me, it always will be an Antpitta. After a superb birding, we headed to the lowlands, to Penonome where we had our lunch. After some deliberations, we decided to go to El Gago, looking for some lowlands birds. As usual, we were lucky with the raptors, finding tons of Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures (a better name could be Multicolour-headed Vulture), Crested and Yellow-headed Caracaras, White-tailed and Pearl Kites, Roadside and Savanna Hawks, American Kestrels and two Aplomado Falcons. Others specialties were the Plain-breasted Ground-Doves, Mourning Doves and Crested Bobwhites along the road. A nice day with amazing creatures, great weather and even a life bird!