In search of Darien's specialties

The Darien province, in eastern Panama, holds a myriad of south american birds not found in any other site in North America (OK, that is using the boundaries of the AOU's North American Classification Committee).  And... it is not necessary to mount an expedition to see some of these birds, as we prove it last month.  The group of birders including me, Euclides Campos, Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck, were ready to obtain some lifers in spite of the short time available.

We stayed at Meteti, from where we headed very early in the morning (having breakfast on route) to the wet pastures east to the town of Betzaida.  At a marshy patch with long reeds, we found one of the targets of our trip: the Yellow-hooded Blackbird... and not only one, but many singing males, displaying in a courtship behavior.

The female is duller (considerably), but distinctive as well.  We saw both males and females flying outside the reeds to a nearby farm and vice versa.  The resident status of this species was confirmed some years ago in Darien (and North America), and is expanding westward.

At the same patch, we saw a singing adult male Large-billed Seed-Finch.  Also a south american "invader", this male was feeding a young partially hidden inside the reeds.  The young had a normal-sized bill.

This bird has been found westward into Panama province (once), but the Darien is still the only regular region for it in North America, the same as the next species: the Spot-breated Woodpecker, that we found next to the road.  The lack of red malar make this a female.

We moved to the east, closer to the town of Yaviza, to a patch of tall forest remaining along the mighty Chucunaque river.  The avifauna changed rapidly, with many species typical of humid forests present, like Barred and Black-breasted Puffbirds, Black-bellied Wren, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, both Crested and Black Oropendolas and even a noisy Red-throated Caracara that perched high above a fig tree.

After a while, we started our way to the road of El Salto, which crosses a nice forest, part of it protected by the Vida Nueva Foundation... however, we stopped on route in order to watch a Limpkin atop a tree.  They are not uncommon in this part of the country, but it is always great to have sights like this!

At the road to El Salto, we crossed several mixed flocks.  The biggest one included Yellow-margined and Yellow-breasted Flycatchers, White-flanked and Moustached Antwrens, White-shouldered and Plain-colored Tanagers, Tropical Gnatcatchers and more.  Then Euclides heard the call of one of my main targets: the Double-banded Graytail.  Soon, we were seeing three individuals (including one immature) of this Darien specialty... a life bird for me!!!

What a great trip... and we only spend half-day birding!  In the return journey, we made a short stop at the Elementary School in the town of Torti (eastern Panama province) where Euclides identified a group of 30+ Brown-chested Martins perched on a wire.  This austral migrant is seldom reported despite it is quite regular in this part of Panama.  Great way to end the trip!

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!

Easter Holidays in Darien. Part I

Where in Panama can you find Spot-breasted Woodpeckers on TV antennas? El Real de Santa María is one of such places, surrounded by pristine habitat and lots of avian specialties of the eastern Darien lowlands. This is my second visit to this historical place, again with a Panama Audubon Society's trip, so well organized by Rosabel Miró and cols. I joined them in the last minute, so I went to El Real by my own, and after six hours in a bus and a ride with a family on a boat I met this year participants. It was late when I arrived to El Real, so all the others participants told me about the birds they found few hours before in El Mercadeo road, in route to the town, including a pair of these woodpeckers nesting in a telephone pole, among others. My room mate, Rafael Luck, showed me all the excellent photos he took during the short walk (that I missed), so I resigned myself to wait until the next day (Good Friday) to enjoy the birding around the town and tried to sleep, realizing that it was not an easy task considering the brutal heat of the place and the fact that the town gets noisy during the holidays. Early the next day, we went to Doña Lola's restaurant for breakfast, finding a Pale-bellied Hermit right in front of it, in a little bush. Everything was ready for the day, so we headed to Piji Basal... our destination was the Pirre rangers station at the Darien National Park. On route we saw many birds, including Plumbeous and Mississippi Kites, the first of many Roadside Hawks, Pied Puffbird, Spot-crowned Barbet, a pair of Muscovy Ducks and a Wood Stork flying, and so on... We did not reach Piji Basal because of the road conditions so we started to walk the trail to the station, finding almost immediately a beautiful male Green-crowned Woodnymph showing all its irridiscense. The birding was a little bit slow inside the forest, maybe because of the heat of the day. We heard many Chestnut-backed Antbirds in the way and found a lek of Golden-collared Manakins. We also found other wildlife (mammals, insects, frogs and reptiles), but I'll be posting about them in another entry. Other birds found in the way to the station include Olivaceous Flatbill, Ruddy-tailed and Sulphur-rumped Flycatchers, White-whiskered and Black-breasted Puffbirds, Black and Crested Oropendolas and a very quiet White-fronted Nunbird (nicely found by George Angehr). Notice the pale wing covert, typical of the pallescens race of eastern Panama. It took several hours to reach the rangers station, but once there we rested a bit before looking for birds again. We tried the Mirador trail, but the heat and the roughness of the trail prevented us from advancing. Anyway, we heard a Ruddy Pigeon, a Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner and an antswarm with Bicolored Antbirds and Plain-brown Woodcreepers. In the way down Rosabel found a gorgeous Semiplumbeous Hawk perched nearby and a mixed flock with Red-eyed Vireos, Scarlet and Yellow-rumped Tanagers and Chestnut-sided Warblers. We tried the orchard for some forest border birding, hearing at least two Red-throated Caracaras that only allowed great views later in the day. We started our return journey, and most members of the group (including me) decided to have a refreshing dive in the waters of the Peresenico river, accompanied by a Buff-rumped Warbler. The way back was uneventful, and we found scattered birds, including more oropendolas, Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, more caracaras and a life bird for me: a pair of White-headed Wrens working in the canopy while calling. The last stop in the road produced Collared Aracaris, more barbets, Limpkin, and an Orange-crowned Oriole for the delight of the group. It was too late when we arrived to El Real, so we decided to have our dinner at Doña Lola's and then returned to our hotel to make the list of the day. The plans for the next day included a visit to Uroseca and to Pinogana.