A long twitch

Twitching is an exciting part of birding.  Leaving everything behind to go after a rare bird, sometimes hundreds of miles away, is synonymous of adventure to me.  Sometimes you get the bird... or dip miserably... but hey, that's birding!

Katiuska, Elida, Jan Axel, Yasmín, Manlio and Edgar (photo by Edgar's sister)

On October 31st, a vagrant Ruff was video filmed in a rice field outside the town of David, in Chiriqui province (western Panama).  The Ruff (Calidris pugnax) is an Old World shorebird that exceptionally wanders to Central or South America.  With just few old reports for Panama (none documented with photos), the report was worth the drive from Panama City... some 500+ kilometers away.  On November 1st, I arrived with Gloriela around 8:00 am at the site.  The bird was relocated earlier by its discoverer Yasmin Cerrud and a group of local birders that included Katiuska Sicilia, Elida Valdés and Manlio Cuevas, among others, but the bird flew away quite quick, not allowing more photos or videos.  I knew all these birders through social media only... so, meeting them personally was, without doubt, the highlight of my trip!  Later, Edgar Araúz joined us (after driving the previous day from Panama City as well).

Shorebirds and waders

We spent most of the morning at the original site of the sighting, scanning the fields and the wetlands with our scopes.  We had a great time finding bird after bird.  The diversity was great.  The waders, shorebirds and raptors were well represented, including stunning species like Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-necked Stilt, Southern Lapwing, Marbled Godwit, both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Northern Harriers, Savanna Hawk, Peregrine Falcon and an amazing sight of more than 4000 Blue-winged Teals!

Roseate Spoonbills (Platalea ajaja)

Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis)

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

Blue-winged Teals (Spatula discors)

After a while, only Yasmin, Edgar and I stayed enough to keep searching the Ruff (Gloriela, wisely, stayed at the car).  We walked throughout the rice field, sometimes getting stock in the mud or getting wet in the numerous shallow water holes of the place... but we had fun.

The bird was not re re-located.. so I was not able to include it in my Life list.. but finally meeting my old friends of Chiriqui was priceless!!! 

Jan Axel and Gloriela

Huge numbers in Aguadulce!

As you may know by now, the Aguadulce Salinas (saltponds) are just 30 minutes away of our house in Penonomé (central Panamá).  I took advantage of this proximity and visited the saltponds very early last sunday hoping to find interesting species closer to the road due to the low traffic at that time... and it worked.

As you can see, the diversity and numbers were awesome... and this is only a fraction of the flock!  Can you see how many species were together in that pond?  The Roseate Spoonbill was, by far, the most attractive bird... the pink shade comes from the food it eats: tiny crustaceans rich in carotenoids produced by the algae they eat as well.  The Wood Stork is not exactly a beauty...but is extremely elegant when flying.  I saw no less than 500 storks along the ponds... and amazing number at any season.

Most egrets and herons were fairly numerous as well, but not as the storks.  The most common was the Great Egret as you can see in the first photo.  Also recorded were Snowy and Cattle Egrets, Great Blue, Little Blue, Tricolored and Green Herons.  The Black-necked Stilts were abundant too... but they like to congregate in little, sparse groups all over the ponds.  They are resident there (the only known breeding site in Panama), but the numbers increase with the arrival of northern migrants.

Despite migration has just started, the ponds were covered in migrant shorebirds and plovers.  Thousands of peeps (including Western, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers), Semipalmated Plovers and both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs were feeding at the ponds.  This Greater Yellowlegs shows the typical bicolored (paler to the base), slightly upturned bill, separating it of the Lesser Yellowlegs.

However, it was another migrant that surprised me.  I found a resting group of Black Skimmers in a sand bar in the middle of a pond... not an unusual sight for the site, nor for the time of the year.  Then, more and more flocks started to arrive directly from the sea... I counted 238 birds (at least)... all seemed to belong to the race breeding in North America.

Some other species were simply more conspicuous than in other visits... that was the case of the White-winged Doves.  Restricted to the drier areas along the Parita Peninsula of central Panamá, this species is readily found along the street running parallel to the beach heading to the fishing town of El Salado.  I found many individuals, some in groups of three to four birds, some vocalizing.

The last bird I found in the ponds was also the less expected.  A basic-plumaged Red-necked Phalarope was swimming and feeding, bobbing its head nervously and allowing some shots.  This species is mainly pelagic... that is, usually found away of the coast in the sea; but Aguadulce is a quite regular site to see this migrant.  Well, what a great day at the saltponds!

P.D.:  I count eight (8) different species in the first photo.  How many do you?

Festivities in Cocle province. Part I

November is a month of national festivities here in Panama... Gloriela and I took advantage of the long weekend, starting thursday, november 3th (celebrating the separation of Panama from Colombia), to rest and to spent some time at our house in Penonome, the capital of Cocle province in central Panama. That day, we went to the Aguadulce Salinas (saltponds) quite early. The chill breeze from the ocean and the immensity of the place was appreciated better by the fact that we almost saw no one else in the place! We were just starting the long road through the saltponds when I noticed a medium-sized, dark heron close to it. The all dark bill and legs confirmed by initial suspicion: an immature Reddish Egret in dark phase! It was our closest encounter with that bird, and only my third sighting of it (lifer for Gloriela!). The egret was still, and only moved to get away, so we were not able to see the acrobatic feeding behavior characteristic of this species. Essentially a rare bird for the republic, the Reddish Egret seems to be quite regular in this site. There were big -but distant- flocks of Semipalmated Plovers and unidentified peeps (those identified seemed to be Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers), plus tons of egrets and herons. A group of big waders, composed by a migrant Great Blue Heron, an adult Wood Stork and an absolutely gorgeous Roseate Spoonbill, was a great sight. The bright pink plumage of the spoonbill is simply beautiful, and makes this species identifiable from long distances. Blurry photos.... but a great bird anyway!

We spend less than two hours in Aguadulce. In the way back to Penonome, we stopped at my grandma's house in the little (perhaps tiny) town of El Caño, just in time to see the parade of the only elementary school in town celebrating the separation of Panama from Colombia.
Birds, drums and typical suits... what else do you need for a day in november?

Bird-addict?

You are a bird-addict if after an intense birding-weekend, with 11 hours-long trips to the deep Pacific ocean or to remote, almost inaccessible, mountain ranges you want more birds; and guess what? Rafael Luck, Euclidos "Kilo" Campos, and your blogger host wanted MORE!! So, after a quick lunch in Santiago city, we headed to the Aguadulce Salinas (saltponds) in coastal Cocle province (central Panama). Not happy with that, we had enough energies not only for birdwatch from the road, but also to actively search the birds, walking INTO the saltponds! We had a nice afternoon at the saltponds, finding many of the now-usual species. However, something new for me there were the Wilson's Phalaropes. At least four individuals of this delicate shorebird were scattered in the different ponds that we checked out. Other Wilson's bird, the Wilson's Plover, was trying to hide itself, but we got nice shots of it. Of course, the most common peeps were present too (Western, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers), among both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Willets, Whimbrels, and Short-billed Dowitcher all around. The plovers were also well-represented, with Black-bellied, Semipalmated, Wilson's (as I mentioned) and Collared Plovers all over the place. Our intensive search with Kilo's scope produced several Stilt Sandpipers. These birds are only passage migrants, so this is the time to enjoy them in Panama. They were easily picked up among the birds present by their bigger size. We tried to reach the distant mangroves that were full in egrets and pelicans, but each time, the shorebirds stopped us... who can resist to appreciate cooperative shorebirds feeding only some meters from your feet? Anyway, we inspected the mangroves with the scope, finding several Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills, plus a flock of migrants Blue-winged Teals that took off as soon as they detected us. There were also several terns species, including Gull-billed and Royal terns patrolling the area, and a group of at least twelve Least Terns in winter plumage (like the one pictured here), but also some with part of its breeding plumage, with mostly yellow bills. As usual, the noisy Black-necked Stilts were everywhere. Later, we also found hundreds of Black Skimmers resting in one of the ponds in the way to the beach, which was crowded in people thanks to the sunny day and the high tide. We stayed until it was too dark for photographing, so we left very happy after satisfying our addiction.

And the party continues...

After spending the morning birdwatching in the western highlands yesterday, we decided to make a short visit to the Aguadulce Salinas taking advantage of the fading light and the 6:00 pm high tide. Like the last time there, we saw many aquatic birds... mainly Black-necked Stilts and Whimbrels, but also Roseate Spoonbills in three different opportunities, including the distant individual pictured below.Back in Penonome, during the night, we enjoyed (with our new neighbors, but old friends, Edwin and Lurkys) how the panamanian Mariano Rivera finished the good job done by the NY Yankees (specially Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui) obtaining in that way theirs 27th World Series' Championship. Congratulations Yankees!!

Visiting the Aguadulce Salinas

While having a good time in Penonome yesterday, I came with the idea to visit the Aguadulce salinas with the afternoon high tide. Gloriela agreed, and my sister-in-law and her son joined us since they didn't know the site. Despite the evaporation ponds (the "salinas") are reduced from their former extent, they still are a good place for vagrant migratory birds, specially shorebirds and other aquatic species. The rain fell down on us with all its force at Aguadulce town. Anyway, I kept driving the route towards El Salado port, watching the rain covering the ponds. At El Salado, the day began to clear, and we started to watch some birds. The sea was furious, flogging the fishermen's small boats in the port. Somehow, the pelicans, cormorants and frigatebirds managed to fly with that wind. A closer examination of a pair of terns flying inland proved that they were Caspians, while a lonely and unexpected Blue-footed Booby quickly flew through the oceanfront. With our increasing luck, we decided to check out again the ponds. This time, we saw many waders and shorebirds in its shores. We stoped aside in order to photograph a nice Great Egret when I noticed some pink flashes far away in the horizon that proved to be at least ten Roseate Spoonbills, accompanied by pelicans, egrets and even a Wood Stork. I know the above photo doesn't do justice to them... that is why I'm also including an old picture (in the former Tocumen marshes) to give you an idea of the spectacle. We realized that they were not getting closer, so we amused ourselves with the nearby shorebirds, including Least, Semipalmated, Western and Spotted Sandpipers, Greater Yelowlegs, Whimbrels, Willets and Black-necked Stints. It started to rain again, so we headed back to Penonome to have our dinner, and then back to Panama city... always under a constant rain. Nice way to spent the weekend!