At the Caribbean side

For the last weekend, I joined my pals Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck and visited the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal, specifically the former Fort Sherman and the forests of the San Lorenzo National Park.  These area is quite varied in habitats, and rich in migrant species.  Our hope was to find some of these migrants, specially the rare or vagrants.

We started around the former Fort Sherman, and area with forest, mangroves, coast and grasslands... making it good for raptors.  The most common was (as its name suggest) the Common Black-Hawk, like the one pictured above.  We saw many of these hawks, most of them perched atop telephone poles.  We also saw Broad-winged Hawks, Yellow-headed Caracara, Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel and a hovering Short-tailed Hawk in front of the marina.  This was a dark morph adult which, in Panama, seems to be as common like its white phase counterpart.

We decided to check a patch of forest behind the old church.  In previous visits, this site proved to be very good for migrants passerines; however, this time only the calls of the White-tailed Trogons were evident.  Eventually, we managed to see four trogons... some of them allowed great photos, like this female showing the undertail pattern.

Of course, the undertail of the adult male is completely white.  My photo shows this field mark... although the bird was a little bit far away.

Then, we visited an historic point of this former US base: the Toro Point Lighthouse.  Notice the structure resembling vaguely the Eiffel Tower... that is because this lighthouse, built by the French in 1893, was designed by Gustav Eiffel!

Shortly after I took the above photo with my phone, it started to rain.  We decided to wait at the marina restaurant, where we had our breakfast with a deserved cup of coffee.  After a while, we left the restaurant and decided to leave Fort Sherman because the activity, in general, was very low.  We drove through the Gatun spillway and dam, entering the forests of the San Lorenzo National Park and, eventually, into the road to the town of Achiote.  This road is famous in the birding world... but we arrived late in the day.  We only heard some Blue-black Grosbeaks and Chestnut-mandibled Toucans in the distance.  Some movements in the shrubs by the bridge turned out to be some kind of snake.

I have to admit that I know nothing about snakes identification... and after lot of searching in internet, I'm still confused with this one.  Perhaps a Yellow-bellied Racer?  It recalled me a Salmon-bellied Racer that I saw some years ago in this area too.  It was more or less 6 feet-long and very quick!

We entered the town of Achiote, birding the forest borders and the pasturelands surrounding it.  The only highlight was the above Rufescent Tiger-Heron.  It is unusual to find this species in the open in Panama; although in South America is commonly found in similar habitats.  However, my favorite bird was the lonely Killdeer that we found in the baseball field.

This uncommon migrant is unmistakable, and the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal seems to be a regular wintering site.  Well, probably not the day with the highest number of birds recorded or with the rare or vagrant migrants we were expecting... but very entertaining anyway!

At the castle

To end well the weekend, I went with Gloriela (and Gabrielle of course) to the Caribbean coast of central Panama, to the Colon province. Specifically, we tried the San Lorenzo National Park and the former Fort Sherman. In the way, we drove through heavy rain and dense mist along the Transisthmic highway, but as soon as we reached Colon, the weather improved, and a radiant sun illuminated us. The road to Sherman is very picturesque, as I have said before, passing through grasslands, primary forests, lagoons and mangroves. The phone lines along this road are the most birdy in Panama... we saw at least one Broad-winged Hawk, several Common Black-Hawks, a male White-tailed Trogon and four Black-breasted Puffbirds perched on the lines. Notice the drops of water in the puffbird body... it was raining a little bit. Not only that, in the stretch of mangroves, the guests on the wires were the Ringed Kingfishers... three of them were noticed along the route... and all this before reaching the gate at the entrance of Fort Sherman! The grasslands in Sherman were alive with birds, including many migrants. For some reason, the most common migrants this time were the Indigo Buntings and the Blue Grosbeaks. Most of them exhibited the dull winter plumage (essentially all warm brown), some had patches of blue in the wings and ventral parts. In these photos you can notice the difference in bill's size and shape (smaller and thinner in the bunting)... the size difference is not evident (the grosbeak is considerably larger than the bunting). Eventually, we reached the old Castillo de San Lorenzo... as usual, we were almost the only beings in the place, except for a family that was also visiting the ruins. The serenity, the silence and the spectacular sights makes this place special... I'm pretty sure that this Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth was also enjoying these aspects of the castle. Do you remember why he looks so green (if not, you may want to read the comments of this post)? In the castle's plaza, two little birds caught my attention. They were feeding actively in the ground, constantly wagging the tails and with conspicuous yellow undertail coverts: a pair of Palm Warblers! It is always great to find this species in Panama because they are rare here... but not only that... supposedly, they arrive to Panama by mid-November, with november 7th as the earliest date recorded (in El Real, Darien... check the report here). Probably they happen unnoticed or simply unrecorded. We crossed all the corridors of the castle and took many pictures of it... of course I couldn't refuse to take a photo of Gloriela and Gabrielle having the mighty Chagres river as background... a small souvenir of her first visit to the castle!

Show me the migrants!

Recently, I went with Gloriela to the Caribbean side of central Panama, specifically to the San Lorenzo National Park and the former Fort Sherman, in search of the migrant warblers that my former Central CBC's team reported during the Atlantic CBC (I did not participate in that one). I tried to find the migrant warblers some months ago, without success due to the sunny and hot day, but this time the day was completely different. We started earlier this time, but a heavy rain stopped us from birding during the first hours of the morning. We waited at the Castillo de San Lorenzo for the rain to stop, and when it happened (more or less) we started to walk along the ruins. At one of the corners of the old fortress, by the ditch, we found a cooperative Yellow-rumped Warbler showing nicely its rump. It was feeding mostly on the ground, in the short, wet grass in a very active manner. Almost immediately, Gloriela noticed a second warbler very close to the first one, but this one was more uniformely brown. I quickly checked it with my binoculars, confirming its identity, a rare (for Panama) Palm Warbler. We stayed for a while, admiring these two rare species (both were lifers for Gloriela) until the rain started again. Then, we drove to Fort Sherman, to the former church where the CBC team found many migrants (don't ask at the restaurant about the church... they have no idea). The place was simply magic. Soon, we both were surrounded by lots of migrants probably because of my intense "pishing". The first one we saw was a female Blue Grosbeak that flew from the understore to a tree, to inspect us. Then, a mixed flock with both resident and migrant species showed up. It was amazing to see, in the same flock, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, Prothonotary, Black-and-white and Tennessee Warblers, Northern Waterthrush and American Redstart (a female), plus the residents Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Common Tody-Flycatcher and Lesser Greenlets. Then, I saw a little warbler high over the main flock with bright yelllow throat and breast (with a dark chestnut spot), white underparts, bluish upperparts and contrasting but incomplete white eye-ring: a male Northern Parula, just like reported for that very same place! This is just my third sight (the second for Gloriela), with my last one during an Atlantic CBC with Rafael Luck two years ago (report in XENORNIS). But a bigger bird was accompanying the flock too. It was first very hard to see because it moved in the understore, but then, when the flock visited a bare tree, it did the same showing it slim profile and chestnut vent, a migrant Gray Catbird. Despite it was not a lifer for any of us, we enjoyed it because this bird is seldom seen in Panama (specially in the open, my second photo shows better the actual field conditions where you usually find this skulker). About the reported warblers, we only missed the Yellow-throated found by the CBC team in Fort Sherman. In our way out we stopped to enjoy the several Killdeers working the grasslands of the airstrip. The Killdeer is not rare, but is always nice to see them. We found at least three nervous individuals, making its kil-deer call for us. Great day after all... I already want to go back!

Migrants, castles and more!

I had a crazy idea this morning... to drive all the way to the Caribbean coast after leaving Gloriela at the hospital in order to see if I can find some rare migrants or something. So, I left behind the rainy and dark Panama City, took the highway and after one hour (more or less) I was in Gatun waiting my turn to pass the one-lane bridge through the locks. Contrasting with Panama City, the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal was unexpectedly sunny, hot and bright... probably too much. I did find some migrants, but not the rare ones I was expecting. Anyway, the numbers were impressive. Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Bank, Cliff and Barn Swallows were flying low over the grassy fields of the Gatun dam, maneuvering acrobatically and sometimes passing just in front of the car. There was also a huge flock of Eastern Kingbirds at the fence of the facilities, sometimes feeding in the ground. They were accompanied by many Fork-tailed Flycatchers, which could have been migrants too. The only other birds that I saw at the dam were the Gray-breasted Martins, the regular American Kestrel and a Southern Lapwing. The spillway had no many birds, only some Little Blue Herons were present. I decided to go to one of the most important touristic attractions of the area: the Castillo de San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo Castle) at the mouth of the mighty Chagres river, within the San Lorenzo National Park. It is about 35 minutes from the locks to the castle through a paved road which crosses several habitats: grasslands, mangroves, residential areas and forests. It also passes through the former Sherman Base (where you are asked for your ID) and the Park rangers station (where you have to pay the fee for entering the park). I did few stops on the way, usually to appreciate the Northern Waterthrushes that were all around. Just a little after the station, I found a snake crossing the road. I was able to see this 5 feet-long beauty before it vanished in the understore of the forest. I think it is a Salmon-bellied Racer, but I could be wrong. Once in the castle, the place was desolated, contributing to the sensation of immensity that was surrounding me.Despite there are no guides, the site has many interpretative signs that tell you the story of this fortress. That was how I knew that it was constructed by the Spaniards back in 1597 to protect the entrance of the Chagres river, and after that, it was destroyed and re-constructed several times, the last one in 1750.

The view is VERY impressive due to its location atop of a hill, dominating the mouth of the Chagres river, which was so important in those days, as it is today! You also have an unobstructed view of the Caribbean sea and some lovely beaches at the base of the hill.

It was a great experience. My last time there was maaaany years ago. Then, as a little child, I imagined myself as a "Caribbean pirate", running and yelling through the corridors of the castle... the idea crossed my mind several times during this visit!