Panama City Nature Challenge 2020

The present sanitary situation certainly changed the world.  The SARS-CoV-2, the infectious agent causing the COVID-19, is now widespread worldwide.  This situation affects all the spheres, including the way how we enjoy our environment.  Taking this into account, this year City Nature Challenge had a different connotation.  The organizers announced that, in order to keep the participants and the organizers safe, the challenge was no longer a competition and encouraged to document biodiversity using the iNaturalist app following the recommendations of the health authorities, which in the case of Panama meant participating from home.

In my case, living in an apartment at a highly urbanized area of the city means a relatively low biodiversity; however, I was determined to document as much living things as possible in the four days of the challenge (from April 24 to 27) from my balcony.  The view from there is dominated by a huge fig tree (Ficus benjamina) that attracts several common birds species.  My balcony list includes 142 species of birds in almost seven years.  However, I usually record 30 birds species daily.  This time, I was eager to obtain photos of those common species that I usually detect by voice-only... and I'm proud about my results!

Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet

I realized that my list of usually-heard-only species was quite long... Golden-fronted Greenlet, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet and Tropical Pewee are just some of them.  Anyway, taking photos of those common species more than 15 meters away is a real challenge... and those were the near ones!  Imagine taking photos of  swallows and swifts high in the skies!

Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift

Being aware all day of what was moving outside my balcony gave results. I managed to record many migratory, but also resident bird species that I rarely observe from home.  The swallows, flycatchers, tanagers (well... both Summer and Scarlet Tanagers are not "real" tanagers) and New World warblers were well represented by migratory species, while some of the scarce residents (only few records from my balcony in seven years) were Pearl Kite (only my second record ever from my balcony!), Roadside Hawk, Lesser Swallow-tailed Kite and a flock of Wood Storks.

Scarlet Tanagers

Pearl Kite

Wood Storks

In total, I uploaded photos of 57 different bird species during the challenge.  The rest of my 74 species for the challenge were trees and plants that I found at the common areas of my apartment building, including some amazing little wild flowers that I'm still trying to identify correctly.  That was my challenge... how was your?

Oleander (Nerium oleander)

Escape to Bocas. Part I

Very often we say that Panama is a paradise ... so often that sometimes sounds like a cliché; However, this time you'd better believe it, because only a week ago I visited a hidden paradise with my family in the Bocas archipelago (western Caribbean lowlands).  We took the overnight bus from Panama City and arrived to the coastal town of Almirante early in the morning last friday where we took the water taxi to Bocas town (Colon Island).  After few minutes in town we met Jay, one of the owners of the Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, in Bastimentos Island... our home for the next days.

Jean-Michael, Jan Axel, Gabrielle and Gloriela at Tranquilo Bay

The boat ride to Tranquilo Bay was uneventful, and soon we reached the main dock of the lodge.  A boardwalk across a beautiful mangrove forest (full of Prothonotary Warblers and Northern Waterthrushes, among other migrants) took us to the main lodge, where we met Jim and Reneé, co-owners of the lodge, who made us feel like home.  I have to admit that the place impressed me immediately... the view from the upstairs balcony was superb for watching canopy-dwellers at eye-level, and the number of species and individuals of migrant birds swarming around was astonishing... soon my lens focused on these guys:

Red-eyed Vireo

Scarlet Tanager 

Eastern Kingbird and Miconia berries

The tiny berries of the Miconia trees attracted tons of birds... and these trees were all around the property, but not randomly.  Ramón and Natalia, both resident and well-experienced naturalist guides and friends of mine since some years ago, explained that the trees were planted with the intention of being natural feeders for birds and other animals when they grew... and the idea was paying off!

Jean-Michael, Ramón, Jan Axel, Gabrielle and Natalia in the dinning room

After settling into our cabin, we made our first excursion with Ramon, Natalia and other guests. After a short boat ride from the lodge, we entered a lovely natural channel between Venado Cay and Popa Island bordered in mangroves but with some mature forest in sight as well.  In spite of the time of the day, we saw many different species, including toucans, oropendolas, pigeons and a big surprise.  Atop a stand of mangrove, a glooming white bird attracted Natalia's attention: a male Snowy Cotinga!

Snowy Cotinga

This species is uncommon and restricted to the western Caribbean in Panama... and a LIFER for me, the first of the day by the way.  I know it is an awful photo, but I'm happy with it... not every day you got an unexpected lifer in a heavenly environment!  What a great way to start this -birding- trip.  Back in the lodge, it was time to enjoy the facilities.  My family stayed at the cabin, admiring the great variety of flowering bushes and plants in the garden (and a family of White-faced Capuchin monkeys and two species of sloths in the way).  The purple Verbenas were attracting many hummingbird species (including a Bronzy Hermit resting right next to the cabin)... but the colorful Hibiscus flowers stole the show.

Bronzy Hermit

I was more interested in the forested areas.  Up to 75% of the property has been left in its natural state, and Ramón showed me the trails into the mature forest behind the cabins.  Soon, some forest-dwellers started to show up, like Chestnut-backed Antbirds, White-flanked Antwren, Black-crowned Antshrikes and Ochre-bellied Flycatchers.  However, we were after a specialty of these islands... a species with a weird disjunct range because it reappear in northwestern Costa Rica and extend north into southeast Mexico.  In Panama, it is found only in the larger islands of the Bocas archipelago and adjacent mainland.

Stub-tailed Spadebill

Yes!  I'm talking about the Stub-tailed Spadebill.  As you can see, eventually Ramón heard two birds and soon we were admiring this tiny inhabitant of these forests.  The individual pictured above was very active, hopping from one site to another in the understore.  We had some nice views of this little creature; by the way, also a long-desired LIFER for me!!! In spite of the low light inside the forest, I managed these pictures.

Stub-tailed Spadebill

So many emotions and the first day was not over yet!  Later, I did another walk through the trails with Ramón and my family... but I'll left that story for the next post, so stay tuned!  

Rain and birds

If your free day starts chilly and rainy, most of us prefer to stay in bed rather to wake up.  I usually do that... however, this time I preferred to grab my binoculars and started to watch through the windows and from the balcony of our apartment, in Panama City.  At first, nothing moved... then, I started to see some species, holding under the rain.

The time was not appropriate for flying... specially for raptors and vultures.  This pair of Black Vultures decided to wait the rain to stop atop the roof of a nearby mall.  In the other hand, this completely wet Yellow-headed Caracara preferred the trees of the little hill facing the balcony.

Any corner is good for shelter, as these Rock Pigeons proved.  They were very close to my window... they not noticed my presence.

However, some species were flying around in spite of the rain, like a flock of Gray-breasted Martins and this Zone-tailed Hawk that, at first, I thought it was a Turkey Vulture.  The similarity is impressive, even the way to fly from one side to another taking advantage of any breeze, making it look effortless.

A nice thing about the rain is that, when it stops, is like a new dawn... all the hungry birds come out... in my case, a pair of migrant Scarlet Tanagers just in front of the balcony!

What a great way to spend a rainy day!

October = Migration !!! (Part II)

In my last post, I wrote about the impressive diurnal migration of hawks and vultures over Panama City in october... but october is also the peak of the migration of many other birds, including many song birds (passerines),  and the Ancon Hill is also an excellent site to watch them as well.

Sometimes, it is not clear if you are watching a migrant or a resident bird... for example, I know that the Zone-tailed Hawks nest in Panama, but definitively I see them around more often during the migration season, like the one pictured above at the Ancon Hill.  Other times, it is obvious you are seeing resident birds... like the Keel-billed Toucan... who paints these birds anyway?

It is nice to see how our common species share their food sources with the migrants.  For example, several Scarlet Tanagers were feeding in the same bush with a group of ubiquitous Social Flycatchers.

During the migration, some species are way more easy to see than in other seasons... this Mourning Warbler was hoping around merely three feet of me! 

Sometimes, the migrant species resemble the resident ones.  Take for example this Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher.  They are transient migrants (that is, they do not winter in Panama), temporarily quite common all over Panama, where they share habitats with our resident Streaked Flycatchers... the only reliable field mark to tell apart these two is the black chin of the migrants!

Well, this is Panama in migration... I still need some migrants in my life list... so this is not my last time in Ancon Hill looking for them (and yes, I am talking about Black-billed Cuckoos)!

At the Ancon Hill

I still don't know why I don't visit the Ancon Hill more often. It is in Panama City, VERY close to my place, and holds a good amount of wildlife, not only birds, but also mammals and insects. But, more important, it is a nice migrant trap in the right season, specially october. Several times during the first two weeks of this month, I visited the volunteers of the migrant raptors count, who have reported rare migrants like Black-billed Cuckoo and almost a definitive Painted Bunting this season at the summit of the hill. Despite I saw none of these rarities in my visits, the number of species and individuals of migrants was really amazing. Gloriela (and Gabrielle) accompanied me the last time, and even helped the counters recollecting data on temperature and wind direction for the records. Surely, the most common species (only after the abundant Sawinson's Thrushes) was the Eastern Kingbird. Flock after flock passed by, taking advantage of some fruiting trees in the vicinity of the summit. Some of them also did some flycatching while we were there, sometimes side-by-side with our local Tropical Kingbirds who simply shared the perch without hesitation. The flycatchers were well represented. Not only the Eastern Kingbirds were present, we also saw Great Crested and Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers. The latter is an uncommon transient through the isthmus. We had the opportunity to have side-by-side views of this species with the very similar, resident and much more common and noisy Streaked Flycatcher. Many field marks have been described to separate these two flycatchers, but the most reliable is the black chin and more pronounced black malar stripe of the Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers. You can notice that the chin area of the Streaked Flycatcher is completely white. The amount of yellow in the underparts can be similar for both species, the same with the color of the bill (usually, the Sulphur-bellieds have only little pink in the base of the lower mandible). Perhaps the Streaked Flycatcher is very common, but it can't be more beautiful! In the meanwhile, a single Geoffrey's Tamarin was eating the berries of a tall tree abiove our heads. We noticed it first because one of the berries struck Gloriela in the head! We were able to heard the rest of the group in the trees nearby; they sound like a flock of little birds... or were they laughing at us? We quickly forgot the incident after seeing our first group of migrant Scarlet Tanagers. Even without the breeding plumage, the males are still attractive, with their contrasting jet black wings. They outnumbered the others tanagers, a phenomenon that happens only this time a year. The only other migrant tanager (or should I say "cardinal"?) was the Summer Tanager, with one or two shyly working around the trees bordering the access road. Another representative group was the wood-warblers. Hordes of Yellow, Canada, Blackburnian, Tennessee and Black-and-white Warblers invaded the hill, giving it some color. My photo of the female Black-and-white Warbler is simply to poor to reflect the beauty of this smart, creeper-like warbler. I still need a good photo of most of these warblers, but you know, they simply can not stop... always in the move, usually high in the canopy, in backlight... in summary: a real headache for the amateur photographer (like me)! Sometimes it was hard to focus in a single bird due to the great activity all over the place, but a slim silhouette definitively caught my attention during one of the first visits. The bird in the shade turned out to be the first (of many) Yellow-billed Cuckoo having a huge worm for lunch... I was expecting the Black-billed reported by the volunteers... but you can not win everytime and, after all, it is a good reason to return next year!

Lazy birding ?

Last saturday, Osvaldo Quintero, Itzel Fong and your blogger host visited the foothills of Cerro Azul, one hour to the east of Panama City. The bird activity was SO intense that we saw, heard and/or photographed at least 40 species in a single garden (at Birders' View, thanks Rosabel) and then added some more in the garden at the Ahrens' place (thanks Bill & Claudia). That is why I ask if this is lazy birding... all these birds were seen with VERY little walking and without wakening too early! At Birders' View, after finding my year-bird # 600, we noticed that the berries of two plants (Ortiga - above with white/pinkish berries in a purple florescence and a bonus female Green Honeycreeper on top- and Ortiguillo -with yellow berries- according to Nando, the house's handy man and keeper, but also an excellent birder) were attracting tons of birds, including no less than 12 tanagers species! My favorites were the six Tangara tanagers, with all their contrasting patterns and brightly-coloured plumage, including the Plain-colored Tanager that I'm not picturing here, but have a look at the other five (all of them in the Ortiguillo), starting with the Golden-hooded Tanager... common but gorgeous!

This Emerald Tanager is showing that the guys that named it were absolutely right!

The Speckled Tanager was a little shy. Notice its yellow face and blue margins to the wings.

Despite its commoness, I got my first close-up shot of a Bay-headed Tanager that day.

The Rufous-winged Tanager is regular in that garden. Compared to the Bay-headed Tanager, it has more yellow on the back, less blue in the underparts and, of course, rufous in the wings.

OK, I know that the Hepatic, Summer and Scarlet Tanagers are not tanagers, but cardinals... but we still need to assimilate that. This female Scarlet Tanager was very cooperative while feeding at the Ortiga berries.

The euphonias (former tanagers) and the honeycreepers were well-represented as well. Here, in quick succession, I'm showing the Fulvous-vented and Tawny-capped Euphonias (all males) and a male Green Honeycreeper... all at the Ortiga.

We DID walk a little... but only 15 minutes in one of the well-kept trails, finding several White-tipped Sicklebills in an Heliconia patch inside the forest. Returning to the natural feeders at the house, Itzel noticed that a new bird joined the party at the Ortiga below us... a female Yellow-eared Toucanet just feet from us!

She eventually got VERY close, less than a meter from me and Osvaldo was able to photograph her with his cell phone!

Some books mention that the Selenidera toucanets are shy... certainly she did not read those books!

We barely left the place due to such amazing activity, but it was getting late. In the way out, we visited our friends Bill and Claudia at their beautiful place, where they showed us the furious activity at the hummingbird feeders (that is a male Violet-capped Hummingbird -year-bird # 601) and the technique to dissappear a bunch of bananas in few seconds (just left it at their feeders, the Palm Tanagers and the Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, among maaaany others, will take charge).

What a great day... full of colourful birds in close proximity and good friends sharing them with you... this is birding all about!