Assault to the highlands

The highlands of Chiriqui province in western Panama (and all its horde of endemics birds) are too far from Panama City for a weekend trip... unless a VERY rare endemic species becomes common due to a natural phenomenon that occurs only every 15 to 20 years!  Yes, the bamboo is flowering... and many  bamboo-specialist are around!  So, I went with Gloriela in a hurry to the highlands, checking at our hotel in the town of Guadalupe at night this last saturday.  My plan was to walk the road to El Respingo the next day in the morning and then, start the 6+ hours-drive to Panama City again.  It sounded good... except the part of "walking" all the way up to El Respingo.

Yes, all the way up!

However, before getting into bed after a long drive, I contacted my friend Ito Santamaría (who is an experienced guide resident of Guadalupe) with the intention to settle unfinished business.  Somehow, after all this years visiting the highlands, one species still eludes me: Dusky Nightjar.  Endemic to Costa Rica and Panamá, Ito knew a reliable spot to find him... just few steps from his house.  So I followed him in the dark and started to search.  After a little bit of playback, a majestic male showed up allowing great views... taking a photo was difficult due to light conditions... and this was my best shot:

Dusky Nightjar

Notice the conspicuous white corners to the tail and dark rufous plumage.  What a great start!  The next morning, after taking our breakfast, we headed to El Resingo.  As planned, we parked the car where the asphalt ends and started to walk.  Quickly, we recorded several species, like Resplendant Quetzals, Mountain Thrushes, Barred Parakeets, Collared Whitestart, Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch, Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Yellow-thighed and Large-footed Finches (the last three endemics to Costa Rica and Panama).

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Large-footed Finch

As we climbed, we started to notice the flowering bamboos and the singing birds.  At first, some stayed high in the bamboo... in fact, the few Slaty Finches that we saw never approached closely...and I only got this photo of a singing male.

Slaty Finch

But then, the buzzy calls of our target became more and more common... and it was evident that the place was invaded by Peg-billed Finches!  This species is kind of irruptive in Panama... only present associated with flowering bamboo in most cases, and this was not the exception!

Peg-billed Finch

At first, we only got distant shots, like the above showing well the bamboo... but eventually, we got better views and I even managed to record the call with my cell phone.  The distinctive pointed, bicolored bill is evident.

Peg-billed Finch

Close to the entrance of the rangers' station at El Respingo, we saw a pair of Peg-billed Finches carrying nesting material into a rock crevice at no more than one meter from the ground.  The male regularly perched in a sunny spot, where I got this photo:

Peg-billed Finch

I don't know if there are nesting records from Panama... we didn't want to disturb the pair, so we left the birds in peace.  Although the drive to Panama City was tiring, we were both happy with our lifers!  I don't know how long is going to last this Peg-billed Finches invasion... but if you still need to see this Costa Rica/Panama endemic then what are you waiting for?

Going to the West

In spite of being a small country, Panama possesses five Endemic Bird Areas (EBA's) according to BirdLife International. That means more endemics birds in a little container. That's why I drove almost 2000 km in an extendend weekend (since thursday) with Gloriela to visit the western part of the country (Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro), passing through three different EBA's. Though the Panamerican highway runs along the historical limits of the South Central American Pacific Slope EBA, now what's left is only very degraded habitat in the lowlands, except for some isolated sites. However, is good for raptors. Only along the stretch of highway between Chame and Santiago we saw three different vultures species; Pearl and White-tailed Kites; Savanna, Roadside, Short-tailed and Common Black Hawks; Crested and Yellow-headed Caracaras; Bat and Aplomado Falcons and even two American Kestrels (hard to see details of the crown and chest at 80 km/hr). After a few stops in the way, we arrived to Paso Canoa, in the border with Costa Rica, and headed south to Puerto Armuelles to check the Progreso and Esperanza marshes described in the book Where to Find Birds in Panama (Angher, Engleman & Engleman 2006), finding only Cattle Egrets. We headed back to Concepcion and, eventually, Volcan and Cerro Punta, but the heavy rain and the fog prevented us to do any birding that afternoon. We stayed at the modest Cerro Punta hotel. Friday's morning was sunny, allowing us to bird the road to El Respingo above Cerro Punta, and to visit Finca Dracula in the morning. The first birds of the day were the familiar Rufous-collared Sparrow and the Mourning Doves (we started very early as you can see in the photo). A pair of Black Phoebes were working at the hotel's garden, and flocks of Band-tailed Pigeons flew over us. Then, at the entrance of the Respingo road, a female Resplendent Quetzal welcomed us with a group of Black Guans. More or less at the middle of the road, we found a big mixed flock with Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers, Ruddy Treerunner, Streak-breasted Treehunter, Yellow-thighed Finches, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush and Collared Whitestart that delighted us for an hour or so, allowing me to take some pictures. Back to Guadalupe, we had brunch in a little restaurant with Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds and Slaty Flowerpiercer out in the garden. We decided to spent the rest of the morning at the Finca Dracula. They have an incredible orchid collection, making them 7th in the world! We took the orchid tour and learned a lot about these marvelous flowers, saw the world's smallest orchid and all the different Dracula sp. that grow in their grounds, among others (hundreds of them, the finca houses 2200 species from all over the world!!). The orchids aren't the only reason to visit Finca Dracula. Being adjacent to La Amistad International Park, and the several bird feeders in their ground (fruit, seed and hummingbird feeders) make this place excellent for birding. In fact, we saw or heard many birds there, including the regular Slaty Finches, Silver-throated & Flame-colored Tanagers, many hummingbirds, and even a Red-tailed Squirrel on a banana feeder. We spent several hours in this place, crossing the sidewalks, taking pictures and watching birds. For the evening, we descended to Volcan and took the road to Santa Clara. It was devoid from birds, maybe because of the time of the day (it was hot). We reached the frontier town of Rio Sereno where we don't last much. Back in Bambito we had our dinner in an argentine grill and called it a day. Time to sleep because next day's plan included to drive over the Continental Divide to Bocas del Toro!