Shorebirding for the CBC

It is December and, as usual, I'm participating in the Panama Audubon Society's CBC (Christmas Birds Count), starting with the Pacific side of central Panama.  For a good number of years in a row now, my counting area consists of riverine habitats, coast, lagoons, open fields and patches of secondary forests around the localities of Farfan and Veracruz in the west side of the Panama Canal.  Both Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck accompanied me this year.  After many years participating in the counts now, I know that most of the targets birds for my area are raptors, waterbirds and shorebirds, specially those found primarily in rocky and sandy beaches (not in mudflats, as in Panama Viejo).

At our first stop, in the dike area of Farfan, we checked all the ducks swimming in the lagoon looking for the vagrant Cinnamon Teals reported some weeks ago, but all seemed to be Blue-winged Teals due to their contrasting pattern in the flanks and small bills.  There were huge flocks of waders in the lagoon as well, mostly Black-necked Stilts and, specially, Semipalmated Plovers, but also many Least Sandpipers.  We saw again the Least Sandpipers in an unexpected habitat in Veracruz beach, in rocks.

Notice the small size and the diagnostic yellow legs.  We checked this habitat through Rafael's scope, finding our targets.  In the next picture you will see at least three Surfbirds and some Ruddy Turnstones, plus others shorebirds like Willets, a Whimbrel and even a resting Sanderling.

We searched the sandy part of the beach looking for more Sanderlings.  Instead, we found a flock of 18  Collared Plovers running from one side to another, looking so similar to the sand that they were actually hard to pick up.  These plovers are delicate and beautiful!

We dipped on two targets: Wison's Plover and American Oystercatcher.  However, we ended with a very nice list of 120 species, 1926 individual, 35 kms and 7 eBird checklists for the morning!  We found our last shorebird away of the coast, a Solitary Sandpiper nervously inspecting a rain pool by the side of a road leading to a patch of forest.

See you in the next CBC!

One mile from the coast

The news of a male Painted Bunting close to the beach of Juan Hombron in the coast of Cocle province (central Panama, Pacific side) took of us for surprise... it is a very rare migrant in Panama, with just a handful of reports in the last years. It was a potential lifer for Rafael Luck, Osvaldo Quintero and for me, so we left very early Panama City this morning, reaching the entrance to Juan Hombron around 8:00 AM. Close to the entrance, we found one of the discoverer, Danilo Rodriguez, guiding a birding group. He gave us some hope, we knew that it was going to be a hard task. The road to the beach runs through rice fields, pasture land, residential areas and few patches of dry forests... each with a different set of birds. The rice fields and adjacent areas were flooded... both with water and birds! The sight of hundreds of herons of several species and, more important, a big flock of 30 or more Glossy Ibis, among lapwings and jacanas was pretty amazing. A Great Egret stayed very close to the road... probably it was wounded, but we didn't see any sign of lesions. We also saw several Solitary Sandpipers... not so solitary. At least three of them were sharing the same spot in a patch of rice. Most of the birds we saw were common species, but anyway, it was very entertaining. As usual, the birds of open habitats are easier to photograph, and sometimes you have very close encounters, like the one we had with this Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture inspecting us curiously from his fence post. We passed the sleepy town of Juan Hombron and, eventually, reached the beach. Only a distant fishing boat was passing by, followed by many Magnificent Frigatebirds and some Brown Pelicans. We checked very well every small flying dot because you never know what to expect there (a Peruvian Booby was seen last year in that place). We did not stay so long at the beach, we drove the road back to the entrance, but not for long. Just as we were told, at one mile from the coast, we found the patch of dry forest where the Painted Bunting was first seen. We did not find the bunting... but the place was full of migrants! Sometimes, it was hard to point out a single bird among the hordes passing by. The warblers were well represented, with Tennessee and Yellow Warblers as the more common, but also finding at least two male Prothonotary Warblers (not together) and two Blackburnian Warblers to add some color to the scene. By far, the most weird of the migrants we found was a Gray Catbird. The catbird is not uncommon in general, but in this part of the country is almost unknown! It stayed just enough for a couple of photos... not the best photos ever, I have to recognize, but at least the characterstic slim silhouette and the general gray color is quite evident. Perhaps, if you enlarge the photo, even the chestnut crissum is aparent. Well, we failed in finding the bunting... but it was an excellent day of birding anyway!

Short visit to Costa del Este

After reading Rosabel Miro's report in Xenornis, I went with Gloriela this afternoon to Costa del Este (Panama City) in order to see what we can get in the extensive grasslands of the area. As soon as we got there, we started to see some medium-sized birds: a flock of Cattle Egrets, at least two Southern Lapwings and a Whimbrel. Of course all these birds got away when we tried to approach them, with only one of the lapwings staying enough for photos. Eventually, I found some activity at the same muddy pool where I previously saw a Solitary Sandpiper. This time, the Solitary Sandpiper was not so solitary since it was with two Pectoral Sandpipers. Both species were lifers for Gloriela and the Pectorals were new year-birds for me! These birds were quite photogenic... they preferred to freeze (instead of flying away) when we got closer. At close-range we were able to enjoy the attractive pattern of these bright-coloured individuals... WOW, they proved to be very impressive! We clearly saw all the pertinent field marks for its identification: the densely streaked breast sharply delimited, totally white undertail coverts, yellow legs, pale base of the bill, white eyebrow and its relative size (similar to that of the Solitary Sandpiper).

Are not they beautiful? Sure they are! In the way back we failed to locate the Sora reported by Rosabel, but the fields were full of Eastern Meadowlarks. Despite it is a very common bird, it is always nice to have a good opportunity to photograph them. OK, they are very attractive if seen well, with its bright yellow underparts and the black "V" at the chest, but its dense dorsal pattern makes them very difficult to detect in its environment. We almost stepped on one of them... it flew right from our feet! We counted at least eight of them in the little piece of land that we walked, and we heard others.So, ready to get your Pectoral Sandpiper and all those nice birds in Panama City?

Really Solitary!

In all the extensive grasslands and ponds in Costa del Este (Panama City), I only was able to found one, and only one, Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria). What else can you expect of a bird with such a name? In Panama, the Solitary Sandpiper is a common winter visitor, found from august to april. Only the Spotted Sandpiper has a more widespread distribution in Panama and like it is found commonly away of the coast. It is incredible how a bird breeding in Canada and Alaska found its way to Panama and beyond!This particular bird was in a muddy spot in the middle of a grassland, walking deliberately, picking insects from the water surface. It allowed me to approach closely, always vigilant. Sometimes, it was doing a high-pitched peet!; my sign to freeze and to stop approaching it.

Despite it is not brightly coloured, it has a very attractive pattern in white and brown with yellow legs. Those tiny white dots in the back and the white eye-ring are specially showy.For a solitary bird, this sandpiper looks simply great!

This post was submitted to Bird Photography Weekly #109. Check it out!