Portraits in the savanna

In spite of not finding the Maguari Stork reported for Juan Hombron (Cocle province, central Panama) after several visits, the good thing is that I had the opportunity to take some close-ups of common inhabitants of these typical arid savannas.  Advantages like clear light and unobstructed views are the ingredients to great portraits... even for an amateur photographer like me.

Variable Seedeater

For example, the male Variable Seedeater pictured above was quite curious and came to inspect me for a while.  Several males were engaged in courtship displays and singing the heart out.  They were very common in those fields.  Another common species was the Straight-billed Woodcreeper.

Straight-billed Woodcreeper

Not only common, but beautiful as well too.  For a woodcreeper, it is quite distinctive, with that straight, pink bill and bold head marks.  It is restricted to mangroves and adjacent shrubs and secondary growths.  In the other hand, the Groove-billed Ani is simply an all-black bird.  In fact, it is easier to ID it by voice than by sight (due to confusion issues with the Smooth-billed Ani present in smaller number in this same area).

Groove-billed Ani

However, with looks like this you can actually see the grooves in the bill of this individual!  It easy to ID the birds if you actually see the field mark by which they were named; for example, can you name the next species?

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

Jejejeje, just kidding.  However, they would be more difficult to identify if flying away.  The Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures are commoner than Turkey Vultures in this habitat, specially this time of the year.   Also common, and a nice representative of this savanna, is the Savanna Hawk.

Savanna Hawk

This long-legged hawk is huge and colorful, making it recognizable from long distances.  Due to the lack of tall trees in the savanna, this raptor (like many other as well) take advantage of any high site (like this telephone pole) to observe its domains.  Well, that is all for now... but certainly is not my last time in Juan Hombron looking for my Maguari!

Code 5: Maguari Stork

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I received a message in my phone with a cropped picture attached.  My friend Venicio "Beny" Wilson send me a picture of a bird that he just saw some minutes before, along with Rosabel Miro and Celeste Paiva (the spotters).  The picture quickly filtered to social networks...  they just found a new species for Panama: Maguari Stork (first report in Xenornis here).  Knowing how huge this was, I planned a trip to Juan Hombron area, where the bird was found.  I knew time was against me... these vagrants don't stay long... but I had to go to work, and could only escape after noon with my friend Rafael Luck.  In the meanwhile, my friend Osvaldo Quintero, along with Rafael Lau and Beny, went to the area this morning... finding not one, but two Maguari Storks!  Osvaldo kindly let me use one of his photos.

Maguari Stork.  Copyright Osvaldo Quintero, used with permission.

This was great!  Two individuals still in the same place where Beny saw it the day before.  Beny waited for us close to the site and showed us the exact place where they saw the birds just some hours before.  Our expectations were high, and we checked every corner of the huge lagoon where they saw the birds.

As you can see, I left without even wasting time changing my outfit!  The excitement of twitching a rarity is enough to left everything behind, even your rubber boots and most of your birding gear!  I'll kill the suspense right now: we do not find the bird.  Big disappointment considering that it would be a lifer for both Rafael and me (as it was for Beny the day before).  Nonetheless, we saw some common inhabitants of these dry pastures, like Mouse-colored Tyrannulet and Straight-billed Woodcreeper (both noticed first by voice).

Mouse-colored Tyrannulet

Straight-billed Woodcreeper

I also managed my first Bare-throated Tiger-Heron for these pastures.  In fact, this bird was showing its bare, yellow throat.

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

OK, we do not find the bird... but we tried hard... and that's the idea after all.  I hope that it still remains in the area although seems improbable, maybe we can have another chance.  In the meanwhile, I'll try to focus in another code 5 for our area (yes, two code 5 in one month for Panama)... so stay tuned!