More information on my Big Year in Panama

Just a short note.  If you browse my blog (specially last year's entries) you will have, more or less, a clear idea on how my year went.  If you want to know a little bit more about the Panama Audubon Society's 600 Club or/and my Big Year in Panama, here is the link to the lecture that I gave (in Spanish) during The 600 Club closure act, in Panama City: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VrWZyN2NfgvekOyc3x21m2ISEM0Yie65

With Panama Audubon Society's Proyect Manager Yenifer González

Also, here is the link to the Facebook Live interview by Rosabel Miró (Panama Audubon Society's Executive Director), held last Thursday, April 16th, that summarizes the above lecture (also in Spanish): https://www.facebook.com/audubonpanama/videos/2899017773527369/https://www.facebook.com/audubonpanama/videos/2899017773527369/

Hope you will enjoy it!

The quest for 600 birds in 2019 begins!

As you hear it.  This year, I'm committed to record 600+ species of birds for Panama.  In fact, I want to break my own Big Year record of 620 species in 2010, hopefully reaching 700+ species!  I joined a group of intrepid birders who, like me, want to reach the same goal this year, celebrating Panama Audubon's Society (PAS) 50th anniversary.  Some of them already are members of "The 600 Club" of Panama and I'm pretty sure they want to break their own record too.

So far, this year has been good.  I already reached 300 species by January 15th (half of my goal), my best Big Year start ever.  On January 1st I did a Big Day, recording 190 species (I was the #1 ebirder  in the WORLD for a couple of hours HAHAHA!).  It started around 4:00 am looking for owls and night birds in Panama City and Gamboa town, hearing the dawn chorus in the deeps of Pipeline road (the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center was closed, so I missed some keys species), birding different spot from Gamboa Ammo Dump  and Summit Ponds to Metropolitan Natural Park and along the coast in Panama Viejo and Costa del Este to finally end at the ponds in Albrook residences with Karl Kaufmann and Rosabel Miró (PAS Executive Director).  Since then, I have made some short trips in central Panama and have twitched some rarities that have appeared in my bird alerts, like Cape May Warbler and Maguari Stork.

Maguari Stork (Finca Bayano, January 20th, 2019)

Panama is so diverse and accesible that reaching 600+ species in a year certainly is not impossible.  In fact, the Big Year record for Panama is 800 species, recorded by Kenneth Allaire (RIP) back in 2010.  However, it takes time... and monetary resources of course.  The 700 species mark is easily reached by free lance bird guides that have no restriction of places to visit.  I mean, if your job is to watch birds all over Panama, then you have no issues with time spending birding.  However, I do not work looking for birds, and my available time for birdwatching is limited (as is the case of many birders in Panama), so I have devised some strategies to maximize my time, including my family in my trips and choosing sites that offer me more new species in a short time.

Gabrielle and Gloriela in Viveros Island (Pearl Islands) where I was looking for some restricted antbirds (like this Jet Antbird)

In fact, I'm impressed with how I have managed to take advantage of my free time so far between birdwatching and family time.  The good thing about birding sites in Panama is that most of them are also attractive for family activities.  Take for example the paradisiacal Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama where you can enjoy the turquoise waters and look for pelagic birds or restricted antbirds (like White-fringed Antwren and Jet Antbird), or the beautiful foothills forests above the town of El Cope in Cocle province (central Panama) where your family can enjoy the fresh air and chilly creeks while you look for multicolored tanagers in mixed flocks (like this Emerald Tanager).

Emerald Tanager

Well, I'm pretty sure that good birds will show up this year.  Let me know if you see something rare or invite me to your trips!  I will do the same!

The 600 Club closure act

Last thursday, during the Panama Audubon Society monthly meeting, I conducted the closure act of The 600 Club. The meeting was crowded, there were snacks and beverages, a little shop with books for sale and an exciting feeling in the air, probably in part because I was not the only speaker... in fact, the main attraction of the night was the presentation of the new Bird Field Guide for Panama by its author George Angehr, and Karl Kaufmann also talked about e-bird Panama. I gave an introduction about the origins and aims of the club, and about last year's participants. The first to get his certificate was one of the original members, George Angehr, who did not only receive his certificate, but also the club's patch, featuring a Black-crowned Antpitta (first photo). One by one, each participant received his certificate and his patch, while I was revealing their final counts. Most of the participants passed the 600 mark, with Euclides "Kilo" Campos and Ken Allaire passing the 700 mark (and Ken recording exactly 800 birds for the year!!!!). Those numbers are probably out of reach for most of us, but are anyway impressive even if you work as a specialized bird guide! My final count was 620 birds for the year, my personal record! At the end of the meeting, George started to sign the books, including mine (great!). Congratulations to all the participants and new members of The 600 Club, and keep on birding!

2010's bird # 600: Violet-headed Hummingbird

Yesterday I visited Cerro Azul (foothills to the east of Panama City) with Itzel Fong and Osvaldo Quintero. We simply wanted to enjoy some easy birding at the foothills, but I also had in mind to find my year-bird # 600 since I was only one bird away of my goal (I'm participating in Panama's 600 Club). Once I got out of the car, I started to search. Soon, my desired bird appear, in the form of a beautiful male Violet-headed Hummingbird feeding at the little flowers of the garden at Birder's View (thanks Rosabel).

Despite it is a common hummer, it was new because it was my first time at Cerro Azul this year (despite it is only a 45-minutes drive from the city). In fact, all the other new year-birds of the day were common species at this site (five in total, three were hummingbirds). We saw at least two different individuals. These hummingbirds liked the little, tubular flowers growing wild in the garden, never visiting the hummingbird feeders frequented by many other species. Notice that all the flowers in these pictures are similar, except by its color.

This male perched frequently no far away of the flowers, sometimes singing incessantly its insignificant song. It was so nice to have this little guy as my year-bird # 600!

This post was submitted to Bird Photography Weekly # 116. Check it out!

Introducing The 600 Club

Back in 1996, an article titled The "600" Club, published in The Toucan (Panama Audubon Society -PAS- newsletter), caught my attention. Its author, Daniel George, after years of listing and having reached a plateu in his knowledge about panamanian birds, was narrating how he managed to register more than 600 birds in one year in Panama, together with other three respected birdwatchers. Panama has a list of 979 birds approximately (including vagrants and accidental birds), and 600 represents about 61% of it, so it is a very memorable achievement, specially for the casual birder (that is, not the bird guide or scientic who works chasing birds... I know some of them that reach 700 or more birds in a good year!). He proposed that the PAS should recognize somehow those braves able to achieve the prowess, hence the title of "The 600 Club". Well, after almost 14 years, Daniel's dream comes true. During yesterday's PAS monthly meeting I had the honor of announcing the birth of The 600 Club to the members who attended. The PAS adopted the idea (thanks to Rosabel) in commemoration of the International Year of Biodiversity and we signed a symbolic agreement of participation. I'm making a commemorative patch to wear and an electronic version to put on your websites or facebook page.

What are the requirements to belong to the 600 Club?

1. Sign a symbolic agreement of participation, or simply let us know you are participating.
2. Send me (jcaxel@hotmail.com) a digital photograph of yourself and a short biography that will be published in the Audubon web page and in a blog page still under construction. I will be in charge of checking everyone's list.
3. At the end of March, June, September and December you must submit a partial list of the birds seen. I will publish the "standings" in the blog page.
4. See, or identify by sound, 600 different species of birds while in Panama or in its territorial waters, during a calendar year (now starting from january 1st). All birds on the official PAS checklist, maintained by George Angehr, and naturally arrived vagrants will be eligible for counting. Birds not native to Panama, including escaped cage birds, likely ship assisted vagrants, and domestic fowl cannot be counted.
5. In January, 2010, participants should participate in the PAS monthly meeting for the final determination of who can be considered new members of the "600 Club".

6. If you have already seen 600 birds in a year, you can get the patch by submitting a list of the birds seen and the location (except for those already official members, those who appeared at the 1996 article: Dodge & Lorna Engleman, Daniel George and George Angehr).

7. Participants who have seen 400 or 500 species will receive a certificate of recognition, since seeing even these lesser numbers is a worthy achievement.

This activity is only for fun. There are no prizes, only the recognition that you are one of the few birders in the country to have reached this goal.

I hope that friends and PAS members will help the participants reach their goals by birding with them and enjoying the wonderful biodiversity of Panama!