2014's CBCs: Pacific & Atlantic

The Pacific and Atlantic Christmas Bird Counts were conducted on Sunday 27 December and 4 January (2015) respectively, organized by the Panama Audubon Society (PAS).  I'm summarizing both counts in this post, in part because my assigned areas for both counts are rather similar: coastal habitats with a variety of vegetation, from mangroves to patches of secondary forest and open areas.  In the Pacific CBC, my counting area is the west bank of the Panama Canal... from Farfán to Veracruz.  Our meeting point was the pond at Farfán, where some rare ducks have been reported in the previous week.  There, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck and I met Alfred Raab, who joined us this year.

Let's count some birds!

Thanks to Alfred's scope, we where able to quickly identify the distant ducks in the ponds, including a flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, more than 40 Blue-winged Teals (but not Cinnamon Teals), a pair of Northern Shovelers and a single male Lesser Scaup.

Lesser Scaup

The last two are rare for the count circle (and for Panama); in fact, the Lesser Scaup needs full documentation... that's why I took this digiscoped photo with my phone.  After Farfán, we drove to Veracruz beach, looking specially for shorebirds.  We found some fine species, including some  Sanderlings resting in the same rocks that a group of terns... including a Common Tern, also rare for the count (and deserving full documentation as well).

Sanderlings

Royal, Common and Sandwich Terns (and some Willets)

We got many more interesting species, like Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Black Terns and a pair of American Oystercatchers back in Farfán.  In fact, the oystercatchers were the last birds we saw for the Pacific CBC before lunch.  One week later, I was in the other extreme of the Panama Canal, this time in Colon province for the Atlantic CBC with my friend Rafael Luck.  Our assigned area was Galeta Point, a reserve that holds a marine laboratory of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.  The weather forecast was not good... large waves would hit the coast all morning.

Galeta

Those were bad news for the shorebirds, our main objectives.  We did not see a single shorebird species that day... but saw several Sandwich and Royal Terns, some Laughing Gulls, a distant Parasitic Jaeger and one Common Tern, a rare sight as I mentioned before.

Common Tern

The inland part of the site was well covered by dozens of researchers and students in the morning, so we kept birding the coast.  However, in the afternoon, we birded the main road and the mangrove forests along it... we were lucky enough to find some specialties previously reported and some new birds for the count.  I really liked the warblers: Black-and-white, Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Magnolia and Prothonotary Warblers were quite easy to see.

Prothonotary Warbler

But the real highlight was a female Northern Parula accompanying them, allowing some photos and great views.  We were unable to relocate two rare species seen the day before (Praire Warbler and Ovenbird); although I don't know if any of the other groups working Galeta saw them.  The Northern Parula is a rare, but regular, migrant to these mangrove forests.

Female Northern Parula

Female Northern Parula

My personal highlight was not a warbler.  While seeing them, a large bird flew into the mangroves.  The soft plumage, slim profile and bandit mask make it unmistakable: a Mangrove Cuckoo.

Mangrove Cuckoo

After many years counting birds in Galeta, this is my first Mangrove Cuckoo for the site.  So, as you can see, there is always something new in the CBCs surprising you.  I still don't have the official numbers of these counts, but I'm glad to participate and contribute in this activity...  see you in Christmas for the next counts!

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!

2012 CBCs: Pacific circle

December is a month of festivities... but also of bird counts!  The Panama Audubon Society organizes three Christmas Bird Counts in central Panama, and I pretend to participate in all of them.  In fact, I already participated last sunday, december 16th, in the first count, the Pacific circle.  As usual, my count area was the coastal strip of the west bank of the canal, including Farfan, Palo Seco and Vercaruz, accompanied this time by Rafael Luck, Jennifer Wolcott, Dan Heinrichs and Neville Lincoln.

The tide was pretty high early in the morning, so we concentrated first in the huge pond at Farfan, finding many waterbirds, like Roseate Spoonbill, Neotropic Cormorants, ton of egrets and White Ibises, both Belted and Ringed Kingfishers and many more.

One good thing about our counting area is the variety of habitats... we visited mudflats, ponds and mangroves before moving to a dry forest three minutes away... the forests around the (former) Palo Seco Hospital.  In spite that it has been abandoned for a couple of years now, the jungle already took it and only some buildings are evident now.

The forest was very quiet, however, we still recorded Lesser Greenlets, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Lance-tailed Manakin and the particular sight of both Turkey and Black Vultures resting side-by-side.

Most of the main targets at our count area were waders, and the best place to look after them is around Veracruz beach.  This year, we didn't see many shorebirds compared to other years, but we got at least the cutest of them all: Collared Plovers!

The final habitat visited was the taller and wetter forest just north of Veracruz, where we found different species like Lineated Woodpecker, Cocoa Woodcreeper and, surprisingly, a group of five White-vented Euphonias.

However, it was almost noon when we reached this patch of forest, and by that time, the forest borders and the open areas were more productive than the forest itself... just check the cooperative Gray Kingbird and the bright Saffron Finch that we found.

We recorded 113 species in total, not a bad number for only six hours of birding!

2011 Pacific CBC

December is month of bird counts! And the first Christmas Bird Count of this year, the Pacific CBC, ocurred last sunday, december 18th. Organized by the Panama Audubon Society, (PAS) this count included most of Panama City including Costa del Este to the east,Veracruz town to the west and Plantation Road and the Canopy Tower to the north. Historically, Panama counts have been always among the top 10 worldwide, and the Atlantic CBC used to be the highest count of birds for almost 20 years in a row until some years ago. Several factors influenced the decline of our counts, including habitat degradation, lack of resident birders in the Atlantic side of the Canal, new count circles in exceptionally amazing sites in Costa Rica and Ecuador and, most important of all, the low numbers of participants. In fact, the lack of counters have been a conspicuous aspect of the last counts, and the numbers are declining. If we take into consideration the number of

birds species recorded BY participant, the Panama counts occupy the first places. Of the three counts of central Panama, the Pacific CBC is the one with the greatest potential for becoming one of the best counts in the Americas, because it includes several habitats (humid and dry forests, grasslands, residential areas, coast, mudflats and so on), attracts more participants and have easier logistics than any other count in Panama. As usual, Rafael picked me up before dawn and we went to a meeting point where we were joined by Jennifer Wolcott, Rick and Donna Lee. Our group birded the west side of the canal, the areas of Farfan and Veracruz, during the morning. A persistent drizzle prevented us of doing some owling, but it stopped right before the sunrise.

The first birds recorded were not seen, but heard... Tropical Kingbirds. With the first lights, we started to identify the birds at the huge pond in Farfan, mainly white herons and others waders. In the dark, we thought that the hundreds of white dots in the dead trees of the ponds were Cattle Egrets... and in fact, the first three or four herons we saw well were Cattle Egrets... but then we realized that most of the herons in the ponds were Snowy Egrets. In total, we recorded eight species of herons, White Ibises, two Anhingas, several Brown Pelicans and Neotropic Cormorants, and eleven Wood Storks overflying, with one immature landing right in the beach. Despite our count area included dry forest, our main

objectives were coastal and grassland birds, so we headed to Veracruz beach before the high tide, just in time to see the only two American Oystercatchers for the count standing at the beach. We also saw the only Elegant Tern of the count (that is a regular site for this uncommon migrant for Panama), Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated, Collared, Wilson's and Black-bellied Plovers in good numbers. In several occasions we had to cover because of the rain, but it usually lasted only few minutes each time. The good thing about it was that the day stayed fresh and the activity was constant. In the grassy habitat and forest borders behind the beach we found excellent activity. By some unknown reason, the most common seedeater this year was the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, but we recorded all the expected species, plus some goodies like Merlin,

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Plain-breasted Ground-Doves, Straight-billed Woodcreeper and many migrants. The road that we drove behind the former Howard Air Base eventually crossed a patch of mature forest with a very nice creek... but it was quite late in the morning and hot to find any forest bird in there. We decided to left the west bank and headed to Amador in order to get some key species for the area. We found our main objective, a Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, right at the parking lot of the Punta Culebra Natural Center, among with Garden Emeralds, Sapphire-throated Hummingbirds and Mangrove Warblers. In the way back, we spotted a Blue-footed Booby flying fast in the edge of the counting circle (there is a rock with a colony of these birds right outside the count circle!). Most of the participants met at the Chiva Chiva ponds

to compile our numbers and to figure out our plans for the afternoon depending on the species lacking to that moment. I decided to try the Metropolitan Natural Park along with Jennifer, Cora Herrera and Hildegar Mendoza, making some stops on route, finding Pied-billed Grebe, Blue-winged Teal and Zone-tailed Hawk (all missed in the morning). The park held and amazing great activity by the entrance, with mixed flocks including Greenish Elaenias, Ruddy-tailed and Black-tailed Flycatchers, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, tons of White-shouldered Tanagers, and even a sleepy Common Potoo pointed out bythe park ranger. However, it was a tree with pink flowers the star of the show, attracting tons of hummingbirds and honeycreepers, including the male Rufous-crested Coquette reported during the week and earlier in the morning. I know we don't have to lose time during the counts with birds already counted... but I could not resist to

stop and take some photos of the beautiful creature quietly perched waiting its turn to visit the flowers... after all you don't see a male coquette every day!!! Soon, it was too dark to see anything, and the survivors met at the PAS office to finish to compile our numbers. Not the best count in terms of species was the prediction after revising our list. The most resistant (the Montañez, the Kaufmann, Ariel and me) even tried to do some owling, finding only a Common Potoo before receiving a phone call from Beny who already had listened most of our target owls comfortably from his house in Ancon, Panama City (thanks God!), making our journey only a 16+ hours of pure birding. Exhausting, but gratifying!!!

2010's Pacific Christmas Bird Count

Yesterday, the Panama Audubon Society carried out the first (of three) Christmas Bird Counts in central Panama, with a great assistence and some good birds showing up. Like last year, I counted in the Farfan/Veracruz area (Panama Canal's west bank) in the morning... but this time alone because Gloriela stayed in home with a cold. I started very early, as usual, finding many of the specialties for the area (shorebirds, waders and open land birds). First, I checked Veracruz beach walking along the tide line in rubber boots finding tons of Willets and Whimbrels in the same flock along with a White Ibis, a Ruddy Turnstone, and some Collared, Wilson's and Black-bellied Plovers. I also found two Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures (so far the only two of the count) and heard a Striped Cuckoo in an adjacent grassland. Then, I checked Farfan beach, finding maaany herons and egrets, including my new-for-the-year Boat-billed Heron inside a mangrove and several Great Blue Herons. The highlights were two American Oystercatchers spotted far away in the rocky shores, also the only two for the count. Other birds related to the aquatic environment were the Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers at the river, several Northern Waterthrushes, a single Prothonotary Warbler and a flock of Greater Anis making a guttural call. These are shiny and good-looking birds compared to the Smooth-billed Anis found before. I like its expressive yellow eyes... not to be confused with the abundant Great-tailed Grackle). I moved to Amador where I entered Punta Culebra, the most reliable site inside the count circle to find the Northern Scrub-Flycatcher... and one of these little friends was perched on the entrance sign! Notice its pattern, quite similar to the Myiarchus flycatchers. You can identify it by its smaller size, short bill and different voice. The site is also very good for Sapphire-throated Hummingbird (only one male seen), Garden Emerald (up to four different birds of both sexes present) and "Mangrove" Warblers (with several seen). I also saw both Brown and Blue-footed Boobies (following a ship entering the Canal!) INSIDE the count circle. By midday, all the groups met at the Chiva Chiva ponds (beyond the Miraflores locks) to compilate the preliminar list and to organize the plans for the afternoon journey. After checking the missing birds, I went to different sites with Darien Montañez (PAS president, this CBC main compilator and XENORNIS editor) looking to add more birds to the day list, with moderate success. The very first stop was at the first of the two Chiva Chiva ponds, were we scoped several Common Gallinules (aka Moorhens), an American Coot and four (probably more) Pied-billed Grebes, the latter two were new year-birds for me! At the mangroves of Diablo Heights, Darien showed me a female American Redstart (new year-bird!) and we saw a quite grayish Cocoi Heron (white thighs and solid black crown, so its grayness was probably age-related). We failed to locate the Cattle Tyrant at its former usual haunts in Amador, but added Shiny Honeycreeper and Black-tailed Flycatcher at the Metropolitan Natural Park (with Venicio "Beny" Wilson and Olmedo Miró). The day ended doing some owling at Beny's place in Ancon... 15 hours of intense birding! Great count with great birds!

A bit of colour at the beach

It is a fact that most shorebirds and coastal species in Panama are dull-coloured birds. That is because almost all the species dress its basic plumage (the non-breeding one) most of the time they spend in our country. That is why many panamanian birders simply don't like shorebirds, despite they are so close and easy to see. But some species exhibit an unusual bright or contrasting pattern in their bodies. I saw that this morning in the west bank of the Panama Canal. I went to Veracruz beach taking advantage of the early high tide. The day was cloudy and fresh, but the light was not the best for photography. Anyway, I put on my rubber boots and started to walk in the sand, finding almost immediately an amazing amount of birds. A flock of Brown Pelicans was fishing close to shore. The adults were showing an attractive pattern in white, yellow and blue in the head. In the mouth of the river at the easternmost end of the beach was a huge flock of resting shorebirds and waders. The most common were the Willets and the Whimbrels, with more or less 60 individuals in total. As usual, the plovers were well-represented: Black-bellied, Semipalmated, Wilson's and Collared Plovers all over the place. This site is the only one so far near the city where the Wilson's and Collared Plovers outnumber the migratory Semipalmated Plover. The waders were also well-represented, with Snowy and Great Egrets, Little Blue, Great Blue and Tricolored Herons and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons too (did you notice the Collared Plover at the Great Egret pic?). So far no peeps, which are patterned mostly in white and gray, but colourful plovers (specially those Collareds'). To add more colour, a single Elegant Tern joined the flock awhile, showing its orange bill and even a pale rose tone to the chest (which sadly is not apparent in the photo). I'm posting also a photo of a Royal Tern (that I found later) for comparison.Can you separate them? The Elegant Tern have a proportionally longer and thinner bill, which also is more downcurved. Also have more black around the eye (the eye is surrounded by white feathers in the Royal Tern). The Elegant Tern is pretty uncommon in Panama, so this was a very nice finding. And if we are talking about colourful shorebirds, then some pics of Ruddy Turnstones are mandatory! Despite they are wearing its basic plumage, they still are one of the most colourful birds in the beach.But this is not all. I left Veracruz and stopped at Farfan, closer to the city. Following an advice that I received in situ, I decided to walk along the beach to inspect the vast mudflats and the rocky shore exposed during the low tide (thanks Líder). After awhile, I saw a pair of strongly-patterned shorebirds flying low in the distance: a pair of American Oystercatchers! I slowly approached them until I got close enough to start shooting.This must be the most colourful shorebird in Panama! The oystercatchers are quite rare in Panama City, but Farfan have proved to be a regular site for this handsome shorebird. What a great way to end the day!

More shorebirding in Veracruz

Last sunday (january 17), Osvaldo picked me up very early at the hospital (after 24 hours of constant work) and then we headed to Veracruz in order to relocate the American Golden-Plover that has been wintering in the area. We reached the eastern end of the beach (close to the bridge) and almost immediately saw a mixed group of shorebirds, including Black-bellied Plovers with the now-famous Golden-Plover. They were feeding on a sand bank quite far from us, so we started to photograph the other birds that were feeding closer, in the rocks. The most common were the Willets, joined by a group of Ruddy Turnstones and lots of Semipalmated Plovers with Least Sandpipers. These birds were very confident, not even caring about the people at the beach, nor of us with our cameras. While the tide was withdrawing, we were approaching the flock with the Golden-Plover (though they were getting closer too), passing by a group of very shy Wilson's Plovers that only allowed some distant pics, and witnessing how thousands of Neotropic Cormorants were leaving a nearby island with some Brown Pelicans. Eventually, we placed ourselves in shooting range in order to photograph the Golden-Plover, that cooperated very well. Nevertheless, I did not obtain better photos that the previous ones (Osvaldo was luckier). The furious assault of the chiggers prevented me of taking more photos (seriously!) so we moved to the rocks at the opposite end of the beach (finding a Blue-footed Booby very close and a Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture which is very uncommon in this part of the country... and inside the Pacific CBC circle). There we found a group of Collared Plovers (5th plover species of the day), plus Sanderlings, Surfbirds and Turnstones at the rocks nearby. Once again, a nice shorebirding morning in Veracruz.