Waders at El Agallito

Last saturday, I went with my family and my mother-in-law to Chitré (Herrera province, central Panama) in order to make some shopping... but I took advantage to check the mangroves and mudflats of El Agallito beach, just 5 minutes away of town.  We arrived at low tide, watching the extensive mudflats with some shorebirds and the Cocle province's coastline in the background.

The shorebirds were too far away to identify... mostly peeps, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, plus White Ibis and some herons, so I tried the lagoons at the mangroves around the former Alexander  Humboldt Ecological Station.

For my surpise, the small lagoon close to the station was full with resting shorebirds!

As you can see, most of them were Short-billed Dowitchers, but also you can see Willets, three Marbled Godwits (uncommon in this part of Panama), Greater Yellowlegs and Whimbrels.

Good numbers of Lesser Yellowlegs and Black-necked Stilts were present as well.

Sometimes, the whole flock was taking off if any large bird was flying nearby, like this fierce-looking Crested Caracara, but only to return exactly to the same place after a couple of seconds.

Well, nice way to start a shopping journey!

An elegant bird

I spend this afternoon with my family in Costa del Este, Panama City.  Of course I was looking for the American Avocets that have been wandering around and that I saw some days after my arrival from my trip to northern South America in march (also with my family).  Even from the highway connecting directly Panama City with Costa del Este (the South Corridor), it was evident that the tide was perfect, with waters rich in nutrients, considering the hundreds of gulls, pelicans, frigatebirds and cormorants that were feeding (those ships are waiting to enter the Panama Canal).

I knew in advance (thanks to Osvaldo, Rafael and Itzel) that the Avocets have been seen recently in the opposite side of the river that we usually bird, close to the mangroves, so I inspected the site with my binoculars... the place was full of shorebirds and gulls!

The most common shorebird was the Willet, followed by the Whimbrel.  Others shorebirds present in good numbers were Short-billed Dowitcher, several unidentified peeps (surely more than one species), Black-bellied Plovers and Spotted Sandpipers (actually wearing spots!).  The only gull was the Laughing Gull (as expected).

There was also a nice flock of beautiful Marbled Godwits... but they were shy and flew as soon as I tried to approach them (can you identify the others shorebirds flying with them?).

I did found an avocet.  A lonely adult was standing in the surf, away of the others shorebirds.  Despite my search, I was unable to find the others avocets (usually six or seven are seen).  I have to admit that this is a serious gorgeous bird... so elegant... and a MEGA rarity in Panama.

This excursion represent the highest number of avocets seen at the same time in Panama, and by far, the birds that have stayed the longest... even exhibiting their breeding plumages here in the tropics (for the first time in Panama).  One wonders if they will stay all the summer?

At the nearest beach

If Costa del Este and Panama Viejo are close to our apartment, then thePanama City's Coastal Beltway is at our backyard! I almost forgot that there is a tiny sandy beach in its eastern end (by the mouth of the Matasnillo river, in Paitilla), so I decided to check it this morning during high tide. It proved to be a good idea, since I found an amusing flock of twelve Sanderlings running from one side to another, never getting its feet wet! They were not alone... with them were at least six Semipalmated Plovers (three of them in the picture) and four Ruddy Turnstones (two of them still wearing most of its colourful alternate plumage). Notice how the Sanderling and the basic-plumaged turnstone are well-adapted to its wintering grounds, looking similar to the sand, the coloured pieces of shells and the pebbles of the beach.In the list of species represented by only one individual I got a Black-bellied Plover, a Willet, a Whimbrel and a Spotted Sandpiper still wearing some spots.Not bad for the nearest beach to home!

Everyone got a lifer?

After a successful birding trip above El Cope in the morning, and after a tasty lunch in town, Gloriela, Euclides "Kilo" Campos, Rafael Luck and your blogger host decided to visit the Aguadulce Salinas (saltponds), barely one and a half hours away. As you know by now, the saltponds are great for shorebirds and waders, and the migration season just started so it was an obvious choice to end the day. The idea proved to be very good when we started to see tons of shorebirds, mostly Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers, but also Least Sandpipers, both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and the omnipresent Black-necked Stilts. Most of the peeps were wearing their non-breeding plumage, lacking the patterns and colours of the alternate (breeding) plumage and looking confusingly similar. Far away, a flock of Brown Pelicans and Great Egrets also included a Roseate Spoonbill, easily spotted by its rich pink plumage. Kilo recently visited the site, finding Stilt Sandpipers, so we were after them. Of course, Kilo was the first one to spot one of them. The slim bird looked huge in comparison to the peeps that were accompanying him. This particular individual still had some barring in the underparts and seemed to have a problem with one of his legs.

We found more individuals along the saltponds, usually with other peeps. Each time we stopped, we found a new species. We saw three plovers species (Black-bellied, Collared and Semipalmated Plovers), all in non-breeding plumage, many young Black-necked Stilts (just a little bigger than the last time I was there), a Gull-billed Tern and two terns that I'm tentatively calling Caspians'. The waders were well represented. We found Great, Snowy and Cattle Egrets, Little Blue and Tricolored Herons and then, a nice surprise for me. In a random stop, just to check one of the ponds that was full with peeps and yellowlegs, Kilo focused on a distant heron with Rafael's scope. I could not believe it when he said "Reddish Egret", and there it was, a dark-phase (immature) Reddish Egret perched on a log. WOW, my second lifer for the day! This species seems to be rare, but regular, in Aguadulce and recently one individual was sighted by members of the Panama Audubon Society (probably the earliest date for this species in Panama, here is the report with photos at XENORNIS). Curiously, it is always found away of the road and, in Panama, it have been found in saltponds, sandy beaches and rivers (in the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal). We were able to watch through the scope its pale-reddish head and long neck, and its mostly dark bill. My distant shot shows its distinctive jizz (looking more like a Great Egret than a Little Blue Heron) and the overall dark colour. After a couple of minutes, the bird started to feed in its unique manner, running erraticly from one side to another, sometimes using its wings for change direction. It was so funny to see. The egret was a lifer for Rafael and Gloriela too (like the Stilt Sandpiper as well), so everyone, except Kilo, got a lifer in this trip. But the trip was not over. We reached the beach and then started to return, finding only a Common Black-Hawk with an unidentified shorebird in the claws and at least 150 Black Skimmers flying over the ponds. We stopped again to check a huge mixed flock of resting shorebirds. I found a flock of resting Sanderlings in the opposite side of the road while Kilo was mounting the scope. Meticulously, he checked each one of the birds in the flock, finding at least to hidden birds with dark gray backs, contrasting with the Ruddy Turnstones. He asked me to have a look to confirm his id: a pair of Surfbirds, his nemesis bird. I was able to see its white rump and its mottled underparts confirming the id! A lifer for Kilo! Now officially everyone got a lifer in this trip! Of course, Kilo jumped to the muddy pond without thinking it twice (and I followed him) to have a closer look of the birds. Eventually we got very close to the birds, and then he was able to see its yellow legs and bill (that is Kilo in the pic, watching his lifer). My photo of the flock turned out to be overexposed, a mistake that I was not able to correct using photoshop, but I like the final effect of colourful, blurry shorebirds. With imagination, you can see two Surfbirds, tons of Ruddy Turnstones, Willets and Whimbrels, and a lonely Short-billed Dowitcher (just behind the first Surfbird to the left). What a great way to end a birding day... lifers for everyone!

Waiting the Mega Flock

Yes... I know is still september but I was hoping to find earlier this year the mega flock of migratory sandpipers. Every year, a huge number of sandpipers (mostly Western and Semipalmated) spent the winter in Panama's Upper Bay, most of them arriving in october. It is the best month to look for vagrants among the thousands of peeps. Anyway, I tried yesterday the usual spots (Costa del Este and Panama Viejo) finding only the usual suspects (Black-bellied Plovers, Whimbrels, Willets, Black-necked Stilts, Greater Yellowlegs, and few Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers) in Costa del Este. My heart accelerated for a second when I saw a peep with an unusual rusty back (thinking on a MUCH rarer Stint or something like that) but otherwise identical to the accompanying Western Sandpipers. It was a lot of fun to watch the noisy Spotted Sandpipers doing nothing else but to chase each other... when do they eat? Of course, there were hundreds of residents birds, including pelicans, egrets and cormorants in the beach. In Panama Viejo I saw again the Gull-billed Terns and the adult Ring-billed Gull among the Laughings close to the Visitor Center, but the sandpipers were too far away even for my binoculars. Well, I suppose that I must be kept waiting.