All about timing!

At this point, most of you know that I'm doing a Big Year in Panama.  As in any other place, making a big year implies a lot of time and, why not, money (to travel, essentially)!  However, if you have a profound knowledge of your area birds and their natural history (or get advised by the people who has that knowledge), you may save both time and money... specially if you have a regular job that doesn't implies birding or if you are NOT taking a sabbatic year to birdwatch!

My family in front of Eugene Eisenmann's mural in Coronado, Panama (some years ago of course!)

It is all about timing... knowing when some species are most likely to be more conspicuous than usual, when is their peak migration, or when they visit more accesible sites so you don't have to organize a whole expedition to look after them.  A have many examples of how good timing helped me to find rare or unusual species... but I'll write about two recent experiences in this post.  It took me only two days to trackle down two VERY localized species for Panama, both of them represented by endemic forms that, coincidentally, are named eisenmanni, honoring Eugene Eisenmann (1906-1981), a Panamanian ornithologist well-known in the neotropics by his nomenclature arrangements.  The first one was Grassland Yellow-Finch (Sicalis luteola eisenmanni).  As many other grasslands species, this one is declining in our country due to habitat loss.  Even knowing its usual haunts, it is not easy to find this species in Panama... except during its breeding season when adult males are conspicuously singing atop low bushes in the middle of pasture land.

Adult male Grassland Yellow-Finch

Not only that... this species is absent from apparently suitable habitat, even at the SAME location where we use to spot it... El Chirú, Coclé province in central Panama.  These males are not easy to find either.  The very high-pitched song is hard to follow to the source, there are only few territories (and individuals), you need to crawl under barbed wire fences and dodge curious cattle and being expose to ticks and chiggers while trying to approach them (because if you don't lie down they will spot you right away in their preferred open habitat).  All of these is worth the effort... after just 1.5 hours of driving from Panama City to El Chirú, I was able to find this adult male right away.  Try to do the same any other month... you'll spend weeks around without finding even one!

Singing adult male Grassland Yellow-Finch

I enjoyed this male for some minutes until it flew after another adult male.  Then, I left the place and headed southwest, to western Azuero Peninsula in central Panamá. The several stops along the way (to birdwatch, of course) made a 2.5-hours drive from El Chirú to the town of Malena into a 6+ hours trip.  At Malena, I joined my friend Kees and his wife Loes, who run the lovely Heliconia B&B, my home for that night.  During dinner, we planned the next day: an early breakfast before the 1.5-hours drive to the town of Flores, in extreme southern western Azuero peninsula.  Why?  Well, nances and figs.  Yes, fruits!  Our target there inhabits the middle elevations forests of the Cerro Hoya massif,  essentially inaccessible without mounting an expedition or without an strenuous hike (probably more accesible through Río Pavo).

Kees at Río Pavo

However, during the few weeks when the nances and figs are ripe, our target descend from the mountain to feed on them at the border of the forest with cattle pastures.  And we knew a place where that happens regularly: Finca Velásquez.  Since many years now, Juan Velásquez and his lovely family have been watching and reporting the returning of the Azuero Parakeets (Pyrrhura picta eisenmanni) to their property bordering Cerro Hoya National Park.  Over the years, the ripening of the fruit has been more difficult to predict and the flocks that descend are smaller, shyer and stay for shorter time... so the Velásquez family's input is VERY important to travel there and see the parakeets!

Great Green Macaws

Juan waited for us at the entrance of the finca at 7:00 am and guided us through dirt roads to his property. As soon as we got there it was evident that the fruiting trees were attracting birds, including some parakeets and parrots species, but not the Azueros... yet.  Juan invited us to wander around since he usually sees the parakeets around 9:00 to 10:00 am and pointed us the preferred nance trees. Even before we were able to do so, a flock of resident Great Green Macaws revealed its presence with raucous calls while they flew above us to sit on a fig tree by Juan's house.  It is amazing how such huge birds "dissapeared" as soon as they perched on the fig tree!  We then took the trail to Río Pavo, finding nice activity of mixed flocks, including some western Pacific lowlands specialties like Orange-collared Manakin and Black-hooded Antshrike.  The raptors were represented by some nice species, including rare Black-and-White Hawk-Eagles and obliging White Hawk that posed for photos.

White Hawk

At 9:00 am, we were waiting in front of the nance trees pointed before by Juan.  On time, a flock of 12 Azuero Parakeets flew in and perched quietly in one of the trees!  We had excellent views while the birds were eating, but they did not allow photos.  They stayed less than ten minutes and flew away.  One hour later, the same flock arrived again and did the same.  This time I managed to obtain poor photos of an individual feeding on nance.  The Azuero Parakeet is considered part of the Painted Parakeet complex of South America; however, its extraordinaire isolation and differences in plumages respect to other forms merits it specific status according to some authorities, including the Panama Audubon Society.

Poor shot of an Azuero Parakeet feeding on nance

Without the opportune help of the Velásquez family, it would be impossible to see this species and to be back in Panama City by dinner time!  So, there were no need of expeditions nor days off at work (I already runned out of permits for this year)!  There is no doubt that good timing is everything when birding!

Good Friday in Flores

I spend the last Good Friday (april 6th) birding with my buddies Rafael Luck and Venicio "Beny" Wilson in extreme southwestern Azuero Peninsula of central Panamá,  at the slopes of Cerro Hoya near the town of Flores.  This was my second time in Flores, and I already blogged about it, because this spot is certainly the most accessible and easy site for seeing the endemic Azuero Parakeet!

Again, the Velasquez family received us, and Juan guided us through part of his property.  This is not exactly parakeets' season, they spent this part of the year in the higher slopes, coming down by may and june, but we want to have a shot and, who knows, maybe see some others goodies for the area.  The road going down Flores from the town of Mariato is simply spectacular, hilly, with great views of the rushing sea.

It is from close to Flores where you can see the forested slopes of Cerro Hoya... it is like a lost world in the middle of pasture lands... notice the fog and the rain covering the valley.  The humid forest of Cerro Hoya holds some interesting species, some of them only present in this particular mountain range in the world!

Juan took us through a narrow trail that steeply started to raise over the flat terrain surrounding, entering humid forest after crossing a nice creek.  The hike was a little bit exhausting for us, who were carrying photographic equipment.  Eventually we reached a flat spot where Juan had seen before the endemic (for Panama) Brown-backed Dove eating of the fallen fruits of a palm tree... but again, this was not the right time of the year for seeing them.  

However, the place was alive with the sounds of Orange-collared Manakins (only a record shot... shaking hands by the time we saw the manakins), we DID hear a pair of Azuero Parakeets flying-by upslope and heard (and saw) the characteristic double hoop of the local subspecies of Blue-crowned Motmot... which appeared to correspond vocally with lessoni, the Blue-diademed Motmot.

We walked more deeply inside the forest... the feeling of being in the middle of a tall, humid forest in Azuero is simply abstract!  We even saw birds so typical of forest interiors that we barely believed it... as for example, a pair of White-whiskered Puffbirds (photo) and a Royal Flycatcher.

In the way down, we stopped for lunch at the watering place for the cattle, accompanied by a Slaty-tailed Trogon and a young Spectacled Caiman carefully watching at us.  Circling above us were a pair of Short-tailed Hawks and, above them, a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle that we found later never has been reported for the Azuero Peninsula (I hope Rafael's photos are conclusive).

After the lunch, Juan guided us through the forest border at the lower slope of the hill.  At one stop, we delighted ourselves with a mixed flock including Rufous-browed Peppershrike, two Tropical Gnatcatchers, a Yellow Warbler and a White-winged Becard.  At the same time, a pair of impressive White Hawks were monitoring us, eventually getting tired of us and flying away majestically.

Then, Beny pointed towards some trees, evidently excited: a group of Critically Endangered "Azuero" Spider Monkey was passing by... I don't know how many, probably around 30 individuals, with many young ones, agile and gracefully were moving among the branches, sometimes stopping to have a look at us!  What a great experience... this subspecies of the Central American Spider Monkey complex is severely affected by habitat destruction... and probably only two or three populations persists only in those forests!

In spite of the torrential downpour that struck us ultimately, we spend a VERY good time with Juan... and we hope to return back soon to Flores and Cerro Hoya!

One day, two destinations

By the end of the last month, some of us were compiling our year lists just to see how far we were for becoming members of The 600 Club - Panama. That is why Rafael Luck and his nephew Daniel invited me, Venicio "Beny" Wilson and Osvaldo Quintero to a one-day quest of those birds that some way or another have eluded us so far. We visited in the same day both the entrance road to Cerro Campana National Park and El Valle de Antón. The trip was a complete success, and I got several new year-birds for my list (I'll number each of them in the text). Our first destination were the hills of the entrance road to Cerro Campana National Park. This park (the first one of the republic) protects the remaining patches of humid forest in the foothills of Capira (western Panama province), but we were interested in the more degraded habitat that occurs in its lower elevations by the entrance road next to the rangers station, the grassy slopes with scattered rocks, the main habitat of our targets: Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch (1) and White-tailed Hawk (2). We stopped by the "Mirador" (from where we got the magnificent view of the Chame bay in the photo with the first light of the day) and started the search. We saw many common species like White-tipped Dove, Lesser Elaenia and Tropical Kingbirds while several American Swallow-tailed Kites patrolled the skies. Soon, we saw a pair of the grass-finches singing atop some rocks, but always close to cover. Then, Beny found with his scope a distant and huge raptor also perched atop a rock. Mostly white with a dark half-hood: a White-tailed Hawk! We got our targets within 15 minutes of our arrival! Very happy, we headed to the west, to El Valle de Anton in the Cocle province. On route, we stopped near the town of Los Llanitos (you know, Todies' Land) for a short walk. Soon, we were looking for the Tody Motmots (3) that responded to the tape, at least three individuals. Eventually we saw one of them very close to us, but it didn't allowed photos. Other birds in the area included Sepia-capped Flycatchers (4), Black-chested Jays, Cocoa Woodcreeper, two White-thighed Swallows (5), several Rufous-capped Warblers with juveniles and a Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher. With more new year-birds in the bag, we finally entered the picturesque town of El Valle and headed to La Mesa, where Beny suggested to explore a side road. It was a good idea since we found a perched White Hawk very close to the road. The elegant bird then took off from the branch and circled us a couple of times before dissapearing behind the hill. We followed the road by foot, which passes through the border of a nice moss-covered forest with lots of bromeliads. We found a nice mixed flock with Silver-throated, Common Bush and Hepatic Tanagers (6), Tawny-crowned Euphonias, Olive-striped Flycatcher, and a pair of Tufted Flycatchers that were nesting in the area. A flock of Tawny-crested Tanagers (7) catched our attention with their calls, the same for a pair of Great Black Hawks (8) flying high in the skies. Then, we tried the entrance of the Gaital Natural Monument, but it was raining so we only saw a group of Dusky-faced Tanagers (9), several Violet-crowned Woodnymphs and a Spot-crowned Antvireo (10) in a mixed flock with more Tawny-crested and Lemon-rumped Tanagers. After a late lunch in town, we spent the last hours of light in Mata Ahogado, close to El Valle. We saw more common birds including Gray-capped and Social Flycatchers, Barred Antshrike; Silver-throated, Plain-colored, Lemon-rumped, White-lined, Palm, Blue-gray and Crimson-backed Tanagers, Paltry Tyrannulet, Buff-throated and Streaked Saltators and a calling Bran-colored Flycatcher (11). A car crash prevented us to continue the road leading to Altos del María so we called it a day and started the return to Panama City, after a successful day with tons of pretty new year-birds!