Beach Weekend (and more)!

Sometimes, you only need to get away and relax.  My wife and I decided that it was time to have an escape to a secluded beach in order to enjoy the sun and the marine breeze.  Luckily for us, doing so is as easy as taking a ferry to the paradisiac Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama, mere one to two hours from busy Panama City.  We chose a beach club at Viveros Island that we visited earlier this year and loved it then.  The pristine turquoise waters and the fine white sands of the beach are irresistible!

At 3:00 pm, the ferry picks up the few visitors back to the city, but we booked a room in advance (because the place only has two rooms) and, essentially, had the complete club and the beach exclusively for us the rest of the afternoon.

Playa Honda, Viveros Island, at sunset

But this is a birding blog, and I'm sure you're waiting the birding story here... and yes, there is a birding story.  Early in the morning, I explored the surroundings with my camera.  After watching some common species, I started to hear an unfamiliar call (to me that is).  After recording it, I realized that the bird doing it was an adult male White-fringed Antwren that I managed to photograph in spite of how far away it was.

White-fringed Antwren, adult male

This species is restricted, in Panama, to the largest islands of the archipelago, where it is represented by the endemic subspecies alticincta.  It is not found in the mainland, and the closest population occurs in Caribbean Colombia.  I was expecting it at the island because my friend José Pérez photographed it  here last year for the Global Big Day (thanks for the instructions José).  HBW Alive states that the song of this endemic subspecies is unknown, so I uploaded mine to Xeno-Canto, where you can listen to it (HERE is my recording) and compare with the recordings of other subspecies of the complex (notice that they recognize alticincta as part of Northern White-fringed Antwren).  The ant wren was a great addition to my year list, but certainly other birds also showed well, including a cooperative Jet Antbird and an impressive Hook-billed Kite perched few meters away.

Jet Antbird, adult male 

Hook-billed Kite, adult female

So what else you can ask?  Spending time at a beautiful beach alone with the girl you love while recording -probably for the first time- range-restricted and endemic subspecies of antwrens is my  definition of paradise on Earth!

P.D.: more photos at Gloriela's Intagram

... and what a Global Big Day it was! Panama's 2018 GBD

After all the organization and enthusiasm raised during the weeks previous to this year Cornell's Global Big Day (you can read about it here), it was clear that Panama's participation would be no less than spectacular!  And what a Global Big Day it was!  Clearly, the participation was way higher than previous years... just notice how filled was the participation map for that day!

The Global Big Day started, for some, at the very first second of May 5th... by spying  feral Rock Pigeons at their roosting site in Panama City for example (yes Rolando, I'm talking about you) or starting to calling out owls in the darkness.  Soon, more and more teams started to join the event, and the list of species for Panama started to grow .  There were people counting birds almost everywhere! Towns, gardens, forests, beaches, marshes, mountaintops, deserts (not actual deserts in Panama, but anyway) and pelagic waters were all covered! To make the tale short, we achieved all our main targets for the day:  we beated our previous record by finding 750 species for a single day in Panama, we are number one for the region (and for North America!) and 6th place worldwide... W O W ! ! !

But most important, we definitively destroyed our previous participation numbers!  We sent six times more checklists than the previous years, and more than 700 volunteers travelled the country looking for birds!

Cornell's 2018 GBD Top 10 (screenshot).  May 9th, 2018

Most of the "Macro Teams" recorded unique species for the national total and, in fact, 106 species (14% of the total) were reported by only one team or individual, showing the impact that single birders had in this event.  Of course there were many highlights... some due to the species rarity, other by the circumstances under which these birds were recorded... I will list some of them here... but it is impossible to list all of them or the people involved in the effort to find such species in this space.  If you read Spanish, a great compilation of participant organizations, photos and interesting facts for Panama's GBD can be seen in this online document prepared by Sociedad Audubon Panama. 

Oilbird by the Ocean-to-Ocean Team.  Willie Mazu, Ngöbe-Buglé. May 5th 2018.  Photo courtesy Raúl Velásquez

We received interesting reports from every corner of the country, some of the rarest one included an Oilbird (!), seen by my friends of the Ocean-to-Ocean Team (Raúl Velásquez, César González and Alexander Ortega) in the foothills of Ngöbe-Buglé Comarca, the first report for western Panama; Maroon-chested Ground-Dove, Ochraceous Pewee and Silvery-throated Jay by "Los Maroons" Team leaded by Ito Santamamaría in the western highlands around Cerro Punta town in Chiriqui province.

Baird's Trogon (female) by the ADOPTA - Baird's Team (Elida Valdés, Yasmín Cerrud and Eisser García). Petroterminales Panamá, Burica Península. May 5th 2018. Photo courtesy Yasmín Cerrud

Also in Chiriqui province, but in the lowlands of the Burica Peninsula, the "Baird's Team" recorded its namesake Baird's Trogon and Golden-naped Woodpecker; while Boris Sanjur and company of the BioCRECOBIAN - UNACHI Team, photographed the third record for Panama of Eurasian Collared-Dove, close to David City; at Cerro Algodon in the Ngöbe-Buglé Comarca, Pedro Jiménez recorded the only Yellowish Pipit of the day, the first record in more than 20 years for western Panama, also for the BioCRECOBIAN - UNACHI Team.  In central Panama, Team Heliconia recorded Coiba Spinetail in, where else, Coiba Island (the only World record); Josue Ortega and company of The Naturalist Guide Panama reported Lanceolated Monklet and White-crowned Manakin in Santa Fe National Park, Veraguas province; while Ariel Aguirre et al found the Yellow-throated Chlorospingus at the forests above El Cope town, represented here by an endemic form considered by BirdLife as a distinct species (Orange-throated Chlorospingus) and Daniel Gonzáles, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Bird Collection (STRIBC) Team, contributed with the only record of Rose-throated Becard... the first confirmed nesting record for the Azuero Peninsula as you can see in this video.

American White Pelican (file photo from Panama City, Panama)

At least four different American White Pelicans were recorded, a pair seen by two teams in Las Macanas marsh in Herrera province (the team leaded by Edgardo Márquez of The Naturalist Guide Panama and the team leaded by Hector Escudero of Grupo Ecoturístico Las Macanas) and  another pair by the team leaded by Karla Aparicio of Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507 in Punta Chame, Panama Oeste province; also at Las Macanas marsh, and also of the Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507, Gumercindo Pimentel photographed two (of five) Fulvous Whistling-Ducks.  The team leaded by Fernando Guardia and Arianne Magallón photographed the resident Inca Doves in Agua Fría town, close to Penonomé in Coclé province.  At the foothills of Panama Oeste province, Faustino Sánchez, of the Canopy Family Team, recorded the only Snowcap of the day.

Herring Gull, First cycle. (file photo from Panama City, Panama)

From the former Canal Area to the east, we had great participation, including several groups along the shores of the Panama Canal and around Panama City, with the Playeros PTY Team of the Sociedad Audubon de Panama recording six unique species along the coast (including Herring Gull), leaded by Rosabel Miró and Esther Carty who also managed to accept volunteers with no experience to promote the event, as well as local authorities, including the vice-major of the city!  They even had time to educate on birds and to check identifications with personnel of the city council and the Biomuseo.  Other teams that accepted non-experienced volunteers to promote the event were the ANCON Team in Panama City, the ADOPTA - Cruz Roja Team in Altos de Campana National Park, the BioCRECOBIAN - UNACHI in David City, among others.  To the east of the city, the APAVE Team reported a late Sora, that responded to playback in former La Jagua marsh.  Two ADOPTA Teams recorded unique species not only for Panama, but for the World!  Ivan Hoyos saw a Spiny-faced Antshrike in Cerro Azul while the team leaded by Jorge Garzón found the Tacarcuna Chlorospingus at the higher slopes of Cerro Chucantí.  Wilson Félix, of Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507 reported the juvenile Harpy Eagle in Chagres National Park, one of the study birds of the foundation.  For the first time, José Pérez recorded the species of the Pearl Islands for the GBD, managing to get the best photo I had seen of a male White-fringed Antwren from there!

White-fringed Antwren, male, by José Pérez.  Isla Viveros, Pearl Islands, Panama. May 5th, 2018. Photo courtesy José Pérez

The Darién province was full of specialties.  The lowlands produced stunning species like Crested Eagle and Slender-billed Kite near Pijibasal, by the team leaded by Hayro Cunampio; a recent addition to the Panama list, the Bare-faced Ibis, was relocated by the Ecotour Darién Team near the discovery area. This species was reported for the first time during one of the scouting trips for this GBD!  Several teams birded the Darien highlands: Mario Ocaña, Ismael "Nando" Quiroz and Isaac Pizarro worked from Rancho Frío to Pirre ridge, while two ADOPTA Teams (with Euclides "Kilo" Campos, Alexis Guevara and Mauricio Hoyos) birded at the mythical Cana airstrip and the Alturas de Nique range.  They reported a myriad of rare and range-restricted species, including Choco Tinamou, Pirre and Tooth-billed Hummingbirds, Greenish Puffleg, Wing-banded Antbird, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper, Sharpbill, Golden-crowned Flycatcher, Varied Solitaire, Green-naped Tanager, Swallow Tanager, Pirre Chlorospingus and Yellow-green Grosbeak to name a few.

"Situation Rooms". Above: At the Ecological Police in Gamboa, May 6th, 2018.  Below: At Metropolitan Natural Park, May 7th, 2018.  Photos courtesy Guido Berguido

After the day of the count, the work for the members of the coordinating committee started seriously, and several "situation rooms" were set up where sightings were verified, recorded bird songs were identified and photographs of birds that were not identified in the field were reviewed. As an ebird reviewer, I also spent many hours requesting documentation of dubious records and verifying the provenance and quality of the lists that were sent... and as member of the Sociedad Audubon de Panamá, I joined others members at our own "situation room" gathering data of the count and also listening to recorded calls sent by the general public through a WhatsApp number specifically enabled for that purpose (and to receive information about the status of the habitats visited... more about that later).   The efforts paid off! At least four species were added to the national total after identifying them in photos (Pectoral Sandpiper, Gray Hawk) or audios (Canebrake Wren, Melodious Blackbird) provided by observers in the field that were unable to identify them at site.

Sociedad Audubon de Panama's "situation room". Panama City, May7th, 2018 (that is my eBird reviewer-face for the I-don't-think-so records). Photo courtesy Rosabel Miró

The logistic for the Global Big Day was no less impressive... just look at the transportation means that were used to arrive or leave the counting sites and during the Global Big Day.  By all means the Panamanian birders reached every corner of the country... invaluable volunteer hours and kilometers traveled on foot and other means were not in vain!

From upper left corner and clockwise: Canopy Family's "HawkEagle Truck" in Pipeline Road, Gamboa. May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Carlos Bethancourt); Volunteer-filled truck on route to Pirre, Darién. May 4th, 2018 (photo courtesy Hayro Cunampio); Biking and birding in Garnaderita, Atalaya. May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Lesley Sánchez); Adopta Team's horseback riding back from Cerro Chucantí. May 6th, 2018 (photo courtesy Zabdy Samudio)

From upper left corner and clockwise: Heliconia Team at open sea on route from Coiba Island.  May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Team Heliconia). Exchanging airplanes on route to Piñas Bay. Garachiné, May 4th, 2018 (photo by Jan Cubilla).  Fundación Naturalez y Ciencia 507 at Punta Chame. May 5th, 2018 (photo courtesy Karla Aparicio).  ADOPTA Team at Cana airstrip. May 6th, 2018 (photo courtesy Guido Berguido).

The birds were amazing, but the participation was great too! About 1300 checklists submitted placed us # 5 worldwide in participation. The vast majority of the birders sent their data through the eBird accounts of their teams instead of opening their own accounts, something we plan to improve for the next event. All the participants count; however, I would like to highlight that groups of high school students, who benefited from Cornell's "Detectives de Aves Internacional" curriculum which Katherine Araúz has been with in Panama for a while, also participated. Children are the hope of the future!  And about the habitat status data, well... we are still collecting it; however, it was clear that many participants did not want to be mere passive observers and some decided to leave their counting areas better than they found them!

Left: Team of university students of UNACHI and UTP with thrash collected after birding. La Barqueta. Photo courtesy Luis Saldaña.  Right: Team IAN Consulting-GEMAS picking up thrash in Volcano Lakes.  Photo courtesy IAN Consulting. Both photos on May 5th, 2018 

As you can see, this was a GREAT Global Big Day for Panama!  We still have to do better and with more time next year, need to solve some minor differences and polish some details, but the experience gained in these seven weeks of preparation is priceless!  I also gained tons of experience during this GBD... if you want to know how it was for me, keep tuned and follow this link: ... my Global Big Day!

Press conference announcing the Panama's 2018 GBD results (with pizza!), simultaneously transmitted to several provinces in Panama.  From left to right: Karen Ávila (Fundación Avifauna Eugene Eisenmann), Guido Berguido (Asociación Adopta el Bosque Panamá), Rolando Jordan (Asociación Panameña de Aventura y Excursionismo), Karla Aparicio (Fundación Naturaleza y Ciencia 507), Rosabel Miró (Sociedad Audubon de Panamá).  Panama City, May 11th, 2018

The Pearl Islands experience! Part I

Originally a Panama Audubon Society's (PAS) trip, it was cancelled due to lack of quorum; however, there is something about the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama (yes, where one season of Survivors was filmed)... sun, white sands in beautiful beaches, tasty food and plenty of wildlife to enjoy.  So, instead of changing my ferry ticket to Contadora island, I decided to embark and enjoy a weekend in the archipelago.  Surprisingly, Joris and his wife Francis (two PAS members as well) were in the ferry with the same thought.     It is a 2-hours journey to the islands from Panama City, and we saw the first species from the ferry's deck.

Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel

All the storm-petrel that we managed to ID were Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels as you can see in my marginal photo.  Of course some other more common species were noticed; however, the storm-petrels were the most interesting!  Once in Contadora, I contacted our captain (thanks to Venicio "Beny" Wilson for the contacts).  After checking at our hotels, we departed to Pedro Gonzalez Island to the south of Contadora (more or less 50 minutes away).  In the way, we saw huge flocks of Black Terns, with most of them wearing patches of alternate plumage.

Black Tern.  Notice the black patches in the underparts

Black Terns

But the most impressive beasts were two Humpback Whales (mom and calf) close enough to see every detail!  Notice in the photo how close we were to Pedro Gonzalez Island (in the background).  These whales gives birth in these waters... the calf increases rapidly in size and weight by taking the fat-rich milk from his mother while she fasts throughout the season.

Humpback Whale (and Pedro Gonzalez island in the background)

Once in Pedro Gonzalez, we checked at the naval station (as usual) and crossed the town quickly.  Pedro Gonzalez is the third largest island of the archipelago, and home of our main target: White-fringed Antwren.  There are other endemic subspecies in this archipelago, but none of this is as distinctive as the alticincta form of White-fringed Antwren.  First of all, there are no White-fringed Antwrens in continental Panama.  Second, the closest population in South America is distinctively different.

We went directly to a little creek just out of town and soon were seeing our first pair of White-fringed Antwrens, lifer for both Joris and Francis.  Just like my last time, the place was too dark for photos.  The male allowed some great views, but didn't stay long enough for photos.  The female was more cooperative.

White-fringed Antwren, female

White-fringed Antwren, female

Yes, I think these photos are better than my previous ones.  A whitish throat and yellow underparts with orangish breast is evident.  More important, she had no streaks at all in the underparts.  Many authorities place this form within the "Northern White-fringed Antwren" group, geographically logical considering its proximity; however, the lack of streaks in the underparts of the female is inconsistent.  More work is needed in this complex for sure.  We don't stayed long.  We only saw few other species in the island, but highlights were Pale-bellied Hermit and a Blackpoll Warbler working close to some antwrens in the way to the soccer field.

Central American Agouti

It was a nice first day in the Pearl Islands.  Back in Contadora I enjoyed the beautiful Playa Larga beach and saw some Central American Agouties in the hostal's backyard.  We planned with our captain to visit some sea birds colonies in nearby islands the next morning, so check it later!

Birding the Pearl Islands: in search of the White-fringed Antwren

The Pearl Islands is a group of more than 200 islands in the Gulf of Panama, known for their beautiful beaches, luxurious resorts and, more recently, the opportunity to see whales and other cetaceans in the proper season.  All this is great, but my interest in the islands was focused on other subject: birds (of course).  The islands are home to many endemic subspecies and some are huge nesting colonies of common seabirds, so the idea of a birding trip combined with whale watching and enough time to relax in a paradise beach seemed feasible, specially to include Gloriela and Gabrielle, in a sort of mini-vacations.

Contadora, as seen from Bartolome island

Venicio "Beny" Wilson (www.benywilson.com) was the perfect person to organize the trip... he is an experienced bird and whale watching guide, has lot of experience with the endemic forms of the islands and in how to find them and, most important, he is a great friend of us since many years ago.  Accompanying us were Rafael Luck, Celeste Paiva, Jennifer Wolcott and Dan Heinrichs, who also liked the attractive itinerary.  We took the first ferry to Contadora Island from Panama City, and after one and a half hours, we reached the touristic island.  We didn't stay longer, only enough to unload our luggage and board the boat that would take us to our destination one hour farther south: the town of El Cocal in Pedro Gonzalez Island.

After an uneventful trip, we reached Pedro Gonzalez and met our local guide who conducted us through the town into a trail going to the water reserve, passing by second growths and tall trees... but also having spectacular views of the island and the pristine beaches.

Quickly became evident that the islands act as migrant trap.  The impressive number of empids and pewees all over the island was proof of it... in Panama they usually don't vocalize, so they can be very difficult to identify.  Most of them seemed to be Eastern Wood-Pewees.

The migrants mingled with the residents species, and we saw in quick succession more and more empids, wood-warblers, Summer Tanagers, Red-eyed Vireos and so on... Of the resident species, one of the most common was the Northern Scrub-Flycatcher.

A nice surprise for me was the pair of Hook-billed Kites that Beny recognized immediately due to his experience with this raptor in the Lesser Antilles.  Is my first sighting for the year of this species.  One of the birds was carrying a snail in the beak.

However, we still needed to find the main objective of our trip.  The largest islands of the group hold an extraordinarily isolated population of White-fringed Antwrens, and according to Beny, Pedro Gonzalez Island is the most reliable site to find them.  This species is not found in mainland Panama, and the closest population inhabits the Caribbean slope of Colombia.  This species was on top of my wish list since I have not seen the species during my travels in South America and this isolated race (alticincta) could well be considered a full species in the future!  It was midday and the lunch was about to be ready: a recently caught Mahi-mahi with plantains.  In the meanwhile, most of us decided to check a nearby gallery forest along a creek... Gloriela and Gabrielle decided to wait for lunch in a hammock provided by Beny... he thought in everything!

It was pretty hot and quiet inside the forest, but then Beny saw a dark little bird working the tangles some meters away: a male White-fringed Antwren!  These are active birds hard to photograph, so I took my time to appreciate it through my binoculars, noticing its long white eyebrow and the black face and underparts.  When I finally decided to try with my camera, the only photo that came up was the next one:

Definitively only a record shot, but you can see the field marks I mentioned before plus the white marks in the undertail (and in the wing).  What a life bird!  We had lunch (EXQUISITE!) and returned to the same spot for another shot, this time Gloriela was able to see a female... and I managed another blurry shot.

At least the bird is recognizable, but more important, you can see the pale underparts with buffy chest and no streaks at all, placing this form within the southern group of White-fringed Antwrens... more studies are needed to determine how many species form this complex... two seems probable (Northern and Southern White-fringed Antwren)... but who knows.  This form only shows little curiosity to tape recordings of (Southern) White-fringed Antwren from South America, but certainly do not respond to these tapes. Also, Beny states that this form only emits a short series of contact calls, quite liquid in quality ("tu-ik, tu-ik, tu-ik"), and never the long "chip" song... probably they have been isolated for enough time to develop vocal differences?  I propose the name Pearl Islands Antwren!  Eventually, we saw many more individuals, including another male that Gloriela was able to spy.  In the way back, one of the last birds we saw in Pedro Gonzalez was the resident Bran-colored Flycatcher, which was a new year-bird for me.

This was a GREAT day, and ended with a nice dinner in Contadora.  The next day the itinerary included a visit to some seabirds colonies, whale-watching and so on... so don't miss my next post!