Mount Totumas Cloud Forest's Hummingbirds Gallery

Last year I had the opportunity to travel all over Panama, knowing new birds and sites by the way.  Certainly, one of the Top 5 sites (not only my opinion, but my family's too) was Mount Totumas Cloud Forest, in the western highlands of Chiriqui province.  Taking advantage of some free days in November, I went with my family for a couple of nights at the lodge, which is the highest eco-lodge in Panama (at 1900 meters), surrounded by a beautiful montane forest (as you can see in the top photo).  The well-marked trails are alive, not only with birds, but with all sort of critters, mammals and other wildlife... in fact, the place is known by holding one of the greatest invertebrates collection for Panama and by recording almost all of the feline species on its trails (captured with game cameras).  But a thing that is specially spectacular in Mount Totumas is the hummingbirds show.  Several hummingbird feeders placed strategically around the property, plus plenty of flowering trees and bushes, make Mount Totumas a hummingbird's heaven.

Gloriela using the hummingbird hat (featuring Snowy-bellied and Talamanca Hummingbirds)

The hummingbirds are used to people, so it is not rare to feel them close to you when they pass swiftly.  They will even feed right at your face, if you use the hummingbird hat!  They have a list of more than 25 different species of hummers for the property.  Of course, some are rare or do not visit the feeders, while others are seasonal... but the regular visitors are so amazing that you will spend hours admiring them without noticing it.  With some patience, you will get amazing shots, like the one I'm presenting in the next gallery

HUMMINGBIRDS OF MOUNT TOTUMAS

Glorious adult male Green-crowned Brilliant.

Talamanca Hummingbird.  This adult male is showing why its former name ("Magnificent") was  well earned.

Adult male Violet Sabrewing, one of the largest hummingbird in Panama

Lesser Violetear... what a boring name for such a great creature

Adult male White-throated Mountain-Gem.  The photo make him no justice!

Adult male Stripe-tailed Hummingbird.  A little jewel for sure.

I don't know what I like more, the contrasting Snowy-bellied Hummingbird or its pink perch.

Aptly named Scintillant Hummingbird, and adult male.

The star of the show: adult male Magenta-throated Woodstar.

So, what you think?  Amazing right!

More species than supposed !

I have just attended a VERY interesting lecture by Matthew Miller (of the Bermingham lab at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's -STRI- Naos Laboratory) during the Panama Audubon Society's monthly meeting in Panama City.  His first words stated that we are probably underestimating 30% of the avian diversity of our country !!!  

Many different forms of lowland birds (and surely highlands too) in Panama may represent new, sometimes cryptic, species under the biological species concept.  Birds like White-whiskered Puffbird, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher and White-breasted Wood-Wren are probably represented by more than one species within Panama... amazing!  Just check Matthew's chart on White-breasted Wood-Wren populations that exhibit almost no introgression among them (suggesting THREE different species!).

There are different ways for divergence among the new species... with some groups forming distinct, new separable species in a relatively short time by exhibiting habits and behaviors that reinforce the breeding barriers among them, as in the case of the Selasphorus Scintillant and Volcano Hummingbirds.

Volcano Hummingbird, genetically very similar to the Scintillant Hummingbird

But others  than the Selasphorus hummingbirds were the main attraction of the lecture.  First of all, he showed to us the distinctiveness, both physical and genotypically, of the Escudo Hummingbird, Amazilia handleyi.  Actually recognized as part of the widespread Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, A. tzacatl, the recognition of handleyi as a distinct, VERY range-restricted, full species would raise the conservation of tiny Escudo de Veraguas island as of high priority (the island is unprotected right now, and could hold more species new to science).

Two Amazilia handleyi at the extreme right.  Notice the larger size and general darker coloration in comparison with Amazilia tzacatl to the left

And what everybody was waiting for.... Matthew confirmed the discovery of a completely new hummingbird species for science.  In july 2011, STRI personnel collected a Lampornis hummingbird from southern Azuero Peninsula (Cerro Hoya), superficially similar to the Purple-throated Mountain-Gem (Lampornis calolaemus) of Nicaragua to central Panama.  It differs in both crown and vent coloration, you can see the difference in vent color in the next two photos of prepared skins (Venicio "Beny" Wilson's photo shows the difference in crown color here).

Lampornis sp. nov. at extreme left (two skins)

From left to righ: Lampornis sp. nov., Lampornis calolaemus and Lampornis castaneoventris

The Purple-throated Mountain-Gem distribution is interrupted by that of the White-throated Mountain-Gem (Lampornis castaneoventris) in Costa Rica and western Panama, with two separable form: cinereicauda (so far restricted to Costa Rica) and nominal castaneoventris (extreme eastern Costa Rica and western Panama)... but in the next photo of one of Matthew's slides, you can also see how genetically different are the Cerro Hoya birds from all the others members of the complex (notice that the pectoralis population of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica is also very distinct from the homogenes - and calolaemus - birds from southwestern Costa Rica/Panama and northern/central Costa Rica respectively, but physically very similar).

Notice how distinct the Cerro Hoya birds are (enlarge the picture and follow the lines)

Congratulations Matthew, and we are eager to see the formal description of the new species (as in plural) published soon!

Post-carnival trip to the highlands. Part II

After spending the morning travelling and birding in the foothills, Gloriela and I took a deserved nap at our hotel room in Volcan before heading to the town of Las Nubes for an afternoon walk. We visited La Amistad International Park , famed by its biodiversity and for being the only of our parks shared with Costa Rica. We first had lunch at the excellent restaurant in the entrance of the park, accompanied by Violet Sabrewings, Magnificent Hummingbirds and White-throated Mountain-Gems attending the feeders. Then, we moved to the administrative installations were we paid the entrance fee. From there, we took El Retoño trail, a 3-km loop trail that reaches 2305 meters above sea level. The forest is exhuberant and the journey is very entertaining through beautiful landscapes, several creeks and bambu patches... and the birding is excellent too. Because of the time of the day, the forest was quiet... but we found scattered species, most of them quite common inhabitants of the cloud forests. Eventually, we found a nice mixed flock, first noticed by the presence of two (probably more) Collared Whitestarts. These curious little guys are confident enough to stay close to you while you are taking pictures, making them really good photogenic birds! A group of four Black-cheeked Warblers accompanied them, as well as two Flame-throated Warblers, or I should say Parulas? Yes, this warbler is a Parula, a striking one as you can see in the photo, endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama. Others members of this flock were the finches. We first noticed three or four Yellow-thighed Finches following the flock, but then two Large-footed Finches jumped in front of us... a lifer for Gloriela! As the parula, both species are also endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. A good highland mixed flock is not complete without furnariids, and another endemic made our day on that regard: a Streak-breasted Treehunter was a little less skulkier than usual, allowing great pictures. WOW, I never expected to have a good photo of such a secretive species, and Gloriela simply added another lifer to her list! Some Red-faced Spinetails and two Spot-crowned Woodcreepers also accompanied the flock, the same as both Yellow-winged and Brown-capped Vireos, the resident species of vireos in these forests. Reluctantly, we left the site in order to complete the loop, hearing Silvery-fronted Tapaculos and Black-faced Solitaires... but the best bird of the day was about to come. Suddenly, a red and green figure appeared right in front of us to perch in a nearby mossy branch, a male Collared Trogon! That was only my second sight of this bird (the first one more than 12 years ago) and a beautiful lifer for Gloriela! This trogon is not rare... but somehow have eluded me all these years. The red belly was specially contrasting and bright, and the bird stayed for a while inspecting us before flying away into the forest. Curiosly, we saw later an Orange-bellied Trogon (distant views of a male), but failed to locate a quetzal this time. Anyway, that Collared Trogon was gorgeous! It was a long day, and after 18 hours in the field, we finally arrived to our room in Volcan in order to rest for our next (and last) day in the highlands.

A Resplendant day in Cerro Punta

The journey to Cerro Punta took a little more of what we expected, thanks to the awesome birds we saw in the way. Our original plan was to spent most of the morning searching for an adult male Resplendant Quetzal, which Gloriela had never seen. She had seen quetzals before, but only immature males and females. The first place we visited was the entrance of the road to El Respingo. It was very quiet, and the activity was low. The only birds showing up were White-throated Mountain-Gem, Brown-capped and Yellow-winged Vireos, Black-cheeked and Flame-throated Warblers and Mountain Thrushes. A little drab bird resulted to be a White-fronted Tyrannulet, an scarce member of its family in Panama (yellow underparts, two yellow wing bars and it was quickly raising a wing over the back). Then, we tried the Finca Ríos... only finding Scintillant and Volcano Hummingbirds and both Whitestarts. We decided to visit Finca Dracula, at the town of Guadalupe. It proved to be a good idea since its gardens and feeders were full of birds, but alas, no signs of Quetzals. A pair of Slaty Finches visited the feeders, while a big flock of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks flew around, taking advantage of the feeders too. Most of them were females, but also included was a nice adult male with its complete breeding plumage. A Red-tailed Squirrel scaped with a big banana, while a Yellowish Flycatcher and a Common Bush-Tanager acted only as spectators. A Stripe-tailed Hummingbird fed at the Heliconias in the garden, probably avoiding the insane activity at the hummingbirds' feeders. There, an agressive group of White-throated Mountain-Gem (both males and females) were banishing and chasing all the others species in the area including Magnificent Hummingbirds and Violet Sabrewings. Even a female Green-crowned Brilliant stayed only for a while due to the Mountain-Gems. The Green Violetears preferred to stay away of conflicts, singing from very high perches. It was hard to leave such a great place, but it was clear that we were not going to find quetzals there... so I played my last ace: the entrance to La Amistad International Park in Las Nubes. It was late, so we had lunch at the little restaurant of the entrance. The coocker lady told us that she had seen several pairs of quetzals that season, but not that day. While waiting for the food, we were distracted by the hummingbirds attending the feeder by the dinning room: Violet Sabrewings, Magnificent & Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds and White-throated Mountain-Gems. The only difference with the feeders in Finca Dracula was that this feeder was dominated by males Sabrewings (not by the Mountain-gems). The hummingbirds were not the only attraction. The lady filled a feeder with rice and rapidly some hungry birds appeared: Summer Tanager, a female Flame-colored Tanager and Yellow-thighed Finches. It was almost time to go, so we walked a little bit towards the ranger's station to give a last chance to the quetzals. The habitat and the light was perfect, but the quetzals simply didn't showed up. Then, when we already started the way back, an unmistakable silhouette flew against the canopy, perching very close to us: an adult male Resplendant Quetzal in full view!!!... and Gloriela was seeing it! What a great moment... I was so excited that I forgot to grab my camera. We saw the bird for 30 seconds and then it move to a distant perch (then I remembered my camera). It settled for a while and I managed to obtain a poor photo where you can see how long its tail was (OK, OK, is not its tail, but its elongated tail coverts)... notice that the end of the feathers not even appears in the photo! It was a remarkable experience, an excellent closing to our incursion to the Chiriqui province.

Western Hummingbirds Gallery II

What can I say about hummingbirds?.. I just love them. In order to complement my previous western hummingbirds gallery, I'm posting some photos captured during my last trip to the western highlands. Despite the fact that not all the hummingbirds pictured are restricted to the western highlands, they are for sure more easily seen there than in any other place (though some of them are not so easy to find). Enjoy!

UPDATE: new pics added (male Magnificent, female Sabrewing, female Ruby-throated). Another replaced (male Mountain-Gem).