Darien Lowlands Clean-up!

Darien, of eastern Panama, is the largest and less-developed province of the country, home of great biodiversity, including tons of endemics and regional specialties found nowhere else in North America.  That is why, if you are doing a Panama (or Central America) Big Year you MUST include several trips to this province.  I covered well the highlands of the province with their hordes of endemics (see field trips posts HERE and HERE), getting some lowlands species as well in the same trips plus other trips with specific targets (like my flash trip to Finca Los Lagos)... but I still needed some lowlands specialties of the province.  So, I contacted Domiciano "Domi" Alveo, of Birding Trips Panama, an experienced bird guide and good friend of mine, to take me to the eastern lowlands in search of those targets.

Because I'm always short of time, we planned a weekend trip leaving Panama City Friday afternoon.  Leaving the city on Friday afternoon is a mess, but somehow we managed it without too much delay.  The 4-hours trip to the town of Metetí was more enjoyable with Domi's company ... we talked about the possibilities that awaited us all the way, and we even had time to spy an Striped Owl on the side of the road.  We got to our hotel at Metetí on time to sleep right away!

Striped Owl

Very early the next day, at first light we were boarding our "piragua" at the town of La Peñita, along the Chucunaque river.  Our destination was the Embera village of Nuevo Vigía, along the Tuquesa river, a tributary of the Chucunaque river.  This community has received visiting birders and naturalists since a while ago and are  well aware of the benefits of the sustainable tourism activities.  It became clearly evident that they know their birds... after all, where can you see a Welcome Sign with Dusky-backed Jacamar on it?

Domi and our boatman on the piragua along the mighty Chucunaque river

"Welcome to the community of Nuevo Vigía"

In fact, the Dusky-backed Jacamar was my main target for the site.  This range-restricted species is only found in eastern Panama and north-western Colombia.  It is quite localized, but usually faith to known locations where it is quite reliable... but you need the local expertise to find them anyway.  A short boat ride took us to a former orchard, now overgrown.  We immediately started to find some eastern Panama specialties, like Capped Heron, Spectacled Parrotlet, Black-tailed Trogon, Double-banded Graytail and Black Oropendola.  Soon Domi located our target: a young male Dusky-backed Jacamar was quietly waiting for its prey to fly-by.  Nice start!  Soon we moved to another locality, this time closer to the village.  The trail took us through secondary forests and degraded areas, to finally reach a swampy area where we looked after Black-collared Hawk without success; however, we got the most amazing views of secretive Bare-crowned Antbirds in the understore.  The pair, but specially the adult male, left us astonished while they confidently stayed in the open, preening and showing off.  Believe me or not, that was my second sight ever of this species and a great addition to my Year List!

Dusky-backed Jacamar

Adult male Bare-crowned Antbird showing its bare crown!

But there were not only avian highlights in Nuevo Vigía.  The open areas and the village itself were exceptionally good for butterflies, including rare and restricted species.  The whites, yellows, sulfurs and patches were exceptionally common, but the diversity was so high that I'm still trying to ID some of them.  My personal highlights were the Glorious Blue-Skipper (Paches loxus), the Zebra Lonwing (Heliconius charithonia) and my long-expected lifer Red Peacock (Anartia amathea) which is an specialty of eastern Panama.

Glorious Blue-Skipper

Zebra Longwing

Red Peacock

Short before midday, we left Nuevo Vigía in order to visit some sites along the Pan-American highway.  The short stops along the road produced more and more eastern Panama specialties, but certainly the highlights were a singing Red-billed Scythebill and a pair of dueting Black-capped Donacobius allowing great views.  Other highlights of these stops along the highway were Yellow-hooded Blackbirds, Large-billed Seed-Finch, Pied Water-Tyrants, Gray-breasted Crake and a mixed flock with rare White-chinned and Spot-fronted Swifts among others (check this eBird checklist).

Red-billed Scythebill

Black-capped Donacobius

Yellow-hooded Blackbird, adult male

Eventually, we reached the town of Yaviza, at the very end of the Pan-American highway.  This town is the gateway to Darien National Park and to hundreds of communities only reachable through piraguas.  We had lunch there and then spend the part of the afternoon looking for some other species.  The usual stakeout for Bicolored Wren (the graveyard) worked well... we saw a family group near its huge nest foraging at all levels and taking dust baths.  They have certainly prospered in the place, the same as the Carib Grackles that were quite common at town.  In fact, we saw more Caribs than Great-tailed Grackles and even saw juveniles and begging immatures all around.

Bicolored Wrens

Carib Grackle, female

It was a successful and long day, but was not over.  A good friend of us, also an expert birding guide resident in Darien, invited us a cup of coffee at his house.  Ismael "Nando" Quiroz (of Tamandua Nature & Photo Travel Panama) is almost a legend in the birding world of Darien and we know each other since long time ago, so paying him and his beautiful family a visit was a must.  Nando was free that weekend and agreed to join us the next day... I still had some targets and he knew some nice spots where we could try for them.  For some reason, I mentioned that I still needed Tropical Screech-Owl for my Year List... Nando knew a nearby spot where it was guaranteed.  Of course, we jumped into the car and started to drive.  Soon, a curious screech-owl was in the spotlight, perched along a live fence bordering pastureland with thousands of fireflies... what a show!

Tropical Screech-Owl

As planned, we met Nando again for breakfast the next day.  We visited several sites, including famous ones like the roads to Lajas Blancas and to El Salto, finding many eastern Panama specialties (and Year birds) like Red-throated Caracara, Barred Puffbird, Orange-crowned Oriole, White-eared Conebill, among others.  But for my main target of the trip, Nando took us to some rice fields by Quebrada Félix.  Of the five species of macaws in Panama, four of them are found in Darien province and, for some reason, one of them have eluded me all these years.  Supposedly common, the Chestnut-fronted Macaw is the smallest of the macaws found in the country.  Probably bad luck or simply short time birding the appropriate habitat explains why I still needed that bird for my Panama list, but I was decided to add it to my lists this year... so was Nando.  Soon, he heard a pair flying across the field and I was finally able to put my binoculars on them.  They were far away... but eventually we got much better views of other individuals (but no better photos).

Chestnut-fronted Macaws

With most of our targets in the bag, and running out of time, we said good-bye to Nando and started our journey back to Panama City.  Birding can not be easier when you have two excellent guides by your side.  Thanks guys for the GREAT weekend.  I recommend both for them if you want to visit Darien province of eastern Panama..., please don't hesitate to contact them!

Great White Longtail (Urbanus chalco) at Nando's backyard!

In search of Darien's specialties

The Darien province, in eastern Panama, holds a myriad of south american birds not found in any other site in North America (OK, that is using the boundaries of the AOU's North American Classification Committee).  And... it is not necessary to mount an expedition to see some of these birds, as we prove it last month.  The group of birders including me, Euclides Campos, Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck, were ready to obtain some lifers in spite of the short time available.

We stayed at Meteti, from where we headed very early in the morning (having breakfast on route) to the wet pastures east to the town of Betzaida.  At a marshy patch with long reeds, we found one of the targets of our trip: the Yellow-hooded Blackbird... and not only one, but many singing males, displaying in a courtship behavior.

The female is duller (considerably), but distinctive as well.  We saw both males and females flying outside the reeds to a nearby farm and vice versa.  The resident status of this species was confirmed some years ago in Darien (and North America), and is expanding westward.

At the same patch, we saw a singing adult male Large-billed Seed-Finch.  Also a south american "invader", this male was feeding a young partially hidden inside the reeds.  The young had a normal-sized bill.

This bird has been found westward into Panama province (once), but the Darien is still the only regular region for it in North America, the same as the next species: the Spot-breated Woodpecker, that we found next to the road.  The lack of red malar make this a female.

We moved to the east, closer to the town of Yaviza, to a patch of tall forest remaining along the mighty Chucunaque river.  The avifauna changed rapidly, with many species typical of humid forests present, like Barred and Black-breasted Puffbirds, Black-bellied Wren, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, both Crested and Black Oropendolas and even a noisy Red-throated Caracara that perched high above a fig tree.

After a while, we started our way to the road of El Salto, which crosses a nice forest, part of it protected by the Vida Nueva Foundation... however, we stopped on route in order to watch a Limpkin atop a tree.  They are not uncommon in this part of the country, but it is always great to have sights like this!

At the road to El Salto, we crossed several mixed flocks.  The biggest one included Yellow-margined and Yellow-breasted Flycatchers, White-flanked and Moustached Antwrens, White-shouldered and Plain-colored Tanagers, Tropical Gnatcatchers and more.  Then Euclides heard the call of one of my main targets: the Double-banded Graytail.  Soon, we were seeing three individuals (including one immature) of this Darien specialty... a life bird for me!!!

What a great trip... and we only spend half-day birding!  In the return journey, we made a short stop at the Elementary School in the town of Torti (eastern Panama province) where Euclides identified a group of 30+ Brown-chested Martins perched on a wire.  This austral migrant is seldom reported despite it is quite regular in this part of Panama.  Great way to end the trip!

Bird of the Month: Yellow-hooded Blackbird

The Yellow-hooded Blackbird (Chrysomus icterocephalus) is an attractive icterid inhabitant of grassy and marshy habitats from eastern Panama to northern South America.  Its expansion to Panama is relatively recent, and now is widely accepted as resident, so its occurrence status for North America was changed in accordance by the American Ornithologists' Union (previously known for the area by an old specimen from Barbados).

My first encounter with this species was many years ago in a seaside marsh of Lima, Peru, where an introduced population exists.  Since then, I have seen this species in other two south american countries, including the individual pictured in the next photo from a ranch in eastern Venezuela.

During my last incursion to eastern Panama, we all were impressed by the numbers of Yellow-hooded Blackbirds found in a single marshy patch by the road.  Several males were singing and in full courtship display.

We were able to see the females as well, exhibiting sexual dimorphism; however, she is quite distinctive.

For these, and many others reasons is why we chose the Yellow-hooded Blackbird as our bird of the month!

Literature consulted

1.  Angehr G, Dean R.  The birds of Panama. A field guide. 2010.

2.  AOU's 52nd supplement to the checklist of North American birds. 2011

Landing in eastern Venezuela!

After so many preparatives, finally, Rafael Cortes and your blogger host were heading to eastern Venezuela in search of those Guianan shield and Tepuis endemics. I have to say that it is not easy to get by your own into interior Venezuela, but somehow we managed the trip without incidents. We spend almost a full day flying from Bogota (Colombia) to Caracas and then to Puerto Ordaz, at the margins of the mighty Orinoco river. Puerto Ordaz is a HUGE city, with wide avenues, modern malls and all the facilities you need. We spend the night in downtown, with Carib Grackle as my only life bird for the day (watched at the airport near Caracas).

Very early the next day, we hired a taxi cab to ride us to the little town of El Palmar, the gate to the forests of the Sierra de Imataca. The average speed of our taxi was around 120 km/h, due to the excellent highways and little traffic on route. We left the main highway (that eventually reach La Gran Sabana and the Brazil border) just before the town of Utapa and took a windy paved road through pasture land with savanna-like habitat and many lagoons. Despite the velocity, we did saw some birds, including a flock of Yellow-hooded Blackbirds, many heron species and even a Black-collared Hawk.

At the main plaza, we asked for a local guide, Blas Chacare who works monitoring Harpy Eagle's nest and chicks (more about Blas and this project in another post). We didn't knew him in advance... Rafael only had some references by some colombian birders that met him before. Eventually, we reached Blas' house close to the main plaza, and after the corresponding introductions, Blas agreed to guide us the next three days and even offered to stay at his house, with his beautiful family. I already was counting my first life birds of the day: Green-rumped Parrotlets, Gray Seedeater, Orange-fronted Yellow-Finch, Pale-breasted Thrush, and so on... Of course, I didn't count the pet Spix's Guan they have in their backyard, but it was useful to familiarize with its jizz and size. In addition, the rice thrown to the guan was attracting Tropical Mockingbird, Ruddy Ground Doves, a Spectacled Thrush, and Palm, Blue-gray, White-lined and Silver-beaked Tanagers allowing decent photos.

Soon, we were on route to the forest of the Sierra de Imataca, entering through the bridge over the Rio Grande, more or less 45 minutes from El Palmar. The forest was impressive, but it was already a little late and hot, so we decided to follow Blas (and his son) inside the forest, walking narrow trails and sometimes making our own trail... Blas has an excellent sense of orientation and we crossed several mixed flocks with highlights like Black Nunbird, both Brown-bellied and Rufous-bellied Antwrens, a male Fulvous Shrike-Tanager (feeding VERY low!!!) and the bird of the day: a Ferruginous-backed Antbird that responded well to playback.

Before leaving the forest, we crossed a huge group of Collared Peccharies (surely more than 100 individuals, known as Báquiros), but they went away quite scared before we were able to check if a "baquirero" (Rufous-winged Ground-Cuckoo) was following them. We left the forest interior and started the return journey through the main road, finding some interesting hummingbirds in the way. The most colorful was a White-chinned Sapphire shining with the sun, but then Blas pointed me a tiny one perched atop the bushes that turned out to be a female Festive Coquette! I also managed to take a photo of a White-chested Emerald in the same spot, its all-black bill separates it from the very similar Versicolored Emerald (which we also saw).

We spend all the day out in the forest, and in the evening (back at Blas' place), we celebrate our first day of birding with a couple of beers. The plan the next morning was to visit one of the active nests of Harpy Eagle that Blas have been monitoring since a couple of weeks before... stay tuned!

One-day expedition to Darien

Darien is the easternmost, largest and less developed province of Panama, with a rich biodiversity, including hundreds of birds species. And now it is not indispensable to organize a huge expedition to remote areas to enjoy it... as you will read, it is enough with one day! The last weekend of september, I left Panama City the friday's afternoon with Rafael Luck and Osvaldo Quintero toward the town of Meteti, in central Darien. We only did few stops along the way, including some spots around the Bayano bridge, finding a female Cerulean Warbler with a mixed flock and a nice Crimson-crested Woodpecker drilling a hole in a dead trunk. In Meteti, we contacted our local guide, Daniel Santos by recommendation of Venicio "Beny" Wilson who told us about the several new birding spots along the Panamerican highway and the highlights he found recently (you can read it on his report to Xenornis). A very early breakfast the next day in town (with tons of House Sparrows waiting for the breadcrumbs) and we were ready for action. We picked up Daniel along the way and immediately he showed us the first birding spot: a marshy area beyond the town of Betzaida. The place was alive with birds, with both Smooth-billed and Greater Anis inspecting the bushes, Cattle Egrets following -you guessed it- the cattle, adult and juvenile Purple Gallinules inspecting the rushes and a pair of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks flying over the marsh. We also heard the first, of many, Gray-breasted Crakes, but they were hidden in the thick vegetation. We drove a little farther to the east and took a side road with the entrance marked by a cow's skull. Immediately, in the dirt road we saw several Red-breasted Blackbirds very low, the males exhibiting the rather dull non-reproductive plumage, and a Cattle Tyrant walking in the open. There are few reports of Cattle Tyrants from Darien, including the very first one for Panama in Cana many years ago, so it was a delightful find. Each time we approached the bird, it flew to a low tree by the side of the road, where it looked like a kingbird. We visited exactly the same site at least four more times and we found the bird each time in the same place. The tyrant was not the only highlight of that road. We also saw several Pied Water-Tyrants, one (probably more) Spectacled Parrotlet and a White-tailed Kite eating a lizard, but the best was about to come. Close to the entrance, we heard the characteristic tinkling song of several Gray-breasted Crakes. Osvaldo started to play the call with his i-phone and then an adult Gray-breasted Crake came to the open for five seconds to inspect us!!! A HUGE lifer for me and for Rafael, who managed to took the photo I'm showing here. You can't imagine how many times I have been close to singing individuals without having a glimpse of the bird! Very happy with the encounter, we drove back to the first marsh, when suddenly, I spotted a bird atop some bare branches next to the road... a male Yellow-hooded Blackbird!!! Osvaldo took a quick blurry shot of the bird from inside the car, but the blackbird didn't wait for the rest of us, and flew very high in the distance. This species is a recent addition to Panama's list, but it was Beny who first reported it in that part of the province. It was not a lifer for me, since I saw a male a couple of years ago in El Real (farther east), but it was for Rafael and Osvaldo. It was around 10:00 A.M. and the sun was very high and hot already. We drove back towards Meteti, picking up along the way some interesting species like Spot-crowned Barbet, Orange-crowned Oriole, Yellow-breasted Flycatcher and a nice Striped Cuckoo singing its heart out. We stopped at a little marsh outside the town of Nuevo Bijao. It was tiny, VERY close to the highway and the place was so hot that we had little expectatives. But then Daniel saw a male Yellow-hooded Blackbird flying just over the marsh just to drop into it suddenly! Only Daniel saw it... but it was enough for us to spent a couple of more minutes inspecting it. Despite the heat, we started to see and hear nice birds eventually. Inspecting the distant trees at the edge of the marsh, we discovered a lonely Limpkin perched quietly quite low while an adult Pearl Kite was trying to escape of the trio of Tropical Kingbirds harassing him. We heard both Gray-breasted and White-throated Crakes side-by-side and saw a bunch of migrant Orchard Oriole and Yellow Warbler. But the real surprise came later. At the edge of the marsh, we got a pair of Black-capped Donacobius preening! Despite the distance, the amount of white, both in the tail and wings, was pretty obvious. After asking for permission to the owners of the adjacent ranch house, all of us climbed up (OK, some crawled) the barbed wire fence to have closer looks. With the aid of Osvaldo's i-phone, the birds approached enough to have excellent views (but not excellent photos as you can see). These birds are unique, and the show they perform while duetting is amazing! However, while enjoying the Donacobius, we did saw several males Yellow-hooded Blackbirds flying over the place... I even saw one perched among the tall grass for few seconds after it landed. We left Nuevo Bijao and visited the Fundación Vida Nueva at the entrance road to El Salto. The foundation keeps an extensive forest which harbors many Darien specialties... but it was almost noon when we reached the place, and the only birds we saw were Collared Aracaris, Black-chested Jays and a pair of Black-cheeked Woodpeckers (the "USE BOOTS" sign is justified, the trails were VERY muddy). We left Daniel at his home and left Darien after an excellent birding, with a huge list full of eastern Panama specialties and after spending only one morning!