The closing of an awesome Big-Year!

At the beginning of December 2019, my year list of birds was at 764 species for Panama.  I knew it would require a great effort to reach the Panamanian record of 800 species for a single year.  But I still had a trip to complete: a 10-days expedition to Cana, in eastern Darien province.  Cana Field Station closed operations around nine years ago due to security issues, but going there had been in my mind since I started to birdwatch.  Fortunately, the two Central America's top eBirders (Chris Fischer and Oliver Tomar) hired the top Panama's eBirder (Euclides "Kilo" Campos) to go there and I was able to join them!

The Cana trip was simply spectacular.  We hiked 120 km in 10 days!  The original plan was to hike from the town of Boca de Cupe to Cana in 2.5 days.. but rainy season was not over yet so the trails were really muddy and was very hard to walk.  Also, after former Cruce de Mono station, the jungle ate the trail, so our guides had literally to re-open it with machetes all the way to Cana.  It took us 4.5 days to reach Cana (two more days than expected, improvising two camps in the jungle).  However, we saw many birds species on the way, including my life Slate-throated Gnatcatcher and Black-billed Flycatcher.

Cruce de Mono Station

Black-billed Flycatcher

Cana is overgrown and tearing apart.. it is a shame.  The site was exploited since colonial times for its gold.  At its peak, the area housed around 20,000 inhabitants and there was a railroad in which the material was transported through broken terrain to the town of Boca de Cupe. Now there are only vestiges of that mining operation. Along the trail to Boca de Cupe you can still see sections of the rails on the forest floor, and in Cana there are still old mining machineries swallowed by the jungle.

Old gold-mining machinery at Cana

We stayed in the remains of Cana's main building.  The place still is excellent for birds... Swallow Tanagers were quite common and I got my life Cinereus Becard by the former airstrip.  The Cecropias behind the lodge were filled with fruit and birds, including obliguing Black-tipped Cotingas.

Adult male Swallow Tanager

Adult female Cinereous Becard

Adult male Black-tipped Cotinga

The hike to the upper camp was long and steep.  We got two (of four) major targets: Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant and Pirre Warbler.  We dipped on Golden-headed Quetzal and Yellow-collared Chlorophonia (I already got the latter for my year list at Rancho Plástico in March).  The eastern Darien highlands are so rich and diverse that we got an impressive list of birds, including most of the endemic specialties.  After 10 days, I got 24 new year birds, including 8 Panama lifers, so my total was 788 species by December 20th.

Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant

Pirre Warbler

With the same group (Kilo, Oliver Komar and Chris Fischer), I did a pelagic off Punta Mala on December 22th.  I left Panama City on the 21st (just one day after returning exhausted from the Cana expedition), adding Slate-colored Seedeater in Summit Ponds, and joined them in Pedasi the next day.  The sea was quite rough, but got very good birds, including my life Leach's Storm-Petrel (first photographic record for Panama) and my Panama lifer Red-footed Booby, who was my Panama bird #900 (all time Panama list I mean).  At the end of the pelagic my total was 792 species for the year.

Leach's Storm-Petrel

Some short trips around Panama City produced two more year-birds... by December 24th (my birthday), my total was 794, thanks to a Rufous-winged Tanager accompanying a mixed flock in the foothills of Cerro Azul.  My family was with me and later that day, they surprised me with an original b-day cake to celebrate my 40 years-old!

So close to the 800 mark (only 6 birds left), I organized a quick trip to Chiriqui province, in western Panama.  I took the first flight to David city on Saturday, December 28th, rented a car and drove to the Continental Divide trail in Fortuna (central Chiriqui), where I was expecting to get at least 4 new year birds... however, it was rainy, foggy and swampy due to a cold front from Bocas.  A huge treefall blocked the trail close to the beginning.. so I only got Costa Rican Warbler.  My original plan was to drive from Fortuna (with theorically 4 new year birds in the bag) to Boquete and to spent the night there.  Then, at 3 am, a truck would take me to the summit of the Baru volcano. However, with only one new year-bird, I decided to left Fortuna around 3pm, heading to Cerro Punta, where I got around 5:00pm.  I was after the Hermit Warbler that was reported at the beginning of the road to El Respingo... as soon as I started to "pish", a Hermit Warbler popped out in a pine tree!  Year-bird # 796.  Then, almost  at dark, I played the tape of Rough-legged Tyrannulet, getting a response that I was able to record (I saw the bird briefly)... year bird #797!  Then, I drove to Boquete where I spent the night.

Hermit Warbler

At 3am on Sunday, December 29th, the truck driver was picking me up at my hostel.  He was quite experienced, so he knew the places to look after my main target: the Unspotted Saw-whet Owl.  In fact, at the very first stop (Potrero Mulato), we got a responsive Unspotted Saw-whet Owl that never got close enough.  But heard-only birds count too, so we kept on.  We waited for the sunrise at the summit. With first light I was able to locate a pair of Volcano Juncos at the very top of the volcan (at the cross)... no photos.. my camera was in my backpack because it was rainning!  Year bird 799!  After that, I hurried to get down to Boquete to see if I had chances to bird around Lerida or Bajo Mono.  However, my driver suggested to try the pygmy owl call at Los Fogones campsite (around 3200 meters)... to my surprise, tons of birds popped out with the call, including two females Peg-billed Finches!!!!! My year-bird #800 for 2019 and a bird I had only seen once before! That was an excellent 800 bird!

Adult female Peg-billed Finch

More relaxed, I spent the afternoon in Finca Lerida, but was not able to find any new year birds (was hoping for White-winged Tanager). During the evening flight to Panama City, the idea of actually break the record was in my mind.

The next day, Monday, December 30th, I went to my workplace extremely early... I did all my procedures and asked for a permission to leave earlier.  Took my car and drove all the way to former Fort Sherman, in Colon (Caribbean side, some 80 kms away of Panama City).  Went to Shelter Bay marina and tried my old spot for Gray Catbird.  Of course, a catbird showed itself, allowing some photos.  Year bird #801 in the bag.  I drive back to Panama City and started my afternoon journey at 3:00 pm at the office.  Now that the Atlantic bridge over the Panama Canal is open, I was able to did this micro twitch essentially using my lunch time!

Gray Catbird, record-breaking year-bird #801

By December 31st, I left Panama City with my family, heading to Penonome where we planned to receive the New Year. On route, a friend of mine (Josanel Sugasti) told me that he was seeing the Yellow-rumped Warblers at the same site where he saw them few days ago.  He waited for us at the site and, when we finally arrived, he showed me at least three birds.  That was my year-bird #802 for 2019!

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Josanel, Gloriela and me after watching my year-bird #802

Well, 802 species for Panama in 2019... birding mostly during weekends and taking advantage of free days (like Carnival, Holy week, Dias Patrios, etc..). In fact, the only ocassion I took days off of work to bird was for the Cana trip.  Also, take into consideration that I spent 5 weeks out of Panama (two week of vacations with my family, two weeks in Ithaca, NY at Cornell and one week attending several international congresses).. Not bad at all eh?

Show me the migrants!

Recently, I went with Gloriela to the Caribbean side of central Panama, specifically to the San Lorenzo National Park and the former Fort Sherman, in search of the migrant warblers that my former Central CBC's team reported during the Atlantic CBC (I did not participate in that one). I tried to find the migrant warblers some months ago, without success due to the sunny and hot day, but this time the day was completely different. We started earlier this time, but a heavy rain stopped us from birding during the first hours of the morning. We waited at the Castillo de San Lorenzo for the rain to stop, and when it happened (more or less) we started to walk along the ruins. At one of the corners of the old fortress, by the ditch, we found a cooperative Yellow-rumped Warbler showing nicely its rump. It was feeding mostly on the ground, in the short, wet grass in a very active manner. Almost immediately, Gloriela noticed a second warbler very close to the first one, but this one was more uniformely brown. I quickly checked it with my binoculars, confirming its identity, a rare (for Panama) Palm Warbler. We stayed for a while, admiring these two rare species (both were lifers for Gloriela) until the rain started again. Then, we drove to Fort Sherman, to the former church where the CBC team found many migrants (don't ask at the restaurant about the church... they have no idea). The place was simply magic. Soon, we both were surrounded by lots of migrants probably because of my intense "pishing". The first one we saw was a female Blue Grosbeak that flew from the understore to a tree, to inspect us. Then, a mixed flock with both resident and migrant species showed up. It was amazing to see, in the same flock, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, Prothonotary, Black-and-white and Tennessee Warblers, Northern Waterthrush and American Redstart (a female), plus the residents Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Common Tody-Flycatcher and Lesser Greenlets. Then, I saw a little warbler high over the main flock with bright yelllow throat and breast (with a dark chestnut spot), white underparts, bluish upperparts and contrasting but incomplete white eye-ring: a male Northern Parula, just like reported for that very same place! This is just my third sight (the second for Gloriela), with my last one during an Atlantic CBC with Rafael Luck two years ago (report in XENORNIS). But a bigger bird was accompanying the flock too. It was first very hard to see because it moved in the understore, but then, when the flock visited a bare tree, it did the same showing it slim profile and chestnut vent, a migrant Gray Catbird. Despite it was not a lifer for any of us, we enjoyed it because this bird is seldom seen in Panama (specially in the open, my second photo shows better the actual field conditions where you usually find this skulker). About the reported warblers, we only missed the Yellow-throated found by the CBC team in Fort Sherman. In our way out we stopped to enjoy the several Killdeers working the grasslands of the airstrip. The Killdeer is not rare, but is always nice to see them. We found at least three nervous individuals, making its kil-deer call for us. Great day after all... I already want to go back!