PAS Pacific Christmas Bird Count

After almost 12 hours of intense non-stop birding (hmmm counting), we finally are at home, trying to compile our day list. Not yet a preliminary result but we had a great day (along with Rafael Luck), with some goodies. But what most impressed us was the number of birders that participated in this count (most of them Auduboners, of course). It seems that this will be a good year eh? The site assigned to my group was the coastal area to the west of the Panama Canal (Farfan, Palo Seco and Veracruz) in the morning, plus Amador and the Causeway (including Punta Culebra) in the evening. The owling hour produced at least two Tropical Screech-Owls, a Common Pauraque and a pre-dawn Laughing Falcon. We waited for the sunrise at Farfan and started to count birds by ear... then, we got enough light for traditional birding, walking a trail through mangroves and a saltwater-filled lagoon, finding lots of water birds and species more related to the mangroves (Straight-billed Woodcreeper for example). We also found a cooperative White-necked Puffbird. I take very seriously my compiler "status", so usually I only stop for enough time in order to get a positive id and move on to the next bird during the Birds Counts... but wow, that Puffbird was almost begging for a photo. I digiscoped it with Gloriela's point-and-shoot (I did not carry my camera during the count... to record rare sights was Rafael's job jeje). Back to the rocky shore, we spotted a distant group of birds resting. A closer look with the scope revealed two American Oystercatchers, a rare sight in this part of Panama (photo only for record purposes). We drove then to Palo Seco, finding a nice mixed flock of flycatchers and warblers along with Gray-headed Tanagers, and lots of Lance-tailed Manakins. In Veracruz (close to the limit of the counting circle), despite the low tide, we managed to found four species of plovers (with Wilson's and Collared being highlights), 500+ Neotropic Cormorants and lots of the expected gulls and terns (but alas, no Elegant Terns). After meeting with the others participants (and after annotating those birds still missing), we headed to Punta Culebra not before picking-up the Mouse-colored Tyrannulet at Diablo Heights. Once there, it just took few minutes to locate our target bird there: Northern Scrub-Flycatcher. We also recorded Mangrove Warbler, Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, Garden Emerald, Streaked Saltator, and a group of raccoons (I need some help... are them Crab-eating Raccoons?). Along the Causeway, we saw both species of Boobies (Brown and Blue-footed) flying to the limit of the count circle, Saffron Finches with Tropical Mockingbirds feeding at the gardens (but no Cattle Tyrants) and finally we saw a Wood Stork in a little section of mangroves when exiting Amador. Well, after all we got good birds... having a great time!

Ground-Cuckoos Gallery

Have you felt jealous ever? I mean, in a good way. Well, right now I'm feeling that way thanks to a very good friend of mine. I received an e-mail from Rafael Cortes, an enthusiastic and full-of-energy mexican birder now resident in Colombia, telling me on his last birding trip to Anchicaya, in the colombian Choco bioregion, along with his son Luis Francisco and two other birders. Back in Panama few years ago, we were birding buddies practising what we liked to call target birding: to list the most rare or beautiful birds and then to organize trips to find each one of the targets. By this method we found great life birds (Agami Heron, Three-wattled Bellbird, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Yellow-billed Cotinga, Great Jacamar, Harpy Eagle and many more), but somehow we failed to locate our target bird # 1 (Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo) despite all our efforts. Some years after he left Panama, I got a glimpse of a Ground-Cuckoo during a Christmas Bird Count in Pipeline road, and more recently, I delighted myself with a cooperative individual, again in Pipeline road (and this was after Rafael's quick visit to Panama last year... we dipped on the bird in Pipeline road during the only chance he got for birding). At this point, maybe you already guessed that Rafael finally achieved his life Ground-Cuckoo, and you are right... then, you may ask why I'm so jealous (in the good way) if I already have seen Ground-Cuckoos twice? Well, because he and his son not only saw, but also photographed and even videotaped a BANDED GROUND-CUCKOO attending an antswarm... one of the rarest birds in the world!!! Compared with it, the Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo would look like a rock star, considering all the lucky birders that have seen and photographed it in central Panama (probably the best place of the world to find it). A quick search in Google only produced a trip report and few pics of the bird from northern Ecuador (some are of a netted bird), demonstrating partly its genuine rarity, since it does not cross often with birders or photographers. OK, enough of so many chat and lets go directly to the photos, nicely shared by Rafael and Luis Francisco.

The full account of the trip is so vivid (thanks to Rafael's narrative skills) that I almost felt the excitement of the moment as if I had been with them! The place was so magical that the Ground-Cuckoo was not the only highlight (hard to believe ah?), with Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Sapphire (perhaps Indigo-capped) Quail-Dove and Long-wattled Umbrellabird also recorded!

CONGRATULATIONS to both of you and thanks for sharing that experience. Rafael, we also miss you here in Panama, I hope to see you soon.

Birding in Peru for free!

Birding in Peru sounds great (I can tell after three different visits to that beautiful country)... but for free? Wow man, that sounds amazing! Gunnar has made it possible by giving away four trips to Manu and ten trips to Carpish/Satipo road in Central Peru in 2010. More than a bold advertising estrategy for his own tour company, the idea has a more conservationist real aim: to give local communities true and immediate benefits with the ecotourism. It is known that the best way to preserve a natural resource is involving the persons who use it, qualifying them for its sustainable use. I know by personal experience in Panama, Costa Rica and other places that ecotourism make more of tourist than logging and ranching, reason for which some land owners are converting theirs pastures to early growth forests... but, in the words of the former PAS Fieldnessship Dodge Engleman, wouldn't it be better to not convert the forest to cattle pasture in the first place rather than try to reestablish the forest? You need to show them the actual benefits of preserving their lands with tangible profits and, for that, you need a constant influx of tourists to support fixed scheduled trips to those areas where the local communities are involved and what better way of advertising these trips that offering some for free through the huge social media network available now? By following and sharing this link http://bit.ly/8s830C you will be running for the great prizes (remember to sign-up to the opt-in newsletter first). Well, good luck to all and start sharing and to spread the word. If you still are not convinced about this "social media experiment", these pics of my last trip to Central Peru should be enough to encourage you (notice my extremely happy expression in those in which I appear).

Punta Culebra Nature Center

Culebra point is a little peninsula in Naos island, at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, that holds the Smithsonian's Punta Culebra Nature Center. The general area has experienced a great economic development in the last years, and now you can find there convention centers, restaurants, malls, marinas, resorts, discotheques, and so on... but somehow, this piece of nature still remains. To reach Naos (and the other two islands Perico and Flamenco), you have to drive the six kilometer long "Causeway", a two-lane road over a 1,250,000-cubic yard strip of rocks that were extracted from the Gaillard cut (Panama Canal's narrowest pass). At its entrance is being constructed The Bridge of Life project, the first building in Latin America designed by the world famous Frank Gehry, celebrating the emergence of the isthmus of Panama and its biodiversity. It is an impressive piece of art and I'm pretty sure that soon it will become one of the Panama's hallmarks, just like the others designs by Gehry (the Guggenheim Museum, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Weisman Art Museum, and so on...).

I went with Gloriela and a couple of friends yesterday evening to visit this lovely place. It is popular among the locals and visitors during the weekends, and we found lots of people jogging, bycicling, fishing or simple enjoying the marine breeze along the Causeway. After paying the symbolic entrance fee, we started to visit the several marine exhibitions all over the place. There are many interactive signs and legends about the history and importance of the site, about the marine resources and, of course, about the ecosystem and its inhabitants. Most part of the history of this site is concerning its former military importance, being a harbor, a quarantine station, camping site, a military base for defending the Canal and now, a Marine Exhibition and Research Center. The site is frequented by school kids that have the opportunity of experience touching sea stars, sea cucumbers, stingrays and sea urchins and the different habitats through all over the place, from coastal areas (mangroves, a sandy beach and rocky shores) and even a patch of tropical dry forest crossed by trails where you can find mammals, iguanas and birds (of course). Our own experience yesterday consisted in admiring the three curious sea turtles plus the sharks at the first pool and touching the sea cucumbers in the second one. At the extreme end of the peninsula are the sea life exhibitions, with wide acquariums showing the difference between the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean sea (trust me... they are VERY different). I'm not an scuba diver, so I have had few opportunities to appreciate the diversity of the marine creatures (only by snorkeling in Coral Key during our honeymoon at Bocas del Toro, and in Galeta Island in Colon). That is why I love this place: for giving me, and many others, the opportunity to appreciate the colourful fishes, the coral reefs, the lobsters and the morays without wetting a hair! In addition, the veranda behind the enclosure offers a magnificent sight of the Panama Canal entrance and of the Perico and Flamenco islands (with occasional Brown and Blue-footed Boobies flying by). We did not take the trails through the dry forest because we were short of time, but we have found in previous occasions Hoffman Two-toed Sloths, Racoons and Green Iguanas along with impressive hanging cacti. The place is the most reliable spot for Northern Scrub-Flycatcher (which I saw) close to the city, and also for Mangrove "Yellow" Warbler, Garden Emerald and Sapphire-throated Hummingbird (near-endemic to Panama). Well, a nice december evening away of the shopping madness in a very nice and quiet piece of paradise, learning about our marine ecosystems and seeing absolutely cool creatures.

Long-billed Curlew and more along the coast

Gloriela picked me up yesterday evening at work to head towards Panama Viejo and Costa del Este, taking advantage of the 16-feet high tide. The heavy traffic (typical of december days) slowed us down, but somehow we managed to reach Panama Viejo's mudflats just in time to watch a huge group of gulls and terns. Most of them were Franklin's Gulls (somewhat weird... usually they are outnumbered by the Laughings), with Gull-billed and Royal Terns also common. Then, a Whimbrel-like bird catched our attention. It was preening at the edge of the flock. We walked towards the bird, reaching the shore, but it remained too far away for my lens, but not for my binoculars. The long and downcurved bill was evident... confirming our initial suspicion: a Long-billed Curlew. For some years, a lone individual (maybe the same) have been wintering this part of the mudflats. In fact, my life curlew was some years ago in that precise site during a Christmas Bird Count... this time, it was a lifer for Gloriela. My poor pics at least show it most important field mark. After few minutes, it flew to the mangroves, showing then other important field mark: the cinnamon underwing coverts (similar to that of the Marbled Godwit). The flock flew too, so we decided to drive to Costa del Este, stopping at the mouth of the Matías Hernández river. From the sidewalk, we saw a group of birders at the beach so we joined them. The huge number of shorebirds and gulls was extraordinary though we did not find anything really rare. The flock was composed mainly by gulls (Franklins' and Laughings). with some tern and skimmers; but also lots of shorebirds (Godwits, Whimbrels, Willets, Lapwings, and so on...), cormorants and pelicans. We were not prepared for the sand and the sun (without hats, long sleeves or sunscreen, Gloriela dressing with high heels shoes!) so we started to return when the birders pointed us to the sky. A group of Wood Storks was circling high over us against the sky, contrasting with the modern skycrapers of the place. It was a nice way of saying goodbye to the place.

Welcome december

December is the best month of the year... at least that is what I think. Is not only because of my birthday (by the way, december 24th), but also because the mom's day, the holidays and, in general, all the joy and peace feeling all around, talking with old friends and relatives, the multiple Christmas celebrations at the work, the tasty food, the traditional eggnog, the saril drink and, of course, all the old Christmas salsa music. Here in Panama we do not have the general picture of snow-covered fields and a frozen environment... but the Christmas tree (usually a non-native pine) is an increasingly common tradition (as in many other countries). December is also the month of the Christmas Bird Counts, and the Panama Audubon Society is organizing the 40th edition of this event in Panama. Time to prepare ourselves and to give the best of us counting all the birds we can in 24 hours in any of the four established counting circles (three of them along the Panama Canal). Happy december and happy birding!

Independence weekend

Yesterday, november 28th, Panama celebrated its independence of Spain, back in 1821. We spent the weekend at Penonome, celebrating the independence too... but away of the parades. Despite the fact that this was mostly a kind of relaxing trip, somehow I convinced Gloriela to join me on a short trip to the Aguadulce Salinas (saltflats), 30 minutes away from Penonome. It was around noon, very hot, and with a not very high tide, but anyway she accepted. As expected, the saltflats were devoid of birds... but we still managed to get some species. In the road, on a wire, a lonely Pearl Kite was inspecting its territory, while a distant flock of peeps flew forming a dark cloud over the saltflats, moving from one side to another. A distant group of white dots in the horizon resulted to be Wood Storks resting... later on the day we saw them soaring in a thermal current. No spoonbills, nor stilts this time... maybe it was to hot for them. Only few sandpipers where at the edge of the ponds close to the road, with Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers getting closer... but also recording a flock of Western Sandpipers that quickly flew away. Well, not a great diversity, but entertaining anyway!

Still around... thorntails and others

On november 24 I went back to Cerro Azul, east of Panama city, this time with Osvaldo Quintero and Osvaldo Quintero Jr, in order to relocate the Green Thorntails that have been around since last saturday, first noticed by Rosabel Miró. Again, we arrived in the afternoon, around 4:00 pm. The activity around the tree with the white flowers at the parking lot was low, but soon we found the first hummingbirds but no thorntails. After five long minutes I saw it again (well, I saw its tail again), elegantly flying around the flowers and even perching in order to suck the nectar. This time, it was not so showy, nor so agressive, and was keeping a low profile, with long periods of time without seeing it at all. The female (only one this time) was shy also. Again, its preference for the canopy of the tree, and the poor light conditions (plus the fog) made difficult to photograph it... so this time I concentrate in the others species attending the same tree. Perhaps, the most interesting hummingbird of the group (apart of the thorntails, of course) was the Violet-capped Hummingbird. The female that I picture here may look extremely ordinary at first glance (please note the hint of dull reddish chestnut in the rectrices)... but this species is near-endemic to Panama, barely reaching extreme NW Colombia. The beautiful males are less often spotted than the females, specially around Rosabel's house in Cerro Azul, but are somewhat commoner at higher elevations (Cerro Jefe, Cerro Chucanti). If you don't see the deep reddish-chestnut tail, you can still recognize this beauty by its particular green irridiscence at the back, quite different from that of any other hummingbird in range. Even the history of this little friend is quite interesting, being described by E. W. Nelson as a monotypic species (Goldmania violiceps) and named in honor of Mr. Edward A. Goldman, who collected the type specimen from the higher slopes of Cerro Azul nearly a hundred years ago during one of his Smithsonian Biological Surveys in the Canal Zone and adjacent parts of Panama. By far, this is the easiest place to see this species in the world!! They are adaptable birds, and they do visit hummingbird feeders, unlike the next species that was also haunting around the thorntails' tree: the Violet-headed Hummingbird. It is readily identified by its small size and prominent white, tear-like post-ocular dot (its genus, Klais, literally means tears, referring to this particular mark) and usually they are kept visiting the flowers at low and medium-sized shrubs, avoiding the canopy of tall trees. A male was working at the lower flowers while a female appeared for few seconds behind us, visiting the Verbenas (Stachytarpheta) and being furiously banished by a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. By the end of the evening we recorded nine hummingbirds species (we missed the Fairy), plus tons of tanager, honeycreepers and dacnises. I will not get tired of saying it... if all the backyard birding were like this!

Thorntails at Cerro Azul

I received an e-mail from my friend and former PAS president Rosabel Miró. While leaving her house in Cerro Azul yesterday's evening, she saw a male and two females Thorntails at a flowering tree in her parking lot. What surprised her was that they were not leaving the place, defending themselves from the others hummingbirds attending the banquet. The Green Thorntail is a beautiful hummingbird, but kind of erratic and unpredictable in Panama. It has been a target bird for me since many years ago, actively searching for it in such places like El Valle (Cocle province), El Montuoso (Herrera province), the western highlands, and so on. In one occasion, I was seeing an American Dipper in Fortuna (central Chiriqui province) while the guy just behind me was seeing a male Thorntail... I didn't saw it of course. I was pretty sure that my luck was about to change when I read the e-mail this morning. I picked up Gloriela in the airport (she was arriving from Nicaragua after a week attending a congress), have lunch and then we headed to the foothills of Cerro Azul. After an one-hour drive, we reached Rosabel's house at 4:15 pm, finding almost immediately the tree, when suddenly I saw a longish tail appearing among the flowers. It was raining, so we took our umbrellas and start searching. We didn't wait too much before finding a male Green Thorntail graciously flying around with its long tail elegantly cocked up!!!, a lifer for both of us. It was not alone, the tree was attracting many little and medium-sized hummingbirds, all of them fighting for the right to be there...but as Rosabel noted, the Thorntail was not getting scared easily, always coming back to the flowers, or to a distant perch (that's why my rather poor pics) despite the almost constant assaults of the Snowy-bellied, Violet-headed and Violet-capped Hummingbirds (specially the aggresives Snowy-bellieds). What a show, but it was not over. Then, a second and third bird appeared, this time an adult female and a female-plumaged individual with longish tail. They were not so aggresive as the male, visiting the flowers for few seconds and then perching on a very distant skinny stick against the sky, in backlight (again, sorry for the rather poor pic, but an awesome bird anyway... only for the record). Occasionally they made a kind of ritual display, facing eye-to-eye while elevating on the air, sometimes joined by the male. By this time the rain stopped, and we started to hear and see many others birds. Just behind us, a bush was covered in tanagers!, with Golden-hooded, Bay-headed and Blue-and-grays, but it was a Green Honeycreeper that stole the show. Its ultramarine green body contrasting with the black mask, and its photo-friendly behaviour was all what we needed to admire it for many minutes, while a pair of Fulvous-vented Euphonias tried to pass unnoticed... they were feeding low and in silence, but very close. We decided to visit the hummingbird feeders at the backyard, welcomed by an agressive Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer. The action was intense, with lots of hummingbirds trying to suck the last sip of nectar for the night. Besides the Plumeleteer, there were also White-necked Jacobins, Snowy-bellied and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, Green Hermit and, occasionally, a female Violet-capped Hummingbird. In the way to the parking lot, I pointed a female Purple-crowned Fairy to Gloriela... realizing that it was a lifer for her according to the big WOW that she expressed. The bird is worth admiring, with its immaculate white underparts and the long tail (longer in females). It was our 10th species of hummingbird for the evening. Back in the parking lot, we were still amazed with the Thorntails, we watched them until it was too dark to see anything. Well, nice collection of birds, plus several lifers for both of us, in only 1.5 hours of backyard birding in Cerro Azul (I need a backyard like that one). Thanks Rosabel!

Gulling after work in Costa del Este

And who can resist to stop after having this sight? I passed by Costa del Este this evening in order to check the flock of gulls (and shorebirds) that rest at the mouth of the Matías Hernández river with the high tide. I wanted to have a closer look despite my completely inappropriate office shoes and the clouds of chiggers in the beach. As usual, it was mostly composed by hundreds of Laughing Gulls, but a more careful scrutiny revealed a few Franklin's Gulls of different ages and at least two Black Skimmers . A decidedly smaller and slimmer gull catched my attention. It was easy to find among the hundreds of Laughings by size alone. It was browner above and whiter below than any juvenile plumaged bird around, with a thinner bill and a general more delicate shape. Unfortunately, it didn't show the wings or the tail. I'm still guessing its identity (maybe a juvenile Franklin's or simply a little aberrant Laughing?). Take a look and share your thoughts.

There were also a good number of shorebirds, in the form of Marbled Godwits, Willets, Short-billed Dowitchers, Whimbrels and few Black-necked Stilts. It was notable the abscence of sandpipers, like it has seen during all the season, with only Spotted Sandpipers along the shore. A group of noisy Southern Lapwings distracted me for a while, whereas a dark cloud in the distance turned out to be a flock of Black-bellied Plovers in synchronized flight that settled too far away for my camera. And thus the sun started to fall down over the horizon, indicating in that way that it was time to go away... away of the chiggers.