Veracruz in high tide

Despite our original plan for yesterday was to go very early to Penonome in order to organize Gloriela´s B-day party, the news of an Hudsonian Godwit in Veracruz beach (central Panama, Pacific coast) obligated us to stay a little more in Panama, joining Rosabel Miró, Darien Montañez and Beny Wilson in their quest for the bird during the morning. This time the tide at Veracruz was rising and soon we saw two distant American Oystercatchers and a closer flock of shorebirds, mainly with Black-bellied Plovers, but also including Ruddy Turnstones and some Willets. One of the plovers catched our attention because of its mostly black underparts and general smaller appearance, but the flock flew away to the opposite end of the beach before checking all the field marks to confirm the suspected id of American Golden-Plover at the time. After a short drive, we relocate the flock in some rocks, this time with Sanderlings, Surfbirds, Royal Terns and a Laughing Gull and then, luckily, the flock flew again to the beach, closer to us (and to a small group of Collared Plovers). We centred our attention in the Golden-Plover, noticing the ausence of black axillaries, its slimmer, smaller and more upright posture, the proportionaly thinner and shorter bill. Digiscoped images:
The most important field mark was the primaries projection. I can see the tip of the longest tertial barely reaching the tail tip, and 3 primaries tips projecting from it (maybe 4, confusing because American Golden-Plover are supposed to have at least 4 primaries tips visible, although quite often primaries 9 and 10 are the same size). Also note the tail tip far behind the wing tips (unfortunately, I did not obtain better photos. Both photos were cropped; the edited one was brightened and sharpened). But CAUTION, all these differences can be influenced by moult. Note that this particular bird was molting the tertials and the rectrices, which might affect the perception of the relative relations between the wings and the tail. Also note that this particular bird has some marks suggestive of Pacific Golden-Plover (which has never been registered in Panama), like the mostly white vent and undertail cover (also note some white feathers all along the sides and flanks), the contrast between the mostly brown-spotted mantle (or gold-spotted) and the white-spotted wings, and the relation between the longest tertial tip with the tail.

Well, by now the general consensus is towards an American Golden-Plover. We still have to solve what was this bird doing in Panama during january? If you have any idea of the identity of this bird let me know, I will appreciate your considerations.P.D.: any of the Golden-Plovers would be a lifer for me. Later in the same day, in the finca at Penonome, I obtained another lifer: my long-desired Mangrove Cuckoo!! Two lifers in the same day in central Panama is not bad at all!

Veracruz in low tide

After reading in Facebook about the sighting of an Hudsonian Godwit in Veracruz beach today (thanks to Beny Wilson... not a Scarlet Ibis, but a much better bird instead!!!), I went with Gloriela to the west side of the Panama Canal in order to find the bird. The Hudsonian Godwit is a very rare winter visitor to Panama, with only a handful of reports. It would have been a life bird... if it have been found by us! Despite the dipping, we enjoyed a wonderful evening at the beach, crossing it largely thanks to the low tide. At first glance, we only saw scattered shorebirds close to the water... but a more careful look revealed tons of shorebirds around the rocks. A group of Willets and Black-bellied Plovers was mixed with Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings and Surfbirds (the last one a life bird for Gloriela), since other three species of Plovers (Collared, Wilson's and Semipalmated) plus Least Sandpipers were inspecting the mud among the rocks, perfectly camouflaged. Despite we checked all the Willets and shorebirds in range, we could not find the Godwit. After the sun came down, we decided to have dinner in one of the restaurants at the beach (the fried fish was excellent)... no Godwits today, lets try again tomorrow!

PAS Atlantic Christmas Birds Count

One more time january has come and our first birding trip of the year have been to the Caribbean coast, attending the Atlantic CBC organized by the Panama Audubon Society. This was the 40th edition of this count in Panama... a count that occupied the first place for 19 consecutively years worldwide! We were assigned to the areas of Galeta Point, Colon City, Margarita, Mindi and Diversion Creek, all at the east side of the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. These areas include a vast territory and a great variety of habitats, making it a very pleasant tour full of birds. Our first stop in route to Galeta, over a bridge at the mangroves, produced many water birds, including lots of Green Herons, but also egrets, Ringed Kingfisher, Panama Flycatcher and Straight-billed Woodcreepers. We made many stops along the way before reaching the ANAM rangers station where, after a short introduction, they allowed us the entrance to the protected area. Galeta Point is the name of a Smithsonian's Marine Laboratory located on a tiny peninsula at the Caribbean coast sheltered by a coral reef. It has some facilities for the visitors and even a place to stay for researchers and, occasionally, tourists. It reminds me Culebra Point, but with smaller buildings and a bigger protected area including mangroves, reefs, sandy beaches, rocky shores, grasslands and secondary forest... all inside the counting circle. We spent most of the time at the habitats close to the laboratory, finding a huge caiman at the grassland close to the antennas and a huge group of waders at the mangroves. Inspecting the shores at the main building produced some plovers (Black-bellied and Semipalmated), Ruddy Turnstones and a lonely Belted Kingfisher (perhaps the only one for the count). We took few minutes to admire the exhibitions which include some sea turtles, equinoderms, and a curious pufferfish, before moving to another area: Colon City. We were searching for gulls and terns at the Colon 2000 Cruises Port, finding only Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns... and a huge cruise ship anchored waiting the tourists. We found also many common city birds in the suroundings, including Rock Pigeons, Tropical Mockingbirds, Ruddy Ground-Doves and Great-tailed Grackles along the drive through the streets of the city. Colon City (also known as Aspinwall City) is the only pre-designed city in Panama, with perfectly squared streets and many monuments. Also, it shelters important companies for the national economy, like the Colon Free Zone, the Cristobal port and the containers ports. It is a shame that all this wealth is not well distributed making the poverty and the unemployment serious problems in the city, explaining partly the high index of delinquency. After finding the House Sparrows at the central avenue, we headed to Margarita and Mindi, closer to the locks. More common birds, including many flycatchers and parakeets, so we drove along the Diversion Creek, making many stops in the way in order to check the ponds and the river. We found many Green Kingfishers, more egrets, Wattled Jacanas, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and three Anhingas, including the male that I picture here (a life bird for Gloriela!). While we were approaching the Gatun locks, we could estimate how the expansion works are changing already the landscape. Some birding sites are already gone, including most of the Gatun 's settlement. After a long wait, we crossed the canal through the one-lane bridge at the locks and we could not avoid admire that marvel before going to the meeting point. The Gatun locks are the biggest one of the canal and receive daily a huge amount of visitors. We arrived early to the meeting point (the former Tarpon Club) so I had time to take some photos of the Gatun Dam, the place where the mighty Chagres river re-emerge from the Gatun lake. The dike and the lake were once the major ones of the world, and reflect the arduous work that spent the builders of this magnificent work of engineering. The participants began to arrive, being welcome by a pair of American Kestrels on the wires, a pair of Masked Tityras excavating a nest and a calling Black-tailed Trogon. Soon, we all gathers, reviewing our lists. The preliminary results were not as good as we expected so everybody were assigned to new areas for the evening. We returned to Galeta, together with Wallace and Beverly... but it was too late so the gate was locked. They stayed in the surroundings (and pointed me out a Wood Stork that surely is the only one of the count) while we headed again to Colon 2000, searching more gulls and shorebirds (but nothing else showed up). Well, a nice day counting birds at the Caribbean side of Panama, meeting with old and new friends and having a great time initiating the new year!

2009's Remembrances

This year is (almost) gone, and all our hopes are centred in the next year 2010 to fully overcome all the experiences and good moments during this one. It is time to remember those moments that, one way or another, marked our lives during the 2009.

I think 2009 was a very good year if we talk about trips. The most memorables were my trip to El Real, Darien; all those trips to the western highlands in Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro provinces; the mini-pelagic from El Ciruelo, Los Santos; the journey to Cobachon, Veraguas; visiting the wettest and driest sites of the Herrera province in the same day; and Gloriela's international trip to Nicaragua attending a congress (and visiting many touristic sites, including the Masaya volcano).

And how to forget those sightings that made us jump of joy (Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, Yellow-hooded Blackbird, Large-billed Seed-Finch, Donacobius, Azuero Parakeet, Great Green Macaw, Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager, Bare-necked Umbrellabird and many more) and to our friends... including a new bird for Panama (Black-legged Kittiwake).

This year brought us our new house in Penonome and we started the construction of a cabin at the finca.

Some personal achievements, like being named Chief Resident at my hospital and winning a free birding trip to central Peru! were highlights.

But the most important of all, this year offered us enough time to spent with our birders and non-birders friends!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!

Waders assembly

This was a quite busy extended weekend, spending my B-day and waiting for Christmas at my sister's place, grill with our neighbors in Penonome the next day (finding out that I won a free birding trip to Peru!!!) and attending a wedding yesterday in Chitre, central Panama. Anyway, we still manage to have a quick visit to El Agallito beach in Chitre today in the morning, in order to check the mudflats and surroundings. The tide was very low, so we found only distant, scattered shorebirds in the mudflats... but in the mangroves close to the coast the story was different: we found an amusing flock of waders feeding very close to the road. We recorded three herons species (Great & Little Blue and Tricolored), three egrets (Great, Snowy and Cattle), a Wood Stork, lots of White Ibis and two Lesser Yellowlegs. Enjoy!

Destination next year: Central Peru

You read it right! Thanks to Gunnar Engblom and Kolibri Expeditions, I'll be hosting the Carpish and Satipo road trip (the fund raising special) in Central Peru on march 20, 2010. This area is one of the least known birding sites in Peru, with an incredible potential to compete with Manu road for both species and biodiversity. More important, these areas are the targets of some community-based projects on conservation, and part of the fee of the tour is directly invested in infraestructure in Carpish and Satipo road. After all, the idea of promoting these areas, inviting a host (usually a blogger, like me) to a fixed departure each month, will eventually secures a stream of birders to these communities that would leave aside their unsustainable practices to adopt the eco-tourism as an important source of incomes, thus they would protect the habitats by own need. Despite this is a short trip (8 days), it offers a great array of habitats and species, with a high density of endemics... those birds not found anywhere else on Earth (sounds good ah?). You can check out the itinerary (and book your space) here. Notice that the tour is cheaper than the regular tour offered to the same general area ($1090.00, minimun 5 participants)... this tour is for the birder that do not expect luxuries, but an intimate contact with nature because of the lack of infraestructure (improving). Interested? Make some space in your schedule next march and book your space for this amazing trip, while supporting a good cause. I'll see you there... in Peru!!!

30 years not every day

Thanks to all for your best wishes. Merry Christmas !