Our Global Big Day

Last May 9th was held the Cornell Lab's Global Big Day around the world, and Panama was not the exception.  In fact, Cornell's Team Sapsucker did its big day in our country, with amazing results.  Of course, my wife and I participated in this great event, and instead of choosing a route along the Canal Area and Panama City (aiming to a probable list of more than 200 birds), we decided to mobilize towards the interior of the country to begin our count in the foothills of Coclé province.  We stayed at some lovely cabins the previous day above the town of El Cope, where we finalized the details for the big day.

That's Gloriela "finalizing the details"

The alarm went off at 3:30 am.  We hardly sleep last night thinking about the day that awaited us.  As we loaded the car, we heard the distinctive nasal call of a Common Nighthawk above us, making it our first species for the day!  Our plan was to drive the dirt road all the way to the General de Division Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park, best known as El Cope NP (as you can see it has the longest name for a national park in Panama), and spent one to two hours owling; however, our car was unable to climb a slippery slope almost one mile before the park entrance (then we learned that day that no one could climb the slope), so we had to walk upslope in the dark, reaching the park entrance short before sunrise (I took the next photo later, with better light of course).

The place was foggy, dark and windy... and we heard few species during the dawn chorus (and no owls).  We waited a while to walk the trails inside the park... it was too dark to see anything, so we birded by ear...  I was in charge of the identification issues, bird photography and driving; Gloriela, of annotating the species, individuals, effort data and non-bird photography.  For no apparent reason, we called our team "The Penguin Squad" (yes, I know, we were only two of us... but it sounds cool).

The foothill forests of this national park are the most beautiful in Panama, and are the extreme eastern end of the range of several western species, like Chiriquí Quail-Dove and Black-breasted Wood-Quail (both heard at dawn).  Other species are more widespread, like Black Guan, Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, Pale-vented Thrush and Yellow-throated Chlorospingus, among others.

A shy Black Guan

Purplish-backed Quail-Dove

The Black Guan (found by Gloriela by the Visitors Center) was the only one for Panama during the event, so far.  The day was low... and we feared we would not have enough time to find some key species; however, we found our friend José Pérez and his wife Yissel birding along the main road inside the park.  They planned to bird most of the day and to submit their sightings to eBird, so we thought the place was well-covered and decided to start our way down to the car, with roughly 50 different species for the site after four hours.  We added many more species in the way down, with mixed flocks of tanagers and honeycreepers as the main highlights.  In the way down to the dry lowlands, we picked up new species everywhere: Boat-billed Flycatcher and Buff-throated Saltator at the town of El Cope, Brown-throated Parakeets, meadowlarks and Zone-tailed Hawk at La Candelaria, tons of herons, egrets and Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures at the Rio Grande savannas, and so on... eventually reaching the Aguadulces Salinas (saltflats).

A monument to the salt workers at Aguadulce

It was a little bit dissapointing... the saltflats were devoid of birds, dry and hot.  The things looked better at El Salado beach, where the exposed mudflats (part of the Parita Gulf) attracted the first waders for our day list: Whimbrels, Willets, Black-bellied Plovers and Black-necked Stilts, among others, were new for the day.  Leaving Aguadulce, we headed west along the Panamerican highway and then south, along the National highway into Herrera province... becoming the only eBirders for that province during the event.  Our first stop was the Santamaría ricefields, adding Savanna Hawk and Glossy Ibis.  Then, we headed to Las Macanas marsh.  Again, hot and dry... but at least we managed some great additions to our list, including this Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl:

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

The big lagoon was full of herons, including an absurd number of Great Blue Herons, Caspian Terns, Blue-winged Teals and two Lesser Scaups.  Several new species in that site... but we had to move.  Our next stop was the most arid and dry place visited on our trip, and protected by its own national park too: Sarigua.

Notice the barren terrain and the xerophytic vegetation in the above picture.  Probably not the first option for a bird-a-thon like this; however, because this was a nation-wide effort, we chose this place to look for a localized species.  It took some time before finding our goal.  Despite its name, this species is actually "common" only in Sarigua.

Common Ground-Dove

Yes, Common Ground-Dove!  The Panamanian population is isolated from populations both to the north and south, and probably merits recognition as a distinctive subspecies.  We found three different pairs close to the ranger station.  We also saw (and heard) several White-winged Doves, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyants and grassquits.

Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant

As expected, the place was very hot... so we headed to Chitré (Herrera province capital city), and then to El Agallito beach.   Although we reached the place late in the afternoon, the tide was just raising... and the exposed mudflats were extensive.  From shore we were able to spot hundreds of waders in the distance... so we put on our rubber boots and started to walk towards them.  And what a great place... flocks of Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers and five plover species among many more were wading on these mudflats.

That's me, looking for some shorebirds

When the sun began to hide, we picked the last diurnal species along the highway back to Penonome, where we were going to spent the night (at our house, of course).  We reached Penonome at night, and after a short break for dinner, we found Common Pauraque and Tropical Screech-Owl at 9:30 pm... making it a 19-hours day of intense birding!  After traveling 300 km by car and over 5 km on foot, 14 complete checklists (and other 9 incidental sightings) and lots of cokes and snacks, we managed to record 151 species for the day!  We had a lot of fun participating in this first Global Big Day, and it seems that Panama did very well... with more than 600 species recorded for the day.  What an achievement!   

Birding Boquete: Part I

After spending the night at Olmedo Miró's house in Boquete, the group conformed by me, Gloriela, Osvaldo Quintero & Osvaldo Quintero Jr, Rafael Luck, Olmedo Miró and Milagros Sánchez departed to the Volcan Baru National Park searching for the Three-wattled Bellbird. We left the picturesque town of Boquete and headed to Bajo Mono. Despite the fact that Boquete has grown considerably during the last years, there are still some farmers that use traditional methods in their field. We crossed one of them working on his field with a "yunta" (a tool powered by bulls), a rare sight anywhere else in Panama, and I didn't resist to take a photo of him. We took the windy road all the way up to Alto Chiquero, where the ranger station is, and where we parked the cars. The park ranger told us that the Bellbirds are heard daily, but not often close. Following the instructions of Dan Wade, a resident in the Boquete area, we decided to walk the road towards the entrance of Los Quetzales trail, which eventually leads to Cerro Punta, to El Respingo area. This road crosses patches of very good montane humid forest. We scared a pair of Black Guans and found a flock of Spangle-cheeked Tanagers while hearing a bellbird very close. Then, Osvaldo Jr. spotted a big "red" bird perched in a bare tree. Rapidly all got around and through a little window in the canopy all enjoyed the sight of an adult male Three-wattled Bellbird in full exhibition, making its loud and far-carrying call with its beak all wide open. It was amazing, and I managed to capture some photos (Rafael and Osvaldo's photos are better). More impressive was that we accomplished our goal within our first hour in the place! This is the only Bellbird species in Central America, where it inhabits highland wet forest but then move to lower elevations (even sea level) out of the breeding season. The distintive call of the bird is heard everywhere, but to see one is another tale, considering that these are canopy dwellers. Happy with the finding, we decided to walk a little farther on the road, finding both Whitestarts (Collared & Slate-throated), Mountain Elaenia, White-naped Brush-Finch, Black-faced Solitaire and a nesting pair of Tufted Flycatchers that allowed close photos. We reached the upper part of the "Hill of Lamentations" and decided to turn back because we didn't want to complain about anything in the way back. We spotted a Red-tailed Hawk and some Vaux's Swifts around the trout farm, but once again in the forest, the things changed... for good. We found some activity in the same stretch of forest where we found the Bellbird earlier. Some of the birds there were Dark Pewee, Yellow-bellied Siskin, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Mountain Thrush and a beautiful pair of Golden-browed Chlorophonias. Farther in the road, and closer to the ranger station, we found a big mixed flock with Ruddy Treerunners, Black-cheeked Warblers, Black-throated Green Warbler, Brown-capped Vireos, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo (only heard), Yellow-thighed Finches and a Red-faced Spinetail who responded well to the recordings (being a "life photo" for Rafael). Once again in the station, a gaudy male Flame-colored Tanager was around, plus lots of Blue-and-White Swallows that nest in the roof. The morning was not over, so we decided to descend to the Pipa de Agua trail, looking this time for Quetzals. The first part of the trail is through pastures, and we found White-throated Thrushes and more Flame-colored Tanagers feeding next to the trail. Then, we found a family group of Blue-hooded Euphonias, conformed by several adult and immature males plus a single female. They stayed around for a while, jumping from one perch to another and vocalizing a lot. It was a great show. We kept walking the trail, listen for any signal of quetzals, and crossed a couple who told us that they just saw a female farther in the trail. It was getting hot, but we kept searching all the fruiting trees, finding a Black-thighed Grosbeak having a banquet with the fruits of an unidentified tree. It was not close, but stayed still, allowing us to take some photos of it. Curiously, this was just my second sight of this bird in my life; the first was in the area of Fortuna (central Chiriqui province) many years ago. Just when we were thinking that we would not achieve our aim, a female Resplendant Quetzal flew and perched on a distant tree. I got some poor photos, but at least you can identify the bird. We searched and searched, but were not able to find an adult male in the surroundings, so we headed back to the cars, finding an Hoffman Two-toed Sloth in the way. It was around 3:00 pm, and we were hungry, so we descended to the Boquete area to have a well deserved late lunch after a great morning birding in the highlands.

P.D.: if you want to know what fate had in store for us the evening of that same day, you must read Birding Boquete: Part II.

Visiting Altos del Maria

I just came from Altos del María, a gated community in the foothills of western Panama province that have proved to be a good birding spot. Along with Osvaldo Quintero and Alfred Raab, an Altos' resident who kindly guided us through the area, we explored some nice areas with good access roads and good birds. Alfred was constantly saying that we were lucky because we found a sunny day without fog in the upper part of the housing development (La Rioca), where we walked La Coruña street finding a nice mixed flock right in the entrance, with Silver-throated Tanager and Common (very common) Bush-Tanagers, along with Rufous-capped Warblers (feeding youngs), Tufted Flycatcher, Thick-billed and White-vented Euphonias, at least two Yellow-billed Caciques and an Ochraceous Wren that Alfred immediately recognized by its Winter Wren-like call. A little farther we took a trail that leads to an observation tower, attracted by the frog-like call of two Purplish-backed Quail-Doves that eluded us despite our efforts... but bonus birds were the male Purple-throated Mountain-Gem and a shy Black Guan plus a spectacular view of the Cerro Trinidad in the distance. At the tower, we had a terrific view of the pacific lowlands, and of the forest at the foothills. It is possible to see both oceans in a clear day. We decided to visit some other sites before the fog covered everything. Among other species recorded were White Hawk, Pale-vented Thrush, a bright female Shiny Honeycreeper, Paltry and Southern Beardless Tyrannulets, Yellow-margined Flycatcher, Golden-hooded and Bay-headed Tanagers.

We start to return, stopping at the Styria gate (the "pyramid") from where you can see all the lower valley of El Maria, where the main community is. We found a big group of American Swallow-tailed Kites plus a Short-tailed Hawk soaring in a thermal. You don't very often see these birds at eye level, nor from above, so we enjoyed the sight for a few minutes. Then, we descended to the valley, to Alfred's place. Alfred have done a good job in his property, hanging feeders and making trails that hold many birds. Only in few minutes around noon we saw or heard Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Black-striped Sparrow, Plain, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens, a nesting Streaked Saltator and Lance-tailed Manakins... all of them typical of drier forest (like the Metropolitan Natural Park here in the city) than the humid mossy-covered forest that we found in La Rioca (which lies over the 1100 meters above sea level and on the Continental Divide). After a quick lunch, we headed to El Valle road (that connects Altos del Maria with El Valle de Anton), but as soon we got to the forest, the rain and the fog showed up. This part of the valley was full of flowering Inga trees that are very good for small hummingbirds (we only saw Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds) Despite our waiting, the rain didn't stop, so we decided to head back to Panama City after a great day in the foothills. Alfred: thank you for everything, I hope to see you soon!