Altos de Campana National Park: 20 years later

Altos de Campana was the very first stablished national park in Panama, back in 1966.  It protects humid pre-montane forests at the upper slopes of the Campana hill, but it's probably more popular among locals because of the breathtaking views of Chame Bay from its lower grassy slopes.  Due to its proximity to Panama City, it is a nice place to look for foothills species on a day-trip.  For some reason, I simply overlooked this magical place for more than 20 years since my last visit there was in April 1998 (although I have done several visits to the lookout in the grassy slopes after that)!

Panama trail, Altos de Campana NP

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to start very early and payed a visit to this park.  I was the only visitor that day (to the trails at least).  The chilly atmosphere and the twisted trunks show the strength of the wind that face this part of the park.  Slowly, the activity started to grow.  The dawn chorus was full of new species for my Big Year quest.  In a quick succession I recorded Plain Antvireo, Spotted Woodcreeper, White-breasted Wood-Wren, Bananaquit, Red-crowned Ant-Tanager and Tawny-capped Euphonia.  The several different vocalizations of the euphonia fooled me for a while, until I was able to watch a pair close to the entrance to the trails.

Female Tawny-capped Euphonia

Walking the trails hearing only my steps and the song of the birds was truly relaxing I must admit.  It was so peaceful that I even started to hear the noise of ground-dwelling species over the dry leaves.  One particularly loud noise caught my attention.  Through a window in the foliage, I was able to watch a dark silhouette hoping from one site to another.  It was a familiar sight, one that I saw in the general same area in my last visit twenty years ago.  Some pishing and the bird revealed itself: a Black-crowned Antpitta!

Black-crowned Antpitta

This curious individual stayed long enough for a couple of photos.  After a while, I heard a second individual deep inside the dark forest.  There is no doubt that these birds inspired the tales of goblins and elves that our grandparents told us to warn us not to wander alone through the forest.  Well, I was wandering alone in this forest and was fortunate enough to see this goblin!  With limited time, I returned to the entrance of the park, not before taking my time photographing some nice butterflies on the way.

Heliconius cydno

This photo doesn't make justice to this Heliconius cydno! The flashes of blue and white when flying, as well as the soft shades of yellow and orange when perching are simply sublime.  As soon as I left the forest, the inclement heat of the grassy slopes hit me hard.  My plan was to drive directly to Panama City, but in the last minute I decided to make a stop at the lookout of grassy slopes.

Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch

After a while, a single Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch was very briefly interested to my attempts to attract him with playback.  This species is localized in Panama, absent from sites with apparently suitable habitat, and those slopes are a classic site to finding him.  After twenty years, I can say that Altos de Camapana NP still have a lot to offer and continue to be a very nice place to relax and watch birds (and butterflies), specially if you are short of time!

Umbrellas show!

Both of us (Gloriela and me) woke up very early yesterday, at 4:00 AM. After a quick shower we soon were heading to Costa del Este, picking up Euclides "Kilo" Campo in the way, to meet Rafael Luck at his home. We all were going to travel in his 4WD because our destination was the General de Division Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park above the charming town of El Cope (simply known as El Cope NP), in the coclesian foothills of central Panama. August is a good month to visit this park. First, there are no strong winds, nor too much fog (at least in the morning... but be prepared for some rain). Second, many species of the western highlands that breed at the higher slopes of the park come down (the park facilities and main trails system is more or less at 700 meters above sea level) in a sort of post-breeding altitudinal migration that is poorly known. The road turns into gravel passing El Cope. It is in a general good condition, but after the town of Barrigon it becomes steep and quite eroded, needing a powerful, high-clearance vehicle to deal with it in parts. No problem for Rafael's vehicle. After a little more than three hours in the road from Panama City, we were paying our entrance fee at the ranger station. The park ranger told us that we were the first visitors in about a week, a fact that we confirmed while signing the guest's book. We found some fog, so we waited at the Visitor's Center for the day to clear. Soon, a mixed flock showed up with Tawny-crested, Bay-headed and Emerald Tanagers, Tawny-capped, Yellow-crowned and Thick-billed Euphonias and Shining Honeycreepers. We were lucky enough to hear a Western Wood-Pewee and a Chiriqui Quail-Dove (a bird that I saw during my last visit, about a year ago). The activity was pretty good at the Center, but we had to move in order to find our main objective: the Bare-necked Umbrellabird. This spectacular cotinga, endemic to Panama and Costa Rica, is found there only seasonally, and till now only along the Snowcap and Los Helechos trails. We walked the first 500 meters of the Snowcap trail, the most reliable stretch for the cotinga, without luck. In the way back, we found an antswarm followed by tons of birds: Ocellated, Bicolored and Inmaculate Antbirds, Spot-crowned Antvireo, Slaty Antwren, Tawny-faced Gnatwren, Stripe-breasted Wren, Plain-brown and Spotted Woodcreepers. Then, Kilo desperately called me. He heard the contact (warning?) calls of a covey of Black-breasted Wood-Quails and I hurried to join him (Gloriela and Rafael were too far away). Soon we were watching a group of at least five wood-quails nervously walking at barely five meters of us downslope. A huge life bird for me! We were running out of time so we decided to walk Los Helechos trail, a loop trail that starts at the Visitor's Center. We found again the mixed flock, but new species were the Silver-throated and Black-and-yellow Tanagers, Yellow-margined and Slaty-capped Flycatchers and a calling Golden-olive Woodpecker. We thought that the stars of the show were a pair of Black-crowned Antpittas that responded to playback, but then, in the way back, Kilo pointed out an Umbrellabird perched very close to us that flew away after few seconds, followed by a second individual. We tried in vain to relocate them, so we decided to left the trail (after all we saw the cotingas). Again, Kilo re-found the pair of Umbrellabirds nicely perched very close to the Visitor's Center. These bird allowed great pictures, showing only little curiosity. The bird showing the pale red patch of bare skin in the neck seemed considerably bigger than the other bird, and both looked like overgrown fruitcrows! They were so cooperative that they were still in the same branches when we decided to left the site (45 minutes after finding them). What a great show, those birds were simply fascinating... one of many reasons for visiting El Cope!

P.D.: we ended the day at the Aguadulce Salinas (saltponds). Check it out here.

Birding El Cope N.P.

The General de División Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park is located above the picturesque town of El Cope (that's why is aka El Cope N.P.) in the central coclesian foothills and it harbors lots of western highlands species not found farther to the east. It protects one of the most beautiful montane cloud forest in Panama. The promise to find rare and elusive birds led me, Osvaldo Quintero and Hildegar Mendoza to this special place last sunday, blessed with an unusually good weather. After a 3-hours drive from Panama city, we met our local guide, Mr. Santana, at the rangers station and then we moved to the Visitor Center, where Rafael Luck and Euclides "Kilo" Campos were already waiting for us. They were returning from an intrepid one-day trip to Cobachón, following the instructions posted here (and yes, they saw the Azuero Parakeet). They had a surprise. While waiting for us, they walked the first part of the Snowcap (La Rica) trail finding several individuals of Bare-necked Umbrellabirds plus a Lattice-tailed Trogon!!! Wow... hoping not to miss the birds, we literally ran to the trail. Santana was the first to spot two short-crested Umbrellas' with no visible bare skin. They were feeding, one of them seemed curioser, allowing us to take some pictures (confirming our impression that it had white markings in the underparts... maybe a young bird?). After several minutes, a third bird appeared, this one being bigger and heavier with a partially hidden dull red bare skin in the throat, but a short crest. It fed in a more eminent way, shaking the branches wherefrom it was taking the fruits and even catching really BIG insects, striking them violently before swallowing them. Occasionally they vocalized, probably in response to our recording. We found a mixed flock, while watching the Umbrellabirds, composed by Tawny-crested, Black-and-yellow and Speckled Tanagers plus a group of three or four Yellow-throated Bush-Tanagers and a female Black-and-white Becard. Hildegar called my attention toward a tiny "baby" hummer that proved to be a female Snowcap, while Osvaldo was watching a Stripe-throated (Little) Hermit face-to-face. Farther in the trail we found another mixed flock, this time with Golden-olive Woodpecker, Carmiol's (Olive) Tanager, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Spot-crowned Antvireo, Slaty Antwrens, Tawny-faced Gnatwrens and Gray-breasted Wood-Wrens. Santana showed us a perched male Ruddy Quail-Dove that stayed for a couple of minutes. We started to return and then, someone flushed a reddish bird that landed a few meters away on a branch for a few seconds, enough to recognize it as a Chiriqui Quail-Dove, a bird only found at higher elevations, but seasonally common in that place according to Santana. You can see in the photo by Osvaldo (used with permission) the uniform reddish colour, the totally gray crown and the marked lores. The neck scalloping was more evident than the moustachial stripe in the field. Happy with the finding, we met again with Rafael and Kilo at the Visitor Center where we heard a Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, the third Quail-Dove of the day. Rafael and Kilo birded the Rana trail, finding a mixed flock of tanagers plus a Orange-bellied Trogon and a Striped Woodhaunter. We decided to walk the Helechos trail, a short loop trail behind the Visitor Center. Osvaldo had been lucky in this trail a year ago so he wanted to give it a chance. He played a recording of a Black-crowned Antpitta two or three times when suddenly it materialized only a few feet from me, responding with all its forces. A really spectacular bird as you can see in my photo. Also note the clay on the bill, maybe it was excavating a nest or looking for earthworms? Currently, taxonomic issues put this bird with the south american Gnateaters, all of them smaller than the Pittasoma. For me, it always will be an Antpitta. After a superb birding, we headed to the lowlands, to Penonome where we had our lunch. After some deliberations, we decided to go to El Gago, looking for some lowlands birds. As usual, we were lucky with the raptors, finding tons of Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures (a better name could be Multicolour-headed Vulture), Crested and Yellow-headed Caracaras, White-tailed and Pearl Kites, Roadside and Savanna Hawks, American Kestrels and two Aplomado Falcons. Others specialties were the Plain-breasted Ground-Doves, Mourning Doves and Crested Bobwhites along the road. A nice day with amazing creatures, great weather and even a life bird!