Bird of the Month: Brown-throated Parakeet

The Brown-throated Parakeet (Eupsittula pertinax) is a familiar member of the parrot family adapted to open habitats in Central and South America, as well as in the Caribbean, quite variable considering the high number of recognized subspecies (14 to be exact).

These social birds are noisy and smart, and their presence is revealed by the sharp metallic chattering they constantly made.  As you can see, they feed in a variety of plant material, from flowers to fruit.

Other feature you can see in the photos is the orange-yellow patch of feathers below the eye.  This field mark is unique to the form ocularis in this complex.

Ocularis is a former endemic to western and central Panama's Pacific slope (now is present in southeastern Costa Rica as well), isolated of all the other subspecies..., in fact, sometimes is considered a full species, and named Veragua Parakeet.  For these, and many other reasons, is why we chose the Brown-throated Parakeet as our Bird of the Month!

Literature consulted:

1.  Angehr G, Dean R.  The Birds of Panama. A field guide. 2010

2.  Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive.  Available at http://www.hbw.com/

Birding the dry lowlands

Last weekend, I went with Osvaldo Quintero in a quest along the dry lowlands of central Panama's Pacific slope searching for migrants and some resident specialties for the area.  We left Panama City at dark, very early in the morning, and drove directly to our first destination: El Chirú, some 1.25 hours away in Cocle province.

Quite recently, El Chirú figured in the map as the most reliable site in Panama to find the scarce Grassland Yellow-Finch, represented by an endemic subspecies.  In fact, the only time I've seen this species in Panama was in this place some years ago.  Since then, the habitat has deteriorated, but still is a good place to find common residents, like Crested Bobwhites right in the middle of the dirt road, or flocks of Brown-throated Parakeets atop the introduced Eucalyptus trees (file photo).

This is an isolated population of Brown-throated Parakeets, and well could be considered a full species in the future (Veraguan Parakeet).  After a while, we moved to Juan Hombron, birding along the road that crosses rice fields, dry forest patches, and riverine habitat.  These patches of forest are very good for migrants in the appropriate season, and so we found Yellow, Prothonotary and Tennessee Warblers, Northern Watertthrushes, tons of Eastern Wood-Pewees and two pairs of Gray Kingbirds.

We found these kingbirds exactly in the same spot where we saw them last year, they are always welcomed.  We had the opportunity to compare this species directly with the ubiquitious Tropical Kingbird... and the longer flights made by the Gray Kingbirds after flying insects became evident.  It was getting hot quickly, so we left Juan Hombron and started the return way, stopping for beverages on route, and shortly in the town of Gorgona to check an artificial pond where we saw many Least Grebes (some of them hiding in the grass like the one in the photo - looking for nesting sites?) and heard a Gray-breasted Crake, which was a surprise for us.

Our last stop was Punta Chame.  This 10 km-long sand bar extends into the Pacific Ocean away of the mainland, and its varied habitats are very good for migrants and resident birds.  However, it was late when we reached the place and the activity was low.  We had lunch in town and moved to the beach.

As you can see in the photo, it was about to rain.  We enjoyed the view of the islands of the Gulf of Panama (Otoque, Boná and Estivá... the same I visited with Gloriela and Gabrielle one year ago).  From Punta Chame, these islands look very close to shore.  In the way out, we found this American Kestrel on a wire.

Sincerely, I can't tell if this individual is a northern migrant or a resident bird, since south american races of this species are colonizing Panama and are quite common now in some sites.  Migrant or not, this was a nice bird to end the day!

Two hours to the west

As you probably know, we spent most of our weekends at our second hometown: Penonomé, in central Panamá.  Penonomé lies in the geographical center of the country, two hours to the west of Panama City, in the middle of dry savannas with a distinct avifauna.  That is so, that the common species around Penonomé would be rarities in the wetter Panamá City, were we live.  A short ride south of town last sunday, to what is now a regular site for us (I was with Gloriela and Gabrielle), the road to El Gago, produced a nice collection of these birds, including Crested Bobwhites.  There, they are frequently seen and heard, but usually don't stay that long for good shots, so we were lucky.

The last record of bobwhites close to Panama City was in the 19th century... just to put it in perspective.  And the last time someone recorded a Mourning Dove in Panama City (some years ago, a day previous to a CBC), it was considered a vagrant.  In that road south of Penonomé is a common sight... and what a sight!  These doves are beautiful.

The situation is a little bit different with the Brown-throated Parakeets.  They are uncommon in the outskirts of Panama City, and have been recorded right in the middle of the city (for example in Parque Omar)... but in those savannas are simply abundant.  In fact, we crossed MANY flocks that day feeding in pink flowers by the road.

Other species are so widely distributed that are quite common in both regions... but you have to work a little harder to find a White-tailed Kite in the big city.  There, we saw two or three individuals, and even one perched on a fence pole, showing its black shoulders and fiery character.

Well, this was a typical day at the savannas!

Long weekend. Part I

My family and I decided to spent this long weekend at our house in Penonomé (Coclé province, central Panamá), in order to enjoy some fresh air and to share with our relatives.  Of course, I also took advantage of these free days to do some birding... and accompanied by Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck, we visited some localities along the Panamerican highway, starting at El Chirú.  Most of the former savanna habitat was turned into a corn field, but still we managed to find some common birds, like Brown-throated Parakeets and even a White-winged Dove, but perhaps the change was too much for the Grassland Yellow-Finches that we used to find there regularly.

We moved closer to the coast, to Juan Hombrón, passing first by the extensive rice fields where we saw last year a Long-winged Harrier... this time we saw plenty of egrets and herons, and a flock of more than fifty Glossy Ibises, that weren't completely unexpected... but a good sight away of Las Macanas marshes, specially in such numbers.

The secondary growths along the road produced many species typical of these dry areas, like Lance-tailed Manakins, Blue-black Grassquits, Streaked Flycatcher (the only one allowing photos), Yellow-crowned Euphonias and many more.

At the beach, we saw the usual suspects: Brown Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant and Laughing Gulls... but it was an Osprey that allowed the best views and photographic opportunities.  This is an impressive eagle and, thanks God, a common one!

We left Juan Hombrón with a huge day-list of birds... but we wanted more, so we visited Punta Chame (to the east, coming closer to Panamá City), a well-known site for waders, and many more aquatic and marine birds.  Also, we enjoyed a nice fried fish as lunch after checking the beach.  It was only after reviewing my photos of a flock of gulls and terns resting in the sand that I realized that we didn't see the two Common Terns among the numerous Sandwich and Royal Terns and the Laughing Gulls!  Can you identify them in the next pic?

But the real surprise came in the way out.  We did a routine stop to check a section of beach by the road, noticing a group of ducks in the far shore... it took me a while, but eventually I recognized the huge beaks and the unmistakable plumage of an adult male Northern Shoveler with four female-plumaged birds!  These ducks are rare in Panama... and we were seeing five of them!  They were quite distant... but you can notice the beak shape in my cropped photo (OK, I recognized it, this is an awful photo).

That was a nice way to call it a day.  Rafael and Osvaldo left me at the Panamerican highway... they were going to Panama City and I was going back to Penonomé... the weekend was just starting!

Birding the savanna

The day after my visit to the Aguadulce Salinas, I woke early in order to visit the open fields and the savanna that surrounds Penonome (central Panama). This habitat was altered mostly by human activities, but it still holds many of the species typical of it, except for some that are harder to find now (Grassland Yellow-Finch, Yellowish Pipit), including one probably extirpated (Grasshopper Sparrow). I headed to the south, in the way to El Coco, and then I took the turn to El Gago, which passes through some cattle and agricultural land, with rice fields and some scattered bushes. Soon I was watching my first specialty of the area: a flock of Plain-breasted Ground-Doves (mostly females) that looked like a covey of tiny quails. Only the male stayed enough time to get a picture.. the females ran (yes, ran) away. Not to much after that, I got my second columbiforme of the day: a pair of Mourning Doves. We have two populations of this dove in Panama, one in the western highlands and other in the lowlands of the dry pacific slope. In the lowlands, this dove is locally common... but it seems that nobody has heard them singing here. Both of them (the dove and the ground-dove) were new year-birds for me. Other doves species for the day were the Ruddy Ground-Dove (widespread), the White-tipped Dove (quite shy here) and four Pale-vented Pigeons at a fruiting tree. Of course, by that moment I already had recorded more widespread species like Blue-black Grassquit, Great-tailed Grackle, Red-crowned Woodpecker, and so on... At a dump next to the road I got three species of Vultures (Black, Turkey and Lesser Yellow-headed) plus many Yellow-headed Caracaras in all sort of ages and two adult Crested Caracaras. I realized that I was getting luckier with the raptors when I saw an Aplomado Falcon followed few minutes later by an American Kestrel and a White-tailed Kite, while, perched in the ground, a Savanna Hawk was inspecting its territory. In my cropped picture is very hard to see the rich cinnamon color that makes this bird so beautiful, specially when flying. Eventually I reached a flooded rice field that was full with egrets and, curiously, Greater Yellowlegs. The yellowlegs were chasing each other, vocalizing. They should have been around 12 or more. I wonder if they were congregating in order to begin its northward migration. Well, it was getting very hot, so I started to return, finding both Eastern Meadowlarks and Red-breasted Blackbirds in the same field, and a flock of Brown-throated Parakeets that perched very close as saying good-bye. Many new year-birds in this short trip!