Birders fellowship

It is great how birding can join different nationalities and personalities in a warm environment of fellowship.  That's how you bird with a friend which have never seen before (thanks facebook) and to feel that you have done the same thing for years!  My good friend Carlos Wagner (a colombian birder) visited Panama, attending a forum on wild cats, and I organized an outing around Panama City to show him some birds... and what a better place than the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center to show him.  We entered early enough to try to call out some owls... and we got some responses by a Vermiculated Screech-Owl and a Spectacled Owl... but only a group of Western (Panamanian) Night-Monkeys show themselves in the night (file photo, but form the same site).

Waiting for sunrise in the middle of a rainforest is an interesting experience... the fresh air full with the sounds of the dawn chorus and the silhouettes of the birds and other animals starting to search for their first meal is simply refreshing!

After a hot cup of coffee, we decided to climb up the world-famous 34 meters-high canopy tower... what a marvelous point of view of all those canopy dwellers.  We saw many birds from there, including the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan pictured here, some pigeons, parrots, trogons and puffbirds, and even a flock a noisy Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in the distance.

We walk the trail leading to the Calamito lake, watching some mixed flocks, mainly with Dot-winged Antwrens, Lesser Greenlets, migrant Black-and-white and Canada Warblers, an impressive male Blue Cotinga, Green Shrike-Vireos, a pair of Fasciated Antshrikes (with nest), among many others.

After watching a flock of antbirds and woodcreepers following an antswarm (including a cooperative Great Tinamou), we decided to left the Center in order to walk the main Pipeline road.

The activity was quite low, we saw more of the same, plus an unidentified snake crossing the road and a troop of Mantled Howler Monkeys.  Pipeline road said good-bye to us by showing a beautiful Sunbittern quietly feeding at the Juan Grande creek... spectacular! 

The rest of the afternoon we visited some sites along the Pacific coast of Panama City, including Amador, the Casco Viejo, Panama Viejo and Costa del Este, adding more and more species... we finished quite late, and I left him at an hostal in the city.  Carlos, it was great having you visiting Panama and hope to see you soon!

Easter Holidays in Darien. Part I

Where in Panama can you find Spot-breasted Woodpeckers on TV antennas? El Real de Santa María is one of such places, surrounded by pristine habitat and lots of avian specialties of the eastern Darien lowlands. This is my second visit to this historical place, again with a Panama Audubon Society's trip, so well organized by Rosabel Miró and cols. I joined them in the last minute, so I went to El Real by my own, and after six hours in a bus and a ride with a family on a boat I met this year participants. It was late when I arrived to El Real, so all the others participants told me about the birds they found few hours before in El Mercadeo road, in route to the town, including a pair of these woodpeckers nesting in a telephone pole, among others. My room mate, Rafael Luck, showed me all the excellent photos he took during the short walk (that I missed), so I resigned myself to wait until the next day (Good Friday) to enjoy the birding around the town and tried to sleep, realizing that it was not an easy task considering the brutal heat of the place and the fact that the town gets noisy during the holidays. Early the next day, we went to Doña Lola's restaurant for breakfast, finding a Pale-bellied Hermit right in front of it, in a little bush. Everything was ready for the day, so we headed to Piji Basal... our destination was the Pirre rangers station at the Darien National Park. On route we saw many birds, including Plumbeous and Mississippi Kites, the first of many Roadside Hawks, Pied Puffbird, Spot-crowned Barbet, a pair of Muscovy Ducks and a Wood Stork flying, and so on... We did not reach Piji Basal because of the road conditions so we started to walk the trail to the station, finding almost immediately a beautiful male Green-crowned Woodnymph showing all its irridiscense. The birding was a little bit slow inside the forest, maybe because of the heat of the day. We heard many Chestnut-backed Antbirds in the way and found a lek of Golden-collared Manakins. We also found other wildlife (mammals, insects, frogs and reptiles), but I'll be posting about them in another entry. Other birds found in the way to the station include Olivaceous Flatbill, Ruddy-tailed and Sulphur-rumped Flycatchers, White-whiskered and Black-breasted Puffbirds, Black and Crested Oropendolas and a very quiet White-fronted Nunbird (nicely found by George Angehr). Notice the pale wing covert, typical of the pallescens race of eastern Panama. It took several hours to reach the rangers station, but once there we rested a bit before looking for birds again. We tried the Mirador trail, but the heat and the roughness of the trail prevented us from advancing. Anyway, we heard a Ruddy Pigeon, a Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner and an antswarm with Bicolored Antbirds and Plain-brown Woodcreepers. In the way down Rosabel found a gorgeous Semiplumbeous Hawk perched nearby and a mixed flock with Red-eyed Vireos, Scarlet and Yellow-rumped Tanagers and Chestnut-sided Warblers. We tried the orchard for some forest border birding, hearing at least two Red-throated Caracaras that only allowed great views later in the day. We started our return journey, and most members of the group (including me) decided to have a refreshing dive in the waters of the Peresenico river, accompanied by a Buff-rumped Warbler. The way back was uneventful, and we found scattered birds, including more oropendolas, Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, more caracaras and a life bird for me: a pair of White-headed Wrens working in the canopy while calling. The last stop in the road produced Collared Aracaris, more barbets, Limpkin, and an Orange-crowned Oriole for the delight of the group. It was too late when we arrived to El Real, so we decided to have our dinner at Doña Lola's and then returned to our hotel to make the list of the day. The plans for the next day included a visit to Uroseca and to Pinogana.