Escape to Bocas. Part I

Very often we say that Panama is a paradise ... so often that sometimes sounds like a cliché; However, this time you'd better believe it, because only a week ago I visited a hidden paradise with my family in the Bocas archipelago (western Caribbean lowlands).  We took the overnight bus from Panama City and arrived to the coastal town of Almirante early in the morning last friday where we took the water taxi to Bocas town (Colon Island).  After few minutes in town we met Jay, one of the owners of the Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, in Bastimentos Island... our home for the next days.

Jean-Michael, Jan Axel, Gabrielle and Gloriela at Tranquilo Bay

The boat ride to Tranquilo Bay was uneventful, and soon we reached the main dock of the lodge.  A boardwalk across a beautiful mangrove forest (full of Prothonotary Warblers and Northern Waterthrushes, among other migrants) took us to the main lodge, where we met Jim and Reneé, co-owners of the lodge, who made us feel like home.  I have to admit that the place impressed me immediately... the view from the upstairs balcony was superb for watching canopy-dwellers at eye-level, and the number of species and individuals of migrant birds swarming around was astonishing... soon my lens focused on these guys:

Red-eyed Vireo

Scarlet Tanager 

Eastern Kingbird and Miconia berries

The tiny berries of the Miconia trees attracted tons of birds... and these trees were all around the property, but not randomly.  Ramón and Natalia, both resident and well-experienced naturalist guides and friends of mine since some years ago, explained that the trees were planted with the intention of being natural feeders for birds and other animals when they grew... and the idea was paying off!

Jean-Michael, Ramón, Jan Axel, Gabrielle and Natalia in the dinning room

After settling into our cabin, we made our first excursion with Ramon, Natalia and other guests. After a short boat ride from the lodge, we entered a lovely natural channel between Venado Cay and Popa Island bordered in mangroves but with some mature forest in sight as well.  In spite of the time of the day, we saw many different species, including toucans, oropendolas, pigeons and a big surprise.  Atop a stand of mangrove, a glooming white bird attracted Natalia's attention: a male Snowy Cotinga!

Snowy Cotinga

This species is uncommon and restricted to the western Caribbean in Panama... and a LIFER for me, the first of the day by the way.  I know it is an awful photo, but I'm happy with it... not every day you got an unexpected lifer in a heavenly environment!  What a great way to start this -birding- trip.  Back in the lodge, it was time to enjoy the facilities.  My family stayed at the cabin, admiring the great variety of flowering bushes and plants in the garden (and a family of White-faced Capuchin monkeys and two species of sloths in the way).  The purple Verbenas were attracting many hummingbird species (including a Bronzy Hermit resting right next to the cabin)... but the colorful Hibiscus flowers stole the show.

Bronzy Hermit

I was more interested in the forested areas.  Up to 75% of the property has been left in its natural state, and Ramón showed me the trails into the mature forest behind the cabins.  Soon, some forest-dwellers started to show up, like Chestnut-backed Antbirds, White-flanked Antwren, Black-crowned Antshrikes and Ochre-bellied Flycatchers.  However, we were after a specialty of these islands... a species with a weird disjunct range because it reappear in northwestern Costa Rica and extend north into southeast Mexico.  In Panama, it is found only in the larger islands of the Bocas archipelago and adjacent mainland.

Stub-tailed Spadebill

Yes!  I'm talking about the Stub-tailed Spadebill.  As you can see, eventually Ramón heard two birds and soon we were admiring this tiny inhabitant of these forests.  The individual pictured above was very active, hopping from one site to another in the understore.  We had some nice views of this little creature; by the way, also a long-desired LIFER for me!!! In spite of the low light inside the forest, I managed these pictures.

Stub-tailed Spadebill

So many emotions and the first day was not over yet!  Later, I did another walk through the trails with Ramón and my family... but I'll left that story for the next post, so stay tuned!  

Migrant and resident kingbirds of central Panama

During the northern winter, the resident population of Tyrannus kingbirds in Panama receives the visit of some others members of the same genus from farther north. Four different migrant Tyrannus have been reported for Panama, with two species that become particularly common around Panama City in central Panama. Despite it is only a passage migrant (doesn't winters in Panama), the Eastern Kingbird is the most common migrant Tyrannus in Panama. They typical are seen in huge and compact flocks during their passage through the isthmus, usually feeding only from fruits at the canopy of the trees. They fly over almost every kind of habitat in Panama. For obvious reasons, the translation of its spanish name is Northern Kingbird (the "eastern" part of its name makes no sense for us down here) and, definitively, this species is strongly associated with migration here in Panama. In contrast with our common, bright-colored species, the Tropical Kingbird, the Eastern KB exhibit a black-and-white pattern more reminiscent to the Fork-tailed Flycatcher. Of course, the Eastern KB lacks the long trail streamers; instead, it has a square tale tipped in white and has white markings in the wings. It also lacks the pale gray back of the Fork-tailed Flycatcher. Both, the Fork-tailed Flycatcher and the Tropical Kingbird, are VERY common in central Panama. Usually solitary, these two species often gather in really big flocks in relation to local movements, and even migration for the Fork-tailed Flycatcher. One of those unusual flocks of Tropical KBs initiated an interesting debate some months ago (you can read the story here). Not as common like the previous species, the Gray Kingbird is quite frequent in open habitats in central Panama. This is a migrant species, only present in our country during the northern winter. Mainly caribbean in distribution, this species also breeds in the mainland in southern Florida and in northern South America (Venezuela). You can tell apart it from the Eastern KB by its greater size, heavier bill and lack of black in the plumage or white in the tail. It also have a more large-headed look than the Eastern KB, making it more similar to our resident TK, specially under bad light conditions when you cannot distinguish its colors. All the species above mentioned are pretty common, surely due to their adaptability and availability of suitable habitat. However, the other two Tyrannus recorded for Panama are rare to very rare migrants to the western part of the country, though there are several records from central Panama as well. I still need to see a Western Kingbird, of which there is only a handful of records (the most recent here) and, till today, my only Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was an adult in the caribbean side of the Canal some years ago during a Christmas Bird Count. My distant photo does not do justice to the beauty of this bird...well, I guess I'll need to keep searching for these rarities!

At the Ancon Hill

I still don't know why I don't visit the Ancon Hill more often. It is in Panama City, VERY close to my place, and holds a good amount of wildlife, not only birds, but also mammals and insects. But, more important, it is a nice migrant trap in the right season, specially october. Several times during the first two weeks of this month, I visited the volunteers of the migrant raptors count, who have reported rare migrants like Black-billed Cuckoo and almost a definitive Painted Bunting this season at the summit of the hill. Despite I saw none of these rarities in my visits, the number of species and individuals of migrants was really amazing. Gloriela (and Gabrielle) accompanied me the last time, and even helped the counters recollecting data on temperature and wind direction for the records. Surely, the most common species (only after the abundant Sawinson's Thrushes) was the Eastern Kingbird. Flock after flock passed by, taking advantage of some fruiting trees in the vicinity of the summit. Some of them also did some flycatching while we were there, sometimes side-by-side with our local Tropical Kingbirds who simply shared the perch without hesitation. The flycatchers were well represented. Not only the Eastern Kingbirds were present, we also saw Great Crested and Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers. The latter is an uncommon transient through the isthmus. We had the opportunity to have side-by-side views of this species with the very similar, resident and much more common and noisy Streaked Flycatcher. Many field marks have been described to separate these two flycatchers, but the most reliable is the black chin and more pronounced black malar stripe of the Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers. You can notice that the chin area of the Streaked Flycatcher is completely white. The amount of yellow in the underparts can be similar for both species, the same with the color of the bill (usually, the Sulphur-bellieds have only little pink in the base of the lower mandible). Perhaps the Streaked Flycatcher is very common, but it can't be more beautiful! In the meanwhile, a single Geoffrey's Tamarin was eating the berries of a tall tree abiove our heads. We noticed it first because one of the berries struck Gloriela in the head! We were able to heard the rest of the group in the trees nearby; they sound like a flock of little birds... or were they laughing at us? We quickly forgot the incident after seeing our first group of migrant Scarlet Tanagers. Even without the breeding plumage, the males are still attractive, with their contrasting jet black wings. They outnumbered the others tanagers, a phenomenon that happens only this time a year. The only other migrant tanager (or should I say "cardinal"?) was the Summer Tanager, with one or two shyly working around the trees bordering the access road. Another representative group was the wood-warblers. Hordes of Yellow, Canada, Blackburnian, Tennessee and Black-and-white Warblers invaded the hill, giving it some color. My photo of the female Black-and-white Warbler is simply to poor to reflect the beauty of this smart, creeper-like warbler. I still need a good photo of most of these warblers, but you know, they simply can not stop... always in the move, usually high in the canopy, in backlight... in summary: a real headache for the amateur photographer (like me)! Sometimes it was hard to focus in a single bird due to the great activity all over the place, but a slim silhouette definitively caught my attention during one of the first visits. The bird in the shade turned out to be the first (of many) Yellow-billed Cuckoo having a huge worm for lunch... I was expecting the Black-billed reported by the volunteers... but you can not win everytime and, after all, it is a good reason to return next year!

Migrants, castles and more!

I had a crazy idea this morning... to drive all the way to the Caribbean coast after leaving Gloriela at the hospital in order to see if I can find some rare migrants or something. So, I left behind the rainy and dark Panama City, took the highway and after one hour (more or less) I was in Gatun waiting my turn to pass the one-lane bridge through the locks. Contrasting with Panama City, the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal was unexpectedly sunny, hot and bright... probably too much. I did find some migrants, but not the rare ones I was expecting. Anyway, the numbers were impressive. Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Bank, Cliff and Barn Swallows were flying low over the grassy fields of the Gatun dam, maneuvering acrobatically and sometimes passing just in front of the car. There was also a huge flock of Eastern Kingbirds at the fence of the facilities, sometimes feeding in the ground. They were accompanied by many Fork-tailed Flycatchers, which could have been migrants too. The only other birds that I saw at the dam were the Gray-breasted Martins, the regular American Kestrel and a Southern Lapwing. The spillway had no many birds, only some Little Blue Herons were present. I decided to go to one of the most important touristic attractions of the area: the Castillo de San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo Castle) at the mouth of the mighty Chagres river, within the San Lorenzo National Park. It is about 35 minutes from the locks to the castle through a paved road which crosses several habitats: grasslands, mangroves, residential areas and forests. It also passes through the former Sherman Base (where you are asked for your ID) and the Park rangers station (where you have to pay the fee for entering the park). I did few stops on the way, usually to appreciate the Northern Waterthrushes that were all around. Just a little after the station, I found a snake crossing the road. I was able to see this 5 feet-long beauty before it vanished in the understore of the forest. I think it is a Salmon-bellied Racer, but I could be wrong. Once in the castle, the place was desolated, contributing to the sensation of immensity that was surrounding me.Despite there are no guides, the site has many interpretative signs that tell you the story of this fortress. That was how I knew that it was constructed by the Spaniards back in 1597 to protect the entrance of the Chagres river, and after that, it was destroyed and re-constructed several times, the last one in 1750.

The view is VERY impressive due to its location atop of a hill, dominating the mouth of the Chagres river, which was so important in those days, as it is today! You also have an unobstructed view of the Caribbean sea and some lovely beaches at the base of the hill.

It was a great experience. My last time there was maaaany years ago. Then, as a little child, I imagined myself as a "Caribbean pirate", running and yelling through the corridors of the castle... the idea crossed my mind several times during this visit!