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!

Mammals of Metro Park

I always have been lucky finding mammals in the Metropolitan Natural Park, and yesterday was not the exception. After all, I think that Panama in general is a good country to find mammals... and it seems that I'm not the only one that think this. I have been reading some comments in the web of how easy it was to some guys to find wildlife in Panama (including mammals) and now I even found offerings of mammals trips to Panama. Well, back to Metro Park, most of the mammals species that I found yesterday were at the lookout (that was full of birds too). Surely, the abundance of fruits had something to do with that. The first species that I saw was a Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) that quickly ran to cover. They are pretty common in the park, and you can find many individuals along the different trails, sometimes in loose herds. Little after that, I heard a noise close to me. I turned back, finding a Variegated Squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides) that was scolding me while eating a seed. These squirrels are very common in all sort of habitats, including urban areas and open forests. This is the common and familiar squirrel of Panama City and many other cities in the country, exhibiting a great variation in patterns and colours among the subspecies. They share the park with the Red-tailed Squirrels (Sciurus granatensis) that I have found several times there (but not yesterday), usually in wetter and/or darker sites, like along La Cieneguita trail. It is always entertained to see these acrobatic creatures to move effortless through the branches. I also found a family group of White-nosed Coaties (Nasua narica), with an adult (surely a female) and three cubs. The males usually wander alone, the reason of their spanish name "Gato Solo" (lonely cat). These racoons-relatives are as happy in the ground as climbing the trees, as you can see in the photo (one of the cubs, the ear and the tail of the other two cubs also appear in the photo). But the stars of the show were the Geoffrey's Tamarins (Saguinus geoffroyi). A troop of nine tamarins got very close to me while making their bird-like calls. These squirrel-like monkeys are fortunately still pretty common in the right habitat, including this park. I even saw a tamarin with a baby on her back. They did not care about the Double-toothed Kite that was following them. In contrast, they overturned all the attention to another mammal that I had left unnoticed: a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) in a Cecropia tree. What can I say about them? These animals are real survivors, a big success of nature. You can see in the photo the three claws of the forearm, and the masked look that distinguishes this species of the Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni), also found in the park (but again, not yesterday). It was a great day, both for birds and mammals. In my way out I heard the characteristic howl of a troop of Mantled Howlers Monkeys (Alouata palliata) and found this footprint that I'm trying to figure out to whom it belongs. Any idea? (that's my 67mm lens cap for comparison)

Looking for a particular branch

I went yesterday to the Metropolitan Natural Park in Panama City to photograph a particular bird that has been reported for that place since a month ago, more or less. You might think that I was very optimistic considering that I was looking for a bird reported a month ago, but when the bird looks like and acts as the branch of a trunk, then it is possible. As you guessed, I wanted to find the Common Potoo that resides near the ranger station. Months ago, I photographed one of them in La Cieneguita trail behind the station (pic here) and I simply wanted to get another pic. Prepared with my bins and camera, I asked the ranger if he knews the bird that "looks like a branch" and he answered "you mean the potoo? I'll show you". I followed him to the park-like forested area between the station and the main street and there it was... ridiculously exposed and close to the station, a Common Potoo in full daylight, resting, trusting in its camouflaged plumage to go unnoticed. The red eye in the second photo is due to my flash, an adaptation for its nocturnal habits. It took me merely three minutes to find the bird (with the help of the ranger of course). And that's all folks. Just kidding. I decided to walk the Mono Titi trail despite the heat of the day (after all I was there... why not?). Of course I heard many birds... but to see one was other thing because the time of the day (almost noon). The calls of a Collared Forest-Falcon encouraged me to continue. It sounded like a distant weeping in an enchanted forest. I found a troop of monkeys of which the trail takes its name. They are not "tities", but tamarins.... Geoffrey's Tamarins to be exact. I think they were as curious as I was. A White-nosed Coati and a pair of Central American Agoutis completed my mammals list for the day. Some birds in my heard-only list were (apart of the forest-falcon) Rosy Thrush-Tanager, White-bellied and Dusky Antbirds, Rufous-breasted, Rufous-and-white and Black-vented Wrens, Orange-billed Sparrow and Green Shrike-Vireo; but in the other hand I got great views of a Blue-crowned (Whooping) Motmot, a female Slaty-tailed Trogon, a Cocoa Woodcreeper inspecting a hole in a trunk, at least three flocks of Red-throated Ant-Tanagers (only a female stayed for a poor photo) and a colourful mixed flock with Blue Dacnises, White-shouldered Tanagers and Yellow-backed Orioles. Nice walk after all and I saw my potoo!