It does exist! A forest elf

Some bird species are so rare and seldom reported that you usually don't think on them... even when you visit the adequate habitat, they aren't in your radar and, in fact, you think of them as myths... until you find them!  Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck and I had that experience today in Altos del María, an exclusive development in the foothills of Panamá Oeste province, above the town of Sorá.  The truth is that we were seeking for some rare sparrows reported elsewhere and started checking some open habitats near a park at the valley.  Soon we found common species, like Tropical Kingbirds, Streaked and Social Flycatchers, Palm, Blue-gray, Crimson-backed, Plain-colored, Summer and Hepatic Tanagers, Snowy-bellied Hummingbirds (and a Long-billed Starthroat), Black-throated Green, Rufous-capped and Tennessee Warblers.

female Hepatic Tanager

Long-billed Starthroat

African Tulipan Tree flower (and a Tennessee Warbler too)

Soon we realized that our search was in vain and decided to move to a better area close to the Valle Bonito lake.  One of the best trails in Panama starts there, running along a rushing stream (crossing it several times) and then climbing all the way up to the Continental Divide.

Valle Bonito lake (notice the sidewalk entering the forest)

My friend Alfred Raab, an Altos resident, told me that he had seen one of my nemesis bird along this trail (Dull-mantled Antbird)... my expectations were low... after all, it is my nemesis... and if you think I finally found my nemesis based on the title of this post... then you are wrong.  No, I didn't find the Dull-mantled Antbird... the trail was very quiet and we only found a little mixed flock at the beginning of the trail with some wintering warblers (Blackburnian and Canada), Carmiol's Tanagers, Slate-colored Grosbeaks and a Plain Xenops.

a young Slate-colored Grosbeak

After the 1 km mark on the trail, we flushed from the ground a medium-sized bird that perched at eye-level merely 2 meters from us.  It was in a dark spot, but close enough to see every detail with my binoculars... I could barely believe my eyes: a long-legged, tailless little forest elf... a Scaled Antpitta.  After a few seconds (after recovering from my shock) I was able to show it to Osvaldo and Rafael.  Then, I remembered that I had my camera in hand ... adjusted the setting and took a single photo:

SCALED ANTPITTA!!!

Hey, I know it is an awful photo, heavily edited to at least show the pale moustache and postocular spot, but the general jizz is evident (it looks better if you move away a few steps from the screen).  After all it is my life Scaled Antpitta!  This is a VERY rare species in Panama, and I do not know if it had been recorded before in that area (although the most recent records come from nearby El Valle and Cerro Gaital -you can check the Xenornis reports here-).  Osvaldo managed some shots too, and after editing them, he kindly let me show you one here... so stop hurting your eyes and check this:

Scaled Antpitta

Now that's much better.  This photo shows something we noticed in the field... the clay in its bill.  Was it probably looking for earthworms?  Notice the scaled crown and the tawny underparts.  This is a GREAT lifer, specially considering that I did not see it in places where it is supposedly easier (as in Mindo, Ecuador).  What a great day eh?

At the feeders!

As promised in my last entry, this post is about my birding day, last sunday, at the foothills of Cerro Azul, to the east of Panama City, with Osvaldo Quintero, Osvaldo Quintero Jr and the Cerro Azul's residents Leslie and Cindy Lieurance (The Petrels in Panama) and Claudia Ahrens.  Our intention was to look after a local speciality, the Black-eared Wood-Quail which Leslie videotaped at close range in the Calle Maipo trail entrance one week ago or so.

We walked all the trail, watching some forest interior birds and hearing at least two or three different coveys of wood-quails, but they were reluctant to show off for us... instead, we had a great time birding at the more open areas at the entrance of the trail and the main road, where mixed flocks with tanagers and warblers were the main stars.  The Fulvous-vented Euphonia offered a nice show... two adult males  were engaged in full courtship display.  The one I pictured above perched vertically with wings dropped making lots of noise!  Notice its fulvous vent... the female was more interested in eating juicy berries... she is so different to the male, but still distinctive!

After doing some exercise at the trail, we did what every smart birder would do: sit in front of feeders!  Both the Ahrens and the Lieurance keep feeders at their houses, and the diversity is awesome.  At the Ahrens, we checked a banana feeder where the first visitor was this male Hepatic Tanager.

Notice its dark lores and beak, which separates him of the similar looking Summer Tanager, which is a common winter visitor to Panama... this male was waiting its chance to grab a piece of banana.  Also note that the Summer Tanager is lighter red in general, compared with the Hepatic Tanager.

Soon, the action at the feeder became insane, with Bay-headed, Palm and Plain-colored Tanagers fighting for a space on it against Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, this female Green Honeycreeper and this young male Thick-billed Euphonia.

But the most aggressive bird at the feeder was the Clay-colored Thrush; however, in spite of the size difference, this male Red-legged Honeycreeper was not intimidated and took its part of the prize.  Notice that this male is in non-breeding plumage.

Curiously, at the Lieurance feeders, there were males Red-legged Honeycreepers in full or almost-full breeding plumage... they glow!

The Lieurance also have banana feeders, we checked the hanging feeder during the couple of minutes that we stayed, enjoying their hospitality... it is quite curious to see migrants Tennessee Warblers eating banana in the tropics... though it is not the first time!

Well, perhaps we didn't see the wood-quails... but what a great day we got!  Thank you Claudia, Leslie and Cindy! 

A day in the foothills

Yesterday, I went to Cerro Azul with Osvaldo Quintero and Rafel Luck looking for colourful birds to photograph. The foothills of Cerro Azul are less than a hour-drive from Panama City, and it holds a completely different arrange of birds to what we are used here in the lowlands. Camera in hand, we visited first the section known as Altos del Frente, where we eventually found some activity in a now-usual spot where you can also have a great view of the city in the distance. There, two pairs of Crimson-crested Woodpeckers were displaying, making a lot of noise and flying from one trunk to another chasing each other. We also saw tons of Scaled Pigeos flying all over the place, with some of them calling and others perched atop bare branches, but never allowing us to approach enough to get good pictures. These are spectacular pigeons, with a very conspicuous red to the base of the bill and showy scales to the underparts. A flock of Keel-billed Toucans appeared, announcing their presence with their croacking calls. All these birds were a little far away, but Rafael found a male Masked Tityra close enough to see all the details of its plumage, and for some to take very good photos (not my case as you can see). A little farther in the road, we found a mixed flock with lots of tanagers, euphonias, flycatchers, woodcreepers, among others. The place is very good for tanagers... in that flock we saw Plain-colored, Golden-hooded, Bay-headed, Rufous-winged, Blue-gray and Palm Tanagers. Another tanager was accompanying the flock, at first glance it was dull gray, but then it perched in a Cecropia tree where I saw the white tufts at the sides of the chest: a Sulphur-rumped Tanager! This species is quite local and seldom reported for Cerro Azul, and the most recent reports come from that place precisely. My distant shots (two of them) show the white tufts... and barely part of the sulphur-yellow rump. Those marks are unique in this part of Panama. The flock also included a Black-cheeked Woodpecker and an endemic for Panama, a Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker that we heard first and then saw it briefly. The place became quiet when the flock left, so we moved on, this time to Birders' View, also a hot spot in these foothills. The property keeper, Nando, already told us about a Rufous-crested Coquette he saw the day before, so we waited there for it, watching closely the flowered bushes in the backyard. In the meanwhile, many others species showed up, including a migrant Black-and-white Warbler creeping a trunk close to us. It was an adult male, as you can see by its black cheeks. We also saw many more tanagers, and former tanagers in the form of Summer and Hepatic Tanagers. The former is migratory, the latter is a resident species. Both male and female were working the trees surrounding the backyard. It is hard to imagine these birds as cardinals, but I have to accept that the Piranga tanagers share many characteristics with their now-close relatives (overall coloration, beautiful voices, sexual dimorphism, etc...)... they are simply cardinals with specialized beaks! The first photo is a male, still with some yellow feathers in the body. You can separate them from the similar Summer Tanager by its darker red overall and dark lores. The females of both species are yellow, the head close-up of this female Hepatic Tanager shows well its dark lores, and also its dark bill. After all, we saw no less than 13 tanagers and former-tanagers, even more if we include the species of honeycreepers that we also saw. The coquette did not show up... so we tried another spot, this time the feeders at the Ahrens' place... but that is another story.