2017 Global Big Day in Panama

For the third year in a row, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology held the Global Big Day on last May 13th, a day when thousands of eBirders around the world joined forces to record the largest ever seen before number of birds.  Not a global competition, but an event to raise awareness and support global conservation, to work as a team, to set goals and to surpass oneself... that's the magic of this initiative.
In one way or another, many birders worked together to elevate their countries to the highest place in this non-declared "competiton".  Here in Panama, several groups announced their routes and targets.

Of course I did the same.  In what is now a tradition, I went with my wife Gloriela to the foothills of Cocle province (central Panama) and stayed the night before at the cabin of the General de Division Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park above the town of El Cope.  Exactly at 12:00 am, I went out in the dark looking for owls.  The night was chilly and foggy, and only a Mottled Owl was heard in the distance... but that was my first bird of the day!  Later, around 5:00 am, we were ready to listen the dawn chorus.  In quick succession we started to add species by ear: Rufous Motmot, both Clay-colored and Pale-vented Thrushes, Hepatic Tanager and so on...  With the first lights we started to hike La Rica trail, taking then La Rana trail in a kind of loop back to the cabin.  There was another group birding the area, so we did the transect quite quickly, adding some nice species like Stripe-breasted Wren, Spot-crowned Antvireo and Orange-bellied Trogon.

Adult male Orange-bellied Trogon

Soon, it was time to start the descend to the lowlands.  On route we did several stops to check the activity... still above El Cope town we found Black-headed Saltator, Chestnut-headed Oropendolas and Giant Cowbirds, while at town a Lesson's Motmot allowed nice views and photos.  The exact ID of members of the former Blue-crowned Motmot in central Panama is a mystery, but now I think that all of them (both in the foothills and in the lowlands) probably are Lesson´s Motmots.

Black-headed Saltator 

Lesson's Motmot

The heat of the lowlands savanna contrasted with the chilly humid premontane forest that we left behind.  It was suffocating!  Nevertheless, we kept birding.  Typical birds of this habitat were Savanna Hawk, Ruddy, Plain-breasted and Blue Ground-Doves, Brown-thorated Parakeets, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and both Golden-fronted and Scrub Greenlets.  At the Aguadulce Salinas, a huge group of Black Skimmers was expected, but the dozens of Wilson's Phalaropes were not!  Nice additions for the day.  At El Salado beach, many waders, including American Oystercatchers, were present, while some nearby fields were good for egrets, meadowlarks and other species.

Wilson's Phalarope (file photo)

Our next stop was Sarigua, were our target was the isolated form of Common Ground-Dove.  An important species for the country since no other group was expected to find it... the ground-dove is extremely localized in Panama, and Sarigua is the best place to find it.  It took us a while, but eventually Gloriela found a pair by the main road in the way out.  With our target in the bag, we ended the day at the town of Chitre, checking some common species and few waders.  We still had a long way to western Azuero... where we stayed that night in order to prepare for the pelagic trip (yes, more about that in my next post).

Globally, the event was a complete success! In Panama, we only managed to achieve one goal (of three): to surpass last year's numbers.  We failed in being the first Central American country in the general table and to enter the world Top Ten...  but certainly next year will be waaay better!

Birding the Tabasará range. Part I

The mountains of the Tabasará range, in western Panamá, are physically (and ecologically) separated of the main Talamanca range by the Fortuna depression, making this an area of subespecific  and especific endemism.  Most of the intact forest is restricted to the higher altitudes and to the Caribbean slope of the range, with very few, if any, good roads accessing it; and all the area is included within the indigenous reserve of the Ngöbe-Buglé people, making this area quite difficult to visit.  That's why, when I received the kind invitation of William Adsett for visiting this region for the weekend, I said "YES!" immediately!

After joining Charles Davies in Panamá City, and Dan Wade in the town of San Félix in Chiriquí province, we drove the improved road up to the mountains, passing the Ngöbe town of Hato Chami and exploring partially the new road to Llano Tugri, finding some low elevations birds and then returning to the main road.  This paved, well-maintened road reach its highest elevation (little more than 1700 meters above sea level) in the western slope of the Cerro Santiago massif, to then run along the Continental Divide between the former provinces of Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro (now the Ngöbe regions of Nedri and Ñucribo, respectively) for a couple of kilometers.

Road over the Continental Divide

Leaving the paved road, we followed the dirt, pot-holed road to the Ngöbe town of Ratón, passing by the infamous Cerro Colorado and through very nice patches of forest, home of most of the endemics species and forms of the region.  Our home for the next three nights was a rustic cabin right in the Continental Divide, in a site known as Buena Vista (well-named, it means good look).

Buena Vista!

Our hosts were the Pineda Montezuma family, owners of the cabin and the land surrounding it, and interested in conservation issues.  One of its member, Jorge, accompanied us during the birding outings... and the birding was good!  That night, we had great views of a calling Bare-shanked Screech-Owl right by the cabin!

Now you can see why this bird is named that way (shank is the lower part of the leg).  This bird was quite rufous, a color not appreciable in my shots due to the low light conditions.  The first day, we birded a trail going to the Caribbean side, finding some interesting species... like this beautiful male Orange-bellied Trogon.

In the forest, we crossed a nice mixed flock with Spangle-cheeked Tanagers, Slate-throated Whitestart, Barred Becard (range extension), Brown-capped Vireo (range extension) and Three-striped Warblers.

We followed a river through degraded habitat, finding some other birds, but we were surprised by the lack of life in the river itself... until we reached the highest part, with furious rapids and many fallen trees and logs.  Charles found two American Dippers and a Torrent Tyrannulet, rivers dwellers typical of the highlands creeks and rivers.  I watched them for some minutes... and I can state that it is always amusing to watch American Dippers.  It is incredible how comfortable they are in the water!

A light drizzle accompanied us during our return journey to the cabin.  Of course we saw endemics... but that is theme of other post!

Birding El Valle de Anton with friends

El Valle de Anton is a picturesque town located in the crater of an extinct volcano in Cocle province of central Panama.  A couple of weekends ago, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael and Montse Luck, Itzel Fong and your blogger host went to this lovely town to bird the surrounding forests.  We usually bird the Cerro Gaital Natural Monument, but this time we were accompanied by two local experts: Domiciano (Domi) Alveo and José Alberto Pérez.

First, we followed them to Las Minas trail, crossing some patches of forest, then pasture land and then forest again (plus breathtaking landscapes).  It was roughly a two hours walk, full of a mix of lowlands and foothills, forest and open land species.  For example, this singing Thick-billed Seed-Finch was side-by-side with some Eastern Meadowlarks and Black-striped Sparrows.

While a little farther we found a flock of noisy Black-chested Jays, singing Pale-vented Thrushes and White-breasted Wood-Wrens.

We followed the trail through another patch of forest, and then to second growths were the activity became better, with Yellow-olive Flycatcher, both Black-headed and Buff-throated Saltators, a colony of Chestnut-headed Oropendolas with a pair of Piratic Flycatchers, Yellow-billed Cacique and the first of many White-lined Tanagers.  We moved to the entrance of the road to Rio Indio, where the general lack of birds was compensated with amazing close views of a pair of Orange-bellied Trogon.  We saw first the female with her catch in the bill (I posted the photos of the male here).

After birding the forest above Mata Ahogado (that's the theme of another post), we had a typical lunch in town.  By then, it was cloudy and raining already, but we decided to visit the Cara Iguana trail anyway.  In spite the we just drove for 5 to 10 minutes, the forest was completely different, just like the birds.  This is a drier area, and we saw or heard Lance-tailed Manakins, both Rufous-and-white and Rufous-breasted Wrens, Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Long-billed Gnatwren, Scrub Greenlet, Rufous-capped Warbler and many more.  Then I saw a weird figure high in a tree... with my naked eyes I thought it was a termite nest, but with my binoculars it was evident that the figure was a wet Spectacled Owl drying out!

We saw this majestic beast for a while only to realize that this bird was guarding a young one perched very close to us.

How different they are!  That was an excellent way to end this trip, and I'm pretty sure is not the last time we visit El Valle de Anton!

Bird of the Month: Orange-bellied Trogon

The Orange-bellied Trogon (Trogon aurantiiventris) has one of the most restricted ranges among the trogons, found in foothills and highlands forest from Costa Rica to central Panamá.

Like others members of this family, these birds spend most of their time perched quietly, and are frequently overlooked due to this habit, except if they are vocalizing.  These birds have characteristic calls that are one of their most important field mark actually.

Important field marks are also the color of the orbital ring and the undertail pattern.  They exhibit sexual dimorphism, as you can see here.  Usually the females are duller overall, sometimes exhibiting different undertail patterns as in this case.

We can't talk about the Orange-bellied Trogon without talking about a close relative: the Collared Trogon.  Both species are sympatric (except in central Panama where the Collareds are absent) and share similar niches. Beside the color of the underparts (red in the Collared Trogon) and minor differences in tail pattern, these two species are very similar, including their voices.  Some authorities consider the Orange-bellied as a localized color form of the Collared, but until now they are both considered full species.

For these, and many other reasons is why we chose the Orange-bellied Trogon as our bird of the month!

Literature consulted:
1.  Angehr G, Dean R.  The Birds of Panama.  A Field Guide.  2010.
2.  Ridgely R, Gwynne J.  A Guide to the Birds of Panama. 1993.
3.  Remsen JV, et al.  A classification of the birds of South America. AOU. Version 20-may-2013.