The Pearl Islands experience! Part II

The second day of our trip to the Pearl Islands (Gulf of Panama), Joris, Francis and your blogger host hired a boat to visit some nearby islands to Contadora; however, Joris and I decided to watch birds in the island interior during the first hours of light.  It was too early for most of the migrants... instead, we found many resident birds around the pond.  This Panama Flycatcher was particularly cooperative:

Panama Flycatcher

At the pond, several pairs of Least Grebes were quite active making display calls and exhibitions and building floating nests.  We managed some close views and photos of these birds.

Least Grebe

It was time to aboard our boat, the captain was waiting for us at Galeon beach and soon we were heading to Pacheca Island, just to the north of Contadora.  This private owned island holds one of the most important breeding colony of Magnificent Frigatebirds in the Panamanian Pacific... a fact that quickly became obvious... hundreds of frigatebirds flying and resting at the trees of the island... impressive!

Immature Magnificent Frigatebirds

However, both Pacheca and Pachequilla islands were covered in Blue-footed Boobies... hundreds of them!  Pachequilla was literally covered with them.  These amazing numbers of Blue-footed Boobies are not usual... they are easily seen from shore at the continent in several beaches, and hundreds of them rest in islets close to Panama City as well.

Blue-footed Boobies

Blue-footed Boobies

In the other hand, the Brown Boobies were not more than 10... and all of them at Pachequilla island.  In fact, we saw some more in the open sea during the ferry trip from Panama City.  I have to mention that this seems to be a recent shift in the boobies population in these nesting sites.  According to Angehr & Kushlan (Waterbirds 2007; 30: 335-57), the "Brown Boobies nested in similar sites as Blue-footed Boobies but were more widely distributed", and that "although commonly seen roosting in the outer islands of the Pearls, Blue-footed Boobies are relatively rare, scattered, and perhaps irregular as breeders".

Brown Boobies

However, the biggest surprise was a small group of Peruvian Boobies resting at Pachequilla island!  They were easily identified due to their contrasting white head and necks, smaller size and checkered upperparts (and, of course, none of these had blue feet).

Peruvian (and three Blue-footed) Boobies in Pachequilla island 

Peruvian and Blue-footed Boobies in Pachequilla island

We are experiencing an invasion of Peruvian Boobies in Panamanian waters, probably displaced by warmer conditions in their usual range in South America.  Until that day, they were only reported from Panama City and a nearby islet.  We were quite excited about this... but know that these are not exactly good news for the birds.  The last birds we saw while circumnavigating Pacheca island were these two American Oystercatchers... always a nice sight!

American Oystercatchers

We really had fun and enjoyed every second of this flash trip to the Pearl Islands.  Hope you enjoyed it as well!

Isleta island

The "real" Panama's bird

With almost 10% of the known birds of the world, Panama is becoming a premier birding destination in the neotropics. With so many birds, and with five Endemic Bird Areas according to BirdLife International, it is absolutely expected that our country list harbors many birds' names reflecting part of their ranges (or ALL their ranges), like Chiriqui Quail-Dove, Veraguan Mango, Coiba Spinetail, Tacarcuna Bush-Tanager, Pirre Warbler, and so on.... But what about the birds exhibiting "Panama" in their common names? Many countries are honored with at least one bird species named after them in the Americas. For example lets see our neighbors: Costa Rica have two of them (Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl and Swift) and Colombia, three (Colombian Crake, Screech-Owl and Tapaculo). So, after an extensive research, "our" bird is... (drums): the PANAMA FLYCATCHER (Myiarchus panamensis)!

What? Was you expecting something more fancy? Well, is the only one we got. The Panama Flycatcher is a typical Myiarchus flycatcher, a group of very homogeneous, crested birds patterned in yellow, olive and gray (except the handsome Rufous Flycatcher of Peru); with distinctive voices. They are so similar, that most of them are named after countries, people or something about their crests. The Panama Flycatcher has a broad distribution, ranging from Costa Rica to northern South America (so, is not restricted to Panama) and is pretty common all over Panama in the right habitat.

They are quite confiding and lethargic, allowing close approach if you want to photograph them. They do not flycatch, like others tyrant flycatchers; they prefer to check the foliage in a skulking way. The adult lacks the rufous tones or the contrasting cap of the others two Myiarchus present in Panama: the Great Crested and the Dusky-capped Flycatchers. There is no other "Panama" bird, unless you are considering the proposal of Ridgely about the viridiflavus form of Scrub Greenlet found in Panama and adjacent Costa Rica as a full species... he proposed the name "Panama Greenlet"... but that is unlikely to become reality. So, next time you find a Panama Flycatcher in the field, think on it as the "real" Panama's bird!

This post was submitted to Bird Photography Weekly # 120. Check it out!

Back to the tropics

After my trip to Toronto, Canada, I have been a little busy. I ended my residency in Internal Medicine (I published a photo album of my graduation in facebook) and I'm finishing the final report of my research, waiting to present it next may 19th. In the meanwhile, I got lot of free time to spend... you guess: birding. I tried a classic spot to start: the Rainforest Discovery Center at the Pipeline Road (central Panama). There have been reports of some species I have missed this year (nop, not the Ground-Cuckoo) and I wanted to say hello to all the personnel that works there. After leaving Gloriela at her hospital, I drove to Gamboa, stopping first at the Ammo Dump. The place was alive with all the Yellow-rumped Caciques that are nesting in the area and all the flycatchers on the trees surrounding the ponds. A Panama Flycatcher was quiet, inspecting some branches close to the gate; contrasting with the pair of Rusty-margined Flycatchers that were very noisy, flying from one spot to another following each other. The yellow crown patch was visible, something that often happens. Others flycatchers present were Social, Boat-billed and Dusky-capped Flycatchers, plus both Kiskadees. A look into the ponds revealed Green Heron, Wattled Jacana, White-throated Crake (only heard), and a female Pygmy Kingfisher that was a new year-bird for me (I missed it in Galeta during the Atlantic CBC in january). Nice introduction for the day! I moved to the Center where I took the trail to the Calamito lake, an arm of the Gatun lake where Sungrebes and Least Grebes have been reported recently. Of course I spent few minutes admiring the excellent show performed by all those thirsty hummingbirds at the feeders and said hello to Julia and Margelys who were ready to attend the visitors. On route I heard, and saw, a Green Shrike-Vireo, and heard a Pheasant Cuckoo, both new year-birds for me. The activity in the lake was slow. I walked a little bit along the shore just to spied the other side of the lake that is not visible from the observation deck... disturbingly followed by a huge American Crocodile! Then I waited... and waited... Eventually the Lesser Kiskadees and the Wattled Jacanas trusted them (and me) enough to get very close, since I already looked like part of the deck, waiting for the grebes to appear. According to Osvaldo, they usually show up by 8:00 AM, but it was 9:00 AM and nothing yet. A Cinnammon Woodpecker started to call just a few feet over my head and a Snail Kite was flying around its territory. By the way, I saw a good number of raptors flying by, including a Zone-tailed Hawk, a Merlin and a Bat Falcon. A pair of Common Moorhens (Gallinules) gave me a false alarm and a flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks took off from some branches where they were hidden. Half-hour later I was about to return when suddenly a little white dot in the distance started to move, crossing the lake. A quick glimpse with my bins showed a distant Sungrebe swimming fast to the other side of the lake. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots just to realize that it was VERY far away... but a Sungrebe anyway! With faith you will see him in the center of the photo (OK, you may need to enlarge it!). I did not wait more for the Least Grebes so I returned to the Center, this time to say good-bye. A quick stop by the Juan Grande creek in Pipeline Road only produced a Western Slaty Antshrike and a Pheasant Cuckoo who crossed the road in front of me... RUNNING! It started to rain, so I headed back to the city, with lots of new year-birds!