Pelagic-mania!

Since in the last pelagic trip off Pedasí we did so well, a group of intrepid birders took to the sea on saturday, November 22nd ... and of course I could not miss this opportunity.  This time, George Angehr (also repeating), Karl & Rosabel Kaufmann, Howard Laidlaw and Darien Montañez joined me at the picturesque town of Pedasí (southern Azuero peninsula in central Panama) the day before.

Sunrise at El Arenal

As the previous trip, the starting point was El Arenal beach, which is less than 5 minutes from the hostal in town where we were staying.  A little "panga" took us to the 30 ft sport fishing boat commanded by Jeff, this time assisted by Elvis (aka Chombo) who took the group photo with my cel phone.  Everything was ready and we started the trip with relatively calm seas, leaving El Arenal and Iguana island behind and heading straight to the deep waters surrounding a seamount at 27 nautical milles SE of Punta Mala.

Howard, Karl, Darien, Jan, Rosabel and George

Apart of some common inshore species, like Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns, a group of dolphins welcomed us spinning in the air.  I don't know the species, but they don't seemed to be the typical Tursiops (Bottlenose Dolphins) to whom I'm used... they were smaller and with longer beaks... probably Spinner Dolphins?

Leaving the ID issues on marine mammals behind, lets back to the birds.  The first pelagic species to showed up was the Galapagos Shearwater... a pair of these flew right by the boat allowing great views.  They were of the pale-underwing form... it is important to mention it since some dark-underwing forms occur and the significance of this difference is unknown.

Galapagos Shearwater

Eventually, we started to detect more and more Wedge-tailed Shearwaters.  Although considered rare, the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters are regular in Panamanian waters.  In fact, this and the Galapagos Shearwaters were the most common encountered shearwaters in all my pelagic trips off Azuero.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

As usual, most of the birds were pale morphs... and most of them were in heavy wing molt too.  We also saw an intermediate morph.  The slim shape accentuated by its long tail and the underwing pattern eliminates other possibilities... although we were looking for some rarer species that, in Panama, includes Sooty and Christmas Shearwaters!

Wedge-tailed Shearwater intermediate morph

But we were not disappointed at all!  A huge flock of feeding Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (and a lonely Pink-footed Shearwater too), gulls (including my life Sabine's Gull) and terns was patrolled by some feathered bandits specialized in kleptoparasitism... they were harassing smaller birds to stole their catches.  I'm talking about the jaegers... two species in fact.  We saw first a Pomarine Jaeger easily identified thanks to its twisted and elongated central tail feathers (plus other field marks, specially size).

Pomarine Jaeger

Then, we saw a jaeger harassing a Sooty Tern.  Our impression was that this particular jaeger was just slightly bigger than the tern, suspecting that it was a Parasitic Jaeger; however, it was too far away. Later, I photographed an adult jaeger that showed some interest in our boat.  The clean white underparts (with no mottling in the flanks at all), faint breast band and pointed, elongated central tail feathers indicates Parasitic Jaeger.

Parasitic Jaeger

But the surprise came later.  In the distance, another bandit was after a large tern.  This time, the supposed jaeger looked huge, considerably larger than the poor tern and than the Pomarine Jaeger seen before... but more important, this bird had VERY conspicuous and large white panels in the primaries... a South Polar Skua!

South Polar Skua flying away

Notice the large-bodied appearance and the short, squared tail.  The broad, long wings with those white flashes, the huge size and the powerful wingbeats reminded me a Crested Caracara... yes, a caracara!  Although a marginal photo, this is probably the only photographic evidence of its presence in Panamanian waters (there are several sight records).  I also photographed some other species for my personal collection... including the three regularly recorded storm-petrels in Panamanian waters: Least, Wedge-rumped and Black Storm-Petrels:

Least Storm-Petrel 

Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel 

Black Storm-Petrel

We didn't see Tahiti Petrels nor Nazca Boobies in this trip... but in return we got several jaegers, skuas and my life Sabine's Gull... that's why I like so much these trips... you can expect the unexpected!  

Pelagic off Pedasi

Pelagic birding is always fascinating... the idea of chasing birds that only land to nest in remote islands, with some of them crossing the world to visit our seas, is just overwhelming!  Our knowledge in Panama about our pelagic birds is limited, so there is plenty of room for new discoveries.  That's why I did not think twice when I was offered the opportunity to participate on a pelagic trip off the Azuero Peninsula in central Panama from the charming town of Pedasi, last weekend.

Sunrise at El Arenal

So I joined George Angehr, Rafael Luck and Euclides "Kilo" Campos aboard a 30 ft sport fishing boat anchored at El Arenal beach, just few minutes from town.  Our captain Jeff and his crew member "Lito" were willing to make our trip enjoyable as possible, so they received us with a cup of hot coffee and explained some safety issues before departing.  Jeff is experienced in this kind of trips, since he was the captain of our last pelagic (back in 2010) and, of course, of the most recent trip earlier this year (report here).

Euclides "Kilo" Campos, George Angehr, Jan Axel Cubilla and Rafael Luck

Good fortune smiled on us from the beginning... the sea was calm as a mirror in El Arenal, and remained so throughout the trip... no seasickness at all (except when Lito mixed up the chum... more on that later).  Also, our captain managed to keep us in schedule and to avoid the thunderstorms that approached from several directions!  We planned a 8-hours trip out at the sea with the intention to visit two seamounts to the south and south-east of Punta Mala, one of these surrounded by 1000-meters depth where we saw a Tahiti Petrel (the first for Panama) in 2010.  We got some common in-shore species the first hour of the trip, like Brown Pelicans, Magnificent Frigatebird and Brown Boobies.

A shy Brown Booby

Soon, we started to see more pelagic species.  Not exactly tubenoses, but some interesting species like Sooty, Black and Common Terns.  The later prove quite difficult to ID at sea wearing its winter plumage.  Of course, we were on the search for some rarer terns (like Artic or Roseate Terns for example)... but the photos were pretty useful for ID purposes.

Common Tern

We reached the first seamount by 8:00 am (N 7º 14' 52.0'', W -80º 1' 0.2'').  The idea was to spent at least one hour at each seamount chumming.  Our chum consisted in a mixture of fish oil, some cans of tuna, sardines and popcorn.  We only had two gallons of fish oil, which is hard to find in Panama.  However, I want to thank Fulo Motta and Lily Vallarino who kindly donated the oil and who seemed really interested when Rafael explained them what we would do with it!  Instead of throwing bait overboard constantly to create a wake behind the boat, we decided to throw some to create a "stain" to then navigate around it by making wide circles, waiting for the tubenoses!

Bucket of chum... stinky!

We were surprised by the strong smell of this modest mixture... as soon as Lito started to mix it up, the stench penetrated directly to our medulla oblongata!  Kilo and I struggled to avoid throwing up at the time (we were really close to the chum).  Thank God we got used quickly... and the chum started to work... and boy, it did it!  A medium-sized bird approached swiftly gliding low over the waves, arcing and banking with its long wings.  Dark brown overall with contrasting, well demarcated white lower breast and ventral parts... Kilo and I shouted at the same time TAHITI PETREL!!!

Tahiti Petrel

Tahiti Petrel

The moment was so sublime that even George  thought we were joking... a Tahiti Petrel was inspecting  the stain of chum, allowing great views and photos as well (all the bird photos in this post are mine... If you want to see some really great photos of this trip, check Rafael's at the report in Xenornis).  Size, all-dark throat, lack of white leading edge to the wings and pale rump separates this species from other very similar (although unexpected) tubenoses, including Phoenix Petrel.  In fact, these photos confirm its presence in Panama waters, because it was considered hypothetical for Panama.

Tahiti Petrel with southern Azuero in the background

Eventually, we saw two birds at the same time!  I really like the above photo because you can see how close to mainland we were... that is the charm of this region ... the continental shelf ends abruptly near the coast here, allowing us to have these experiences.  The Tahiti Petrel was not the only species attracted to by the chum... three species of Storm-Petrels decided to show up as well.  I had seen both Wedge-rumped and Black Storm-Petrels before in Peru and Panama... but the Least Storm-Petrel was a life bird for me... the first for the day!

The Black Storm-Petrels are not really "black"

After this success at the first seamount, we decided to go to the next one, which seemed even more promising given the proximity to really deep waters.  On route we started to see our first shearwaters, plus another species already recorded, like Brown Boobies and Sooty Terns.  The first shearwaters to appear were the Galapagos Shearwaters.  This species is regular and common (at least in september and october) and so far all seem to be of the "pale underwing form" (there is some variation in the underwing pattern of this taxa).

Galapagos Shearwaters (pale underwing form)

Then came the second most common shearwater for this time of the year, the Wedge-tailed Shearwater.  My photos shows an individual in pale-phase, by far the most common out there; however, we also saw a dark-phase individual (photo in Xenornis).  Notice the slender profile accentuated by the long tail and long, dark bill.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater (pale phase)

Wedge-tailed Shearwater (pale phase)

After two hours, we finally reached the second seamount (N 7º 18' 31.7'', W -79º 39' 43.1'') and started to chum again, this time with no adverse effects at all.  This time, the birds were slow to appear; however, the first one to show up was... you guessed it, a Tahiti Petrel again!!!

Our third Tahiti Petrel for the day!

Tahiti Petrel over the waves

The photos showed a different bird to the two others we encountered before in the first seamount (notice the molt in the flight feathers)... simply amazing!  But soon things got better... our captain warned us that a white bird was flying in front of the boat heading to port... so I hurried in that direction in order to catch a distant Nazca Booby that seemed to be just passing (completely ignoring us).

Nazca Booby

It was a lifer for me as well!  And a long expected one.  I managed to get the distant photo above showing the diagnostic orange bill.  The bird disappeared in the waves soon after that.  And we started to see Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels.  At one point, we saw three of them at the same time... a low number considering previous experiences with this species in these waters.

Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel

We were running out of time, so we started the way back.  By 12:30 pm, we saw a huge flock of shearwaters and terns close to the surface.  According to Lito, this was a feeding frenzy over a school of tuna, so we headed there.  The activity was fast... and furious.  Soon, a Pomarine Jaeger (the second for the day) inspected our wake, followed closely by our second Nazca Booby!  This time, the bird circled us once (allowing great photos) and lost interest.

Nazca Booby 

We finally managed to spot a definitive Sooty Shearwater (after several false alarms, including the dark-phase Wedge-tailed Shearwater of which I spoke earlier), the silvery wing linings literally shone.  We are pretty sure that it was not alone, but we were not able to inspect all the flock due to lack of time.  The big surprise came shortly after this.  Three shearwaters were approaching the boat from the bow to port flying just a few feet above the waves... I called them first Wedge-taileds due to their size and general pattern and started to shoot them; however, I realized that they looked stockier and not as long-tailed, so I yelled to Rafael to shoot them with his full-frame camera, which he did when the birds made ​​an U-turn and began to approach from astern.

By that time, I just thought it was a good opportunity to photograph the birds, as they were passing close... I shoot them again, but this time managing only to capture the back of one of them.

It was not until I reviewed my first photo that I realized that these birds were in fact PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS... a species that I had seen twice in Peru in large numbers, but ever recorded for Panama... I grabbed Rafael's camera and started to see his photos as well... simply WOW!!!  He managed excellent shots of these birds!  The stocky shape, lack of white in the rump and the heavy looking, pale bill with black tip are good field marks.

Pink-footed Shearwater

In the cropped photo above is evident the underwing pattern... even the pale legs are visible (almost reaching the tip of the tail)!  If accepted, this would be a new addition to Panama's bird list.  Certainly, a successful trip... two life birds, another two Panama life birds, one confirmed species and another new to the country!  This only proves that we need to venture more often to these depths in order to better understand the occurrence and distribution of these pelagic species in our country.

And The Action Continues...

That's right. We didn't stop after the Santa Fe fieldtrip. Instead, we headed south to the Azuero Peninsula and stayed in the town of Pedasí (hometown of the first woman president of Panama). We wake up early on monday morning and meet our captain at El Ciruelo port (with an adult Bare-throated Tiger-Heron close to the beach). Our destination: the Frailes islands and its colony of seabirds. The last time I visited the islands, there were no terns on it (you can read a narrative of that trip here). The only other occasion I visited the islands was more than ten years ago and back then I did not notice any Sooty Tern, despite the fact that the islands were full of breeding birds (maybe simply I was unable to separate them from the Bridled Terns). This time I was prepared and, after reading some fieldguides and seeing many plates, I printed in my mind the following differences to look in the Sooties:

1. Heavier look with broader wings

2. Less white in the underwing
3. Less contrast between crown and mantle

4. Lack of complete white nape collar

5. Bigger white forehead patch not extending behind the eye

Maybe you can pick apart the Sooty Tern from these pics:

As you can see, we saw both of them, the Bridleds being commoner, and the Sooties restricted to south Frailes Islands, where we noticed another thing: the low pitched voice of the Sooties, quite different from the high nasal calls of the Bridleds. Other birds seen breeding in the islands were the Brown Noddies (the commonest) and the Brown and Blue-footed Boobies. There were also Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds, but none seemed to be breeding in the islands. On the way back, between Frailes north and south, we saw a lonely Galapagos Shearwater close to the boat. The sea and the clouds cooperated and gave us a calm return to mainland, where we prepared ourselves for the next journey.