Some gulls overhead

It is that time of the year when most of our wintering gulls depart to their breeding grounds in North America... and is not rare to see some species in unusual sites or in massive numbers gathering together to start (or continue) the long journey.  For example, some days ago I went to one of the huge malls in Panama City for some last minute shopping; however, something caught my attention at the parking lot:

Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls

It is not rare to see the common Laughing Gulls at the mall and at the nearby bus terminal, but this time I saw a nice Ring-billed Gull among them.  This is not the first time this species had been reported there, but certainly was the first one for me.  The Ring-billed Gulls are regular along the coast in Panama City... but this place is not in the coast.

Ring-billed Gull

I then moved to Panama Viejo, where the extensive mudflats attracts hundreds of Laughing Gulls... but this time, they were outnumbered by Franklin's Gulls.  Of course, both species are regular in Panama... but is only during migration when you can see these numbers.

Laughing and Franklin's Gulls

Not only that, most of the Franklin's Gulls were in alternate plumage, with a very nice rose color to the breast and conspicuous wing patterns and black hoods.  They were easily ID at flight as you can see in the next photos:

Franklin's Gulls 

Franklin's Gulls

There are been several reports of Franklin's Gulls flocks in northern Central America as well... so it is time to grab your binoculars to watch out these gulls passing through!

More birds this 2016!

It is not a secret that I'm an avid birder... but during the last years my birding activities have dropped a little bit due to "lack of time".  The truth is that you don't need to organize a one-week expedition to exotic forests or mountaintops to watch birds... you can bird everywhere, anywhere!  One of my new year resolutions is to "watch" more birds... more accurately, to record more birds.  So far, I'm recording everyday the birds that I see from my home and from the office... and I have even taken the time to go to hotspots within Panama City, like Costa del Este and Panama Viejo.  In fact, today was the third day in a row visiting the mudflats and mangroves of Panama Viejo (at Panama City's waterfront).

Ruins, skyscrapers and birds mix in Panama Viejo

How can I ignore that?  This place holds a bird list of more than 270 species, with some rarities regularly recorded.  These last days, the place was filled with tons of Laughing Gulls and some shorebirds (godwits, willets, whimbrels, dowitchers and black-bellied plovers, among others).  A closer to look to the flock revealed some Franklin's Gulls too... and a Ring-billed Gull too!

Franklin's Gull

Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls

As I have mentioned on other occasions, you can expect only one gull species in Panama: Laughing Gull... so, three species is not bad at all.  But after checking eBird, I knew that at least two other species have been reported from the same site recently.  The next two days produced both of them... a first-year Herring Gull flying away and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull today.

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed and Laughing Gulls

Rare species so close to home... priceless.  Of course, more widespread species were present too, like cormorants, pelicans, frigatebirds, lapwings and many more... ah, and don't forget the American White Pelican that continues wandering around!

American White Pelican

So, this year I hope to watch more birds, use more eBird, get some lifers and add some new species to the Panama list this year... ambitious?   I don't think so!

Five gulls species in Panama Viejo!

If you already read my last entry about gulling in Panama Viejo, then this entry will remind it a lot... except for one thing: yesterday, I saw five (5) instead of four different gulls species in Panama Viejo!  Yes, I went to Panama Viejo after receiving reports of a huge flock of Sandwich Terns resting in the area.  As soon as I get there, I noticed the huge flock... simply amazing.

Most of these birds were Sandwich Terns and Laughing Gulls in many different ages of course.  There were some Royal and Gull-billed Terns mixed in as well.  The Gull-billed Terns are very elegant... picking up food from the water surface... not plunge-diving as many other terns species.

Laughing Gull... any guess about its age?

Gull-billed Tern

Soon I found some Franklin's Gulls among the Laughings... only three of them... all were first-winter birds recognized by its smaller size, stocky look, half black hood with prominent broad eye crescents and white outer tail feathers (conspicuous at flight).

Franklin's Gull, 1st-winter

The third and fourth species were a first-winter Herring Gull and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull... both continuing birds in these mudflats.  Both were far away for good photos... these are only record shots.  Notice the pale inner primaries of the Herring Gull and the bright yellow legs of the sleeping Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Herring Gull, 1st-winter

Lesser Black-backed Gull, adult

At this point, I was happy with my four gulls... certainly, I was not expecting another species.  So, when I saw this gull among the Laughing by the creek I got excited:

Ring-billed Gull, 1st-winter

Ring-billed Gull, 1st-winter

The Ring-billed Gull is regular in low (very low) numbers along central Panama's coasts, specially in the Pacific side.  Panama Viejo is a regular site, but my last bird there was many years ago.  Five gulls for the day!  Trust me or not, that was not the only highlight of my visit to Panama Viejo... the other was to meet Kevin Zimmer who was leading a VENT tour at the place.  I know him as a member of the South American Classification Committee (SACC), which I follow avidly, but who has not heard about this celebrity of the Neotropical birding?  Even with his experience birding in our country, that day Kevin got a new species for his Panama list: the American White Pelican that decided to winter  on our shores this season!  Great day in Panama Viejo!

American White Pelican

Ring-billed Gull in Santa Clara beach

After visiting Penonome (central Panama) during april's last weekend, Gloriela and I decided to stop by the Santa Clara beach before returning to the city. For my surprise, we found a Ring-billed Gull among the dozens or more Laughing Gulls. Probably for most of you, the Ring-billed Gull is an abundant, boring gull found everywhere... but for us, in Panama, it is a very scarce migrant, present mostly on the Pacific coast of central Panama, specially around Panama City (more birdwatchers there?). It has been a while since my last sighting of a Ring-billed Gull in Panama... surely due to my few visits to regular sites like Costa del Este and Panama Viejo. The presence of this gull is expected in this part of the country according to Panama's new field guide (Angehr & Dean 2010), but for me was a nice surprise. It was not a mature adult, as you can see by the brown flight feathers; but I'm not an expert aging sea gulls. It was with a flock of Laughing Gulls, begging for food close to a group of visitors. Compared to the the Laughings, the Ring-billed was bigger, paler, heavier, with a distinctive pale iris and a different flight pattern, which both of us saw several times. I followed the flock for a while, trying to capture some close pictures, and I think I did it well. After a while, the whole group flew away (surely a group a playing kids with their canine pets had something to do with that)... so we left in the place enjoying the breeze, the sand and the cold waters of Santa Clara beach!

Toronto's waterfront

As expected, my last day in Toronto, april 25th, was a rainy and chilly one, contrasting to our previous day at the Niagara Falls, which was sunny. I was suppose to be at the airport by noon so I decided to walk along the Toronto's waterfront. There was other reason why I wanted to visit that place: the report of several Long-tailed Ducks still in the Harborfront, maybe the last ones of the season. There is something about these ducks. They just looked beautiful in the plates of the North American Field Guides that I studied during the adolescence and, by other hand, they are really tundra birds... very very far away of Panama... and even far away for the average north-american birder. Other thing was the excellent post about this species in the 10000 Birds blog, by Charlie. Since I read it, I was wondering when it would be my turn to see and write about them. Guess what... now it is my turn! When I first saw them, it was a pair not so close to shore... then they sumerged in the waters of the Ontario Lake just to re-emerge only few feet from me! Soon, they were accompanied by several individuals, both males and females. I don't know how many different plumages does this duck have (I read that the male is unique among the waterfowls by having three different plumages in a year), but these were molting, and two patterns were identificable: winter and early summer plumages. I really liked the winter-plumaged birds (first photo, a male)... they were simply beautiful (please don't bear in mind the quality of my photos, these don't make justice to them). Other thing about these birds... they don't know how to use their feet as brakes when landing (as noticed by Charlie). They simply drop their bellies into the water with a big splash! That was very funny to see. After a while, they began to call... and I swear it sounds like old-squaw, old-squaw! After all, a great experience... a dreamed bird that simply materialized in front of me. In the meanwhile, the rain stopped me from taking more pictures, but anyway I managed to shot some common birds. These species were around every single day I spent in Toronto... some are abundant like the Ring-billed Gulls. I saw a couple screaming loud to each other, not taking care of my presence. Just thinking that this species is the highlight of any birdwatching trip to Costa del Este or Panama Viejo back in home makes me smile. They are much more interesting when they are rare! Other abundant bird was the Mallard. In Panama, it is a mega-vagrant, with only few females reported in this and the last century or so. Here, well... here is the common duck. But a beautiful one. The drakes are simply gorgeus with its contrasting pattern and green head. They were all around, not only in the lake, but in the gardens and the streets. Others omnipresent birds were the House Sparrows and the European Starling, plus an absurd number of Double-crested Cormorants in the lake and flying by. I even saw the double crest... two curled feathers in each side of the head. It was getting late, so I took the subway in the Union Station to my hotel. Within a couple of hours we were at the airport, finishing our visit to that beautiful country. I will return for sure!

P.D.: if you missed the rest of the account about my visit to Toronto, Canada, you can read Jan Axel's Blog becomes international and then just follow the linked text at the end of each entry. Enjoy!

Boat trip to Taboga island

You have to spend at least one day of your vacations at the beach. That's why when our friends Milixa and Steve invited us to join them in a trip to Taboga island in his boat we accepted immediately. Taboga (aka the island of the flowers) is a popular destintation during the weekends. A short boat ride of less than an hour connect the island with the mainland. We set sail from the Amador marina, at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal and with the Bridge of the Americas as background. The forecast predicted strong winds for the afternoon, so the plan was to spent a couple of hours in the beach and then return to the sheltered marina to have a barbecue. I brought my binoculars and my camera just in case (one never knows where the next petrel will show up). It was an uneventful trip to the island and we soon reach it, with its picturesque town and the beautiful beach (with Panama City in the background).

We had a sunbath in the beach and then a refreshing dive in the deep green waters at the bay. Each hour or two, the ferry from Panama was bringing passengers anxious to enjoy the white beaches of the island, so it was getting crowded. After a couple of hours we decided to return to the Amador marina, trying to avoid the winds, but it was a little bit late... it was a very bumpy journey with some seasickness aboard!! Thanks God it was just for a little period of time and soon we were having our barbecue at the marina, enjoying a great time.

And what about the birds? OK, we saw mostly common birds during the trip, specially Royal Terns, Frigatebirds, Pelicans, Cormorants and Brown and Blue-footed Boobies. Once in the marina, the accompanying flock of Laughing Gull includeded an adult-basic Ring-billed Gull which gave us excellent photographic opportunities.

Thank you Milixa and Steve for the wonderful experience. We hope to repeat it soon!

Gulls bonanza

*Note:  The bird called Belcher's in this entry turned out to be a third-cycle Kelp Gull.  Read this post for rationale.

If you have birded in Panama, then you know that you are a lucky guy if you find any gull species apart of the omnipresent Laughings and the ocassional Franklins'. Well, yesterday a group of birders touched gold in Costa del Este because of the huge mega-flock of gulls and terns present. I saw SIX gull species in three hours, plus lots of very cool birds (many of them were year-birds). I went with Gloriela and our nephew, Michael, to Panama Viejo trying again for the Lesser Black-backed Gull (which was not present). We found again the strange Laughing Gull but this time, the flock of Laughings was accompanied by a full adult Ring-billed Gull somewhat distant. I managed to take a couple of photos for the record. You can see the white unstreaked head and the white spots in the black primaries.

Happy with the finding, we decided to move to Costa del Este, stopping by the western corner (the part closer to the city and to the "corredor sur"), finding a great assembly of birds, including gulls, terns and shorebirds. What immediately caught my attention was a huge dark-backed gull standing alone in the shoreline. It was considerably larger than the Laughing Gulls and than the Ring-billed Gull present (more on that one later), with a bulkier shape and heavy yellow bill tipped in black, followed by red (wider in the lower mandible). Dark eye. Pale yellow(ish) legs. Head and breast completely white, with no streaking. Sides of neck, flanks, belly and upper back white with diffuse dark spots. Back and wings black... blacker in the wings and with a brownish tinge in the back (specially with the bright light). The secondaries had wide white tips. I didn't saw the tail while perched inicially. I thought first it was a Kelp Gull (as I told to Ken Allaire of the Canopy Report who also saw the bird in his way to El Valle), but then the bird took flight, showing a white rump contrasting with the mostly dark tail! It also shows a wide trailing edge on wings (the secondaries tips) and almost no pattern in the underwings (pale with lots of dark markings). Checking my photos I saw a mostly dark tail, with some white on it closer to the rump. I'm still waiting the experts consensus but the tail markings id this bird as a Belcher's Gull (aka Band-tailed Gull), a very rare vagrant to Panama! Here are the photos (only cropped and sharpened, I didn't change color or contrast except otherwise stated):

The last photo shows a complete dark tail, but then you can see some white in the base of it at the first photo.

I overexposed the next photo in the field, then I increased the contrast and did some sharpening at home. It shows better the bill pattern.

In the same site we found this Ring-billed Gull, something between first and second-winter, resting with the Laughings.

While seeing the birds, I almost step on a group of Least Sandpipers accompanied by Collared, Wilson's and Semipalmated Plovers, that were resting under a little mangrove. Those Collareds' are cute, in the words of Gloriela (I'm pretty sure that you will agree).

Eventually, we were joined by Karl and Rosabel Kaufmann and then by Darién Montañez. We decided to move to the mouth of the Matías Hernández river, but the tide was too high so we decided to have lunch and go back later. The plan worked well, because we found a massive flock of gulls at the river. A careful search with the scopes produced some Franklin's Gulls, two first-winter Herring Gulls and a first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. We didn't find again the possible Belcher's Gull. The gulls were not alone. Some Black Skimmers (more than twenty) were present too. We notice that there was a single individual with paler underwings, a definitive white tail and broader white trailing edge. May be all this is due to age, or is a different subspecies? Also, lots of shorebirds were in attendance: Marbled Godwits, Willets, Southern Lapwings and Whimbrels. Convinced that the possible Belcher's Gull would not show up, we drove to Panama Viejo again, finding more interesting birds, including two Elegant Terns and the Long-billed Curlew that has been around for a while. I ended the day with seven new year-birds, including one possible Panama life bird. Good numbers for a "trip" right here in the city.