Bobolinks!

Last week, I checked my e-mail and noticed immediately an e-Bird alert message including an unusual report of Bobolinks from near the Caribbean coast in the Canal Area of Panama, specifically at the Gatún Dam.  With that in mind, I convinced my family and my mother-in-law to wake up early today in order to visit the dam and other interesting sites in the surroundings.  A visit to the Panama Canal Expansion Observation Center is a most, as we did later in the day (and where I took these photos of the works with my phone).

We took the "Don Alberto Motta" highway to Colon City (just a 40 minutes drive coast to coast!) and turned left at the "4 Altos", heading to the impressive Gatún locks.  Once we crossed the one-lane bridge across the locks, we drove along the grassy slopes of the Gatún dam, watching hundreds of resident and migratory swallows.  After crossing the bridge over the spillway, I parked along the road and started to spot some interesting suspects; however, the first birds I saw were Ruddy-breasted Seedeaters feeding close to the car.

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, male

It was raining a little bit, and the tall grass was quite wet... wet enough to soak my shoes; however, Gabrielle was well prepared (I have to say that my wife is almost clairvoyant anticipating and preparing for any situation that might find our daughter).

Rubber boots and umbrella... someone was prepared!

Eventually, I saw a flock of little brown birds flying low over the grass.  They perched low, but some were barely visible at first... listed crowns and backs, pale conical bills... pointed tail feathers... Bobolinks!

Bobolinks

There were also Red-breasted Blackbirds in the vicinity... the females can be quite similar to this species; however, note the unstreaked nape and the uniformly yellowish breasts (with no rosy wash).  Also, these birds were slimmer and smaller than the blackbirds.

Bobolink

Bobolink

Both Gloriela and me had excellent views... the photos are just record shots.  Bobolinks are uncommon transients in Panama... and this was the first time I see them in this country!  Yeah, a Panama lifer (and only the second time ever I see this bird).  We left the dam just after spying this immature Savanna Hawk (also uncommon in this part of Panama).

Savanna Hawk, immature

We visited the Castillo de San Lorenzo (at the mouth of the mighty Chagres river) where Gabrielle was amazed with the history of pirates and cannons defending the site.  We ended at the Panama Canal Expansion Observation Center as mentioned earlier... the views of the Gatún lake and the works are unmatched.  After all, we really enjoyed our day at the Caribbean coast... amazing views and national lifers for all!

At the Castillo de San Lorenzo

2011 Pacific CBC

December is month of bird counts! And the first Christmas Bird Count of this year, the Pacific CBC, ocurred last sunday, december 18th. Organized by the Panama Audubon Society, (PAS) this count included most of Panama City including Costa del Este to the east,Veracruz town to the west and Plantation Road and the Canopy Tower to the north. Historically, Panama counts have been always among the top 10 worldwide, and the Atlantic CBC used to be the highest count of birds for almost 20 years in a row until some years ago. Several factors influenced the decline of our counts, including habitat degradation, lack of resident birders in the Atlantic side of the Canal, new count circles in exceptionally amazing sites in Costa Rica and Ecuador and, most important of all, the low numbers of participants. In fact, the lack of counters have been a conspicuous aspect of the last counts, and the numbers are declining. If we take into consideration the number of

birds species recorded BY participant, the Panama counts occupy the first places. Of the three counts of central Panama, the Pacific CBC is the one with the greatest potential for becoming one of the best counts in the Americas, because it includes several habitats (humid and dry forests, grasslands, residential areas, coast, mudflats and so on), attracts more participants and have easier logistics than any other count in Panama. As usual, Rafael picked me up before dawn and we went to a meeting point where we were joined by Jennifer Wolcott, Rick and Donna Lee. Our group birded the west side of the canal, the areas of Farfan and Veracruz, during the morning. A persistent drizzle prevented us of doing some owling, but it stopped right before the sunrise.

The first birds recorded were not seen, but heard... Tropical Kingbirds. With the first lights, we started to identify the birds at the huge pond in Farfan, mainly white herons and others waders. In the dark, we thought that the hundreds of white dots in the dead trees of the ponds were Cattle Egrets... and in fact, the first three or four herons we saw well were Cattle Egrets... but then we realized that most of the herons in the ponds were Snowy Egrets. In total, we recorded eight species of herons, White Ibises, two Anhingas, several Brown Pelicans and Neotropic Cormorants, and eleven Wood Storks overflying, with one immature landing right in the beach. Despite our count area included dry forest, our main

objectives were coastal and grassland birds, so we headed to Veracruz beach before the high tide, just in time to see the only two American Oystercatchers for the count standing at the beach. We also saw the only Elegant Tern of the count (that is a regular site for this uncommon migrant for Panama), Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated, Collared, Wilson's and Black-bellied Plovers in good numbers. In several occasions we had to cover because of the rain, but it usually lasted only few minutes each time. The good thing about it was that the day stayed fresh and the activity was constant. In the grassy habitat and forest borders behind the beach we found excellent activity. By some unknown reason, the most common seedeater this year was the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, but we recorded all the expected species, plus some goodies like Merlin,

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Plain-breasted Ground-Doves, Straight-billed Woodcreeper and many migrants. The road that we drove behind the former Howard Air Base eventually crossed a patch of mature forest with a very nice creek... but it was quite late in the morning and hot to find any forest bird in there. We decided to left the west bank and headed to Amador in order to get some key species for the area. We found our main objective, a Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, right at the parking lot of the Punta Culebra Natural Center, among with Garden Emeralds, Sapphire-throated Hummingbirds and Mangrove Warblers. In the way back, we spotted a Blue-footed Booby flying fast in the edge of the counting circle (there is a rock with a colony of these birds right outside the count circle!). Most of the participants met at the Chiva Chiva ponds

to compile our numbers and to figure out our plans for the afternoon depending on the species lacking to that moment. I decided to try the Metropolitan Natural Park along with Jennifer, Cora Herrera and Hildegar Mendoza, making some stops on route, finding Pied-billed Grebe, Blue-winged Teal and Zone-tailed Hawk (all missed in the morning). The park held and amazing great activity by the entrance, with mixed flocks including Greenish Elaenias, Ruddy-tailed and Black-tailed Flycatchers, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, tons of White-shouldered Tanagers, and even a sleepy Common Potoo pointed out bythe park ranger. However, it was a tree with pink flowers the star of the show, attracting tons of hummingbirds and honeycreepers, including the male Rufous-crested Coquette reported during the week and earlier in the morning. I know we don't have to lose time during the counts with birds already counted... but I could not resist to

stop and take some photos of the beautiful creature quietly perched waiting its turn to visit the flowers... after all you don't see a male coquette every day!!! Soon, it was too dark to see anything, and the survivors met at the PAS office to finish to compile our numbers. Not the best count in terms of species was the prediction after revising our list. The most resistant (the Montañez, the Kaufmann, Ariel and me) even tried to do some owling, finding only a Common Potoo before receiving a phone call from Beny who already had listened most of our target owls comfortably from his house in Ancon, Panama City (thanks God!), making our journey only a 16+ hours of pure birding. Exhausting, but gratifying!!!

Free weekend, short trips

This weekend was a really busy one for me. Anyhow, I managed to visit few places close to the city with my camera. Starting yesterday, taking advantage of the not too very high tide in the morning, I stopped at the mouth of the Matías Hernández river in Costa del Este. This site is known by the flocks of gulls and sandpipers that gather there, sometimes with really nice goodies (even a new species for Panama!). Unfortunately, the flock was not close, and it seemed to be composed mainly by Laughing Gulls, plus a lonely Black Skimmer. Resting with the gulls was a group of Marbled Godwits and Black-bellied Plovers too far away for my camera. A group of Semipalmated Plovers with Spotted Sandpipers and Whimbrels was closer, allowing me some shots. Then, I drove to Panama Viejo, checking the mudflats between the tower and the Visitor Center. A Ring-billed Gull was among the Laughings plus tons of Brown Pelicans and Neotropic Cormorants. There were Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers too, and many other common birds (Willets, Yellowlegs, and so on...), but I didn't stayed long because is simply a bad idea if you are alone (specially with binoculars and camera equipments clearly visible). So, I stopped at the Visitor Center where some Gull-billed Terns were delicately picking food of the surface, watching a Ruddy Turnstone (not so ruddy) flying by and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons right in the open in the middle of the day. The little patch of mangroves was full of pelicans, cormorants, egrets and herons, but no storks like other times. The garden and the grass at the Center hold a family group of Saffron Finches, now a common bird in Panama City. It never fails to impress with its bright yellow body. With that in mind, I finished my duties for the day and went to the dance presentation of my 5-years old nephew at his school in the afternoon. Today, I went to Gamboa, with Osvaldo Quintero. As usual, the first stop was in the Ammo Dump, where the resident Tiger-Herons were waiting for us. A female Olivaceous Piculet quickly appeared just for a couple of minutes, while a pair of babies Capybaras were having breakfast very close to us. After a few pictures, we headed to the Rainforest Discovery Center, enjoying a group of Purple-throated Fruticrows right in the installations, building a nest. Males and females were bringing nesting material, announcing its arrival noisily. We walked some trails with no luck, just to find a huge mixed flock right in the parking lot. The birds cooperated, allowing us nice views. Cinnamon and White-winged Becards, White-shouldered, Plain-colored and Golden-hooded Tanagers, Shining and Green Honeycreepers, Forest Elaenias, Brown-capped Tyrannulet, Yellow Warbler, Long-billed Gnatwren, just to mention a few. A beautiful male Purple-crowned Fairy was visiting the nearby Heliconias, just stopping for a second or so. My blurry picture does not do justice to it, but at least you can have a glance of the explosion of colours it gave to us when facing the sun. Every five minutes or so we added a new species to the flock... there is a Golden-collared Manakin and a Fasciated Antshrike... oh my lord look at that male Blue-crowned Manakin... is that an Empidonax over there? Wow, the action was intense, so we stayed an hour more or less. Back in the Center, we saw a single Squirrel Cuckoo hunt and eat at least ten big and fat worms in less than 15 minutes... that was a really hungry cuckoo! It was getting hot and late, so we started to return to Panama City, seeing a Ruddy-breasted Seedeater having lunch (a tasty spike) next to our window. Nice mix of birds for a short trip!