More sunset birds

This is a kind of second part for my previous post about birding the savannas to the south of the town of Penonome (Cocle province, central Panama), along the road to El Gago.  I have to accept that I still have some problems for setting the camera for those light conditions... I hope this will improve soon.  This time I went earlier, so the the light was pretty good when I photographed this Killdeer.

This bird (part of a pair) was very quiet... I never heard the characteristic call this time.  This species is an uncommon migrant to Panama, and once a nesting attempt was documented in this part of the country.  In the other hand, the Eastern Meadowlark is an abundant resident of these savannas.

For some reason, I've always had the impression that these birds await you're near them to start singing!  However, were other singers who caught my attention.  When these birds vocalize, I noticed that they weren't the usual Groove-billed Anis I expected.

In fact, they were a pair of Smooth-billed Anis.  I'm not used to see this species in that road, so now I must be more careful to identify these birds if they are not vocalizing.  Other bird with which I am very careful to identify is the Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture.

In spite of the unmistakable multicolored head, they can be pretty tricky to separate from the Turkey Vulture; although, the Yellow-headed's low flight is characteristic.  Another species that characteristically flies low is the Northern Harrier.

This is also an uncommon migrant to Panama... but seems pretty regular in these fields.  This female was far away, so the above photo is cropped.  Notice the angled wings, long tail and white rump.  By the end of the day, I found the pair of resident Aplomado Falcons perched exactly in the same bare tree.

I swear these photos are different from my previous post.  The size difference indicates these are male and female (the female is the bigger one).  Along the road I saw another pair flying together, but there is no way to know if they were different birds.

After all, that was a nice sunset birding!

In search of THE heron. Part II

As I wrote before, a Whistling Heron, the first for Panamá and North America, was reported from the outskirst of the town of Chepo a little more than a week before.  After a first attempt last saturday, I decided to stay in home for the rest of the weekend.  However, Venicio "Beny" Wilson called me the morning of last sunday to see if I was interested in joining him and Christian Gernez in a new search for the heron... my answer: of course!

We saw a nice collection of birds of prey again, including the Roadside Hawk pictured above.  They are simply well-named!  This time, we drove directly to the site of the first sighting... passing first by a this beauty:

WOW!  What you think?  It is not the most gorgeous heron ever?  The Capped Heron is restricted to eastern Panamá, and is quite uncommon.  Also, is kind of related to the Whistling Heron that we were looking for... good sign, eh?

Sorry, I simple had to post another photo of this heron.  In fact, this is another individual.  Notice the slightly duller color of the bare parts of this particular individual.  In spite of that, it is still gorgeous.

In fact, we saw three different birds, including one in the very same place where the Whistling Heron was found.  That bird came flying and landed close to the site, disappearing instantaneously due to the overgrown vegetation.  Might it be possible that the Whistling Heron was still in the site and not to notice it?

While waiting, we saw another interesting heron in the site, a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron working in a ditch.  Depending of the angle, also it was disappearing in the tall grass.  Although not completely unexpected, this was also a nice find for the site!

The same was for this Pearl Kite.  Quite common in the area, we saw a pair vocalizing close to us.  This species also came from South America and now is well established in Panamá... the same as the next species.

Yes, the Cattle Egrets aren't native of Panamá, not even of America!  But, as you can see, they are doing extremely well... this individual is showing the bright bare parts indicative of its breeding season.  The heronry is very close the site of the sighting, surely this individual has its nest there (photos of the heronry here).

Did I mention that we saw all three species of anis, including this Smooth-billed Ani?

Again, we spend a terrific day out in the field looking for THE heron... the total list for the two days ascends to 109 species... not bad for pasture lands and marshes!