Code 5: Whistling Heron!

Almost exactly one year ago, a new bird for Panama (and North America), a Whistling Heron, was found in the pastures close to the town of Chepo, in eastern Panama (45 minutes from Panama City).  Intensive search at and around the site were unsuccessful.  Personally, I visited the site several times (chronicles here).  A previous record (from february 2010) was validated in eBird only after photographic evidence was sent to the regional reviewer (me).  Then, my friend and professional birder Guido Berguido (from Advantage Tours, found another Whistling Heron yesterday close to the original site while guiding a birding group late in the afternoon!  In a show of camaraderie, he sent a report almost immediately through social networks, with specific details of the site.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Although I considered going there early today, my job duties prevented me of doing so... but then Rafael Lau photographed the bird this morning almost exactly in the same site.  I took advantage of a gap in my agenda, waited for Gloriela and Gabrielle and went to the site.  It took me one and a half hour to reach the site due to the traffic jams in the city, leaving me only one hour to search the area and find the bird before returning to my clinic with the patients!  Coincidentally, we joined our friend Justo Camargo in the road.  He spent four hours searching for the heron with no luck, so he decided to join us for another try.  He showed me the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks pictured above, and both saw some nice species, like Pied Water-Tyrant and this Striated Heron.

Striated Heron

After a while, we decided to walk into the pasture where the bird was seen in the morning.  It was around 4:00 pm and the sun was high, so Gloriela and Gabrielle stayed in the car.  I walked with Justo to some artificial ponds... a quick search with my binoculars and PAM!!!  A Whistling Heron was standing some 30 meters away.  It was shy (similar to my previous observations in Venezuela and Colombia last year), and soon took flight to some nearby pastures.  I managed a couple of flight shots.

Whistling Heron 

Whistling Heron

I decided to approach carefully, almost crawling, to not disturb the bird.  It was feeding by craning its neck and taking something in the straws with the beak (I hope it were not ticks because I was surrounded by these straws).  I got some distant shots... good for documenting the sighting.

Whistling Heron

Cattle Egret and Whistling Heron

It was larger and stockier than the Cattle Egret as you can see in the picture above.  Not a lifer for me (it was for Justo), but a HUGE Panama life bird instead!  This is just the third record of this species in Panama.  Original from the wet plains of northern and south-east South America, its range and habiat is similar to another recent vagrant to Panama and North America: the Maguari Stork.  Are they only accidental vagrants or we have to wait for a horde of south american new species in the future?  Who knows... I only know that both Justo and I will remember this forever!

JC & JC.  Photo by Gloriela

Birding the marshes. Part I

Last saturday, I joined Osvado Quintero early in the morning to explore some marshes to the east of Panama City where someone told us that he was seeing "clouds" of duck every morning since a while. Intrigued, we followed the directions and eventually found the site, surprisingly next to a huge urban development and a neighborhood.  Our first sight: CLOUDS of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks darkening the sky... amazing!

If you have the time (and patience) to count the dots, no less than 1500 birds are present in that photo... and this was only part of one of the flocks!  Eventually, we saw and photographed eight (8) ducks species that morning, definitively a record for Panama (but more about that in another post).  Quantity and quality, everything was exaggerated.  For example, we saw tons of American Coots, just the next photo shows more than 20!

Or the absurd numbers of Cocoi Herons and Wood Storks all over the place, but specially in a big pond where I took the next photo (just half of the pond in this photo).

We also recorded Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Striated Herons, among many others as you can see in the next photo (although I accept comments about the Striated Heron).

Of course, the Pied Water-Tyrant could not be absent.  We were so impressed by the immense flocks of other species that we saw only two of this smart flycatcher.

However, one of the highlights were two (YES, TWO!) Long-winged Harriers.  We saw first a dark bird with the characteristic profile and facial pattern, pale panels in the primaries, white rump band and many white tail bands.  We even managed to take some photos of this individual.  Then, we saw another individual, a brown one with creamy underparts and dark chest, surely a female.

With just a handful of reports, this was exceptionally good... rethinking it, I have been quite lucky with this species, and that day in general will be hard to forget!