To the depths of the Burica peninsula

Due to Panama's topography, there are few sites from where you can launch a pelagic birding trip.  The typical sites (in the Pacific) are extreme eastern Darien province and some sites in the Azuero Peninsula of central Panama.  The logistic is always complicated (and expensive) due to lack of tour operators and pelagic birders as well!  But then, there is another site where the oceanic depths are close to shore: the Burica Peninsula in extreme western Panama.  While looking for good boats to make a pelagic trip, I came upon Hooked On Panama, a fishing lodge at the southerly town of Limones, at the very tip of the peninsula.  They were more than eager to provide boat, crew and chum, plus the on-ground facilities for our pelagic trip after explaining to them the lack of scientific knowledge of the pelagic avifauna in Panama!

From left to right: Jan Axel, Dave Klauber, George Angehr and Christian Gernez

This was an scouting trip after all... June - July is probably not the best season for pelagic birding in Panama, but anyway we wanted to make that first contact and to evaluate the feasibility of doing more trips from Limones.   Three other birders joined me: Christian Gernez, Dave Klauber and George Angehr, who is the author of "The Birds of Panama,  A Field Guide" and probably one of the most experienced pelagic birder for Panamanian waters.  Taking advantage of the lodge, I travelled with my family, who enjoyed the pool and the beach while we were out under the sun looking for pelagic birds.  In fact, the excellent road conditions from David city, and the lodge amenities are points in favor.  Another point in favor: the boat!  A locally customized 33' Blackfin vessel with all the safety equipments, spacious, comfortable, designed to offer a 360º view of the surroundings and easily accommodating up to six pax!

Our crew knew exactly what we were up to!  Our captain Chaka took us immediately to deep waters south of Burica island and then to the east along the Continental Shelf break while mate Jacinto helped us with all our needs and with the chumming process (essentially fish guts and pop corn).  They have a lot of experience fishing pelagic billfishes, but this was their first time guiding a group of birders... the essentials tips seems to be the same for both activities (fishing and birding in deep waters).  But even before reaching deep waters, we started to have some nice surprises, like the completely out-of-season Elegant Terns close to the lodge (they are supposed to be breeding in Baja this time of the year) and the Humpback Whales swimming extremely close to the town beach (a little bit early, but not unexpected).  Bird and whale watching could be some activities that the lodge can offer during the low-season months of fishing, as Christian pointed out.

Royal and Elegant Terns with Brown Pelicans at the lodge

Humpback Whale at Limones

One of the things about doing a pelagic trip in Panama in June-July is weather.  We were always close to dark clouds and storm systems, but somehow we managed to avoid all of them, experiencing no rain at all (OK, Chaka had a lot to do with that).  Still with land at sight, we started to find the first pelagic birds in the form of Storm-Petrels.  With the exception of few Black Storm-Petrels, all of them were Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels.  Paying attention to this species is key to gain experience on its identification and of other species.  However, after seeing many of them and starting to feel comfortable, we realized that they often showed different flight styles (quite direct with steady wingbeats, but also more bouncing and desperate-looking), size/proportion impressions and molt-timing!  Some birds were fresh-looking while other were in active wing molt... some looked quite small and compact while others looked larger with proportionally long wings...  Were these differences age/sex related, or were they different subspecies?  Or different species?  We need more study on these guys!

Fresh-looking Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel

Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel (notice wing molt)

The storm-petrels were not the only tubenoses out there, we also find Galapagos Shearwaters and a possible Wedge-tailed Shearwater as well, but was too far away to ID with certainty.  However, the most impressive of them all were the Tahiti Petrels (YES, in plural).  We managed to see up to four different individuals at the same time, sometimes very close to the boat!  Just the fourth record for Panamanian waters, where the species surely is a regular visitor during its non-breeding season.  Thinking on these birds crossing the vast Pacific Ocean to visit our warm waters is simply overwhelming!

Tahiti Petrel.  Fourth record for Panama

Apart of the Elegant Terns seen at shore, we only saw another tern species during the trip: Brown Noddy.  Most of the terns species found in Panama are boreal migrants, so we did not expect to find them in June-July, at least not in considerable numbers.  Our resident tern species (like the noddy) are probably found close to their breeding islands during this time of the year.  Anyway, we enjoyed the sole member of the Sterninae out there... the anti-tern species by the way (dark body, pale crown, wedge tail)

Brown Noddy

Another highlight of the trip were the Sulids (boobies).  We found three different species (of five possible), including Nazca and Brown Boobies.  At some point, we approached Islas Ladrones that host one of the biggest colonies of Brown Boobies in Panama, crossing several flocks of these boobies flying back and forth from and to the islands.  The Nazcas, as usual, were always far from shore, on floating debris or in powerful flight over the waves showing no interest in the boat.

Brown Booby 

Nazca Booby

Soon it was time to go back.  A huge school of Short-beaked  Common Dolphins gave us the farewell before heading back to shore.  Calm waters meant that nobody had sea-sickness at all and the cloudy day help to avoid sunburns!  After a 6-hours trip we were back at the lodge, enjoying a couple of cold drinks and celebrating this very first pelagic experience birding the depths of the Burica Peninsula.  I can not wait to go back!  Would you join me?

Short-beaked Common Dolphins

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.

Pelagic off Punta Mala

I had the opportunity to join a fine group of birdwatchers last saturday, september 11th, in a pelagic birding trip off Punta Mala, at the tip of the Azuero Peninsula in central Panama. Worldbirder Björn Anderson kindly organized the trip and invited me (I'm so grateful by the way) and other four birders: Kenneth Allaire, Gonzalo Horna, Darién Montañéz and Rafael Luck. My journey started friday, when Rafael picked me up after work around 3:00 PM. We were loaded with fish leftovers, tuna cans and popcorn (the ingredients of the chum) and with all the excitement of being part of that trip. We all met at the charming town of Pedasí, where we stayed for the night to meet very early in the morning our captain Jeff and his seaworthy assistant, Armando. We followed them to a private dock at Punta Mala and were ready to go aboard the 30-feet-long fishing boat "Flora Cristina". You can see in the map the route that we did, reaching 10,000-feet depth waters just outside the continental platform. No more than 20 minutes after we left the dock, we began to prepare the chum when I noticed that the first bird of the trip was following us. I limited myself to say "the chum is working already", but then it was evident the dark plumage of the bird with a conspicuous white trailing edge to the wing, a pattern that I had already seen in Perú: an Inca Tern!!! The beautiful bird followed us for a while and then landed on the boat... amazing!!! Of course everyone was delighted with the bird and almost everyone got excellent photos of it. The bird sailed with us for more or less 20 minutes and then, it followed its own path for never be seen again. What a great way to start a trip... with a bird not reported for Panama in the last 27 years! After the tern, much commoner species started to appear... most of them surely coming from the Frailes Islands to the west: Brown Noddies, Bridled and Sooty Terns. We got distant views first, but at the end of the trip (when we got close to the islands) we got better views, allowing photos (I have to say that trying to photograph pelagic birds aboard a constantly-moving boat is really hard task!). The juvenile Sooty Tern that I'm presenting here was the first one I ever saw of that species. The next photo shows some adults Sooty Terns with two Brown Noodies (one is floating, you can enlarge the photo). After a while, we left the terns and began to find shearwaters and petrels! The first shearwater to appear was the expected Galapagos Shearwater, which offered some close views and photographic opportunities.

We saw four Oceanites storm-petrels that we are calling Wilsons' (thank you Björn for noticing it). The commonest storm-petrel was the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel, with one to four birds after our chum in several sites. But more important, a bigger storm-petrel with pointed wings and a definitive narrower rump band turned out to be a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, id by the experts, the first register for Panama, and a personal lifer! At 8:30 AM, Björn found the main target of the trip: a Tahiti Petrel (N 07º 20.002' W 079º 36.910). I hurried enough to see the clear dark-and-white pattern of the underparts and to appreciate its agile and swift flight above the sea with its long and narrow wings. It was a first for Panama too, and my second lifer for the trip! After the petrel, the things became calmer, with only common species, including Blue-footed and Brown Boobies, a lonely Neotropic Cormorant out there, more Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels and Galapagos Shearwaters. In one of those calm periods of time, the captain found a little bird in front of the boat that flew away revealing its shorebird shape and lined back: a Red-necked Phalarope (year-bird, like many others).

In our way back, Björn found some Wedge-tailed Shearwaters along with a flock of Brown Boobies. After some maneuvering by the captain, we got close to the shearwaters, allowing great views and photos (compare with that of the Galapagos Shearwater). We were at N 07º 15.883' W 080º 00.146'.

Two years ago, Darien and I reported the first Wedge-taileds' in more than 30 years around the Frailes Islands. Now we have photos!

Well, after all it turned out to be one of those memorable trips that you'll never forget... including new species for Panama (and for me)!The self-denominated T.P. (Tahiti Petrel) Gang; from left to right: GH, BA, KA, JA, DM and RL.

More about this trip here, more photos and a complete bird list at Xenornis.