Route Anton - El Valle de Anton

During our last visit to Penonome our friends and neighbors, the Rojas family (Edwin, Lurkys, Saisly and the little Mariangeles), invited me and Gabrielle to a short trip to the touristic town of El Valle de Anton, in the foothills of the Cocle province.  El Valle is well-known by its comfortable weather, its sunday market and many other attractions, like restaurants, lodges, forest trails, waterfalls, a zoo, and many more.  This time, we took a new and recently habilitated route starting at the town of Anton (10 minutes from Penonome) in the PanAmerican Highway.

Cerro La Cruz

This windy road takes you gradually along pastureland and low hills to the town of Caballero.  From there, it climbs abruptly until reaching its highest point at La Cruz hill.  From there, there is a magnificent view of El Valle... the charming town at the bottom of an ancient volcanic caldera.

El Valle de Anton

You can see the lava domes that usually are called the "rim" of the crater.  Actually, this is not a crater, but the caldera that left when most of the volcano collapsed after a huge eruption some 200,000 years ago.  Of course, this is a nice place to take photos.  As you will see, this hill is named after this solid cross.  There is another, smaller cross a little bit higher... but we decided to use this as background.

Gabrielle and me at the cross!  Cerro Gaital in the background.

From there, the roads descends VERY abruptly to El Valle, joining then the road to El Macho waterfalls.  Along this road, in the way to the town center, we found a big colony of nesting Chestnut-headed Oropendolas.  This is a famous colony because I have seen photos of this very same colony in the social media.

Oropendolas' colony

Chestnut-headed Oropendolas

We stopped to appreciate this spectacle, and witnessed an interesting aspect of the life within these colonies.  We noticed that the oropendolas were quite agitated.  After some seconds, we noticed the reason.  Several Giant Cowbirds were trying to lay their eggs into the oropendolas' hanging nests!

Giant Cowbird

Yes, the Giant Cowbirds are obligate parasites of the oropendolas, and they know this!  After laying their eggs at the oropendola's nest, they leave the entire task of raising their chicks to the oropendolas.  Curiously, and unlike other brood parasites, their chicks do not destroy the eggs or kill the nestlings of their adoptive parents.  Perhaps the cowbirds' chicks help somehow the oropendolas' nestlings... but tell that to this oropendola!

Get the heck out!!!

In the other hand, almost every oropendola colony have a breeding pair of Piratic Flycatchers... and this was not the exception!

Piratic Flycatcher on stolen nest

I don't know how the comparatively large oropendolas tolerate these birds.  They drive away the owners of the nest, dispose of the eggs and lay their own without building its own nest.  Probably that's why they have that bandit mask!

Piratic Flycatcher

We left the colony and drove to the town.  In the way, we were able to see the famous "India Dormida".  Literally, this means the sleeping indian... surely you can recognize her lying on her back with the head to the right of the picture.  This is one of the most recognized El Valle icons!

India Dormida

After having lunch in a little restaurant, we visited the zoo.  The girls were amazed with the animals, while Saisly and Lurkys appreciated the scenery from a comfortable bench.

Saisly and Lurkys... and not, they are not twins

I took photos of some common birds in the gardens and open habitats of the zoo, like the abundant White-tipped Dove... well known by the name "Rabiblanca".  Its hollow whooo-OOO-oo call is a common sound in our towns.

White-tipped Dove

What a nice day, enjoying with our friends, knowing new roads and enjoying picturesque towns along the way.  Thanks for this great day!

Lurkys, Mariangeles and Edwin Rojas.  Thank you guys!

Around Penonome

Every time I go to Penonome (Cocle province, central Panama), I try to wander around, taking photos not only of birds, but of every interesting stuff I can find... however, this is a bird-photos post from Penonome.  I traveled with Gloriela, Gabrielle and some relatives, starting around the "finca", in the outskirts of the town, where Gloriela's dad have a cabin surrounded by fruiting trees, including many papayas trees with mature fruits.  It turned out to be a natural feeder for a big bunch of Red-legged Honeycreepers, including several males in alternate plumage (very colorful).

Around the cabin, a little creek surrounded by a not-so-tall gallery forest holds several pairs of Blue-crowned Motmots.  I already posted a rationale about calling these birds Whooping Motmots... they have a distinctive voice; however, the AOU do not recognizes the split, neither the Panama Audubon Society.

We then visited a stretch of the mighty Zaratí river, in a place called Barrigon.  The rapid-flowing river in this part is bordered by huge barrigon trees (Pseudobombax sp.),  with some understore... a perfect habitat for this Cocoa Woodcreeper, despite we usually think on this bird as a forest inhabitant.

Back to our house, even the live fence have its own birds.  The only antbird present in this part of town is the Barred Antshrike.  This species exhibit a strong sexual dimorphism, the male is totally barred white and black, while the female (pictured here) is rufescent.

The White-tipped Dove is very common (but quite shy)... its voice is a familiar sound of the coclesian savanna... reminiscent of blowing through a bottle.

Well, it is always nice to wander around Penonome!

House birds of Penonome

When we visit Penonome (Cocle province, central Panama), we usually spent most of the time at our house in a new development devoid of big trees but surrounded by savanna-like habitat with some gallery forest at the perimetric fence... or at Gloriela's relatives house in downtown, which is more wooded, and with a little creek running behind the house. Despite both places share many common, urban birds, there are some differences. At our house, the most common birds are Great-tailed Grackles and Gray-breasted Martins... however, I enjoy more the beautiful song of the resident pair of Tropical Mockingbird or the gang of House Wrens that search carefully every corner, every bush, everything they can... even the frontal tire of our Picanto. Sometimes, the Tropical Kingbirds surprise me because they take advantage of every perching site available, even our trash basket, despite how close to the house (or us) it is. The perimetric fence of the development is another thing. Big trees and bushes separates the houses from the surrounding savanna... and these habitat results very attractive to many species of birds. I have seen so far many migrants, like Summer Tanagers, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Yellow Warblers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, among others, inspecting the trees at the fence. Last time, I heard the characteristic call of a Crested Bobwhite and soon found the singing male inside the trees, very close to one of the resident White-tipped Doves and the common Red-crowned Woodpecker. The savanna attracts raptors like Short-tailed, Zone-tailed and Roadside Hawks, plus Crested and Yellow-headed Caracara.. At night, the loud calls of the Pauraques remind me why they are called bujío by the panamanians... it sounds exactly the same (you have to say it in spanish of course). Downtown Penonome, which is more wooded, the birds change a little bit... the same common birds appear as well, but then you get some additions like Rufous-browed Peppershrike and Lineated Woodpeckers to complement. At Gloriela's relatives house, the bananas left in the open attracts Clay-colored Thrushes, Palm and Blue-gray Tanagers ("Azulejo"). I will say this forever, but no matters how common the "Azulejo" is, it is gorgeous! A Common Basilisk resides at the creek behind the house, often showing its ability to run over the water, the reason why this reptile is also known as Jesus Christ Lizard. This particular one was changing its old skin. Well, I still need to make a list of all the birds I have seen so far in the urban area of Penonome... I'll try as soon as the birds lets me.... oh, oh, is that a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl singing across the street? I think I will left the list for another day again!

Las Nubes, Cerro Azul

Last thursday, Gloriela, Osvaldo Quintero, Osvaldo Quintero Jr. and myself went to Las Nubes of Cerro Azul, a very quiet and pleasant community no more than 45 minutes to the east of Panama City. Our main objective was to find (and photograph) one of the American Swallow-tailed Kites' nests that are around. We arrived late in the afternoon, finding a cold, wet and foggy environment. Soon we got common backyard birds: Yellow-faced & Blue-black Grassquits, Variable Seedeater, Tropical Pewee, Tropical Kingbird, White-tipped Doves, Blue-and-gray, Palm and Plain-colored Tanagers. We also saw some kites soaring over us but, alas, no nests.It wasn't until we found a local worker, who showed us an Eucalyptus tree that was holding an active nest, that we were able to watch two overgrown chicks. Later, we found another nest with an adult kite on it. My distant and cropped picture shows one of the chicks on the first nest (better pictures by Osvaldo at Xenornis)It was a nice, after-work, relaxing trip. Except by the mud on my shoes, everything went right as planned (we found the birds and spend a wonderful time).