Inspecting the finca, and its birds

Despite we still have a lot of work in hand, taking care of some details at our new house in Penonome, we decided to rest a little and to visit the environs, passing by the finca. Gloriela's relatives were already there, having a picnic day. We joined her father, sister and nephews in a tour through the property, inspecting the conditions of the plants sowed during the past dry season and the advances in the construction of the cabin under a refreshing drizzle. I grabbed my camera and bins, noticing activity around the shrubbes and the wild flowers. Eventually, I left the group while following the calls and whistles of the birds in the surroundings. By the way, I added some new species to the growing bird list for the finca. The migrants were represented by Yellow Warblers and Northern Waterthushes, while the residents honeycreepers and euphonias (Bim-bim) were all around the place. A covey of Crested Bobwhites scared me when suddenly took off few feet from me; then, an angry individual was yelling Bob-Bobwhite from its perch on a tree, but still invisible to my eyes. In the wettest and most entangled area of the land, close to the creek, several males Lance-tailed Manakins were lekking incessantly, but I only got glimpses of them. An emerald-green flash over some flowers plus a quick shot with my camera produced the blurry (but nicely irridiscent) male Garden Emerald that I pictured here, looking like a flying jewel; while some Snowy-bellied Hummingbirds chased each other all over the place. The list is not complete without the flycatchers, with Lesser and Yellow-bellied Elaenias, Social and Streaked Flycatcher and Tropical Kingbirds being the commonest; but also recording Sepia-capped Flycatcher, Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet and, for the first time there, Mouse-colored Tyrannulet (small size, dull brown upperparts with buffy wingbars, eyering + eyebrow instead of only eyering as in Lesser Elaenia, etc...).

Also, we wanted to know the surrounding, including other fincas and communities. A short drive took us to three different rural communities in less than 60 minutes: Santa María, Cañaveral and Cerro Gordo. The last one was specially charming, a little town with traditional clay houses. There is located the beautifully arranged Finca La Peregüeta, owned by a former Panama Audubon Society president and an old friend: Norita. She transformed her land in a private natural reserve that holds a good number of birds (check out the section Birds to see at La Peregüeta on her webpage). By the way, peregüeta is a common tree in the area that produces little black fruits. Is good to know that some people care about preserving the environment for the next generations. With that in mind, we are back in the big city, hoping to return next weekend to that piece of land in Penonome.

Western Hummingbirds Gallery II

What can I say about hummingbirds?.. I just love them. In order to complement my previous western hummingbirds gallery, I'm posting some photos captured during my last trip to the western highlands. Despite the fact that not all the hummingbirds pictured are restricted to the western highlands, they are for sure more easily seen there than in any other place (though some of them are not so easy to find). Enjoy!

UPDATE: new pics added (male Magnificent, female Sabrewing, female Ruby-throated). Another replaced (male Mountain-Gem).

And the party continues...

After spending the morning birdwatching in the western highlands yesterday, we decided to make a short visit to the Aguadulce Salinas taking advantage of the fading light and the 6:00 pm high tide. Like the last time there, we saw many aquatic birds... mainly Black-necked Stilts and Whimbrels, but also Roseate Spoonbills in three different opportunities, including the distant individual pictured below.Back in Penonome, during the night, we enjoyed (with our new neighbors, but old friends, Edwin and Lurkys) how the panamanian Mariano Rivera finished the good job done by the NY Yankees (specially Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui) obtaining in that way theirs 27th World Series' Championship. Congratulations Yankees!!

Birding in PILA (birding a lot)

PILA are the initials for Parque Internacional La Amistad; but, in our panamanian spanish, to say "en pila" means "a lot"... an appropiate title for this entry since Gloriela, Darien Montañez (of the Xenornis) and your host blogger watched many birds yesterday in that huge park, which Panama shares with Costa Rica. As I told you, we were seeking bamboo specialist... so we met at the small restaurant close to the hotel where Darien was staying, ate our breakfast (accompanied by a Stripe-tailed Hummingbird) and headed towards the settlement of Las Nubes, where the park's headquarters are located. It is a picturesque road across farmlands, streaming rivers and a small agricultural community. The entrance to the park gives you an idea of the impressive forest that this park protects. Tall moss-covered trees and giant tree ferns hold tons of birds and other animals. The humid and foggy environment is ideal for the survival of the epiphytes, which in turn are ideal for the furnariids. There is something about the furnariids... they aren't the most colourful nor beautiful birds, but they are so scarce in the lowlands (where I do most of my birding) that the opportunity of finding any of them thrills me. Of course, we found many furnariids in tne form of Buffy Tuftedcheek, Ruddy Treerunner and Streaked Woodhaunter. We also got many Spot-crowned Woodcreepers, but deep inside me I still feel uncomfortable by including the woodcreepers (which are very common in the lowlands) into the furnariids. We took the "El Retoño" trail, finding Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, Black-faced Solitaire, Wrenthrush, Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, among others before reaching the large tracks of bamboo (Chusquea sp.). Once there, we didn't see any bamboo specialist, but we were entertained by a mixed flock composed mainly by Black-cheeked Warblers and Yellow-thighed Finches, but including also Wilson's & Black-and-white Warblers, Collared Whitestart and even a Hairy Woodpecker. We got also a nice selection of hummers, including Green Violetears, Magnificent & Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds, White-throated Mountain-Gems, Violet Sabrewing and the bird of the day: a cute Green-fronted Lancebill flycatching over the stream. It was getting late for our return journey to Penonome, so we lunched at the small restaurant in the park's entrance and said goodbye to Darien, who stayed in the area... looking for more birds (and hearing a flock of Barred Parakeets later). On the way, we found the parade celebrating the national day of our flag... a particular way to end a birding morning in the highlands.

Birding the highlands

Today was an unusual day... I left Penonome in the morning with Gloriela, and now I'm blogging from an hotel's room in the town of Volcan, in the western highlands of Chiriqui, after seeing in Cerro Punta a completely new set of birds to which I'm used in central Panama. We are taking advantage of these days off, celebrating today our separation of Colombia and tomorrow, the day of our national flag. Panama, being so small and varied, offers the opportunity to watch dry lowland birds in the morning and then Quetzals in the evening, without any flight involved. Following directions of the Where to find birds in Panama book, we visited Cuesta de Piedra, before Volcan. It was 11:00 am so we do not find many birds, with Golden-hooded, Bay-headed and Cherries' Tanagers being highlights; but anyway, the place is awesome, with a quite deep but narrow canyon surrounded by lush vegetation. Then, we registered in our hotel and took a nap before heading to Cerro Punta, where we met with Darien Montañez (of the Xenornis). He was also taking advantage of these days to find new birds... specially those bamboo specialists. He arrived earlier and already had seen Peg-billed Finch and Green-fronted Lancebill, among others, in the trails of the "Los Quetzales" cabins, in Guadalupe. We decided to bird along the access road to El Respingo, into the boundaries of the Volcan Barú National Park. We got a nice bird activity, with common species quickly showing up: Rufous-collared Sparrow, Wilson's Warbler, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Mountain Thrush and Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers. The ethereal song of the Black-faced Solitaires filled the air, while a group of Prong-billed Barbets quickly vanished among the bushes. We spied our first Magnificent Hummingbird (a female) flycatching... certainly it was not our last Magnificent. A little farther, a tree covered with big yellow flowers was holding many others Magnificents, plus some White-throated Mountain-Gems, Slaty Flowerpiercers, Yellow-thighed Finches and a couple of hungry squirrels. Higher, we saw a cute Volcano Hummingbird and smarts Collared Whitestars. We decided to initaite the retreat when realized the long and steep stretch of trail that still we were lacking. In the way back we found more warblers, both migrants (Black-throated Green, Black-and-white) and residents (Flame-throated, Black-cheeked), plus Ruddy Treerunner, Yellow-bellied Siskin, Dark Pewee, Yellow-winged Vireo, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, and so on... We also got some flying-too-fast-to-appreciate-well birds in the form of Band-tailed Pigeons and Sulphur-winged Parakeets. It was an amazing birding evening, with nice weather and cooperative birds (most of them). A well deserved dinner and a cup of hot chocolate were all we needed to call it a day. Tomorrow we are heading to La Amistad International Park, seeking those bamboo specialists.

Visiting the Aguadulce Salinas

While having a good time in Penonome yesterday, I came with the idea to visit the Aguadulce salinas with the afternoon high tide. Gloriela agreed, and my sister-in-law and her son joined us since they didn't know the site. Despite the evaporation ponds (the "salinas") are reduced from their former extent, they still are a good place for vagrant migratory birds, specially shorebirds and other aquatic species. The rain fell down on us with all its force at Aguadulce town. Anyway, I kept driving the route towards El Salado port, watching the rain covering the ponds. At El Salado, the day began to clear, and we started to watch some birds. The sea was furious, flogging the fishermen's small boats in the port. Somehow, the pelicans, cormorants and frigatebirds managed to fly with that wind. A closer examination of a pair of terns flying inland proved that they were Caspians, while a lonely and unexpected Blue-footed Booby quickly flew through the oceanfront. With our increasing luck, we decided to check out again the ponds. This time, we saw many waders and shorebirds in its shores. We stoped aside in order to photograph a nice Great Egret when I noticed some pink flashes far away in the horizon that proved to be at least ten Roseate Spoonbills, accompanied by pelicans, egrets and even a Wood Stork. I know the above photo doesn't do justice to them... that is why I'm also including an old picture (in the former Tocumen marshes) to give you an idea of the spectacle. We realized that they were not getting closer, so we amused ourselves with the nearby shorebirds, including Least, Semipalmated, Western and Spotted Sandpipers, Greater Yelowlegs, Whimbrels, Willets and Black-necked Stints. It started to rain again, so we headed back to Penonome to have our dinner, and then back to Panama city... always under a constant rain. Nice way to spent the weekend!

What is a showy fence bird?

Simple: a male Blue-black Grassquit conspicuously singing its buzzy and slurred TZZZZIIIUUUU on a fence, while jumping up and down over and over again, like the one I found with Gloriela and our nephew yesterday morning in Penonome.

New neighbors in Penonome

I just came back from Penonome (Central Panama) where I spent the weekend with Gloriela and part of her family. We stayed for the first time at our new house in the outskirts of the town, with her sister and nephew: five years-old Kevin. At first just a little project for a near future, now a confortable place to use as base to explore western Panama and to spent the weekends... away of the city. Yesterday was a cleaning day, placing the furniture and fixing some details. During the night we had a good time seeing the NY Yankees defeating the Phillies, taking advantage in the World Series (yeahhh!). Today, I woke up with the calls of a distant Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and of a closer Rufous-browed Peppershrike. A look through the window revealed a foggy Penonome (yes, foggy), so it gave me enough time to wash myself before having adequate light to photograph birds. Kevin was the only one joining me in my pre-coffee walk through the neighborhood at 7:o0 am. We walked along the empty streets up to a fence full of tangles, with a little grassland with bushes at the other side. A fence is interesting only if has birds on it... and this one surely was interesting. A pair of Ruddy Ground-Doves were joined by a Red-crowned Woodpecker and two Tropical Kingbirds, while a Blue-black Grassquit was claiming its part of the fence to a group of Lesser Goldfinches. A White-tipped Dove wandered in the bushes while a Eastern Meadowlark sang on top of one fence post... a very nice way to start your day. Kevin seemed more interested in what I like to think were his first steps in nature photography: shooting plants, rocks and flowers with Gloriela's point-and-shoot. We later went to the Aguadulce salinas, but more on that in another entry.

Raptors' highway

It was 3:06 pm when I received a cell phone call. In the other side, Osvaldo only had to tell me once "I'm seeing thousands of them" in order to look through my office's window towards Ancon hill... they were there: thousands of little dark dots in the sky that a closer look revealed to be Broad-winged and Swainson's Hawks over the city. Each october, most of the world's population of these two hawks species, plus millions of Turkey Vultures, pass through the isthmus in their annual southward migration. Literally, you can see hordes of raptors, forming what looks like aerial highways over central Panama (including Panama City). It is an event that many citizens go unnoticed... but many does not mean all of them.

The history of counting migrating raptors goes back to 1996, when Dr. George Angher organized the first simultaneous raptors counts at the narrowest part of the isthmus (you can read more in the Panama Audubon Society web site, under "Projects"). Now, it is a serious task, with many qualified and experienced persons counting in several strategic points. The time and effort invested to document this marvel is worth admiring and reminds me others more renowned places (Veracruz River of Raptors in Mexico comes to my mind). These observation places are located along the Panama Canal. Traditionally, Ancon hill has been the most important observation site throughout the years, usually counting more than one million birds per season and that, my friends, is something that only happens in few places around the globe. The hill dominates Panama City and still is covered with dry forest that host many widespread species (birds, mammals, and others). It is within the city, so accesible that even the city's Major visited the place this season to watch the huge flocks of raptors.

Why is Panama so important for these raptors? A quick glimpse to any world map will give you an idea of the answer. Panama is an obligated pass in most of the main migration routes in the Americas, and it doesn't involve flying over large stretchs of ocean. This is important because the raptors need the ascending thermal currents to gain altitude, to glide then towards the base of the next thermal current, repeating the process again and again.

At least in Panama, the Swainson's Hawks rest hidden in open fields with tall grass, while the Broad-winged Hawks rest in forested areas. Few octobers ago, birding the Escobal road towards Achiote (Colon province in the Caribbean slope) early in the morning, I saw a single Broad-winged Hawk flying from the canopy of the surrounding forest... then other, and other, and other, and so on... I counted at least 200 lazy hawks in a couple of minutes, waking up in order to continue its journey... an amazing show that I will remember forever.

As bonus, the main flocks also can bring with it some scarcer species, like Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, and others, so it is always a good idea to double check those flocks each time you have the chance. In any case, the mere phenomenon of thousands of raptors flying over you deserve a look, don't you think?

If you have the opportunity to visit Panama during the migration season, or are a resident here, don't forget to look at the sky... you can be surprised! On the other hand, if you don't have the opportunity, follow this season's daily counts in one of the strategic points (Semaphore hill) here.

Time to pay attention to the bamboo?

Today I spent the morning searching for birds with Osvaldo Quintero in the Old Gamboa road (aka Summit Ponds road). This is an easy walk, with many birds due to the variety of habitats and close to the city... it is perfect for those seeking a long list in few hours or if you want to have prolonged views of emblematic neotropical birds like toucans, caciques, trogons, kingfishers and so on... We started at the ponds itself, where we saw Amazon and Green Kingfishers waiting over the surface for a victim, and a Collared Aracari that deigned in giving a glimpse over its shoulder. A pair of Great Kiskadees were on a wire, paying attention to all our movements. Soon we realized that the commonest birds now were the migrants, with Northern Waterthrushes and Eastern Wood-Pewees in almost every corner. Others migrants recorded were Prothonotary, Chestnut-sided and Yellow Warblers plus a lonely Great Crested Flycatcher. That activity was low, but constant, with common birds comming to us like Blue-and-gray, Crimson-backed and Gray-headed Tanagers, a pair of Orange-chinned Parakeets excavating a nest, Clay-colored Thrush and others. A quick search of the skies produced migrating flocks of swallows plus some unidentified Chaetura swifts. Also, we got a migrating flock of Swainson's and Broad-winged Hawks accompanying a greater group of Turkey Vultures (more on them in another post, I promise). I must say that not everything is good in paradise... part of the trail has been widened and cleared in order to improve an access road to some installations of the ACP (Panama Canal Authority), but we still managed to find some specialties of the area, including a Jet Antbird (although only heard). A bit discouraged by the scene, we reached the group of bamboo close to the half way, most of it now lying on the floor. For our surprise (and I mean BIG surprise), we heard the characteristic loud and buzzy thrill of a Slate-colored Seedeater right above us in the bamboo!! We played a tape and then a second male with a female appeared, allowing us to take some shots. We stayed for 15 minutes or so, appreciating these nomadic seedeaters. Very happy with the finding, we decided to go to the Metropolitan Natural Park, just to see if we can catch up the migrating flock of raptors over the city. One hour later we were in the lookout, but with no luck this time (no raptors). We started to return through "La Cienegüita" trail. Few minutes later, I heard what I thought first was an auditive hallucination caused by the dehydration: a loud and buzzy thrill over a bunch of bamboo!! And guess what... for the second time in the day we were watching two males Slate-colored Seedeaters singing with all their forces. Well, I imagine that it is time to pay more attention to the bamboo. Considering that all those bamboo-associated birds are quite rare and nomadic (at least in Panama), and that this particular month of october has produced some reports of these birds (Barred Parakeet, Peg-billed and Slaty Finches here; Slate-colored Seedeater here) is logical to think that maybe IT IS HAPPENING... the flowering of the bamboo... or maybe I'm just overreacting and all these are coincidences? It is supposed to be one of the rarest sight in the botanical world, an event that occurs every 10 to 120 years and when it occurs; well, all the bamboo plants of that species flower at the same time and then die at the same time too... is not amazing? I'm not going to take any risk and I will organize a birding trip to the western highlands, searching for those bamboo-specialists that I still need. Want to join me?