A short walk in Metro Park

The Metropolitan Natural Park, at the heart of Panama City, is a very accesible site that can be visited in a couple of hours. After a long day of duties in several sites in the city, Gloriela and I decided to have short walk in the main trails at the park during the afternoon. It was hot and very quiet, and the activity was low. Many of the trees have lost its leaves and the ground is covered in dry leaves, so you can heard the animals (including skulking birds) while they move from one side to another. That was how we found a pair of Dusky Antbirds (female pictured here), only following the noise they made while inspecting some dead leaves very low in a bush. We also detected a beautiful male Rosy Thrush-Tanager and a female White-bellied Antbird by the noise they produced while skulking in the dry leaves at the ground level. Both were life birds for Gloriela. It is hard to describe the experience: a fantastic black bird with deep pink underparts and eyebrow. This tanager is a speciality of this park, where you usually heard it year-long. Because of its habits, voice and shape, this tanager recalls a thrasher more than any other tanager... I suppose that the last word about the relations of this bird is not yet mentioned. Because of the season, there are many flowering trees in the area, covered by orioles, dacnises, honeycreepers and hummingbirds. Almost at the top of the Mono Titi trail, we found a mixed flock with Red-legged Honeycreepers, Blue Dacnis, White-shouldered Tanagers, Tropical Gnatcatcher and Scarlet-rumped Caciques. We stayed 15 minutes, while others birds were showing up: Black-bellied, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-White Wrens, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Chestnut-sided and Bay-breasted Warblers, Yellow-crowned Tyrannulets, etc... We returned through La Cieneguita trail, finding a group of Geoffroy's Tamarins and a scared White-nosed Coati, the only mammals we found (apart of some hikers of course). Very close to the end of the trail, a pair of Slaty-tailed Trogons gave us a colourful show, perching and vocalizing very close to us. I think they were inspecting us... maybe they were nesting nearby but we didn't see any nest hole. After two hours we were again at the entrance, after enjoying a nice afternoon among nature marvels here in the big city.

Boat trip to Taboga island

You have to spend at least one day of your vacations at the beach. That's why when our friends Milixa and Steve invited us to join them in a trip to Taboga island in his boat we accepted immediately. Taboga (aka the island of the flowers) is a popular destintation during the weekends. A short boat ride of less than an hour connect the island with the mainland. We set sail from the Amador marina, at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal and with the Bridge of the Americas as background. The forecast predicted strong winds for the afternoon, so the plan was to spent a couple of hours in the beach and then return to the sheltered marina to have a barbecue. I brought my binoculars and my camera just in case (one never knows where the next petrel will show up). It was an uneventful trip to the island and we soon reach it, with its picturesque town and the beautiful beach (with Panama City in the background).

We had a sunbath in the beach and then a refreshing dive in the deep green waters at the bay. Each hour or two, the ferry from Panama was bringing passengers anxious to enjoy the white beaches of the island, so it was getting crowded. After a couple of hours we decided to return to the Amador marina, trying to avoid the winds, but it was a little bit late... it was a very bumpy journey with some seasickness aboard!! Thanks God it was just for a little period of time and soon we were having our barbecue at the marina, enjoying a great time.

And what about the birds? OK, we saw mostly common birds during the trip, specially Royal Terns, Frigatebirds, Pelicans, Cormorants and Brown and Blue-footed Boobies. Once in the marina, the accompanying flock of Laughing Gull includeded an adult-basic Ring-billed Gull which gave us excellent photographic opportunities.

Thank you Milixa and Steve for the wonderful experience. We hope to repeat it soon!

Not a Belcher's, but a Kelp Gull in Costa del Este

Confirming the early suspicions on the identity of the dark-mantled gull which appeared several times in Costa del Este last weeks, a group of experts (including, among others, Dr. Bob himself) determined it as a sub-adult Kelp Gull. A review of the description plus the photos obtained by Euclides Campos and Ramiro Duque showing the bird with a typical adult Kelp Gull (you can see the photos in Xenornis) helped with the i.d. The diagnostic features that exclude a Belcher's Gull are size (and jizz), pale yellow legs (not bright yellow), dark streaking along sides and flanks, bill shape/pattern, and a mostly dark tail (not a definitive "band"). My error! considering that I have seen both species in central coastal Perú few years ago... my own photos of that trip demonstrate the slimmer shape and its relative small size (specially if you compare it with the nearby Inca Terns in the second photo):

An extensive Google search produced few photos of confirmed sub-adult (third-year) Kelp Gulls, the most useful being those at Martin Reid's website. If you check this group of photos you can see the same bill shape and pattern, the mostly black tail and black primaries with the wings closed, while this other one also shows the mostly black tail. Conclusion: it is a sub-adult Kelp Gull... follow your first impressions.

P.D.: in spite of the several other visits, I failed to re-locate the Kelp Gull(s) at Costa del Este, but I find more Herring Gulls (up to three at the same time) and the Lesser Black-backed Gull that was reported initially by the Ahrens (thanks to Darien and the Kaufmanns). I got only a distant photo.

A day in the PRDC

The Panama Rainforest Discovery Center (PRDC) is located near the world-famous Pipeline Road in central Panama, close to the town of Gamboa. It is a great place to spend half-day or an entire day, specially if you want to have a more intimate contact with nature. I went last saturday with Gloriela, her sister Teresa and her nephew Kevin to this place just to enjoy a little bit of the great diversity it has to offer. First stop at the Gamboa Ammo Dump produced the usual Rufescent Tiger-Heron plus a party of Capybaras in the creek. Soon, we met Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck and Euclides Campos who were heading to the PRDC in order to look for the Sungrebe and the Rufous-crested Coquette that has been reported recently, so after a few minutes we followed them. In the PRDC entrance road I stopped in order to show Tere and Kevin a Rufous Motmot pearched nearby, realizing that we were very close to an antswarm. Still inside the car, Gloriela told me that she saw a bird in the ground. I asked "in the ground or in the lower branches" and she replied "in the ground... it is like a chicken!". A quick look prove it to be a Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo!!!, a life bird for Gloriela and the first one this year for me! I ran as fast as I could to the PRDC (50 mts away more or less) to alert Osvaldo, Rafael and Euclides, who came quickly. I managed to relocate the bird, but it was seen only by Euclides and Rafael (and, of course, Gloriela). Despite this was a big antswarm, the birds were very quiet. All the three specialist were attending (Spotted, Bicolored and Ocellated Antbirds), plus Plain-brown and Northern Barred Woodcreepers, Gray-headed Tanagers and the Rufous Motmot. Convinced that the Ground-Cuckoo left the antswarm (I saw it running away from the antswarm), we decided to walk to the section of Gatún lake reacheable from the Center, finding a Great Tinamou but no Sungrebes. Back at the Center, we enjoyed some beverages and the furious hummingbirds everywhere. We waited for the Coquette to appear, but the tiny bird showed up too fast... we only saw its silhouette. In spite of it, we were very entertaining by the resident hummingbirds. Jacobins, hermits, plumeleteers, mangos and all sort of hummingbirds were competing for the best places at the feeders. Specially atractive were the Black-throated Mangos. Both male and female were flying around and perching nearby, for our delight. Before leaving the place, we decided to check again the antswarm... and guess what: we find again the Ground-Cuckoo!!! When I first saw it, it was walking in the middle of the antswarm, but then it froze behind a fallen trunk. It was hard task to point it out to the others, but eventually Rafael got excellents head pictures of the bird before it disappeared. A cooperative Broad-billed Motmot was spying on us at the same time. It was so cooperative that allowed Euclides to take some pictures with his point-and-shoot camera from very close (as you can see in my picture). We also heard in the same place the characteristic buzzy call of the Slate-colored Seedeaters that, according to the Center personnel, are nesting in the area. After all, great birds and good friends made that morning an excellent morning (and any morning with a Ground-Cuckoo MUST be a good morning).

Raptors on streetlights

We have been visiting Costa del Este (Panama City) several times during this past weekend trying to locate all those rare gulls that have been reported (with success I must say!). Yesterday, I went with Gloriela and Osvaldo Quintero to the mouth of the Matías Hernández river in Costa del Este where we found two others birders (Cindy & Leslie Lieurance of Petrels in Panama) scoping the flock of gulls. The tide was too high, and the birds so far away, that we decided to drive around the streets and upriver just to see what we can get. It was a good idea since we found some interesting birds, including many raptors perched on the streetlights. Despite the lots of construction projects in the area, there are still some grassy open areas and gallery forest along the river and the coast where this raptors can hunt. By far, the most common raptor in Costa del Este (and in Panama City) is the Yellow-headed Caracara, commonly seen or heard and even very tame in some places. Its raucous screams are heard from far away. Is not unusual to find several individuals of this species. We also found a young Crested Caracara. They are more heavily builted than the Yellow-headed Caracaras, and much more uncommon in the city, but they become commoner just to the west and to the east (specially if the open areas are extensive). Later, we found a pair of American Kestrels perched on streetlights too. This beautiful little falcon is becoming widespread in Panama, just like in other countries. It used to be only an uncommon northern migrant, but now we have a resident population and nest activity have been reported from several places. The new colonizers came from the south. The males can be told apart in the field by differences in the crown and breast patterns (notice the unspotted breast of this individual). Its expansion is similar to that of the Pearl Kite some years ago. The streetlights are not the only perches in Costa del Este, nor the tallest. Other raptors, like Peregrine Falcons and Ospreys, prefer taller lookouts sites. That was true for the Osprey we spotted at the top of a construction crane, wherefrom it was thrown towards the river, probably in search of its next prey. Well, nice to see that some other birds are still surviving there, taking advantage of man-made perches!

Gulls bonanza

*Note:  The bird called Belcher's in this entry turned out to be a third-cycle Kelp Gull.  Read this post for rationale.

If you have birded in Panama, then you know that you are a lucky guy if you find any gull species apart of the omnipresent Laughings and the ocassional Franklins'. Well, yesterday a group of birders touched gold in Costa del Este because of the huge mega-flock of gulls and terns present. I saw SIX gull species in three hours, plus lots of very cool birds (many of them were year-birds). I went with Gloriela and our nephew, Michael, to Panama Viejo trying again for the Lesser Black-backed Gull (which was not present). We found again the strange Laughing Gull but this time, the flock of Laughings was accompanied by a full adult Ring-billed Gull somewhat distant. I managed to take a couple of photos for the record. You can see the white unstreaked head and the white spots in the black primaries.

Happy with the finding, we decided to move to Costa del Este, stopping by the western corner (the part closer to the city and to the "corredor sur"), finding a great assembly of birds, including gulls, terns and shorebirds. What immediately caught my attention was a huge dark-backed gull standing alone in the shoreline. It was considerably larger than the Laughing Gulls and than the Ring-billed Gull present (more on that one later), with a bulkier shape and heavy yellow bill tipped in black, followed by red (wider in the lower mandible). Dark eye. Pale yellow(ish) legs. Head and breast completely white, with no streaking. Sides of neck, flanks, belly and upper back white with diffuse dark spots. Back and wings black... blacker in the wings and with a brownish tinge in the back (specially with the bright light). The secondaries had wide white tips. I didn't saw the tail while perched inicially. I thought first it was a Kelp Gull (as I told to Ken Allaire of the Canopy Report who also saw the bird in his way to El Valle), but then the bird took flight, showing a white rump contrasting with the mostly dark tail! It also shows a wide trailing edge on wings (the secondaries tips) and almost no pattern in the underwings (pale with lots of dark markings). Checking my photos I saw a mostly dark tail, with some white on it closer to the rump. I'm still waiting the experts consensus but the tail markings id this bird as a Belcher's Gull (aka Band-tailed Gull), a very rare vagrant to Panama! Here are the photos (only cropped and sharpened, I didn't change color or contrast except otherwise stated):

The last photo shows a complete dark tail, but then you can see some white in the base of it at the first photo.

I overexposed the next photo in the field, then I increased the contrast and did some sharpening at home. It shows better the bill pattern.

In the same site we found this Ring-billed Gull, something between first and second-winter, resting with the Laughings.

While seeing the birds, I almost step on a group of Least Sandpipers accompanied by Collared, Wilson's and Semipalmated Plovers, that were resting under a little mangrove. Those Collareds' are cute, in the words of Gloriela (I'm pretty sure that you will agree).

Eventually, we were joined by Karl and Rosabel Kaufmann and then by Darién Montañez. We decided to move to the mouth of the Matías Hernández river, but the tide was too high so we decided to have lunch and go back later. The plan worked well, because we found a massive flock of gulls at the river. A careful search with the scopes produced some Franklin's Gulls, two first-winter Herring Gulls and a first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. We didn't find again the possible Belcher's Gull. The gulls were not alone. Some Black Skimmers (more than twenty) were present too. We notice that there was a single individual with paler underwings, a definitive white tail and broader white trailing edge. May be all this is due to age, or is a different subspecies? Also, lots of shorebirds were in attendance: Marbled Godwits, Willets, Southern Lapwings and Whimbrels. Convinced that the possible Belcher's Gull would not show up, we drove to Panama Viejo again, finding more interesting birds, including two Elegant Terns and the Long-billed Curlew that has been around for a while. I ended the day with seven new year-birds, including one possible Panama life bird. Good numbers for a "trip" right here in the city.