2014's CBCs: Pacific & Atlantic

The Pacific and Atlantic Christmas Bird Counts were conducted on Sunday 27 December and 4 January (2015) respectively, organized by the Panama Audubon Society (PAS).  I'm summarizing both counts in this post, in part because my assigned areas for both counts are rather similar: coastal habitats with a variety of vegetation, from mangroves to patches of secondary forest and open areas.  In the Pacific CBC, my counting area is the west bank of the Panama Canal... from Farfán to Veracruz.  Our meeting point was the pond at Farfán, where some rare ducks have been reported in the previous week.  There, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck and I met Alfred Raab, who joined us this year.

Let's count some birds!

Thanks to Alfred's scope, we where able to quickly identify the distant ducks in the ponds, including a flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, more than 40 Blue-winged Teals (but not Cinnamon Teals), a pair of Northern Shovelers and a single male Lesser Scaup.

Lesser Scaup

The last two are rare for the count circle (and for Panama); in fact, the Lesser Scaup needs full documentation... that's why I took this digiscoped photo with my phone.  After Farfán, we drove to Veracruz beach, looking specially for shorebirds.  We found some fine species, including some  Sanderlings resting in the same rocks that a group of terns... including a Common Tern, also rare for the count (and deserving full documentation as well).

Sanderlings

Royal, Common and Sandwich Terns (and some Willets)

We got many more interesting species, like Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Black Terns and a pair of American Oystercatchers back in Farfán.  In fact, the oystercatchers were the last birds we saw for the Pacific CBC before lunch.  One week later, I was in the other extreme of the Panama Canal, this time in Colon province for the Atlantic CBC with my friend Rafael Luck.  Our assigned area was Galeta Point, a reserve that holds a marine laboratory of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.  The weather forecast was not good... large waves would hit the coast all morning.

Galeta

Those were bad news for the shorebirds, our main objectives.  We did not see a single shorebird species that day... but saw several Sandwich and Royal Terns, some Laughing Gulls, a distant Parasitic Jaeger and one Common Tern, a rare sight as I mentioned before.

Common Tern

The inland part of the site was well covered by dozens of researchers and students in the morning, so we kept birding the coast.  However, in the afternoon, we birded the main road and the mangrove forests along it... we were lucky enough to find some specialties previously reported and some new birds for the count.  I really liked the warblers: Black-and-white, Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Magnolia and Prothonotary Warblers were quite easy to see.

Prothonotary Warbler

But the real highlight was a female Northern Parula accompanying them, allowing some photos and great views.  We were unable to relocate two rare species seen the day before (Praire Warbler and Ovenbird); although I don't know if any of the other groups working Galeta saw them.  The Northern Parula is a rare, but regular, migrant to these mangrove forests.

Female Northern Parula

Female Northern Parula

My personal highlight was not a warbler.  While seeing them, a large bird flew into the mangroves.  The soft plumage, slim profile and bandit mask make it unmistakable: a Mangrove Cuckoo.

Mangrove Cuckoo

After many years counting birds in Galeta, this is my first Mangrove Cuckoo for the site.  So, as you can see, there is always something new in the CBCs surprising you.  I still don't have the official numbers of these counts, but I'm glad to participate and contribute in this activity...  see you in Christmas for the next counts!

Gabrielle's first Christmas Bird Count

Today we participated in the Atlantic Christmas Bird Count organized by the Panama Audubon's Society (PAS)... and "we" includes my wife Gloriela and my two years-old Gabrielle.  We woke up very early in the morning and took the highway all the way to Galeta Point, in the Galeta Island Protected Area.  There, we met with a group of biology students and their professors who volunteered to participate with us.

After organizing the group, we went to the coastal habitats looking for shorebirds and seabirds.  The activity was pretty low in that matter, probably this American Crocodile had something to do with the lack of shorebirds?

The truth is that I really like Galeta.  Is quiet and scenic, with nice Caribbean beaches and a northwest breeze that keeps everything fresh.  The only shorebirds in the area were the Black-bellied Plovers resting at the breakwater.

However, after a persistent search at every corner of that coast, we found a lonely Ruddy Turnstone resting nervously.

We decided to sit and wait.  Gabrielle seemed to be enjoying the trip a lot!

While Gabrielle was playing with the pebbles at the beach, a small tern appeared over the sea accompanying a pair of larger Sandwich Terns.  The red feet, dark carpal bar and dark wedge to the upperwings confirm the ID: a Common Tern, a rarity for the count.

My distant shot is only for documenting the sighting... at least in this one the red feet are obvious.  By the end of the day, we counted 82 species... not bad at all, including this cooperative Broad-winged Hawk in the way out.

Nice day in the Caribbean coast!

2012 CBCs: Atlantic circle

Yesterday was this year last  Christmas Bird Count organized by the Panama Audubon Society, in the Caribbean side of the canal.  With the new highway from Panama City, it is only mere 45 minutes to Colon city and many of the count areas, so Osvaldo Quintero and I drove in the dark in order to be at the Galeta Island Protected Area by sunrise.

Since none of the counters actually lives in the Caribbean side, this count have less participants than the others... so each count area is huge.  Ours included Galeta Point, Colon City, Margarita, Mindi and the Diversion creek.  At Galeta, the main habitat is coastal and mangroves.

However, it was in the forested area of the protected area where we saw the best day of our day... a beautiful Capped Heron by the road... the autofocus of my camera got confused and the result is the worst photo ever of this species... thanks God, this one is unmistakable!

We checked all the areas in a quick succession, finding many sites with degraded habitat, which is a shame.  Some common birds, like House Sparrow and Royal Tern are probably only reliable found in these areas.  The same is for the Sapphire-throated Hummingbird... readily identified in this shot by its forked tail and slightly downcurved bill. 

The only photographic opportunity that we took was with a little flock of Plain-colored Tanagers feeding in a Cecropia tree.  Not so plain after all!

Probably not the best count in terms of numbers anymore... but still a great experience!

PAS Atlantic Christmas Birds Count

One more time january has come and our first birding trip of the year have been to the Caribbean coast, attending the Atlantic CBC organized by the Panama Audubon Society. This was the 40th edition of this count in Panama... a count that occupied the first place for 19 consecutively years worldwide! We were assigned to the areas of Galeta Point, Colon City, Margarita, Mindi and Diversion Creek, all at the east side of the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. These areas include a vast territory and a great variety of habitats, making it a very pleasant tour full of birds. Our first stop in route to Galeta, over a bridge at the mangroves, produced many water birds, including lots of Green Herons, but also egrets, Ringed Kingfisher, Panama Flycatcher and Straight-billed Woodcreepers. We made many stops along the way before reaching the ANAM rangers station where, after a short introduction, they allowed us the entrance to the protected area. Galeta Point is the name of a Smithsonian's Marine Laboratory located on a tiny peninsula at the Caribbean coast sheltered by a coral reef. It has some facilities for the visitors and even a place to stay for researchers and, occasionally, tourists. It reminds me Culebra Point, but with smaller buildings and a bigger protected area including mangroves, reefs, sandy beaches, rocky shores, grasslands and secondary forest... all inside the counting circle. We spent most of the time at the habitats close to the laboratory, finding a huge caiman at the grassland close to the antennas and a huge group of waders at the mangroves. Inspecting the shores at the main building produced some plovers (Black-bellied and Semipalmated), Ruddy Turnstones and a lonely Belted Kingfisher (perhaps the only one for the count). We took few minutes to admire the exhibitions which include some sea turtles, equinoderms, and a curious pufferfish, before moving to another area: Colon City. We were searching for gulls and terns at the Colon 2000 Cruises Port, finding only Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns... and a huge cruise ship anchored waiting the tourists. We found also many common city birds in the suroundings, including Rock Pigeons, Tropical Mockingbirds, Ruddy Ground-Doves and Great-tailed Grackles along the drive through the streets of the city. Colon City (also known as Aspinwall City) is the only pre-designed city in Panama, with perfectly squared streets and many monuments. Also, it shelters important companies for the national economy, like the Colon Free Zone, the Cristobal port and the containers ports. It is a shame that all this wealth is not well distributed making the poverty and the unemployment serious problems in the city, explaining partly the high index of delinquency. After finding the House Sparrows at the central avenue, we headed to Margarita and Mindi, closer to the locks. More common birds, including many flycatchers and parakeets, so we drove along the Diversion Creek, making many stops in the way in order to check the ponds and the river. We found many Green Kingfishers, more egrets, Wattled Jacanas, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and three Anhingas, including the male that I picture here (a life bird for Gloriela!). While we were approaching the Gatun locks, we could estimate how the expansion works are changing already the landscape. Some birding sites are already gone, including most of the Gatun 's settlement. After a long wait, we crossed the canal through the one-lane bridge at the locks and we could not avoid admire that marvel before going to the meeting point. The Gatun locks are the biggest one of the canal and receive daily a huge amount of visitors. We arrived early to the meeting point (the former Tarpon Club) so I had time to take some photos of the Gatun Dam, the place where the mighty Chagres river re-emerge from the Gatun lake. The dike and the lake were once the major ones of the world, and reflect the arduous work that spent the builders of this magnificent work of engineering. The participants began to arrive, being welcome by a pair of American Kestrels on the wires, a pair of Masked Tityras excavating a nest and a calling Black-tailed Trogon. Soon, we all gathers, reviewing our lists. The preliminary results were not as good as we expected so everybody were assigned to new areas for the evening. We returned to Galeta, together with Wallace and Beverly... but it was too late so the gate was locked. They stayed in the surroundings (and pointed me out a Wood Stork that surely is the only one of the count) while we headed again to Colon 2000, searching more gulls and shorebirds (but nothing else showed up). Well, a nice day counting birds at the Caribbean side of Panama, meeting with old and new friends and having a great time initiating the new year!