BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS

The marsh was very active again this morning with excellent views of GREY-HEADED CHACHALACA, SMOOTH-BILLED ANI, GREEN KINGFISHER, KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN and several species of flycatchers and tanagers.  After quick early morning at the marsh, we picked up 26 species.  We headed for breakfast before heading over to Ancon Hill.  The breakfast was good and consisted of a buffet style that included coffee, juice, eggs, pancakes, fresh fruit, cereal, cheese, toast and the popular breakfast meat, Spam.  I left the Spam for the other guests.  The small but comfortable Garden’s Restaurant looks out on to the north side of the property that includes a few feeders and a forest edge where we watched BLUE-GRAY TANAGERS and VARIABLE SEEDEATERS as we ate.

BLUE-GRAY TANAGER

It was time to head back into the city.  I was a little nervous after our experience when we arrived, but we had a front desk clerk draw us a map to ensure that we could find our way around and get ourselves back to the Inn.  He taped together three pieces of paper and drew out a few arrows and roads and away we went.  I’d have to say that I was very impressed with his map skills as we made it over to Ancon Hill without any problems.  Ancon Hill, a forested hill in the west end of Panama City, is the location of the Panama Audubon Society’s raptor count.  Three volunteers sit up on top of Ancon Hill for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and count the annual raptor migration.  I knew their work would be cut out for them on this day.  As we approached Ancon Hill, there were more vultures circling around than I could count.  The way to the top of Ancon Hill is a single road that winds its way up the west side.  The traffic is directed by two guards, one at the bottom of the hill and one at the top.  I suggest parking down here and walking up the hill by foot, which would present the best birding opportunities as you can not stop in your car on the way up or down.  Before we headed up the hill, we found a path on the east side of the hill that you can easily walk.  It  stays flat without going up the hill.  The pathway is only 800 meters long with a loop at the end.  We found a few good species on this path.  Our first sighting was this KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN right at the beginning of the trail.

KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN

 ENTRANCE TO THE TRAIL

Some other notable sightings on this trail were PANAMA FLYCATCHER, GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH and SCARLET TANAGER.  We then headed up to the top of the hill after waiting approximately 10 minute at the bottom.  The time went by fast as this BLACK VULTURE kept us entertained.

BLACK VULTURE

At the top of Ancon Hill, the views of Panama City and the canal are amazing.

PANAMA CITY

THE PANAMA CANAL 

The top of Ancon Hill was not overly birdy except for the hundreds of Vultures soaring through the thermals.  We spent most of out time at the various lookouts admiring the stunning views.  We did manage to find a single COMMON-TODY FLYCATCHER and a pair of nesting STREAKED FLYCATCHERS.

COMMON-TODY FLYCATCHER

STREAKED FLYCATCHER 

The next stop was the Amador Causeway, which has three small Islands connected by a single causeway that heads out into the Pacific Ocean.  The only problem with this area is that there is nowhere to stop or park down the causeway until you reach the very end.  There are several places to rent a bike, so getting around to the three islands is not an issue unless you don’t like riding a bike.  The causeway, with ocean views on both sides, can also be walked but is just over 5 KM long.  I found the Amador Causeway area to be more designed for tourist than birders.  Lots of stores and restaurants with a large duty-free shop on the end.  While we had lunch here, we watched NEOTROPICAL CORMORANTS, MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS and BROWN PELICANS fly by overhead and we got some nice close up views.  A small grassy area at the end of the causeway produced a pair of SAFFRON FINCHES, our only ones seen the entire Panama trip, so that made the journey down the causeway worth the drive.

SAFFRON FINCH 

We then headed back to the Albrook Inn for a final walk around the grounds and marsh before it was time to move on.  A storm came in and it rained pretty good for about an hour so I sat outside of our room under the porch waiting for the rain to pass.  Our last trek through the marsh and it was still the most active area that we visited throughout the entire day.  While birding, we came across two other birders (the first of many on our trip), one guy from Virginia and the other from New Jersey (I’m sorry guys but I didn’t get your names).  They had been in Panama for a few days already, and we stopped to compare notes and sightings.  Just to show what a small world we live in, one of the birders asked me if I was “birdtrekkerbc”.  He had been reading my blog a few days earlier and knew I was going to be in the area and was wondering if he would run into me.  Small world folks….two birders from Vancouver, one from Virginia and one from New Jersey, meeting in a marsh in Panama and talking birds.

The two days spent in and around Panama City were a great start to our Panama bird list and a great introduction and learning experience to the birds of Panama.  Up next, we fly out to the western part of the country to the province of Chiriqui, Panama.

Here is a complete list of the birds recorded at the Albrook Inn over our two days of birding in and around the area – 45 species

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

 Grey-headed Chachalaca

Anhinga

Great Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Black Vulture

Yellow-headed Caracara

Gray-necked Wood-Rail

Purple Gallinule

Wattled Jacana

Spotted Sandpiper

Pale-vented Pigeon

 Ruddy Ground Dove

Red-lored Parrot

Smooth-billed Ani

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Keel-billed Toucan

Ringed Kingfisher

Green Kingfisher

Red-crowned Woodpecker

Lineated Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Common-Tody Flycatcher

Rusty-margined Flycatcher

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Social Flycatcher

White-ringed Flycatcher

Streaked Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

Grey-breasted Martin

House Wren

Clay-colored Thrush

Yellow Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Tropical Mockingbird

Crimson-backed Tanager

Blue-gray Tanager

Palm Tanager

Plain-colored Tanager

Buff-throated Saltator

Variable Seedeater

Black-striped Sparrow

Summer Tanager

Red-breasted Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

]]> http://birdtrekkerbc.com/2012/04/20/ancon-hill-amador-causeway-albrook-inn-panama-city-panama/feed/ 2 birdtrekkerbc Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Blue-gray Tanager Keel-billed Toucan Ancon Hill Black Vulture Black Vulture Ancon Hill View 1 Ancon Hill View 2 Common-Tody Flycatcher Steaked FC Saffron Finch http://birdtrekkerbc.com/2012/04/05/albrook-inn-metropolitan-park-panama-city-panama/ http://birdtrekkerbc.com/2012/04/05/albrook-inn-metropolitan-park-panama-city-panama/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 04:22:45 +0000 birdtrekkerbc http://birdtrekkerbc.com/?p=1463 ]]> I have to start off by saying that this trip to Panama started off with quite the adventure.  Our plane landed in Panama City at 5:30pm local time (3:30pm Vancouver time) and it took us 4 hours and several stops to find the Albrook Inn.  Driving in Panama is a real treat.   No streets are labelled and stop signs and lights are just for decoration because no one down here uses them.  The actual street names are not used by the Panama people.  We thought we had two trusty maps with us but we later found out that both of them were out of date.  The locals here are extremely friendly people and really try hard to be helpful, but have no idea how to give directions.  On three occasions we were sent the wrong way.  Anyways, to make a long story short, we finally arrived at the Albrook Inn in one piece, 4 hours after we landed.  Needless to say that we accomplished zero birding, except the first identifiable bird seen from inside the plane sitting at the gate, a GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE.  It beat a ROCK DOVE (by the way, we haven’t seen one yet) as the usual first identifiable bird of any trip.  That night I slept terrible, tossing and turning wondering if I should even leave the Inn as I may never find my way back.

DAY 1

Alarm was set for 5:30am and we were up just before sunrise.  You have the make the most of your day as you have 12 hours of sunlight as sunrise is at 6:00am and sunset is just after 6:00pm.  The alarm went off and I was ready to go.  The singing birds outside the window had me on sensory overload, especially when it’s just a bunch of bird songs that are all mixed together and I can’t identify any of them.  We walked out the door and were greeted by PALE-VENTED PIGEONS, CLAY-COLORED THRUSHES and VARIABLE SEEDEATERS.  Several Tanager species were flying back and forth through the shrubs and trees including one of my favourite BLUE-GRAY TANAGERS.  We birded the grounds of the Albrook Inn for the first hour and a half before having breakfast (included with the stay).  I was very impressed with the number of species and good birds seen around the grounds of the Albrook Inn.  They have feeders stations set up at both the front and back of the property.  There is an excellent marsh area just behind the Inn that was amazing for seeing birds.  Head over to the south-west side of the building and you’ll find a set of stairs that looks like it heads right into a palm tree jungle.  Just a few feet you come out into an open area that contains a large grassy area and marsh for some excellent birding.

MARSH AREA AT ALBROOK INN 

Some of the nice surprises on our first trip down into the marsh area included, GRAY-HEADED CHACHALACA, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, RED-CROWNED WOODPECKER, COMMON-TODY FLYCATCHER and lots of TROPICAL KINGBIRDS and VARIABLE SEEDEATERS.

After breakfast we headed over to the Metropolitan Natural Park or as it’s referred to in Panama Parque Natural Metropolitano.  The Park is a short driving distance from the Albrook Inn and is one of the best birding destinations within the city limits.  Truly an oasis inside the city.  It reminded me of Stanley Park back home in Vancouver although a little more lush with vegetation.

MAP OF THE METROPOLITAN NATURAL PARK 

THE ENTRANCE TO SENDERO LOS CAOBOS 

The Metropolitan Natural Park is covered by a tropical rainforest and a tropical dry forest.  There have been 227 bird species recorded at the park.  There are four different trails that make there way through the park and all of them are 1km or less and form a loop for easy walking and birding.  We birded the lower two trails of the park, the Sendero Los Caobos and the Sendero Los Momotides, named after the BLUE-CROWNED MOTMOT which is appropriately named as we did find one on this trail.  I’m sure the park can be easily covered within the day but not by me.  The first trail read “o.9km, moderate, 45 mins - 1 hour.”  We started there and completed our loop in 3.5 hours.  There were far to many good birds to see (and try to find) to move along any faster.  Some notable sightings included, SAPPHIRE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, SLATY-TAILED TROGAN, COCOA WOODCREEPER, KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN and THICK-BILLED EUPHONIA.  The views of Panama City were beautiful and it felt funny to be inside the middle of a jungle in the middle of a city.

VIEW OF PANAMA CITY FROM SENDERO LOS CAOBOS 

After making our way back to the entrance, we crossed over the road and birded the Sendero Los Momotides.  By now it was hot and was well past noon so the birds were a little harder to locate.  We did find a BLUE-CROWNED MOTMOT which was a good thing considering we were now birding the trail named after them.  How embarrassing would that have been if we dipped on the bird the trail was named after.  Other notable birds included DOT-WINGED ANTWREN, SOUTHERN BENTBILL and SOCIAL FLYCATCHER.

SOCIAL FLYCATCHER

After we finished up on the second of the four trails,it started to get dark and we could hear the thunder and see the lightning of the storm coming in.  We decided instead of getting caught in it, we would head over and check out the Panama Audubon Store and see what the weather would do.  The store was a little disappointing with nothing in the way to purchase except a few Trail Maps and a Birds of Panama checklist (which we picked up).  The afternoon storm was now over us so we decided to head back to the Inn and wait it out.  Once back at Albrook, Kate had a nap and I head out with a chair and sat outside and see what would fly by.  The only birds that seemed to appreciate the rain were CLAY-COLORED THRUSHES, TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRDS and GRAY-BREASTED MARTINS.

GRAY-BREASTED MARTIN

After trying to wait out the rain I headed back to the room and also fell asleep for a late afternoon nap until…….I was rudely awaken about 45 mins later by 4 RED-LORED PARROTS squawking outside the window in the tree right outside of the room.  Not a bad alarm clock if I do say so myself and efficient.

RED-LORED PARROTS

After chasing these birds around (the rain had stopped) for approx. 30 mins we decided to head back down to the marsh with the last bit of daylight we had left.  It was much quieter this time with more VARIABLE SEEDEATERS then I could count.   Our first full day in Panama and our list was off to a good start with a total of 62 species for the day.  Now I understand we are in a country with over 900 species of birds but I can only count the birds that I was able to positively 100% identify.  I’m sure the count would be well over a 100 birds after day 1 if only it was as easy as seeing our North American Birds (when I see them down here, SPOTTED SANDPIPER comes to mind, it’s nice to see a familiar face).

I’ll post the bird list for the Metropolitan Park but I’ll leave the Albrook Inn list for another blog as there was another full day of birding done in this area and we almost doubled the list.  That’s coming soon.  Time to finishes this up and get some sleep as we fly to the western part of the country tomorrow morning for the next 5 days.

Bird list for Metropolitan Natural Park – Panama City – 30 species

Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Sapphire-throated Hummingbird

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Blue-crowned Motmot

Keel-billed Toucan

Red-crowned Woodpecker

Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Cocoa Woodcreeper

Dot-winged Antwren

Dusky Antbird

Southern Bentbill

Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird

Rufous-breasted Wren, House Wren

Clay-clored Thrush

Mourning Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler

White-shoulder Tanager, Crimson-backed Tanager

Green Honeycreeper

Buff-throated Saltator

Variable Seedeater, Thick-billed Seed-Finch

Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, Red-throated Ant-Tanager

Thick-billed Euphonia

We return to Panama City by plane after visiting the west side of the country then head to our next destination and stop over for the next two days, Los Mandarinos Hotel in El valle de Anton or more simple called by the local El Valle.

 Los Mandarinos

El Valle is a beautiful picturesque mountain town located in the caldera of an extinct volcano.  The birding locations are numerous and I’m sure we won’t even be able to scratch the surface in our 2 days in El Valle.  The two main areas that I would like to cover are Altos de la Rioca and El Valle Rd that covers 14 km of forest and jungle covered road.  El Valle area contains 318 recorded species, so I don’t think we will have any problems keeping ourselves busy no matter which area we choose to bird in.

Next we move on to the Canopy B&B in Gamboa for our final 5 days in Panama.  Once again we are visiting an area rich and diverse in both fauna and birds so trying to divide up our 5 days won’t be easy.  Right now plans are to spend a day or two birding in Saberonia National Park and the world-famous Pipeline Rd.  I’ve heard many good things about Pipeline Rd and some very good species have been recorded along this road.

Canopy B&B in Gamboa

While in Gamboa we have a boating trip planed up the Rio Chagres in hopes of seeing some of the great water species up close.  I’ve always enjoyed roadside birding and the one other time I’ve done river side birding (in Costa Rica) I was as equally impressed.

Rio Chagres

On another one of the days, we plan to drive north to the small town of Portobelo to cover a wide area of birding locations and once again enter the waters to do some snorkeling and look for coastal birds.

There is so much to see and do I can already tell that another trip to Panama is going to be in order.  However before I get way ahead of myself I have this trip to look forward to and hopefully add some life long birds to my world list.  I have picked out a few of the target birds that I hope to find.  It won’t be easy but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  The target birds for Panama are:

HARPY EAGLE – this bird has been on my list for years and I dipped on it in Costa Rica.

RUFUOUS-VENTED GROUND CUCKOO

BLUE-THROATED TOUCANET

BLACK-CROWNED ANTPITTA

RED-HEADED BARBET

CERULEAN WARBLER – not a resident of Panama, but migrates through between late March to middle of April.

That’s only the small list.  There are hundreds of birds that I’m hoping to find but those birds mentioned above are high on the list.  I will try my best to cover as much as the trip as possible when I’m in Panama.  However from past travel experience it’s not always easy.  The two things that seem to get in my way are internet access and time.  I’m either in a place were I can’t get access, or if I can after 12-14 hours of birding I’m so tired by the end of the day I just don’t have the energy to sort through hundreds of pictures and get the reports up daily.  Sometimes it’s a challenge to get the days bird counts into eBird.  I will do my best to update as I trek along, but the majority of the trip and photo’s probably won’t get posted until I’m back home.

Well, this is it, only 3 more sleeps to go…….

My goal here was to try to record as many species as possible that I could see or hear.  I didn’t fare nearly as well as Russell and missed out on some very common everyday birds.  That’s the beauty of birding, you just never know what you might find.  The most notable misses were WOOD DUCK,  STELLER’S JAY, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH and PURPLE FINCH, all three birds I find on a regular basis in the wooded park next door to where I live.  I was also disappointed in not picking up any spring migrants except TREE SWALLOW.  I’ll excuse myself on that technicality due to the very cold and wet spring we’ve had so far in Vancouver.  I’m sure the birds are perched somewhere down south, watching the weather reports on Vancouver and thinking to themselves…”too cold up there, let’s chill down here until they get better weather.”

I’m sorry for all of you that like to follow along with pictures, I didn’t take any.  Although I was armed with my camera it was more about a guy and his binoculars today.  The only real great photo opportunity that presented itself were the SNOWY OWLS in Delta.  I had found two of the twelve counted right off the dyke, 10 feet away.  It was the one and only time that I left the camera behind in the car.  I attempted a few shots with my iPhone but as great as these gadgets are, they still can’t take a picture to save a life.

I started the day just before 6:30am and the start to my list was the early morning birds singing and dancing when I took Zazu (my dog) out for his morning walk.  In 10 minutes I ticked off NORTHWESTERN CROW, PACIFIC WREN, AMERICAN ROBIN, SPOTTED TOWHEE and SONG SPARROW.  The weather stayed clear and sunny and reached highs of 11C, so it was a beautiful spring day for a full day of birding.

Below is the breakdown of my day and new species I found at that particular location.

Leyland Park – West Vancouver - 6:25am to 6:40am, Northwestern Crow, Pacific Wren, American Robin, Spotted Towhee and Song Sparrow

Library Square – Downtown Vancouver – 7:07am to 7:18am, Glaucous-winged Gull, Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow

Jericho Park – Vancouver - 7:30am to 9:00am, Canada Goose, American Wigeon, Mallard, Ring-necked Duck, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Double-created Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, American Coot, Western Gull, Mourning Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, Black-capped Chickadee, Bushtit, Bewick’s Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Fox Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch.

Iona Island – Richmond - 9:20am to 11:00am, Snow Goose, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Killdeer, Mew Gull, Tree Swallow, Marsh Wren, European Starling.

Boundary Bay @ 72nd – Delta – 11:20am to 12:00pm, Northern Harrier, Snowy Owl.

Serpentine Fen – Surrey – 12:20pm to 1:05pm, Cackling Goose, Eurasian-collared Dove, House Finch.

Elgin Heritage Park – Surrey – 1:12pm to 2:00pm, Belted Kingfisher, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper.

Blackie Spit – Surrey – 2:10pm to 2:30pm, Ring-billed Gull.  **side note, worst time to visit as the tide was out**

White Rock Pier – White Rock - 2:38pm to 3:00pm, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Common Merganser.

Queen Elizabeth Park – Vancouver – 3:40pm to 4:15pm – Nothing new added.

Leyland Park – West Vancouver - 5:00pm to 5:30pm – Nothing new added but was really hoping to find my Steller’s Jay and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Maplewood Flats – North Vancouver - 6:15pm to 7:20pm – Spotted Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Downy Woodpecker.

Ambleside Park – West Vancouver - 7:35pm to 8:00pm – Lesser Scaup

Leyland Park – West Vancouver – 8:10pm to 8:20pm – Nothing new, one last chance at some common birds missed.

The final totals for my BIG day were – 13 hours 55 mins – 69 species with only one spring migrant.  Next BIG day is planned when I get back home from Panama and hopefully by then some of our summer birds will have returned.

1. Maplewood has always been my home away from home when it comes to birding hotspots.  I spend more time at Maplewood than anywhere else in the entire Vancouver Area.

2. I really am terrible at finding Owls, but that has nothing to do with this blog

Yesterday I had a day off and was so excited to get out for the day and do a real good bird.  It’s not something I’ve been able to do to many times so far this year.  With the upcoming “Bird Walk For Beginner’s” on March 30th, I was looking forward to getting myself back to my second home to see what’s been hanging out, and become acquainted with Maplewood once again.  The weather had a different idea as most of the morning it was heavy rains mixed with some pretty strong wind gusts.  I waited it out and finally the clouds broke just before noon.  Armed with my gear and scope I made the trip down to Maplewood.  I went with no expectations, I was just glad to be walking the trails of my favourite birding hotspot and my local patch.  The tide was in and I’m sure due to the recent rains, the highest I’ve ever seen in on the east side mudflats.  No luck with finding the SAY’S PHOEBE and I’m sure it’s moved on by now as there have been no sightings reported since the weekend, but I did get to watch the wintering SPOTTED SANDPIPER patrol up and down the beach for a while.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER

As I was watching the SPOTTED SANDPIPER, a pair of RED CROSSBILLS also came down to the shoreline to forage along the rocks.

 MALE RED CROSSBILL

FEMALE RED CROSSBILL

It was a nice show that the two of them put on.  I took my normal route around the rest of the east side loop, crossed over the wooden bridges and made my way over to the main pond and west side salt marsh.  The number of BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES calling for “cheeseburgers” was amazing.  I counted over 40 birds in 30 minutes.  Off the lookout on the west side I found a floatation of approx. 300 SURF SCOTERS with a few COMMON GOLDENEYES mixed in to keep me on my toes and a lone HORNED GREBE pretty close to shore.  The pond was empty, except for a few MALLARDS and one AMERICAN COOT.  I continued with heading north, taking the loop through the cottonwood forest.  I came across a few chirping GOLDEN-CROWNED and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS and the sound of spring, two PACIFIC WRENS calling out to one another.

In terms of species or number of birds, it was just a regular Maplewood day.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  In terms of me being able to get out and do what I love to do, it was an amazing day.  It was so nice to be back “home” and I am looking forward too seeing what Maplewood has to offer in 2012.  My good friend Rob Lyske wrote an article in the Summer/Fall 2011 edition of Wingspan and made mention of a few of the great sightings in 2011.  It’s worth the read and you can find older copies of Wingspan on the Wild Bird Trust Website – http://www.wildbirdtrust.org/

Ulysse Guide to Panama

The Rough Guide to Panama

National Geographic Panama Adventure Map

And of course the bird books

A Bird Finding Guide to Panama

The Birds Of Panama A Field Guide

As we get ready for our Panama bird trekking adventures, I will post our plans over the next couple of weeks, where we plan to go and what we hope to see.  We arrive in Panama City the afternoon of April 3rd, 2012 and will be staying at the Albrook Inn for the first three days.  The Albrook Inn is located 10 minutes from downtown Panama City and is very close to several birding destinations.

ALBROOK INN

Our first three days in Panama will be spent birding in areas around Panama City and the Panama Canal.  I’m not sure exactly what order we will be doing our day trips in but will include 1 day at El Parque Natural Metropolitano, the Stanley Park of Panama.  The arque Natural Metropolitano is 232 hectares of tropical dry forests that contains over 250 species of birds.  It’s a great place to get aquainted with the local Panama Birds.

Another day will be spent on a pelagic tour in the Pacific Ocean that will take us 1.5 hours south of the Panama Coast to a small group of Islands called the Archipelago des los Perlas, or Pearl Islands.  We will stop at Contadora Island for a few hours of reef snorkelling, and of course bird watching, then the 1.5 hour ride back to the mainland.  We’re hoping to see lots of the Panama pelagic species such as Shearwaters, Petrels, Boobies (yes, the birds) and Gannets.  The waters and coastline contain over 150 species of pelagic and shore birds.

CONTADORA ISLAND

Our third day around Panama City will include a trip to the Tocumen Marsh, a local birding hotspot located right next to the airport where will we will fly out of when we head west towards the Panama / Costa Rica border.  The Tocumen marsh area is an open wetlands that is home to over 170 species of birds.  We thought about driving across the country, but it was a five hour drive non-stop, so it would take me 12 hours by the time I pulled over to check out every bird we drove past.  As much as I love to explore and drive countries, I didn’t want to waste two days of the trip of driving back and forth, so we are going to fly.

We arrive in Guadalupe on day 4 and will be spending 5 days on the west side of the country birding at La Amistad International Park, Volcan Baru National Park, Fortuna Reservoir and Oleoducto Rd, that travels over the Continental Divide.  We will be covering all elevations from sea level to high mountain cloud forests.  The one place we are staying, Los Quetzales Ecolodge is home to breeding RESPLENDENT QUETZALS and contains over 500 species in the surrounding areas.

LOS QUETZALES 

That pretty much covers our plans for the first part of the trip.  I’m getting more and more excited as the days go by.  I will share the plans for the second half with you all soon, so stayed tuned.  I will also be sharing my target bird list before we head down and hope that I’m just as fortunate as I was in Costa Rica (I went 100%) for the birds I hope to see.

We set off for Iona in hopes of catching a few good birds.  Anything would have been great and an addition to my 2012 list as so far it has stood at 12 birds, all yard and nearby park birds.  I don’t think I’ll be setting any kinds of records this year.

The wind was cool and I wasn’t properly dressed for the weather but that didn’t stop me from setting up the scope and scanning the ponds and river.  It was a big duck day today with finding 10 species, the highlights including a pair of RING-NECKED DUCKS and a lone CANVASBACK .

Another highlight of the afternoon were catching 6 TRUMPETER SWANS and a flock of SNOW GEESE along the river banks.

 I really don’t have much else to report.  I’ll give you the full days count below.  It was just nice to finally get out and get some quality birding done.  I’m really looking forward to getting to Panama were we have over two weeks of birding ahead of us.  In the next couple of weeks I’ll be blogging about our upcoming trip with our schedules, places we will be visiting and so on, so please stay tuned for that.  In the meantime I am hoping to get out in the next few weeks to catch up on my local birding and increase those 2012 numbers.  Here we are in the middle of March and I only have 41 BC species to date.  You know you’re rusty when you start hunting down a SONG SPARROW because his chirping is throwing you for a loop.

Birding Results at Iona Inner Ponds – March 11, 2012 - 28 species

1. Snow Goose
2. Canada Goose
3. Trumpeter Swan
4. Gadwall
5. American Wigeon
6. Mallard
7. Northern Pintail
8. Green-winged Teal
9. Canvasback
10. Ring-necked Duck
11. Lesser Scaup
12. Bufflehead
13. Common Merganser
14. Pied-billed Grebe
15. Double-crested Cormorant
16. Great Blue Heron
17. Bald Eagle
18. American Coot
19. Ring-billed Gull
20. Glaucous-winged Gull
21. Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
22. Northwestern Crow
23. Sparrow Sp. (either Tree or Violet Green but not a good enough look to ID 100%)
24. Marsh Wren
25. Spotted Towhee
26. Song Sparrow
27. Golden-crowned Sparrow
28. Red-winged Blackbird

https://www.facebook.com/groups/343672745661997/?profile_pic_upload=1&success=1#!/groups/343672745661997/

If that doesn’t work just do a search for Birding British Columbia.

I know that we have plenty of forums, websites, rare bird lists etc in our province and it’s not my plan is not to overwhelm anyone.  Just another casual avenue to stay in touch and share pictures and stories.  What the heck, I’m sure most of us are all on Facebook anyways.  It also helps put a face to all those names that we see on forums but wouldn’t know the person if we bumped into them on the Iona South Jetty (unless your profile pic on Facebook is a bird).  Hope to see you fellow birders over on Facebook because who doesn’t need “more friends”.

Happy 2012 fellow birders.  I look forward to crossing paths in the field.

Iona South Jetty

Armed with my scope and camera (you need a scope if you’re going to hope for some decent waterbirds as they are always way out there) I started my first 4km trek heading south.  The tide was in, and it brought the AMERICAN WIGEONS, MALLARDS, NORTHERN PINTAILS and GREEN-WINGED TEALS close to the rocky bank.

Iona Jetty, at the beginning....

After passing the first wind shelter, the ducks started to thin out and the COMMON LOONS, HORNED GREBES and SURF SCOTERS started to make an appearence.

Heavily Cropped Horned Grebe

A few MEW GULLS flew overhead with the odd GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL and HERRING GULL mixed through.  After hitting the 2.5km marker, I noticed a very large flock of birds playing leap frog as they continued to get closer.  About 50 birds would start, land in the water, then the next group would come up from behind them and land just in front of them.  This continued for a few minutes as they continues to move closer to the jetty and then head down towards the shore.  These playful birds were a large flock of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS.  I counted over 300 of them.  Looking back at my past lists, this is the largest number of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS I have ever seen at one time.  As I continued on towards the end of the jetty, SONG SPARROWS kept giving me fits.  I’d see one jump up onto the path in front of me, then back down to the rocks before I had a good look.  A few of them were close enough that I knew they were SONG SPARROWS, but a few of them stayed far enough ahead that they were playing games with me making me think, “Could that have been a Longspur?”  A couple of them did trick me because they were SAVANNAH SPARROWS and AMERICAN PIPITS.  As I got close to the end, I saw a larger bird fly by me on the left and land on the pathway behind me.  I knew immediately that is wasn’t a sparrow.  I got the binos on it and saw a VARIED THRUSH.  What a strange place to see a VARIED THRUSH, and what a nice sighting on the jetty!  It’s a very common bird in my backyard but not a bird I’d expect to see on a rock jetty in open water 4km from land.

At the end of the jetty, I scanned the rocks with my scope and found a nice mixed flock of peeps…standing room only.

Standing room only...peeps on a rock.

As I scanned through them, I was able to find WESTERN SANDPIPERS, DUNLIN and SURFBIRDS mixed throughout a large number of SANDERLINGS.

Western Sandpipers, Dunlin, Surfbirds & Sanderlings

I spent a good 30 minutes looking through them making sure I wasn’t missing something rare.  A few BONAPARTE’S GULLS were in the water around the rocks and a couple more SURF SCOTERS flew by but no LAPLAND LONGSPURS or HORNED LARKS to be seen anywhere.  Maybe I will have better luck on the way back.  I turned around and started my trek back to the parking area.

Ready to head back...only 4km to go

The walk back found several more MEW GULLS and SURF SCOTERS on the north side of the jetty but nothing new.  Looks like it’s still too early for the SNOW BUNTINGS, and it just wasn’t my day for Larks or Longspurs.  I was able to find a few good birds though, and I think the bird of the day was the VARIED THRUSH as he was in an unusual location.

4 hours and 8kms later,  I counted 28 species on and around the south jetty

1. Canada Goose
2. American Wigeon
3. Mallard
4. Northern Shoveler
5. Northern Pintail
6. Green-winged Teal
7. Surf Scoter
8. Red-breasted Merganser
9. Common Loon
10. Horned Grebe
11. Double-crested Cormorant
12. Great Blue Heron
13. Surfbird
14. Sanderling
15. Western Sandpiper
16. Dunlin
17. Bonaparte’s Gull
18. Mew Gull
19. Ring-billed Gull
20. Herring Gull
21. Glaucous-winged Gull
22. Northwestern Crow
23. Varied Thrush
24. American Pipit
25. Spotted Towhee
26. Savannah Sparrow
27. Song Sparrow
28. Golden-crowned Sparrow

Steller's Jay

It’s at this time of the year that I like to remember I still have lots to learn when it comes to birding and stop overlooking the common species like the SONG SPARROW.

Song Sparrow

I’ve often wondered how a birder finds the rare ICELAND GULL in among thousands of gulls, or the SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER at Boundary Bay in amongst thousands of peeps and ducks.  I can’t recall the last time I’ve scanned through a large flock of birds and found a rarity in among them.  The reason why is because I forget about going back to the basics.  If I was more patient and took my time, I’d probably be much more successful in finding the rarities.  How many times have I looked through a large flock of gulls, seen mostly MEW GULLS and assumed that they must all be MEW GULLS and stop looking?  I remember several years ago seeing hundreds of robins on a grassy picnic area.  I started to look through them and gave up after counting 50 Robins and just assumed they were all Robins.  Suddenly, I heard the “tone-deaf” VARIED THRUSH and scanned through them all again.  Sure enough there was one VARIED THRUSH in the middle of all the robins that I would have missed had he not spoken up and said, “Hey buddy, don’t forget to count me.”  Now I was lucky this time as I wouldn’t count that as a missed rarity, but suppose it was something unusual or rare.  I would have completely missed it because I couldn’t be bothered looking through a bunch of Robins, rookie mistake!  The reason I love birding so much is that it’s relaxing, an awesome learning experience and the thrill of the hunt hoping to see something new.  So why do I feel rushed when I get a flock of birds that I can’t be bothered sometimes to take my time and correctly identify each one as I scan through them instead of assuming I already know what they are?  That’s why I need to go back to the basics.  I have a large collection of bird books that I read and then put away.  I always have my National Geographic and Beginner’s Guide to Shorebirds with me in the field, but the others are full of valuable information, and I have begun to take them out and start reading them again.

Back to the Basic with my bird books

Birding 101

I have had several requests from fellow birders, beginners and advanced, to go out and do some birding with them.  What valuable lessons can I help teach someone if I am practicing bad habits myself when it comes to watching and studying birds in the field?  How many times have I seen or heard a SONG SPARROW or SPOTTED TOWHEE and not even given them the time of day?  They can be some of the most interesting birds to watch.  I’ve heard birders call them “boring” or not interesting, heck I’ve heard that all too often when it comes to gulls.  I used to be one of those birders.  I found that when I took the time to study a bird in its natural habitat and learned the songs and sounds of a bird, then it wasn’t so frustrating when it came to identifying the bird.  That takes patience and just spending the time in the field watching the birds.  I have to remember that I’m not going to be able to find and count every bird in a particular area when I go birding.  Staying focused on what I’m watching and observe its habits, its movements, and any sounds it makes is what makes me a better birder.  Reading and studying my books when it’s too rainy to go into the field also helps me to be a better birder.  The key is to never become complacent or think I know everything.  That’s when I’m at my worst, and that’s when it’s time for me to return to the basics.