Panama: Chiriqui Highlands Jan 22—30, 2011
Posted by Kevin Zimmer
Kevin Zimmer
Kevin Zimmer has authored three books and numerous papers dealing with field identification and bird-finding in North America. His book, Birding in the American West: A Han...Related Trips
Once again, the highlands of Chiriquí, Panama dished up a wonderful mix of great birds, pleasant weather, lovely accommodations, and good food. We ended up with about 240 species in just one week of birding, and, more importantly, we encountered nearly 40 species of regional endemics, the vast majority of which are found only in the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama.
After a one-hour flight from Panama City to David, we hit the ground running, with a stop in the lower foothills near San Vicente. Although it was late morning on a sunny day, we still managed to dig out a few prizes, including the regionally endemic Riverside Wren. A lovely Pearl Kite perched on a wire near the town of Volcan was also a highlight.
We arrived at the charming Los Quetzales Lodge (LQL), our base in the Cerro Punta region, in time for a late lunch. Once we were settled into our rooms, we headed out to Bajo Grande for our introduction to the highland avifauna. My secret hope was that we could score a Resplendent Quetzal, the iconic bird of these highlands, on the first afternoon, which would make life over the next several days much easier. Bajo Grande had been good to us the past few years as regards quetzals, and one particular aguacatillo tree had produced as many as 8–9 feeding quetzals at one time. Such was not the case this year, because, as Ito had told me upon our arrival in David, the aguacatillos were not yet fruiting this year. Sure enough, we arrived to find the big tree barren of both fruit and birds. Nonetheless, we did find a sprinkling of highland birds, ranging from a perched Volcano Hummingbird to fly-by Sulphur-winged Parakeets, and both Black-billed and Ruddy-capped nightingale-thrushes. These would merely serve as prelude to our birding the next morning.
The next morning saw us out at dawn, ready to begin our highland birding in earnest. We spent much of the morning at the upper LQL cabins above Los Quetzales, birding off the deck. The forest was oddly quiet, with less vocalization than normal. In spite of this, birding from the cabin decks was most enjoyable, and the opportunity to duck inside for some coffee/hot chocolate or to warm our hands at the fire was also welcome—it may be Panama, but the mornings are chilly in those mountains! Early on, we heard the unmistakable vocalizations of a Resplendent Quetzal from the valley down below. After some scanning, we found the bird, and it was a beautiful adult male. Unfortunately, it was a long way off, and not particularly easy to spot. We got a scope on it, but the bird flew before everyone could see it. Nonetheless, I took it as a good omen to get a male quetzal this early in the trip, particularly since we didn't find a male on the 2010 tour until our final morning. Yellow-thighed Finches, with their comical pantaloons, were frequent visitors to the deck, as were a pair of smart looking Chestnut-capped Brush-Finches and a hulking pair of Large-footed Finches. Animated Collared Redstarts, restless bands of Black-cheeked Warblers, and noisy Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers also made several passes, often in association with small mixed-species flocks that also treated us to good looks at Ruddy Treerunners, and some eye level views of a spectacular pair of Flame-throated Warblers. Most of our attention was aimed at the constant parade of flashy hummingbirds at the feeders. The feeders were dominated by hordes of Magnificent Hummingbirds, while even flashier Violet Sabrewings, White-throated Mountain-gems, Green-crowned Brilliants, Green Violetears, and Stripe-tailed Hummingbirds were regular infiltrators. We even eked out a spectacular Fiery-throated Hummingbird, which made a few passes and perched briefly just below the upper cabin. A Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher that dropped into the trees overhead in response to playback was also appreciated.
Once activity off the deck slowed to a crawl, we walked farther up the road through the beautiful oak forest. Bird activity was much slower than usual, although we did hit on one mixed-species flock that yielded a Buffy Tuftedcheek, and farther up the road we encountered an especially responsive Golden-bellied Flycatcher. An afternoon excursion to Lagunas de Volcan netted a variety of goodies, ranging from multiple Masked Ducks to flashy Bay-headed Tanagers.
The next day we ranged farther afield, to near the Costa Rican border, where Finca Hartmann provided us with a somewhat different assemblage of foothill birds, along with a fascinating glimpse into the behind-the-scenes operation of a shade-coffee plantation. The hospitality of Aliss and the rest of the Hartmann family, and their efforts to produce environmentally friendly coffee while retaining as much remnant foothill forest as possible were especially heartwarming. As always, the main clearing treated us to a continuous procession of new birds, from a tree full of Fiery-billed Aracaris to mixed-species flocks with colorful Bay-headed and Speckled tanagers, to familiar Neotropical migrants from home (although there were disturbingly fewer of these than on any of my previous visits), to flashy Blue-crowned ("Blue-diademed") Motmots and Cherrie's Tanagers snatching bananas from the feeder. A hike through the forest and into the coffee plantation beyond yielded skulking Ruddy and Buff-throated foliage-gleaners and a whacking-big Pale-billed Woodpecker. After lunch and our tour of the coffee operation, we moved up to the higher parts of the finca, where we were treated to exceptional studies of Flame-colored Tanager and Emerald (= Blue-throated) Toucanet.
The next morning, our last in the Cerro Punta region, saw us back in the highland cloud forest, with Resplendent Quetzal as our primary target. This time, we tried Finca Pancho Rios, hoping that the aguacatillo trees, whose fruits the quetzal favors, might be fruiting there. The gambit paid off nicely, with not one, but two male quetzals, one with its full train and the other without. We also scored additional Long-tailed Silky-flycatchers, Mountain Elaenia, Black-capped Flycatcher, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, and repeated great studies (some at nearly eye level) of Zeledon's (a.k.a. White-fronted, a.k.a. Rough-legged) Tyrannulet, almost all of which were intent on mobbing my tape of Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl. Sadly, the recording failed to produce an actual pygmy-owl, as it had done so nicely last year.
Our last stop of the morning, at Finca Dracula, produced a pair of Red-faced Spinetails that were close enough to touch, as well as a tree full of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. After lunch, and a final check of the Los Quetzales feeders (replete with a male Scintillant Hummingbird), we bid a fond farewell to the Los Quetzales staff and headed for Boquete. Along the way, we made a surgical strike for the Torrent Tyrannulet, and a few opportunistic stops that produced Black-chested Jays and some nice looks at Red-lored and Blue-headed parrots feeding in a citrus grove. We arrived at Finca Lerida, once more in the relative cool of the highlands, in time for dinner.
Our first day in the highlands of Boquete (on the east side of the volcano) allowed us to clean up some misses among the highland avifauna that we had not seen at Cerro Punta, and get some better views of other things that we had seen, particularly Sulphur-winged Parakeet (perched nicely in the scope), Scintillant Hummingbird, Flame-colored Tanager, and White-naped Brush-Finch. An afternoon visit to one of the trails in Volcan Baru National Park served up a number of things, most notably minimum-focus views of a Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, and, our most impressive views yet of an especially splendid male Resplendent Quetzal.
On our second day in the region, we made a day-trip to the Fortuna Forest Reserve. This reserve was created to protect the forest surrounding a hydroelectric project, and the road that runs through the reserve provides a wonderful transect through cloud forest with many birds typical of the western highlands, down through middle elevation Caribbean Slope forest that is the best place in Panama for finding a number of special birds. Unfortunately, off-road access to the forest is limited, and one is always at the mercy of the generally fickle weather and its impact on flock activity. If the weather is bad (as it often is), you can't bird, and if it is too good (as it was for us), flock activity dies down early in the morning. Nonetheless, the potential pay-offs of birding this road are huge, and you are almost always rewarded with some good birds. Such was the case for us, as we picked up such treats as Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, Lineated Foliage-gleaner, Black-and-yellow Silky-flycatcher, Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, Tawny-capped Euphonia, Black-faced Grosbeak, and a nice assortment of tanagers that included Black-and-yellow, Emerald, Bay-headed, Speckled, Silver-throated, and even Rufous-winged. More impressive still was a handsome pair of Lattice-tailed Trogons (my first ones for Panama) and three Three-wattled Bellbirds (somewhat unexpected at this season), one of which was an adult male. For all of this, the show was completely stolen by a huge raptor that sailed over us and landed in a tree on the nearby ridgeline. One glance with the binoculars revealed the bird to be an adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle (we had heard one earlier), and the scope views that followed were smashing indeed!
On our last morning we headed to the nearby Culebra Trail, where we spent much of our morning staking out a swarm of tiny army ants that produced an incredible diversity of attendant birds. The bird action at the swarm was non-stop, treating us to exceptional views of some new birds, most notably Streak-breasted Treehunter, Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, and Three-striped Warbler, but also to encore performances from a number of things ranging from Yellowish Flycatcher to Collared Redstart and Yellow-thighed Finch. It was the perfect finish to an amazing trip.
All in all, it was a great week of highland birding—one that left me eagerly anticipating my return to the land of Resplendent Quetzals, great coffee, and loads of highland endemics.