Greater White-fronted Geese

Haven't posted for a while so I thought I'd throw up some photos of the GWFG that have been hanging around Lee Brown's for a while down at Long Point. They seemed to have disappeared for a week before showing up again - luckily for me since I missed them when they first showed up. People have been seeing Cacklers here as well, but I haven't caught up with them yet. Lee Brown's is also one of the best places to find Eurasian Wigeons around Long Point but nothing so far. Well, until Richard Skevington found one way up the Big Creek valley off the E 1/4 Line by RR#45. I dipped on it today.

and then it lost it's head...

Blackbirds are always fun to pick through for goodies. 

I had a flock of Redpolls today near Walsingham feeding in a weedy field and one of them jumped out as being extremely pale. I was 95% sure it was going to be Hoary if I could manage a decent look at it - they weren't that close and I didn't have my scope. They flew up into some trees and I couldn't relocate the bird in question. The redpoll above was the palest one I could find but it's just a CORE (streaked undertail coverts for one).

De-extinction video and links

There's a bit of buzz out there with the idea of de-extinction - bringing back extinct species using cutting edge science technology and techniques. It looks like a group of scientists are already working on bringing back the Passenger Pigeon. Instead of rehashing articles already out there I'll simply provide some links. I personally found the TED talks video informative and entertaining - like most of their videos.

Stewart Brand: The dawn of de-extinction. Are you ready?
http://www.ted.com/talks/stewart_brand_the_dawn_of_de_extinction_are_you_ready.html

The Plan to Bring the Iconic Passenger Pigeon Back From Extinction
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/passenger-pigeon-de-extinction/

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Locally, I went out for a quick jaunt into Haldimand County today and found a pair of Sandhill Cranes near the Grand River. While they are easy to find around Long Point, I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see them elsewhere.

And love'm or hate'm, the wind turbines are starting to go up fast in Haldimand

Snow Geese - Long Point

Back to blogging now that I'm back in Canada. I just posted photos of Resplendent Quetzals I saw in Panama, so check my previous post if you are interested in seeing those. This blog will be a Panama / Norfolk County mash up for the next little while. 

As everyone knows, spring migration is well underway with blackbirds, Killdeer, Tundra Swans, geese and ducks leading the charge. Every expected duck species is back at Long Point except for Blue-winged Teal as far as I can tell. Still thousands of swans around - check the waters off Port Rowan and the fields west of Port Royal. I'm still hoping for some Greater White-fronted and Ross's Geese to make an appearance, but I was happy to find 6 Snow Geese on Tuesday landing in a field with Tundra Swans. Once they landed it was tough to see all 6 of them, although a few were visible. 

Viewed from Front Rd 

As viewed from the Port Rowan pier.

 Large flocks of Wild Turkey are often easy to find in Haldimand County.

Resplendent Quetzal !!! - Feb 3rd, 2013

Yup, I know, I haven't blogged in forever - and no my fingers weren't broken. Basically wifi was hard to come by for part of my trip, and I made a decision to postpone blogging until I was back home in Canada. It's also nice to "disconnect" from technology when backpacking and I thoroughly enjoyed not having a cell phone, and barely turning on a computer.

For the next few weeks or so this blog is going to be a mash-up of Panama adventures and Norfolk nature sightings as we head into spring migration.  Hopefully I can get the Panama stuff out of the way relatively quickly. 

February 3rd was all about the Resplendent Quetzals - easily found at the start of the Los Quetzales trail on the Cerro Punta / Guadalupe side of Vulcan Baru. We saw 1 female, 1 immature male, and 2 full males as I recall. We got stunning views of them feeding, and flying directly overhead with the long tail streamers - incredible! 

First, the crappy back-lit photos I was able to obtain:

And here are a few AMAZING photos (of the same birds) from a photographer I was birding with:

Photo credits Michael Kuijl. Do not use his photos without permission please. 

Guadalupe - Los Quetzales Ecolodge

I just typed up a bunch of stuff and then lost it all. Damn blogger. Somehow it didn't automatically save a draft either.

Day 9 - January 30th - entirely spent in transit to the Western Highlands, Guadalupe to be exact. It's easy to travel by bus when there's only one main highway running east/west across the country. Just get on buses headed the direction you want to go. The weather in the highlands was warm at times, and a bit cool, rainy, and breezy at other times.

Day 10, 11, 12, 13 - January 31st to the morning of February 3rd. Birded the Los Quetzales Ecolodge trails, La Amistad International Park (shared with Costa Rica), Finca (farm) Rios, and the trailhead of the Los Quetzales Trail. Day 13 will get it's own post in the near future.

Guadalupe is just about Cerro Punta, beside Vulcan Baru, the tallest mountain in Central America. I liked the area so much I spent an extra day here. The Los Quetzales Ecolodge is nice because although it has some fancy cabins in the woods, it also has a dormitory for the more budget minded traveller. The weather in the

The farmers in the area have these beautiful fields of vegetable up the slopes - but it's also a big reason why there's a lot of deforestation in the area. 

 Mountain Elaenia - correct me if I'm wrong.

 Ochraceous Pewee was a bird I wasn't expecting. Basically only found in Panama on the trail above Los Quetzales Ecolodge.

Hummingbirds go nuts at the feeders here. I ID'd 8 species, but missed a couple no doubt. Clockwise: Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Violet Sabrewing, White-throated Mountain-gem. 

Yellow-thighed Finches are common.

 Flame-colored Tanagers are nice to look at. 

 Long-tailed Silky-flycatchers are abundant.

El Valle - days 7 and 8

No bird photos this entry - you can stop reading now if you like.

After birding most of the morning around Gamboa on January the 28th I got a late start heading out to the mountain town of El Valle west of Panama City. Taking a bus into Panama City, and another one out to El Valle I arrived after dark but luckily found a place to stay rather quickly.

El Valle is a small town located in the caldera of a massive extinct volcano, being surrounded by mountains on all sides. It's at the eastern end of a mountain range and thus has many bird species typically found further west in Panama. Therefore, from Panama City, this is the closest place to see some of these birds.

I stayed at a place that operates a small restaurant and has 3 - 5? rooms to rent. I decided to grab a bite to eat in their restaurant but couldn't figure out how to lock my door. The key wouldn't work..weird. The old lady tried to help me, but couldn't figure it out either. Actually she figured out how to lock my door, and locked all my stuff in the room but couldn't open the door! She started swearing in Spanish I think... I had to climb in through the unlocked (luckily) window in order to free my belongings. She decided to give me a different room with a working key. In the end, it turned out she had given me the wrong key for the room.

This room cost $18.50 - included in the cost was an animal (giant rat?) trying to eat through the ceiling to get me the first night I stayed there. 

When I headed for the restaurant to grab a bite to eat I was walking down a dark hallway and I rang my forehead so hard off a metal cross beam my lower jaw snapped up against my teeth. I was lucky not to chip a tooth - welcome to El Valle. It was uphill from there though. A young lady works in the restaurant and she is learning English at school. She was happy to practice her English with me and often served me before the other patrons!

The next day (Jan 29th) I wandered around town and walked most of the way up to Cerro (Mountain) Gaital before getting a ride to near the top. There's a great trail up there view beautiful vistas. While I found the birding slow (I arrived a bit late for good birding), on the way back down the mountain I came across a massive mixed species flock full of gorgeous tanagers and many other species. 

 That's El Valle down below - well, down below in the above photo.

The mixed species flock contained numerous Tawny-crested, Silver-throated, and Bay-headed Tanagers. In with them was both Plain and Spot-crowned Antvireo, White-winged Becard, Long-billed Gnatwren, Red-crowned Ant Tanager, White-breasted Wood-wren, and a few warblers. A few others got away. This single flock of birds made my trip to El Valle worth while. 

Oh, and I also had my first 2 regional endemics. White-tailed Emeralds and Tawny-capped Euphonias were found in various places. The Euphonia is a gorgeous bird and worth a quick google. 

I didn't spend enough time here and may need to go back for another visit. On the morning of January 30th I decided I would head for the Western Highlands. It took 5 buses and about 10 hours to make the trip but it wasn't that bad at all. The bus system here is pretty slick. 

Panama Days 5 and 6 - More Gamboa

Big ass boat on the canal. 

I've been doing a real crappy job of blogging - was without internet for a few days and that put me behind. Plus, finding time when I'm not birding, eating, sitting on a bus, or sleeping can also be a bit of a challenge.

I'm currently in the Western Highlands - Guadalupe to be exact. But lets go back to days 5 and 6 - January the 27th and 28th.

White-necked Puffbird - Jan 27th

January the 27th I birded Old Gamboa Road in the morning and then didn't do any serious birding after that. The Old Gamboa Rd was a bit underwhelming but like everywhere you go it's hard not to add new birds. Finally got a non-falcon, non-vulture raptor - a Gray-lined Hawk - a southern split from Gray Hawk. Or so e-bird tells me. At "summit ponds" at the beginning of the road is the famous spot for Boat-billed Heron in the canal area - we had a bunch of them, an Amazon Kingfisher, and Lesser Kiskadee were highlights.

January the 28th I birded the morning at the Rainforest Discovery Center off Pipeline Rd and went up to the Canopy Tower. It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Saw male Blue Cotinga - a bit far off, but still a stunner. A good flight of raptors were going and we got Great Black Hawks, Gray-headed Kites, Double-toothed Kites, Zone-tailed Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, and a White Hawk. I did some birding around Gamboa before taking a few buses and arriving after dark in the mountain town of El Valle. More on that later - not too much later I hope.

 A couple of views from the Canopy Tower.

 A male Blue Dacnis, fairly common birds.

At the Discovery Center there is a pile of hummingbirds coming to their feeders there. Here are a couple shots of a Violet-bellied Hummingbird, a Long-billed Hermit, and a Cinnamon Woodpecker. None of these are rare birds, just birds I managed to get usable photos of!