From Boquete we traveled south and then west, skirting to the south of Volcán Barú. To kill some time during midday we stopped in at Birding Paradise in Paraíso. This is a must-visit spot; I would encourage you to check out the blog I wrote about our time there.
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| Fiery-billed Aracaris - Paraíso Birding Paradise, Chiriquí, Panama |
We continued onwards, passing through periods of rain as we headed west and then north, up the other side of the volcano. We pulled into our accommodations in Cerro Punta during the late afternoon. Laura had found this absolute gem of a spot on AirBnB; a small cottage fully equipped with everything we needed, and a short walk from the cloud forest. We took it easy that evening. Anticipation was high for what the next few days would have in store.
October 5, 2021
We awoke at dawn the next morning. Already the local Lesser Violetears had begun to call; their incessant, steady chipping would continue unabated until sunset. We loaded our daypacks with provisions, rain gear and umbrellas, and headed out on foot. Our elevation was 2100 masl which was higher than any elevation we had reached in Boquete. The resulting bird species mix was different. Indeed, our first mixed flock contained a few new trip birds in Slaty Flowerpiercer and Volcano Hummingbird. These species would prove to be quite common throughout our time in the Cerro Punta area.
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| Slaty Flowerpiercer - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
Mountain Elaenias are one of the more common sounds in the forest at this elevation.
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| Mountain Elaenia - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
Our plan this morning was to hike up to the western terminus of El Sendero Los Quetzales. This is the trail that links Cerro Punta and Boquete, passing along the north side of Volcan Barú through ancient, pristine montane forest. You may recall the name of this trail from a previous blog post. I had mentioned that it was closed for maintenance, and thus, we could not explore it during our time in Boquete. However, I had heard that the park rangers at El Respingo (the ranger’s station at the western terminus) had been accommodating to some birders, allowing them to walk the first stretch of Sendero Los Quetzales. This was our plan for the day: hike up to El Respingo and try to convince the ranger to let us walk the trail. Even if he said no, the walk to El Respingo passes through some nice forest and we could make a morning of it.
For the first section of our walk, the road passed through agricultural areas interspersed with forest patches and houses. We noted a singing Eastern Meadowlark, the local Cattle Egrets heading off to the fields, and more Rufous-collared Sparrows than you could count, plus some other common birds of the countryside.
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| Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
This group of dogs in a nearby field looked like they were posing for their next album cover.
A flash of brilliant green beside the road materialized as a male Resplendent Quetzal. After viewing a female in Boquete it was nice to connect with a male sporting full tail streamers. Just a ridiculous looking bird, and a great example of the concept of runaway sexual selection.
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| Resplendent Quetzal - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
The road quality deteriorated as it headed upwards through a nice patch of forest. We were met by a different group of birds - Hairy Woodpecker, Yellow-thighed Brushfinch, a calling Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Northern Emerald-Toucanet. We heard a Rough-legged Tyrannulet in this stretch, but could not locate it.
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| Northern Emerald-Toucanet - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
A larger agricultural area was next. This mountainous region of Panama produces much of the vegetables for the country due to the good quality soils, frequent rainfall and moderate temperatures. The steep topography does not appear to pose too much of a problem; many of the fields exhibit a 30 or 40 degree slope.
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| Yellow-faced Grassquit - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
We left the farmland behind and re-entered forest. This time the trees were much older, and the forest would remain this way until we reached the ranger's station, El Respingo.
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| Oxeoschistus euriphyle - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
We slowly added bird species to our list, one by one. A large mixed flock added a whole bunch at once, including our first looks (in Panama) at Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatcher and Large-footed Finch.
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| Spot-crowned Woodcreeper - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
The manicured grounds of El Respingo appeared as the gravel track levelled out. We heard voices drifting from the main building. After exchanging pleasantries with the ranger, we inquired about accessing Sendero Los Quetzales. He was a little reluctant but agreed, provided that we were not gone too long and would check in with him afterwards. Not a problem, and we took off down the trail.
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| Estación El Respingo - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
The first stretch of trail was in decent shape, though we could tell that it had not been maintained in some time. My main interest in exploring along here was to search for a few birds that are only found in the most pristine montane forests in western Panama and Costa Rica; namely, the Ochraceous Pewee, which I had heard calling once in Costa Rica, and the Silvery-throated Jay, which I had never encountered. I played the tape occasionally as we hiked, though without success. The clock was ticking as well.
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| Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
Though the pewee and jay eluded us, we sifted through a large mixed flock. It contained a number of interesting species including Buffy Tuftedcheek, Ruddy Treerunner, Flame-throated Warbler, Yellow-winged Vireo, and a bunch of hummers: Fiery-throated, Volcano and Talamanca Hummingbirds, and White-throated Mountain-gem.
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| Large-footed Finch - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
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| Buffy Tuftedcheek - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
We returned back to Cerro Punta. I guess the Silvery-throated Jay and Ochraceous Pewee would have to wait for another day...
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| Veery - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
One final surprise was in store in the last forest patch before we returned to Cerro Punta. A small hawk high up in the tree.
It took some time for us to figure out just what we were looking at, but we eventually decided that it is a male Bicolored Hawk. This species of
Accipiter is generally rare throughout its range, and I have only seen it on a handful of previous occasions.
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| Bicolored Hawk - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
Laura and I visited Las Lagunas Volcán that afternoon and again the following morning. Located about a half-hour from where we were staying in Cerro Punta, these lakes are located at a much lower elevation with a mostly different set of species. I will write about our visit to these lakes some other time.
October 7, 2021
Typically when Laura and I travel, we explore on our own without hiring any guides. This is for several reasons: to save money, to be able to experience the thrill of discovery on our own, to go at our own pace, and to have less people walking on a quiet forest trail (that being said, many of the guides that we have encountered in Latin America are excellent - top-notch naturalists and birders with the requisite planning and people skills). We are certainly not opposed to hiring guides at times, but we would run out of travel funds very quickly if this was a frequent practice of ours.
Sometimes, though, a tricky species or two might encourage us to reach out to a local guide and to inquire about hiring them for the day. In this case, I was interested in some assistance with my quest for the Silvery-throated Jay. A local birding guide in Cerro Punta was recommended to me - Genover Santamaría, who goes by Ito. He has been guiding for years throughout Panama, but the Cerro Punta area is his backyard and he knows its birdlife better than anyone.
We arranged October 7 as the big day. In addition to the Silvery-throated Jay, there were two other species found in the area that would be potential lifers for me: Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl and Maroon-chested Ground-Dove. Ito had a beat on both species, and I was optimistic at my chances of adding a couple of new birds to my life list.
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| Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
Our first stop was El Respingo, the ranger's station that Laura and I had visited earlier. This time, however, we took Ito's birdmobile - a high clearance, 4WD Toyota that was perfect for rumbling up rough mountain roads.
The forest ranger was not on duty that morning but Ito's company, Tamandua Tours, has an arrangement with the national park. We were allowed to walk the first two kilometres of Sendero Los Quetzales. The landslides which instigated the trail closure are located a little past that area.
We spent an absolutely glorious morning walking along the serene trail, marvelling at the forest and listening for birds. Our pace was quick since we wanted to reach the best area for the jays relatively early in the morning.
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| Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
Long story short, the jays did not want to play ball. We heard a distant bird far down the hillside, but it was not interested in checking us out. We tried in several spots, but the heard-only Silvery-throated Jay was all we would get.
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| Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
While at our furthest east point in the walk, we were standing still and playing tapes of the jay. I thought I heard a distant pygmy-owl and brought it to our collective attention. It was, and the sound grew closer over the next few minutes. Suddenly, a tiny owl-torpedo-shape landed nearby. The pygmy-owl!
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| Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
Ito had brought his scope along and quickly trained it on the owl. Though the lighting was not great for photos, the views in the scope were excellent. Laura and I were pretty excited!
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| Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
An additional great sighting along the trail included a cooperative Wrenthrush. This species is, as the name suggests, kind of like a wren but somewhat like a thrush. As it stands, it is the sole member of the family Zeledoniidae.
We also enjoyed nice views of a male Resplendent Quetzal.
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| Resplendent Quetzal - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
We tried for the Ochraceous Pewee as well, but did not even hear a peep from one. That's birding!
Back at the ranger's station I managed my best ever photo of a Slaty Flowerpiercer.
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| Slaty Flowerpiercer - Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, Chiriquí, Panama |
We jumped back in the Toyota and traveled down to Tamandua Tours' office in Cerro Punta for lunch. The hot chocolates we indulged in were some of the best we have ever had!
We briefly checked out Ito's hummingbird garden as well. Despite its small size, it has attracted quite a few birds over the years (nearing 100 species), and is set up very well for bird-photography. There is even an area designed for a multi-flash setup for photographing hummingbirds, if that is your thing.
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| White-throated Mountain-gem - Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panama |
I am drawn to purple hummingbirds, and the Violet Sabrewing is one of my favourites.
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| Violet Sabrewing - Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panama |
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| Tropical Mockingbird - Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panama |
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| Lesser Violetear - Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panama |
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| Clay-coloured Thrush - Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panama |
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| Snowy-bellied Hummingbird - Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panama |
The afternoon plan was to visit a tomato tree farm, located up a very rough, rocky path just outside of town. Ito had discovered Maroon-chested Ground-Doves here a couple of years ago, and to his surprise, they have become regularly observed here.
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| Maroon-chested Ground-Dove habitat? - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
All the field guides will tell you that the Maroon-chested Ground-Dove is a rare species that is typically found in bamboo stands in montane forests. It is generally considered one of the "bamboo specialists" that appears in an area whenever bamboo is seeding en masse (which only happens every few years). But here, the Maroon-chested Ground-Doves appear to be feeding on the seeds of the tree tomato fruits which have fallen onto the ground. This place has become so reliable that Ito has even built a trail and covered viewing platform alongside the field. Though with birding, nothing is guaranteed...
Fortunately, luck was on our side this time. After a tense wait, a blue ground-dove-shaped object flew quickly into a tree, allowing looks with binoculars. Ito was on it with the scope and seconds later, I was staring at a stunning male Maroon-chested Ground-Dove! After a short but satisfying look, I quickly tried for some digi-scoped photos. It had moved slightly, so my photos ended up being worse than I thought they would be...
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| Maroon-chested Ground-Dove - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
The male Maroon-chested Ground-Dove is actually quite a beautiful bird: deep blue-gray with a maroon chest, and white head. We waited around for a while more, and while we heard two birds singing, we would never get another view of it. Still, we felt lucky!
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| Volcano Hummingbird - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
A male Golden-browed Chlorophonia also provided exceptional views. It was strong candidate for Bird Of The Day, but ultimately, the Costa Rican Pygmy Owl won out for both Laura and I.
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| Golden-browed Chlorophonia - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
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| Golden-browed Chlorophonia - Cerro Punta area, Chiriquí, Panama |
We had a really enjoyable day with Ito. If you are looking to bird the Cerro Punta area of Panama, you would be in great hands by hiring Ito! He speaks excellent English, knows the birds as well as anyone, and has all the soft skills that are needed in a world-class bird guide.
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