On February 29th, to celebrate Leap Year, we left North America and leapt into Panama (audible groan!).  In Panama City we joined Mason Flint of Naturalist Journeys, along with 8 other intrepid birders/photographers (I counted 7 cameras among the 11 of us) for a week of birding the Bocas Del Toro Province in northwestern Panama.

During the one week trip I captured thousands of images which I spent another week sorting through.  This post includes some of my favorite birds and images from a  day we spent on the  mainland traveling south on highway 10 over the continental divide to the hydroelectric dam at Hornito, shown above just left of center at the bottom of the map. 

​A note to readers: In my posts I routinely use All About Birds (Cornell Lab) as a reference, with links to their pages for the species. The site is free, making it a good reference for blog readers, but the birds are restricted to the U.S. For this post, I have used Birds of the World (Cornell Lab) which covers all the birds in Panama. However, Birds of the World is subscription only, and any links I might create will only be useful for subscribers. Therefore, I have not routinely included links for the species, or when I have, they will go to another site that I think will help the reader. For those of you with a deep interest in birds, I would recommend subscribing to Birds of the World. It is chock full of references and provides more information than is generally available from free websites.

Originally the Tropical Mockingbird range was discontinuous, with a gap from central Honduras to northern Columbia. However, in the 1930's Tropical Mockingbirds were introduced into Panama by humans.  The range map above (Ref: Birds of the World) shows counts of native Tropical Mockingbirds in shades of purple, and birds introduced in orange (exotic range).

Northern and Tropical Mockingbirds are similar in appearance, but Tropical Mockingbirds have  less white in the wings. Tropical Mockingbirds occupy open habitats with scattered shrubs and trees, living in towns and gardens, often perching in exposed sites including power lines and fences. Tropical Mockingbirds eat insects, as well as small vertebrates and fruit. (Ref: Birds of the World).

The Tropical Mockingbird song is a series of long musical phrases, many repeated several times. However, unlike their northern cousin, the Tropical Mockingbird is not reported to mimic other species. (Ref: Birds of the World).  In other words, it doesn't "mock" other species songs.

So, is the Tropical Mockingbird a MoBINO, a Mockingbird In Name Only?

Image above, a grassy park at the top of the dam at ~3500 feet where we stopped. Rain to the north in the distance on the Caribbean side, sunny to the south (behind me) toward the Atlantic.

They forage for a variety of fruits and insects in midstory and the canopy. We spotted this male Flame-colored Tanager in a wooded area across the street from the park at the dam. 

Swallow-tailed Kites are beautiful in flight, dark and silky above with a white head and neck, a white belly and white on the underwings with a black forked tail. Like the Mississippi Kite, adult Swallow-tailed Kites eat their food in flight

After their sudden appearance and a thrilling aerial show, this flock of kites disappeared just as suddenly. 

As our journey continued, we stopped by the road at about 3800 feet, and our expert guides, Roger and Brenda, spotted something moving in the trees some way away. Photo above:  Where's Waldo? And who is he?

"Waldo" turned out to be a Northern Emerald-Toucanet playing hide and seek just below the center of the photo above, cropped version below. 

After some time trying to see this bird, I decided to cross the street* and carefully walk up the road to try to walk beyond the tree to get a peak from behind. After some walking and waiting, it worked! 

*Carefully. Highway 10 is a 2-lane road that connects the Caribbean with the Atlantic sides of Panama, and a raceway for anything that wants to make the journey, including some very big 18 wheelers with drivers trained in slalom racing.

I suspect there were several toucanets together, but at least one of them moved down into my lane of vision! 

Like many cavity nesters, Northern Emerald-Toucanets are not cavity builders, rather they look to the existing market when shopping for homes! Note: ​Standing dead trees are essential for all cavity nesting birds. For more on cavity nesters in SE Arizona, see Spring Nesting 2023, Part2: At 9000 feet dead trees make great homes!

The series that follows shows a Northern Emerald-Toucanet looking for berries in the understory, and finding one. 

Toucans are Frugivores, animals that thrive mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like producing plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Frugivorous animals, especially birds, disperse plant seeds and are essential in the reproductive cycle of the plant. Frugivores and the plants they consume are dependent on each other, and reduction in one affects the other. Ref: Wikipedia, Frugivore.

Below, a final pose for this photographer with the subject's favorite berries!

Below, our Toyota Coaster bus, a very comfortable mode of transportation. Coasters are exported worldwide, especially to Central America, but not to the U.S.

Time to head back to the boat dock and the lodge. 
More to follow, stay tuned! 

Happy trails!

February in SE Arizona is a bit of two things, late winter, and early spring. So, let's take a look at some of the region's winter offerings, with a hint of what is to come in only a  month or two!

In January this blog saw another phoebe, Say's Phoebe, going for bugs in sub-freezing weather at White Water Draw. Here we follow the feeding activity of another flycatcher, the Black Phoebe, at Sweetwater Wetlands on December 29, 2023.

Black Phoebes live year round from the California Coast south into Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and all the way south through Mexico, Central America and  western South America. They like to be near water, perching low to the ground searching for insects on or near the water. They tolerate human populations, making them easy to spot and fun to watch.

Black Phoebes are sooty gray on the upper parts and chest, with a darker head, a white belly and wing feathers edged with light gray, the latter more evident when they are in the flight (Ref: All About Birds). Black Phoebes may show a slight peak at the rear of the crown, seen in both of these photos, captured at Sweetwater Wetlands on January 28, 2024. 

Black Phoebes will perch near water and run a route off of one or more perches, grabbing bugs on each sally. They tend to repeat the route, making it easier to predict their next move.

In the sequence below, the phoebe was perched on a large rock at Sweetwater Wetlands on December 29, 2023. As he dove down I hit the shutter with the lens zoomed back enough to keep him in frame for the sequence. (Don't be too impressed, this was one of many attempts, most of which ended with my subject going off frame or out of the focal plane!)

In the frame below paler markings can be seen on the fight feathers. 

Next frame, below, he is very close to his target and his wing markings are evident. I also think I can spot the small alula, or "bastard thumb" at the wrist, where the primary feathers meet the secondaries. The alula is like slats on an airplane deployed  to disrupt airflow and facilitate landing. For more on the alula, see The Meadow Trail, Mt Lemmon, Arizona, Summer 2021 wrap-up.

In the next two frames, my subject pulls up and rolls to the right, looking for his landing spot.

He flares his tail and stalls at the right moment to nail his landing. They never seem to miss!  

Back on the rock, he is ready for his next sally.  

Black Phoebes eat insects and other arthropods: bees, wasps, flies, beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, damselflies, dragonflies, termites, and spiders. They can catch small minnows from just below the water's surface and rarely will eat small berries. (Ref: All About Birds).

Black Phoebes are well known for flicking their tails up and down when perched. The two frames below were taken within a second of each other and show this action.

Why do they pump their tails? G.F. Avelis concluded that the pumping is a message to local predators to alert them that their presence is known, perhaps making dinner a bit more difficult! Other reasons for tail pumping, e.g. balance, territorial aggression, or foraging, were not supported by his data.  (Ref: Avelis, G.F. 2011. Tail Pumping by the Black Phoebe. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 123:766-771.) 

Common Gallinules are rails, in the order Gruiformes, family Rallidae. They swim like ducks but can also walk atop vegetation with their long and slender toes. The bill has a brilliant red shield with a yellow tip, and they sport a white stripe down their sides.  Males and females have similar plumage. 

The family, and some of the specific species, get their name "rail" as an anglicized respelling of the French rale, from the Old French rasle,  Vulgar Latin rascala, in turn from the Latin radere, "to scrape," the sound the bird makes! Who knew? 

Rails are in the family Rallidae within the order Gruiformes. Worldwide there are 152 species in this family, but in North America there are only 11 species listed by the CornellLab, All About Birds.  This small North American  subgroup consists of Rails Gallinules and Coots. Let's look at some of the rails I have been able to capture with my camera over the past 5 years and get to know them a bit better.

​The images here were captured in April of 2019 at Brazos Bend State Park in Texas.  Again, the birds's very long legs allow it to walk over wetland vegetation.  

The Purple Gallinule is known for its brilliant coloration, mixes of cherry red, sky blue, moss green, aquamarine, indigo, and  violet, with bright yellow legs! 

Next is the King Rail, photo below, a large slender rail with a short tail and long bill. The King Rail prefers freshwater and brackish marshes in the U.S. and Cuba. It is the largest of the North American rails, and very secretive. I was fortunate to get these shots in Anahuac National Monument on the Texas coast in May of 2019.

Unfortunately the King Rail's population has declined 90% in the last 50 years due to loss of habitat as wetlands have been "reclaimed" and modified for human use. 

Bringing us closer to home, the image below if of a Virginia Rail captured at Historic Canoa Ranch, just south of Green Valley, in March of 2022. 

The Virginia Rail is smaller than King or Clapper rail, sporting a gray cheek, reddish bill, cinnamon neck, with black and white barring on the flanks. 

Let's end our Rail Review with another secretive member of the family, often heard but rarely seen, the Sora. 

The Sora is in the rail family and lives throughout North America, from Alaska to Maine, down into Mexico, Central America and the northern portions of South America. Sora like fresh and brackish water as well as wet pastures, ditches and flooded fields during migration. They eat seeds from wetland plants as well as aquatic invertebrates. Their wide ranging diet combined with habitat flexibility undoubtedly accounts for their extensive range. It is no surprise that they are the most abundant rail species in North America.

Below, a Sora comes out of hiding at Sweetwater Wetlands in January of 2020.  We can see his short tail tilted up at an angle and his long toes as he hunts for food.

The rest of the North American rails not described here include: The Ridgway's Rail, Clapper Rail, Gray-headed Swamphen, Yellow Rail, and Black Rail. 

Cactus Wrens are noisy year-round residents of Arizona, Mexico, Nevada and New Mexico, and are the Arizona state bird!  Cactus Wrens are well adapted to desert living, able to survive without drinking free-standing water, and, nesting in cactus. They are noisy by nature, sounding like an old Ford trying to start.

The image above was captured on February 9th in Sabino Canyon. This could be a male or female calling to its mate  (they look alike), with nest building beginning in early March.

​The two nests below were photographed in Tucson Mountain Park in late March of 2022. The first shows a narrow entrance into a saguaro cavity, the one below shows a typical football sized nest built deep in a cholla cactus. Either nest types feature a narrow entrance to discourage predators. 

Below, a cactus wren disappears into his/her nest in a cholla cactus. ​The cactus wren seems to have no trouble living with an abundance of sharp cactus thorns!

Speaking of nests, who else builds in cactus? The Curve-billed Thrasher, parent and offspring shown below at Agua Caliente Park, March 31, 2017.

Start looking for nesting activity next month! 

The Cornell Lab calls the Phainopepla "a singular bird of the Southwest," that lives in desert washes and oak and sycamore woodlands of California, Arizona, and Mexico.   Migratory patterns are poorly understood, but it is clear that the males and females live in SE Arizona during the winter.

​The image of a male above was captured in Sabino Canyon on February 9, 2024. Males are a stunning glossy black with a crest and brilliant red eye. All the more brilliant when they sit in the morning sun! There is a patch of white on the flight wings that flashes in flight. Females share the red eye, but are gray with a pale gray wing patch. 

Phainopepla nest/breed twice a year, first in the desert in the spring, and a second time in higher woodlands. The nest shown below was built in late March and early April of 2019 in a remote corner of Agua Caliente Park. Below we see the female sitting on the nest, and then feeding in the sequence that follows.

Below, mom is feeding her chick high protein breakfast of insects followed by fruit. 

Mom carried the insects in her bill to the nest and had two berries in her crop, bringing them up when the time is right.

The Western Screech Owl is a small owl that lives year round west of the Rockies from coastal Alaska down to Baja California and into the western woods and deserts all the way down into south central Mexico. They are active at night, hunting for small mammals, as well as birds, fish, amphibians and invertebrates. They sleep during the day usually in small cavities, in this case a cosy hollow in a broken tree limb, somewhere in the foothills of the Catalinas on February 9, 2024. 

Below, another Western Screech Owl snoozing near the San Pedro House near the San Pedro River on February 19, 2022. I think this owl took advantage of the Valentine's Day move-in special.

Below, a close-up of our subject snoozing in his/her roost. They are very well camouflaged, tough to spot, and (for the photo geeks) a challenge to process in post-production.

Western Screech Owls nest in existing cavitites, either old woodpecker holes or existing cavities such as the one below. For more on their breeding behavior, see All About Birds.

For a closer look, I have included a photograph of a Western Screech Owl sitting on a volunteer's glove at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. These are small owls, perhaps only the height of a pair of binoculars. 

A reminder around the house and yard to avoid any rodent poisons. These rodenticides can be easily ingested by birds of prey who depend on small mammals for food. If you need to get rid of pesky rodents, trap them without poisons, or use a trapping service, leaving our natural bio-environment poison free.

The Greater Roadrunner is a cuckoo and another carnivore of the desert. They live from California and the desert southwest all way east into Texas and Louisiana, and south into southern Mexico. They eat mostly small mammals, reptiles (including rattlesnakes!) frogs, toads, insects, as well as other birds. 

The roadrunner above was captured in Sabino Canyon, not far from the falls, running, well, . . .  in the road . . . . looking for food. 

Below is an image caught near the San Pedro River in August of 2023. Roadrunners  have very long tails which they bob repeatedly and they use for balance. They are not good aviators, flying only to reach a long hanging branch, or when avoiding predators, including, yes, coyotes. 

The "where's Waldo" shot below was caught at Sweetwater Wetlands in May of 2018. Roadrunners blend in well with the desert environment and like to perch a few feet about the ground looking for a fresh meal.​

Below, a Greater Roadrunner at Agua Caliente Park in April of 2019 with a fresh kill, likely a vole. 

Spring is coming, so let's close with a male Cardinal greeting the morning sun with a song at Agua Caliente on February 18, 2024. He is likely declaring his territory in the desert just to the east of the Agua Caliente Park parking lot. 

That's all for now! 
More soon . . . 

​Happy Trails!