Success, pretty much. This morning, Jan Axel Cubilla, Venicio Wilson, Rafael Luck, Osvaldo Quintero, and Camilo and Darién Montañez converged upon the fabled spot near Penonomé to look for the Grasshopper Sparrow, unrecorded in Panama for fifty years. The spot, shown on the map we tweeted earlier, is on a dirt road on the left side of the Interamericana a bit over 6 km past the Penonomé McDonald's. About 100 meters in, there is a patch of short, green grass on the right shoulder of the road, and that's both where Jan Axel found the bird last Saturday and where we saw it today. Repeatedly. Very briefly. The first sighting was shortly after we parked at the spot: Osvaldo walked ahead of the cars and the sparrow flushed from the grassy shoulder into the field beyond, landing on a patch of short grass surrounded by taller grass. We followed, but hard as we looked we couldn't find it. It flew back to the shoulder, where it remained unfound until it flushed a few inches from my feet as I was walking to the car. So, in typical Grasshopper Sparrow fashion, it has a tendency to tuck into the shorter grass and freeze until flushed. This happened a number of times, and all the looks we got were as it darted from cover. Still, the field marks seen (or lack thereof) eliminate all the other expected grassland species: a tiny, grayish/buffy/streaky bird, paler below and with yellow on the bend of the wings.
We had a very windy morning. My recommendation would be to arrive at dawn before the wind picks up and check the grassy shoulder carefully. Oh, and it seems the tall grass on the fields around the area are being harvested, so I would hurry.
I just came from a short walk in the Cocle savana following the directions gave by Ken last year to find the Ring-necked Ducks close to Cocle town, 5 min west of Penonome (second dirt road to the left after the "push buttons"). After seeing the ducks (lifer), I was about to leave the place, more or less 300 mts from the Panamerican highway (I was able to see the cars in the highway), when I detected a movement right next to the car. It looked like a mouse, walking very low, even crawling under the grass, but eventually frooze no more than 4 mts from my car. It stayed for 5 minutes, only moving very quickly few steps to stand again. It didn't vocalize, not even a chip. I took plenty of photos... but I was not able to see its breast... I wonder if someone knows how to separate the migrant Grasshopper Sparrows in the field... I hope it is of the endemic race, thought to be erradicated due to habitat loss.
Breaking: Jan Axel Cubilla found a Grasshopper Sparrow near Penonomé earlier this afternoon. He went looking for the Ring-necked Ducks that Ken Allaire had found, and he stopped on a field on the way back, on one of the new roads opposite the push buttons. He was looking at some meadowlarks, when he saw a tiny bird running like a mouse.
This is the first record in eons of Grasshopper Sparrow, a near-mythical bird in Panama. Photographs were taken, too, so we'll hopefully determine if this bird was a migrant or if it's a surviving member our local subspecies that has been presumed extinct.
I'll try for it tomorrow, but there will probably be a full fledged expedition next weekend. Study up!
Acabo de tomar esta foto, 11:20am. Esta hembra está posada en la recta que va detrás de El Rey de Albrook al área residencial, cerca del cuadro de beisbol y la piscina.
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Published since 1997. Mostly by Darién Montañez, proud member of the Panama Records Committee and Panama Audubon Society.
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