#596-#612 at the Ammo Dump Ponds
After leaving the B&B we drove the short distance to the Ammo Dump Ponds. We didn’t quite make it there before we had to hop out of the van for a perched immature Gray Hawk, #596! We walked the last 100 meters in a light drizzle. We added #597 Variable Seedeater, and #598 Barred Antshrike before even reaching the road to the Ammo Dump. And the birds just kept on coming. Several species of swallow were swooping around and perching on wires including #599, Mangrove Swallow. I didn’t even realize I’d hit #600, most likely the Yellow-headed Caracara as best I can tell from my notes, until the next day.
- Gray Hawk
- Variable Seedeater
- Barred Antshrike
- Mangrove Swallow
- Yellow-headed Caracara
- Rusty-margined Flycatcher
- Wattled Jacana
- Streaked Flycatcher
- Boat-billed Flycatcher
- Panama Flycatcher
- Golden-fronted Greenlet
- Greater Ani
- Red-lored Parrot ( I’ve seen them before in Orange County, but I don’t think they were countable there. Panama, though, is their native range. )
- Ringed Kingfisher
- Bat Falcon
- Yellow-bellied Seedeater
- Blue-black Grassquit
Plus we heard but did not see a White-tailed Crake.
The leader kept saying we had to go, and then finding more birds. Last one was a distant Bat Falcon perched on a tower we spotted from the van. But when we stopped to scope it we added two more small finches in the Vietnamese grass by the side of the road, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, and Blue-black Grassquit. We got back to the Tower as the sun was setting and just barely in time for dinner.
Not counting heard-only birds, the tentative total for the day is 70 life birds. Tomorrow morning we pick up where we left off, just past this point on the way to Pipeline Road.
