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Peregrine Day (1 Viewer)

SueO

Well-known member
On the 25th, I had plans to go with another sailor/birder to our favourite walk in the San Lorenzo N.P.(Panama). I was up early and did a short walk close to the marina while I waited for her. I saw a Peregrine soaring fairly low. It went back and forth over the hard-stand area (place where boats are stored out of the water), disappearing and reappearing about six times. I thought what a great omen it was for the day.
The first path we took goes from San Lorenzo Road to the Chagres river and offers a few different habitats; tall trees with leaf litter, tall, impenatrable grasses, tidal mangroves, fresh water creek. The walk ends very close to the mouth of the Chagres. As I stood near the water's edge, I saw a Peregrine fly down the middle of the river, away from the mouth. Two Peregrines in one day!
When we had finished with that road, we decided to go up to the fort. Fort San Lorenzo sits on a bluff overlooking the mouth of the Chagres. It's a ruin of an old Spanish fort and I have found some good birds there. I found my second first for Panama, a Clay-colored Sparrow, there and I have seen Yellow-rumped Warblers during migration several migration seasons. Chestnut-headed Oropendolas have made their nests here for years.
As soon as we got out of the car, I saw a Peregrine flying with some Black Vultures, and when I got to the clearing between the parking lot and the fort, I saw four of them mixed in with the Vultures. In the end, I counted five of them, playing in the gusty winds on the bluff. I always thought of them as solitary and this was a surprise. One of them sandwiched itself between two Vultures, then seemingly bored with the lack of speed, did a little body twist to break away and soared off. They soared back and forth across the small bay on the opposite side of the bluff from the river. One kept circling; flying toward the edge of the bluff and suddenly folding its wings slightly to do a half-hearted stoop down the face of the cliff. All of them seemed to be flying for the shear joy of riding on the wind.
 
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Hi Kits and Rich. The whole day was great. The weather was perfect and I got over 60 species. I saw an empid call. I hadn't heard one yet during the fall migrations, so I was surprised. I have it on video and am still trying to figure out which empid it is. It was a kind of bitter-sweet day. It was so beautiful and lively and it hit me while I was out that we leave Panama very shortly--I'm really going to miss San Lorenzo Road.
 
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