Showing posts with label Black-skimmer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black-skimmer. Show all posts

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Costa del Este

One of the premier birding spots in Panama City is Costa del Este. This area on the Pacific Ocean is filling with high-rise condo/retail buildings. To the south away from the construction, the rising tide brings in a large number of wading and water birds.

Cindy and I counted the birds here during the 2009 Panama Pacific Christmas Bird Count. And we got lifer Collared Plovers, to boot.

On a February day we stopped for a few moments on our way to other appointments in the city. There had been reports of Black-skimmers seen here earlier and we were hoping to see these graceful flyers in action. We were happy to find 17 of them roosting on the mud-flat. As we were leaving, Cindy saw one arcing over the water, floating on the air with long wings. The shaky-cam video of roosting birds was shot through my binoculars. But, you can see a bird stretch a wing, showing how far they reach out.