Blue-headed Parrots feasted on fruits in the trees right outside our hotel room window. Diane and I had arrived in Panama City late the previous night, April 19, and we were excited to have such a wonderful start to our two weeks in Panama.
Blue-headed parrot on the grounds of Country Inn & Suites, Panama Canal
We had just enough time for a scrumptious breakfast and a little more bird watching at the County Inn & Suites, Panama Canal, before a driver from Canopy Tower picked us up and whisked us off to the world-famous remodeled military radar station that we had been dreaming about for months. Tatiana, Manager of the Tower, greeted us warmly and showed us around. Next, it was time for lunch in the lovely dining room on the top floor of the tower with open windows all around the circular room.
Gartered Trogon
After lunch, we were off on our first birding trip – to Summit Ponds. It was a wonderful mix of seeing “old friends,” birds I had previously seen in Belize or Ecuador like the Gartered Trogon above, and nine life birds including Chestnut-headed Oropendolas working on their nests.
There was one more life bird for us after dinner, a surprise Black-breasted Puffbird that had come in through the open windows. We could see the bird roosting in the top part of the tower above our heads while we ate dinner. Alex, one of the bird guides, rescued the bird and gave us up-close looks the next morning before he released it. The puffbird sat on the deck for a couple of minutes to recover, and then flew off, none the worse for its adventure. Alex said that this was the first time a bird had flown into the tower.
Black-breasted Puffbird after its rescue from the top of the Tower.
On our first morning at the Tower, we awakened before 5:00 AM to the screams of about 40 Howler Monkeys, who sounded like they were all right outside our windows. The tower is all metal causing sound to reverberate throughout the building and making the monkeys sound even louder. We were thrilled to feel so close to nature in the jungle. We expected to hear monkeys “talking” with that intensity every day, but subsequent mornings they were much more subdued. A little later, we watched this adult and baby feeding in the trees.
Mantled Howler Monkeys
Blue Cotinga
Mornings at the Tower start with coffee on the observation deck at 6:30 AM. The deck is on the roof of the tower and gives nature lovers a 360 degree view of the surrounding canopy and landscape beyond. On our first morning, we saw a Blue Cotinga in the distant trees, one of the signature birds of the Tower and one we especially wanted to see since Diane and I were staying in the Blue Cotinga room. A Keel-billed Toucan was another beauty seen from the observation deck.
Keel-billed Toucan seen from the Canopy Tower observation deck
Our first full day at the Tower was fabulous. One of everyone’s favorites was this gorgeous White Hawk observed on Plantation Road.
White Hawk
I was happy to get the photo of the Broad-billed Motmot below. When I was studying for the trip, I wondered how easy to would be to see the green chin on the Broad-billed Motmot which helps distinguish it from the larger, but similar, Rufous Motmot.
Broad-billed Motmot
We quickly learned that the Canopy Tower guides have excellent digiscoping skills and they were very happy to take photos through the scopes with our iPhones for us. Danilo Jr. digiscoped this beautiful pair of White-whiskered Puffbirds below with Diane’s phone.
White-whiskered Puffbird pair
Later that afternoon, we birded along the road to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort marina where I saw many familiar birds – Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, herons and egrets, and Common Gallinules. But, there were new birds, too, including an American Pygmy Kingfisher who declined the photo op. The Gray-cowled Wood-Rail was a life bird for me, too, and it did cooperate for a photo. It was pretty bad, though, since it was on the other side of a lake and the light was failing. Still, I was thrilled, not knowing that a few days later we would see them just a few feet away under the bird feeders at the Canopy Lodge.
A Gray-cowled Wood-Rail crosses the creek by Canopy Lodge on its way to eat bananas under the feeders.
That afternoon we also saw a Green-and-Black Poison-dart Frog, the only one of the trip. My trip to Central America would not have felt complete without a poison frog.
Green-and-Black Poison-dart Frog
On Saturday morning we birded the famous Pipeline Road. During World War II, a pipeline through the Isthmus of Panama was built to transport fuel from one ocean to the other in the event that the canal was attacked. Fortunately, the pipeline was never used. Today, the road runs for 17.5 km through Soberanía National Park and provides access to undisturbed rainforest. It is one of the premier birding destinations in Central America.
One highlight was quality time with a Great Tinamou shuffling around on the forest floor. It sounded like the usual way of seeing a tinamou is for the guide to play the call and birders to catch a quick glimpse of the bird as it runs across the road. We were pleased to leisurely observe this bird without disturbing it.
Great Tinamou
In that same spot, we also found this gorgeous Whooping Motmot on the forest floor. Below is another fabulous digiscope by Danilo Jr.
Whooping Motmot
We also saw a White-nosed Coati, first brief looks through the jungle vegetation on the side of the road, and then a clear view as it walked right out into the open!
White-nosed Coati
The sweetest sight that morning may have been a baby Great Potoo snuggled up close to one of its parents at the top of a tall snag. Potoos are odd birds. They have large eyes and huge mouths to facilitate night-time hunting of aerial insects such as beetles and locusts. They swoop out from the top of a tree stump and return to the same stump after capturing their prey. Their cryptic plumage provides the perfect camouflage which allows them to roost on tree stumps during the day, too, and not even be noticed. Great Potoo is a big bird at 19-24 inches long and the largest potoo species.
Great Potoo
This was just the beginning of our Panama adventure. Stay tuned for part 2.
Birding for Life 