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Panama 2017 – Just Can’t Get Enough Birding (Part 4 of 4)

Posted in Birding, Travel, Travel for Birding, tagged Birding, Black-bellied Anteros, Canopy Lodge, Common Basilisk, Crimson-backed Tanager, Flame-rumped Tanager, Magnificent Frigatebird, Orange-billed Nightengale-Thrush, Panama, Psychotria elata, Thick-billed Euphonia, Thick-billed Seed-Finch, Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch, Yellow-eared Toucanet on August 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Diane and I had signed up for birding packages at Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge. That meant that we birded in groups, but they changed daily as people came and left the lodges. You can sign up to start any day of the week and for any length of time. The constantly changing groups (and guides) made it interesting. We enjoyed meeting other nature enthusiasts and getting to know several of the guides. On what was scheduled to be our last day of birding, we were very pleased that Tino would guide us again. Only one other birder joined our group, so it was great to have just four of us. It’s much easier to see the skulky little birds on the forest floor with a small group.

We had a great day of birding and I saw 10 new birds for Panama. My favorite that day may have been the Orange-billed Nightengale-Thrush. First, how can you not love a bird with a name like that? And, second, it was a lovely bird.

Orange-billed Nightengale-Thrush

Other life birds that day were Spotted Woodcreeper, Chestnut-backed Antbird, and a couple of hummingbirds. We also saw two wonderful butterflies, a Regal Anteros and a Black-bellied Anteros. Tino was really excited when he found them, so I assume that they may not be common. My photo isn’t as clear as I’d like because the butterfly was perched just a little out of reach, but we had great scope views. Note the fuzzy little legs. Isn’t it adorable?

Black-bellied Anteros

We had so much fun that day, the last in our birding package, that we decided to pay extra to go birding with Tino again the next morning. Guests at the Canopy lodges can always select trips “a la carte.”

The next morning, the skies were threatening, but we went out anyway. In Panama, it rains daily in the summer, so they learn to work with the weather. Tino decided to take us back to a place that Diane and I had birded earlier in the week, Sendero Las Minas, a little dirt road with an agricultural field and a chicken farm on one side and forest on the other side. It was especially rewarding to see the Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch perched atop a fence post singing. On our first trip down this road, he hid in the tall grasses and we could barely see him.

Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch

It wasn’t long until it started raining, but we were able to take cover under the eaves of a little abandoned cabin. It felt magical to stand there with our little group of four, protected from the rain, but feeling it all around us. And, of course, Tino continued to find birds while we waited there. Soon, the rain had stopped and we were birding on the road again. We saw wonderful birds – Tawny-crested Tanager, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Tawny-capped Euphonia, and many more including some familiar birds like Eastern Meadowlark.

Thick-billed Seed-Finch, also seen along Sendero Las Minas

There were also beautiful flowers along this road. One of our favorites was Psychotria elata, a tropical tree commonly known as Hot Lips or Hooker’s Lips, for the red bracts that resemble luscious lips for a short time before bursting open to reveal the plant’s small white flowers.

Hot Lips, Psychotria elata. Photo by Carole McIvor.

Near the turn-around point at the top of the road, we ran into a small herd of about eight cows, led by a big bull, coming down the road. Tino was familiar with their behavior and didn’t say anything to frighten us, but got Carole and me off the road to allow the cows to pass. Diane was not close enough to hear Tino’s command to make way for the cows and continued slowly walking down the middle of the road with the cows following behind her. Tino was very relieved when we were all together again and then he told us that the cows could have been dangerous.

Coming down the road behind us. Photo by Carole McIvor.

The excitement of the morning was not over yet, though. Tino had hoped to find a Blue-throated Toucanet for us. They are listed on the Canopy checklist as “common,” but we had not seen one yet. And, we did not see one that morning, but just before we got back to our vehicle, Tino found something even better, the rare Yellow-eared Toucanet. We struggled for a view of the bird as it hid in a tree, but it was exciting to see something so special.

Tino’s heavily-cropped digiscope is blurry due to the cloudy weather, but the Yellow-eared Toucanet is clearly identifiable.

That afternoon, April 30, was our last at Canopy Lodge. We enjoyed more free time watching the feeders and sitting on the little balcony outside our room. We finally got quick, but good, looks at the fast little Rufous-crested Coquette as he dashed in for a sip of nectar at the purple porterweed flowers.

The stream by the lodge was a continual source of delight. In the photo below, a Common Basilisk basks in the sun on a rock.

Common Basilisk in the stream by Canopy Lodge

The following day, we had our last looks at the lovely Canopy Lodge birds as we enjoyed a leisurely morning getting ready to leave for Panama City. The Crimson-backed and Flame-rumped Tanagers put on a good show, as always. The female Crimson-backed Tanager was one of my favorites. I thought that she was as beautiful as the male.

Female Crimson-backed Tanager

We never got tired of the common, but gorgeous, Flame-rumped Tanagers.

Male Flame-rumped Tanager

Perhaps the most common feeder bird of all was Thick-billed Euphonia. We enjoyed watching males and females of all ages.

Thick-billed Euphonia (adult male)

Late that morning, our driver picked us up and took us back to the lovely Country Inn & Suites where we had spent our first night in Panama City. We walked the Amador Causeway where we found our last life bird in Panama, a Northern Scrub-Flycatcher. Near the end of the causeway, we estimated over a hundred each of Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds, a wonderful goodbye from Panama.

We had a nice dinner outdoors by the canal and left before dawn the next morning for our flights home. Memories of this amazing trip will stay with us forever.

Magnificent Frigatebird

More photos can be found in the following Flickr albums:

Panama 2017 -Birds
Panama 2017 – Insects (mostly moths & butterflies)
Panama 2017 – Mammals & Herps
Panama 2017 – People & Places

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Panama 2017 – If It Were Possible to Pick a Favorite (Part 3 of 4)

Posted in Birding, Travel, Travel for Birding, tagged Black-faced Antthrush, Blue Morpho, Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth, Canopy Lodge, Common Morpho, Dusky-faced Tanager, Flame-rumped Tanager, Panama, Red Squirrel, Silver-throated Tanager, Social Flycatcher, Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Spectacled Owl, White-bellied Antbird, Yellow-green Vireo on August 17, 2017| 2 Comments »

Danilo Jr. greeted us warmly when we arrived at Canopy Lodge just in time for lunch on April 25. He had been one of our favorite guides at the Tower and we were happy to see him again. After lunch, we had a little time for birding on our own and exploring the grounds of the lodge. A beautiful creek provided the perfect place for for Mrs. Flame-rumped Tanager to have a nice bath.

Female Flame-rumped Tanager

I also had just enough time to find a life bird for myself before Danilo took us out on our first birding trip from the lodge. I really liked the Dusky-faced Tanagers, who looked quite different from the other tanagers to me. A few weeks after I got home, I learned that the latest taxonomic changes moved this bird to a new family, confirming that it really is different from the other tanagers like the Flame-rumped Tanager above.

Dusky-faced Tanager

While I was photographing the tanagers, Diane relaxed on our room’s lovely balcony and found herself a life bird, too, a Bay-headed Tanager in the tree tops, which was particularly exciting because it’s a species that does not come to feeders. I would eventually see one a few days later.

Our first guided trip was a walk from Canopy Lodge to Canopy Adventure, where more adventurous (and younger) folks can climb to the top of the ridge and then soar through the treetops on a zip-line. We took a different path, easier, but still steep and slippery, to look for Mottled Owls, which we did not find. When I teased Danilo that I wanted something for our efforts, he found a nice Orange-billed Sparrow. We also enjoyed seeing the gorgeous stream and waterfall. And, we got two wonderful life birds on the walk there, Lance-tailed Manakin and the very shy Bay Wren. Sorry, I wasn’t able to get photos of either.

Diane in front of the beautiful waterfall at Canopy Adventure.

Danilo also introduced us to the compost pile, a big heap of rotting fruit just a short distance along a little path by the creek at the lodge. We had seen our first Black-faced Antthrush on Pipeline Road just the day before, but here we really got to know the bird. He was shy like so many of the birds in the rainforest, but not so skulky that we could not see him at all. With just a little patience, nearly every trip to the compost pile was rewarded with views of this adorable little bird strutting through the open area by the rotting fruit, holding his tail erect and singing his “happy” song. I thought that he would be a great character for an animated movie. Of all the birds that we saw in Panama, this was the one who stole our hearts.

Black-faced Antthrush. A poor photo, but you can’t hide that “personality.”

We had a larger group the next morning with Danilo Sr. guiding us for our first full day of birding at the lodge. We were only a couple of hours from Canopy Tower, but the habitat was sufficiently different that we saw many new species. I got 13 life birds that day, my favorite being this gorgeous male Silver-throated Tanager.

Silver-throated Tanager

The following morning was much like the previous with our group of 7 and several more life birds. One that cooperated for a photo was this White-bellied Antbird.

White-bellied Antbird

We also had nice looks at a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth.

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

That afternoon we had a special treat. Diane and I needed to see the Spectacled Owls that were nesting nearby. The others had already seen them, so Tino, a bird and butterfly guide and the manager of Canopy Lodge, took Diane and me on a private tour. We had incredible looks at both an adult Spectacled Owl and a recently fledged juvenile.

Spectacled Owl (adult)

Spectacled Owl was on my most-wanted list and I was thrilled to see these birds.

Spectacled Owl (juvenile)

Other wonderful sightings that afternoon included a Tody Motmot and a Yellow-green Vireo on her nest.

Yellow-green Vireo on her nest

The following day, Diane and I explored the lodge grounds by ourselves. We had scheduled a couple of extra days so that we could relax and do whatever we wanted part of the time. I attempted to photograph a blue morpho butterfly, which turned out to be impossible, even with plenty of time to work on it. I was able to get a fairly clear photo of the butterfly with its wings closed, but as soon as it opened them, the butterfly immediately became a blue blur. “Blue Morpho” refers to a group of butterflies, not a single species. The one I photographed is a Common Morpho, Morpho helenor.

The Social Flycatcher by the natural pond with the treehouse was more cooperative. One of the guides told us that a pair was nesting in that area.

Social Flycatcher

A Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet also posed for a photo.

Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet

And, just as at home, no bird feeder is complete without a squirrel. Red Squirrels did not monopolize the feeders, but we saw them frequently.

Red Squirrel

Canopy Lodge was a great place to explore a little and rejuvenate ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed the free time and we were looking forward to more guided trips the next day as our Panama adventure continued.

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Panama 2017 – Bold Birds and Shy Birds (Part 2 of 4)

Posted in Birding, Butterflies, Moths, Travel, Travel for Birding, tagged Blue-chested Hummingbird, Canopy Tower, Common Potoo, Golden-collared Manakin, Gray-headed Tanager, Many-banded Daggerwing, Panama, Pheasant Cuckoo, Pipeline Road, Rosy Thrush-Tanager, South American Forest Racer, Synchlora gerularia, White-necked Jacobin, White-throated Crake, Yellow-throated Toucan on August 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Sunday morning, April 23, was one of the luckiest of the trip. We started right outside Canopy Tower on Semaphore Hill Road. Our guide, Domi, soon heard a bird on everyone’s target list – a Pheasant Cuckoo. They are very secretive birds and difficult to find when they are not calling. But, the bird was off the road and back in the forest. Domi and the two other birders scrambled up the hill on the side of the road and through the thick vegetation to find the bird. Diane and I hesitated. I didn’t know if I could make it up the hill without help and certainly they were just going to push the bird deeper into the forest anyway. Well, they came back smiling and excited; they had had wonderful looks at the bird. And, then, instead of saying we made a bad choice, too bad, they all encouraged Diane and me to go see the bird. So, Domi helped us up the little hill and we scrambled into the jungle. Amazingly, the cuckoo was in the same place the others had seen it. There are no words to describe how thrilled I was to see this bird and to even get a photo.

Pheasant Cuckoo

The day continued to be charmed. That afternoon we had great looks at another skulky bird, a gorgeous Rosy Thrush-Tanager. Domi led us off the trail and under the tree where the bird was perched. We saw little pieces of the bird as we moved one way and then another to peer through thick branches. I must have taken 200 photos and luckily the one below shows most of the beautiful bird.

Rosy Thrush-Tanager

There were seven of us that afternoon, but the larger group didn’t stop this beautiful Golden-collared Manakin from sitting in the open for over five minutes right in front of us, unusually bold behavior for this species. While we got incredible close looks at the manakin, we were not privileged to see a courtship display, one of the most amazing sights in the avian world. This very interesting article from Audubon, Do a Little Dance, Make a Little Love: Golden-collared Manakins Get Their Groove On to Woo the Ladies includes a short video of the courtship display. The picky females judge the performances of the males and mate with the one that they perceive to be the most attractive and the best dancer.

A Golden-collared Manakin looks at us with more curiosity than fear

Another fun experience that afternoon was watching a pair of Yellow-throated Toucans right above our heads. That’s a tree frog that it is chowing down for lunch – yum!

Yellow-throated Toucan

April 24 was our last full day at Canopy Tower. Our group had missed White-throated Crake on our first trip to the Ammo Dump Ponds, so Domi took us there again early in the morning before we went to Pipeline Road. Crakes are in the rail family and most are very shy birds. But, this time we were successful and got good looks at several birds.

White-throated Crake

A potoo was the highlight of Pipeline Road again, but on this section of the road it was a Common Potoo. An adult potoo with a baby had been reported at this location for several days, but we were the first to see the baby without one of its parents. This young one will still be fed by mom or dad for a while longer, though. The bright pink gape (inside of the mouth) functions as a highly visible guide to show the parents where to deposit food.

A Common Potoo on its first day without a parent.

We also saw this beautiful snake, a South American Forest Racer. It moved fast, so I was happy to get any photo at all.

South American Forest Racer on Pipeline Road

Panama has fabulous butterflies, but I didn’t have enough time and attention to focus on both butterflies and birds in the same trip as much as I would have liked. I tried to sneak in a photo of a butterfly when I could, though. I especially liked this Many-banded Daggerwing that we found on Pipeline Road.

Many-banded Daggerwing

That afternoon, it was back to Gamboa, where one of my favorites was this Gray-headed Tanager. This photo is unique as it’s the first time that I ever used my camera before my binoculars. I usually look first and then shoot. But, I was trying to photograph something else when I heard “Gray-headed Tanager” behind me, so I just turned around with my camera still poised and clicked. I was lucky; although he was close, he did not stay long and I would have missed the photo if I had indulged in a binocular look first.

Gray-headed Tanager

We were soon back at the Tower, happy with all of the wonderful birds we had seen in the last five days, but also sad that our birding trips there were done. We had a little time on our own before our departure the next morning. Sometimes I used my free time to check out the moths that had come in to the lights the night before. Here is just one of the beauties I saw there, tentatively identified as Synchlora gerularia.

Moth at Canopy Tower tentatively identified as Synchlora gerularia.

In between birding trips, I also tried to get photos of the several species of hummingbirds that can be seen at the Tower. White-necked Jacobins were common; here is a female below.

Female White-necked Jacobin

Blue-chested Hummingbirds were also plentiful at Canopy Tower.

Blue-chested Hummingbird

And, then, all too quickly as usual, it was time to spend one more morning on the observation deck and say goodbye to Canopy Tower. But, our Panama adventure was only half over. We were going to Canopy Lodge next.

Diane and me in front of Canopy Tower

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Panama 2017 – Birds Before Breakfast (Part 1 of 4)

Posted in Birding, Travel, Travel for Birding, tagged Birding, Birds, Black-breasted Puffbird, Blue Cotinga, Blue-headed Parrot, Broad-billed Motmot, Canopy Tower, Gartered Trogon, Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, Great Potoo, Great Tinamou, Green-and-Black Poison-dart Frog, Keel-billed Toucan, Mantled Howler Monkey, Panama, Pipeline Road, White Hawk, White-nosed Coati, White-whiskered Puffbird, Whooping Motmot on August 13, 2017| 3 Comments »

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.