The Fool on the Hill

It's not like an insult because he captioned the photo even before it was taken! Mike is frequently going off trail to get that better lighting for bird photos and here he is doing just that.  Chris and guide, Danilo Jr., did not follow him and instead got a photo of that rare bird, The Fool on the Hill.

Mike's motto is “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Honeycreepers

Honeycreepers have brilliant colors
Female Green Honeycreeper
Female Red-legged Honeycreeper
Male Red-legged Honeycreeper
Green Honeycreeper

A sloth and and another Geoffrey's Tamarind

Whenever there is a lul in the birds dropping through, the fun part is finding other cool creatures!  On different days Chris found the sloth and Mike found the monkeys. It's easier to find the sloths since they look like oddly shaped termite nests and harder to find the fast moving monkeys, so kudos go to Mike on that! Plus we were sans guide when Mike found them. The monkeys make odd noises that sound a bit like the birds, but the bouncing branches are a good giveaway!

Chris crossed a rope bridge to see a sun bittern nest

So did Mike, but for Mike the hard part was locating the nest even though Chris and the guide were pointing it out.

Some more birds

Out with Danilo Jr., we spotted quite a few birds. Here are some fun ones.

Cinnamon Bacard

Spot-crowned Barbets

Motmotmotmotmot

Between canopy tower and canopy lodge, we saw five different Motmots.

Lesson's Motmot

Rufous Motmot



Whooping Motmot 

Broad-billed Motmot 

Tody motmot

La Casa de Lourdes

We were tired of the simple hearty meals of the birding lodge and wanted to experience some Panama culture not associated with birding.

Mike found a restaurant using Google maps that had a creative menu. The lodge arranged a driver to get us there.

The meal was exquisite, fresh watercress, smoked pork chop with tamarind sauce, sea bass with a garlic mojo and a wider selection of wine than the lodge.

The taxi ride back was an adventure.  We previously found out that taxis in Panama pick up multiple passengers, but we were still surprised to find a family of three in the back when the taxi pulled up.   The driver beeped and waved at all his friends, stopped for gas, let the other passengers out, and took us to the lodge for a total of $3.