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.

Stop the car!

We were heading back in from a good morning round when Chris shouted, stop the car. She had spotted something with a long tail. Our guide, Danilo Jr.,  is fantastic on all levels, safe driving, finding birds we would never see, knowing EVERY call and song, and being an all around pleasant good sport, but it's always fun to spot things on your own. And having a guide be excited by it and identifying it for us is a bonus. Okay, Chris will just take one more bow for spotting the Long-tailed Tyrant and move on.

A family portrait

These yellow bellied seedeaters were our entertainment while we were waiting for the golden hooded tanagers. Mike is having trouble being satisfied with his photos of the golden hooded tanagers so we needed a cute diversion like this as we stand around a fig tree in wait.

Never ending tanagers

Many many beautiful tanagers and some we didn't even plan to see or know about. This is a silver throated tanager found when we hiked with our guide to a different elevation. Such beautiful detail!  To get a little better shot and all the detail, Mike climbed off trail and took a spill onto his back to protect the camera, and as our guide said, "It's all part of the adventure."

Can't decide which camera to use.

The new super zoom point and shoot is very versatile and easy to use, particularly in dark light.  The old DSLR with a 500mm reflex lens and a larger sensor takes better photos, particularly in good light or of very distant birds.  Here's the boat-billed heron with each.

We forget to mention the owl

Here's a spectacled owl.  There's no way we would have found it without our guide.  It was hidden beneath a palm off the  trail.

Four toucans

We saw four members of the toucan family in Panama.

Keel-billed Toucan

Chestnut mandibled toucan (Yellow throated toucan)



Collared Aracari

Northern Emerald Toucanet

Rufous-capped warbler

Mike became fascinated with this rufous-capped warbler, a warbler we don't get in the US.  We saw it several times on tour but never got a good photo.

We skipped the afternoon tour today and just hung out on the property.  We ran into the rufous-capped warbler in a shrub and then it took a bath in a puddle and dried off.

Birding the compost heap

After breakfast we made the transfer from Canopy Tower to Canopy Lodge. The drive was about 2 hours and after four days of steady hiking and birding we were ready for a rest. We hung out by the feeder at the lodge, had a nice lunch and a little rest. Soon we felt the call to explore again. We passed on going out with the group and a guide and instead went down a short trail to their compost heap. What a treasure trove it turned out to be! Once you adjust to the smell of rotting fruit, all focus is on the birds. We had fun finding and identifying on our own several lifers for us. Most fun we've had with a pile of garbage ever. 

Bay-rumped warbler.  This was our first bird at the compost heap. He stayed in the brush for quite some time and we got fleeting glimpses of his tail. Eventually, he came out for a photo.

Dusky faced Tanager 

Wood Thrush 

Rosy Thrush Tanager.  When looking up the identification of the wood thrush, Mike saw a photo of the rosy thrush-Tanager and said he'd like to see one. Within five minutes this one came out.

Cocoa woodcreeper

Gray cowled wood rail 




Orange-billed Sparrow. 

Chris found an ant swarm

On our last day on Pipeline Road, Chris spotted a flycatcher and looked off the trail for it. We never found it again, but ten feet from the trail there was an ant swarm that attracted many insect eating birds. The highlight was the ocelated antbird, but there were about ten species feasting on ants. 

Ocelated Antbird

Bicolored Antbird 

Grey-headed tanager

Last Day at the tower

We haven't had any close views of toucans at Canopy Tower, until our last day.  Today, Chris spotted two about 25 feet away.

Mantled Howlers; dad and baby

Early morning highlight was finding howler monkeys doing something other than just lying flat on a branch not showing their faces. Dad was giving this young one a good cuddle and then the baby turned around to face us as well. Probably a little TMI but we even saw the urine stream coming down before it looked away and went back to snuggling up to the dad. So fun to watch but eventually we pushed on up the trail for birds.

Here's a whooping motmot, one of the reasons we went to Panama

The great sock caper

Nope, a sock caper is not a bird or a nickname we have given to a bird. Chris, as we know from previous writings, packs light, is super organized, is ridiculously neat, and prepares for these adventures with the appropriate high tech clothing that drys quickly, which includes socks. Smart Wool brand socks are her favorite - they wash and dry incredibly fast and are light and comfy in hot climates even though they are wool. Of course she has tried coercion and convincing tactics to get Mike to try them, at least for trips, but he wants no part of them and wriggles and squirms just trying them on. He sticks with heavy cotton socks which take several days to dry, and Chris just rolls her eyes. 

Upon returning to our room tonight after a jovial dinner (we purchased some coconut vodka duty free at LAX all to Mike's credit), Chris sees a pair of her special socks on the floor in a ball. As Chris almost never ever leaves her things like this, she assumes Mike has done it and inquires as to the sock situation. "Yeah," Mike says, "I got them off the heated drying rack and wore them."  

Of course Mike takes no blame and tells Chris, "that's what you get for making me wear socks that look like yours" - he has at least come around to wearing the Billibong brand low cut ones which do look slightly similar.  We engaged in a good outburst of laughter to end of a great day of birding if ever there was one. No photographic evidence (as Chris was quick to wash and hang again to dry before she realized it warranted a blog entry).  

My comfy feet ensconced now in my hammock before bed . . . . . . . .

Better Birding today

Better guides and better light have made us much happier with Panama birds.

Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher

White-whiskered Puffbird

Tody Flycatcher 


Oh, and a capuchin monkey.