Panama Birding Trip

Why Panama? Well, it was a combination of low cost and great birding. We learned about Canopy Tower lodge in Panama at the Space coast birding Festival. We met their head birding guide and learned about the wonderful birding in Panama. We also learned that, in April, at the edge of the rainy season, the rates were lowered drastically. That combined with free air travel thanks to our American Airlines credit card clinched the deal. We will spend seven nights at Canopy Lodge, enjoy two birding trips per day and all our meals. Hard to beat!

As this is typed, we can look out into the tropical rainforest from our room and hear howler monkeys doing their thing (howling) in the distance. There are some doves cooing in a nearby tree but we could not identify them. There were a couple of hummingbirds flitting around the feeder but we couldn’t identify them either. Unlike the northeast US where there is only one non-rare hummingbird species, the Panama bird list includes 57! different species with 17 species commonly seen in this area. Even though we spent hours before the trip and during the flight down, reviewing the Panama bird book, we are struggling to remember the families let alone individual species. There are trogons and toucans, motmots and puffbirds, ant wrens, ant pitas, ant shrikes, antbirds, and ant thrushes (ants are big business in the tropics if you are a bird).Then there are tyranulettes and tody-flycatchers, caciques and coquettes and, oh yes, the xenops.

Our day had begun at 4 AM, we left for the airport at 5 AM and arrived in Panama city at 1:30 local time. It was 96 degrees and very humid; welcome to the tropics! A 45 minute ride brought us to Canopy Tower. We were greeted, shown to our room and spent a relaxing afternoon unpacking, exploring the tower and catching up on some lost sleep. At 6:30 we joined some other guests on the observation platform watching swifts, vultures and a falcon cruising by with parrots and monkeys chattering in the distance. Dinner at seven was delightful as were all the guests we met over dinner.

Oh where to begin. At 6:30 we were on the observation deck watching dozens of beautiful birds as well as Jeffrey’s Tamarind Monkeys. After breakfast we drove a short distance to Plantation Road and slowly hiked about a mile up the trail. Our guide, Jose, was fantastic, spotting lots of birds including reclusive species, telling us about the trees and local fruits. We saw about 30 different species, half of which were life birds. We had lunch back at Canopy Tower and relaxed for a while then drove to Ammo Dump Road for our afternoon trip. This site is adjacent to Galliard Cut on the Panama Canal. We only walked about 100 yards from the truck but we saw about 40 new species including white throated crake and thick billed euphonia. We also saw a rufescent tiger heron sitting on a nest with a downy chick. We even watched a social flycatcher building a nest. After two and a half hours of great birding we headed back to the tower. The trucks they use are open flatbeds with padded seats and railings. Great for watching birds but very exposed in the rain. After the downpour on the way back we were soaked but the birding was worth it. The total for the day was 70 species and 26 life birds.

For those of you more interested in grandchildren than birds (you know who you are!), we got the following email from Tara today, “As you know Garrett and Wyatt won first and second place for our packs cub scout pinewood derby race. During spring break (we were on the cruise), our friend brought our cars to race in the next level in Saint Augustine. Garrett placed 4^th for the Bears and Wyatt placed First for the Tigers. So that meant Wyatt moved on to the next level. So this weekend we will be missing baseball and heading down to the Gainesville Raceway. WOO HOO!!!!! We are sooooooo excited!!! This is the trophy from the Saint Augustine race. They say the next level has an even bigger trophy. . .

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Then this week at school, Wyatt was selected as one of the top 10 first graders to compete in the Math Super stars contest. He took an hour long test and . . . . . . He placed first!!!!!! Woohoo! He will be representing Sabal Palm Elementary School at the Duval County math superstar contest next month. Five kids go from our school. One from each grade. They made a HUGE production out of it on the morning announcements today. My fifth grade class, hooted and hollered for little Wyatt. :0)

Then. . . .we just got reports cards. BOTH of the boys made straight A's!!!!! Do you guys have fabulous grandkids or what. . :0) :0) :0) “

We enjoyed another hot, humid bird filled day at two of the top birding spots in the area. The birding guides here are extraordinary. Here’s how it works and how we get to see so many different species. We walk along the trail. The guide hears a faint bird call and announces, “Olivaceous Trogon” or whatever the bird is. Sometimes he spots the bird and we all get to see it. More often, it is too far away to see in the dense forest so the guide whistles an exact replica of the bird call. It is amazing. They carry iPods for complex calls but usually they can reproduce the call by whistling and hooting. This brings the curious and often territorial birds closer. Since visual landmarks in the dense forest are tricky, the guides also carry a green laser pointer that they use to illuminate the area near the bird to help us find it. The guides are also phenomenally skilled at getting a 20 power spotting scope pointed at the bird quickly so many people can see it before it flies off. These guys excel at giving us the best possible birding experience. We saw dozens of new species ranging from tiny antbirds to a collared forest falcon, a seldom seen species. That’s how we got to 133 species in two days. We also spotted three toed sloth and howler monkeys along the trails.

The company that runs Canopy Tower has a new facility about two hours away in the western highlands of Panama called Canopy Lodge with different habitats and consequently, different birds. We decided to spend one night to check the place out. Our breakfast was interrupted when a troop of Goeffrey’s Tamarind monkeys arrived in a tree adjacent to the tower.

We even spotted a female with a baby clinging to her back. After breakfast and some local birding around the tower, we were driven to the Lodge. Canopy Lodge is a beautiful, new facility surrounded by high peaks of an ancient volcanic caldera. The feeders on the lawn attract a continual stream of beautiful birds for close up observation and photography. After lunch we went birding with the group along a heavily wooded local road. It was windy and birds were hard to find in spite of the best efforts of our guide Tino. Even though the sightings were few and we didn’t find an orange breasted trogon, we still got six life birds. At dinner we had a delightful conversation with a birder from Britain and a couple from California.

The lodge is so beautiful and the air is cooler and drier, we decided we’d like to stay the rest of the time here. When the office opened at eight, we confirmed that space was available so we can stay. Later in the morning we hiked to a local waterfall and through the nearby forest. It was not very birdy but we saw perhaps 15 species of butterfly including the magnificent blue morpho which is six inches across and an impossible shade of iridescent blue. Back on the porch at the lodge we watched and photographed a seemingly endless array of tropical birds coming to the feeders. After lunch they split up the group and we birded with an English couple who arrived last night. Within three hours we spotted 13 additional species including eight life birds. While crossing a rocky streambed, Sandy fell and twisted her ankle. We returned to the lodge and iced her foot for the evening. We’ll see how she feels in the morning.

Sandy’s foot was still very painful though not very swollen. We accepted the staff’s offer to take us to the local clinic. The doctor examined Sandy’s foot and told us he thought it was unlikely to be broken. He gave her an injection of anti-inflammatory drugs and recommended an x-ray but they did not have an x-ray machine in the clinic. We next drove about 45 minutes to the town of Coronado where they have a new, modern clinic/hospital. The x-ray was negative and the ankle brace they provided prevented motion that would stretch the damaged ligaments. Back at the lodge, walking was better but still painful. We stayed on the deck overlooking the bird feeders and we even added a new bird to our list while sitting there (a buff throated saltator for those of you keeping score;-). The deck was also close to the dining area so lunch and dinner required little walking. We had a relaxing afternoon and evening watching the bird feeders and chatting with the other guests.

Sandy’s foot felt better but not by a lot. We spent another thoroughly relaxing day watching birds at the feeders, reading, chatting with other guests and surfing the web for possible future birding destinations. We had hoped for 200 species on this trip but 177 is not too shabby for what turned out to be only three full days of birding. We had 62 life birds and that brings our total to 1,107 worldwide.

We were up early again to have breakfast with the folks going out birding at 7 AM. We said our good byes, packed up and sat for one more hour watching the procession of brightly colored birds at the feeder, from the tiny, three inch rufous tailed hummingbirds to the 14 inch chestnut headed oropendolas. The flights were uneventful, wheelchairs were generally available to minimize Sandy’s need to walk and wer were home before 2 AM!