October 16th, 2011
After leaving the B&B we drove the short distance to the Ammo Dump Ponds. We didn’t quite make it there before we had to hop out of the van for a perched immature Gray Hawk, #596! We walked the last 100 meters in a light drizzle. We added #597 Variable Seedeater, and #598 Barred Antshrike before even reaching the road to the Ammo Dump. And the birds just kept on coming. Several species of swallow were swooping around and perching on wires including #599, Mangrove Swallow. I didn’t even realize I’d hit #600, most likely the Yellow-headed Caracara as best I can tell from my notes, until the next day.
- Gray Hawk
- Variable Seedeater
- Barred Antshrike
- Mangrove Swallow
- Yellow-headed Caracara
- Rusty-margined Flycatcher
- Wattled Jacana
- Streaked Flycatcher
- Boat-billed Flycatcher
- Panama Flycatcher
- Golden-fronted Greenlet
- Greater Ani
- Red-lored Parrot ( I’ve seen them before in Orange County, but I don’t think they were countable there. Panama, though, is their native range. )
- Ringed Kingfisher
- Bat Falcon
- Yellow-bellied Seedeater
- Blue-black Grassquit
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October 16th, 2011
After an afternoon break, we drove off to Gamboa to visit the new Canopy Lodge Bed & Breakfast, which has several feeders that attract relatively suburban birds. It was raining so I didn’t bring my camera. Big mistake: there was a covered porch to watch from and lots of easy photo opportunities. Damn it. However we did get lots of great birds at the feeders plus a mammal or two. But first, as we waited to cross the one way bridge into Gamboa, we spotted a Mockingbird; not the usual Northern Mockingbird of suburban parks and gardens but rather a Tropical Mockingbird, #583. This barely makes it into the southern U.S. and shows up in some field guides, but is not a regular bird, and I’ve never seen one before.
Next we stopped at a soccer field where the leader heard some Orange-chinned Parakeets. We didn’t see them well, but we did see two Southern Lapwings in the field, #584.
Finally we arrived at the Bed & Breakfast. Bewfore we even walked to the feeders we spotted a Social Flycatcher in a large tree across the street, #585. Then the staff put some bananas and oranges into the platform feeders, and the birds began swarming in: tanagers, honey creppers, thrushes, and even a Motmot! Since the birds were really obvious and exposed on the feeders, I think I managed all the birds the leaders saw except for a single Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and a Golden-fronted Greenlet.
- Social Flycatcher
- Crimson-backed Tanager
- Blue-gray Tanager
- Whooping Motmot
- Red-legged Honeycreeper
- Clay-colored Thrush
- Green Honeycreeper
- Red-crowned Woodpecker
- Thick-billed Euphonia
- Shining Honeycreeper
- Buff-throated Saltator
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October 16th, 2011
I’m putting up some quick placeholders here. Time permitting I’ll fill them in with more details and photographs later, but there are so many birds it’s easy to get way behind. Numbers may not add up until I edit this more carefully.
Around 10:30 we tore ourselves away from the raptor migration on top of the tower, descended to the courtyard, and walked down the entrance road. Almost immediately we found a small flock of antbirds and others including Fasciated Antshrike and Red-capped Manakin. 13 more life birds total:
- Black Hawk-Eagle
- Slaty-tailed Trogon
- White-whiskered Puffbird
- Plain Xenops
- Cocoa Woodcreeper
- Fasciated Antshrike
- Western Slaty-Antshrike
- Checker-throated Antwren
- White-flanked Antwren
- Dot-winged Antwren
- Southern Bentbill
- Blue-crowned Manakin
- White-breasted Wood-Wren
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October 16th, 2011
After breakfast it was back up to the top of the tower for more birds, now including several species of swallows and swifts that had woken up with the insects and a large flight of raptors that was taking advantage of the warming thermals to climb. Seen lifers were:
- Hook-billed Kite
- Short-tailed Hawk
- Swainson’s Hawk
- Short-tailed Swift
- Band-rumped Swift
- Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift
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October 16th, 2011
The scent of eggs pulled us down from the roof for 45 minutes or so around 7:30 AM, but that didn’t stop the birding. During breakfast, we kept running to the windows as new birds appeared. Over scrambled eggs and sausage stew, we managed 11 species including 9 lifers:
- Long-billed Hermit
- Purple-crowned Fairy
- Brown-capped Tyrannulet
- Red-capped Manakin
- Lesser Greenlet
- Green Shrike-Vireo
- Barn Swallow
- White-shouldered Tanager
- Palm Tanager
- Blue Dacnis
- Scarlet-rumped Cacique
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October 16th, 2011
Today I woke up at 5:30 AM, grabbed my binoculars, walked upstairs, and ticked off 11 life birds (or 12 if you count a heard only birds) with my morning coffee. The first was a Golden Hooded Tanager. I didn’t get a picture of this one, so how about this shot of number four, a somewhat less impressive but more cooperative Palm Tanager:
Needless to say this wasn’t in the United States. Rather I’m down in Central America at Panama’s Canopy Tower for the next seven days or so.
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