Below are the field notes that I compiled during my visit to Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge from October 4 to 26, 2012. The photographs were taken by Michael Castro, Martin Van Tol, Philip Thompson, and me. Not all of the non-bird species are identified. William Young

October 4, 2012 I arrived safely at Canopy Tower at about 4 in the afternoon. My plane landed at 2:30, and because I was sitting in the back row, my luggage was already in the airport by the time I got to baggage claim. I was met by someone from Canopy Tower, and we wended our way through heavy traffic in Panama City. The tie-up allowed me to look at some birds along the way. The first birds I had seen in Panama were Cattle Egrets on one of the airport runways. Outside the airport, Great-tailed Grackles were everywhere. I saw a lot of Brown Pelicans, many Neotropic Cormorants, some Anhingas, many Great Egrets and Laughing Gulls, a couple of Magnificent Frigatebirds, a Black-necked Stilt, and some Southern Lapwings. There were a great many shorebirds that I could not identify from the moving vehicle with rain on the windows, but I could see that some of them were Dowitchers. There were a lot of Black Vultures, some of them perched. In a park, I saw some Ruddy Ground Doves feeding on the ground, with a Variable Seedeater mixed in. A Social Flycatcher was perched on a wire. The Tower is a magical place, even in the rain at 4 o'clock. The first bird I saw was an Eastern WoodPewee, and the first warblers I saw were a Blackburnian in fall plumage and a male American Redstart in really bright plumage. I heard the mournful call of a Great Tinamou coming from the forest. Tropical Gnatcatchers are like our Blue-gray, but with a black cap. In the trees, I saw three Golden-hooded Tanagers, all close to each other. There were Palm Tanagers and a Plain-colored Tanager, who looks a bit like a large junco. The male Blue Dacnis is a brilliant blue, and I saw a pair of Green Honeycreepers – the male is bright green. There was also a Fulvous-vented Euphonia. I soon discovered that with the species of euphonias one is likely to see at the Tower and Lodge, there are three fieldmarks one needs to observe – the throat, the cap, and the vent. The Fulvous-vented is the only one with a brownish vent.

Fulvous-vented Euphonia

My two favorite sightings from the Tower involved mammals. I saw a pair of Mantled Howler Monkeys, and one had a baby clinging to her as she climbed through the trees. I previously had

heard the howlers. And right outside one of the windows in the Tower library was a bedraggled Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth. Sloths are cooperative photo subjects, because they do not move around much. I still have trouble understanding why sloth is one of the seven deadly sins. This one almost looked like Rodin's Thinker.

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

October 5, 2012 Alexis, a guide for Canopy Tower, took me and a New Zealand naturalist named Tony to the Achiote Road, the town of Achiote, the town of Providencia, the Gatun Locks of the Canal, the mangroves on Fort Sherman Road, and to Fort San Lorenzo. This entire area is on the Caribbean side of the canal, near Colon. We left the Tower at 5:35 and did not get home until 6:20. The morning was rainy, and we birded for much of it under umbrellas. Despite the bad weather, I saw more than 110 bird species today as well as many other forms of wildlife. The first area where we stopped on the way to the Achiote Road featured a lot of Barn Swallows, who are migratory, as well as resident Gray-breasted Martins. These two species were the most common members of their family I saw throughout my trip. Later in the day, we saw some migrant Northern Rough-winged Swallows as well as one Mangrove Swallow. I had some good looks at Red-breasted Blackbirds in the fields. These birds are mostly black with a bright red breast. A Pale-vented Pigeon was perched on a tree. The Canopy Tower checklist says this species is abundant, but throughout my trip, I did not see all that many of them. One of the most common raptors is the Yellow-headed Caracara. We saw one this morning eating roadkill, and we could see the buff wing patches when it flew. When we got to the Achiote Road, we almost immediately saw a family of Spot-crowned Barbets. They are in the same family as toucans, but they are only a third to a half of the size of the toucans and aracaris. They have a large gray bill, but it is nowhere near as large as a toucan’s. We scoped a White-headed Wren perched high in a tree. This species, who is in the same genus as the Cactus Wren, neither looks nor acts like any of the other Central Panama wren species. Its tail and wings are

brown, but the rest of it is white, and it is larger than most tanager species. Skulking in the bushes was a Bay Wren, who is a rich bay color, with a light throat and barred underparts. A House Wren was nesting in a crevice in the bus shelter at Providencia, flying in and out to feed young. I saw the Plain Wren, who like a lot of the wrens here is loud and skulks. It finally popped out for a look in the rain. We heard a Buff-breasted Wren but did not see it. We saw a female Blue Cotinga, who is brown and spotty. Some Purple-throated Fruitcrows were in the area. They are in the cotinga family, and only the males have the reddish-purple throat. They are chunky black birds much smaller than American Crows. The only corvids in this part of Panama are Black-chested Jays, who are big and raucous. We saw a group of them in Providencia, and their yellow eye stands out on their black face. We saw both Yellow-rumped and Scarlet-rumped Caciques. Each species is predominantly black, except for the rump, and they both have blue eyes like a Double-crested Cormorant. Some of the Scarlet-rumped appeared to be all black. They build hanging nests, and we saw one nest hanging from a utility wire. There is also a Scarlet-rumped Cacique nest near the front entrance to Canopy Tower. The caciques are in the same family as the orioles, and we saw a male Yellow-backed Oriole. This species is yellow with black wings, tail, and face. We saw a smaller Orchard Oriole, who looked like a male with faded plumage. The oropendolas are in the same family as the caciques and orioles, but about twice the size. The Crested Oropendola is the larger and less common of the two we saw. Its tail is almost all yellow with a bit of black in the middle. The smaller and more common Chestnut-headed Oropendola has yellow only on the outer tail feathers. Seeing the chestnut head was difficult on wet birds in bad light, but I saw it later in the trip on oropendolas perched in the sunshine. The name “oropendola” comes from two Latin words meaning “gold feather,” and it was used as the name for the golden oriole. I saw a lot of anis of two species. The Common Ani has a bump on its upper mandible. The Greater Ani is a bigger bird with a bigger tail and no bump on the bill.

Scarlet-rumped Cacique Nest

While we were riding along the Achiote Road, we saw a Rufescent Tiger Heron in a field in Achiote town. It looks like a giant Green Heron. In another field was a Wattled Jacana, which we saw both on the ground and in flight; we saw the yellow on its open wings. A little farther on, we saw a Limpkin in a field where cattle were grazing. The bird then flew to a branch of a tree about 15 feet off the ground. It had a dark tip to a yellowish bill, and the rain made its body feathers a deep rich brown. We saw a lot of Keel-billed Toucans. The only Chestnut-mandibled Toucans were a pair in flight. Toucans in flight look like flying sickles, with their large curved bill held at an odd angle. There were quite a few Collared Aracaris, who seem to be aggressive birds. I can understand why Alexander Skutch regretted naming his home “Los Cosingos” after the Fiery-billed Aracari. Of the four

woodpeckers we saw, the Red-crowned looks like a Red-bellied, and the Black-cheeked sounds like one. The Lineated looks like a Pileated and is in the same genus. The Crimson-crested is another large woodpecker who is in the same genus as the Ivory-billed. On the Achiote Road, I had a nice scope view of a Mealy Parrot, who is large and has a big white eyering. We saw a lot of Red-lored Parrots in flight. They have a slow and shallow wingbeat. We also had a scope view of a distant Blue-headed Parrot in the rain and bad light, but we could make out the blue on its head. We had scope views of chunky Orange-chinned Parakeets near the locks. The only Ruddy Ground Dove we saw was in a tree. We saw 4 trogon species. We saw a female Slaty-tailed on the Achiote Road and the similar Blacktailed in the mangroves – the latter has a yellow bill, while the former’s bill is red. Both are large trogons. We had nice looks at a pair of White-tailed Trogons, the same species that is in the Amazonia section at the National Zoo in Washington. And we saw a female Gartered Trogon, who used to be called the Violaceous Trogon before being split. The Ringed Kingfisher was the most common kingfisher species today. It looks much larger than the Belted, whom we saw from at distance at the locks. In Providencia, we saw a Green Kingfisher, who has a loud piping call. We saw a tiny Pied Puffbird and had a better look at the larger Black-breasted Puffbird, perched on a wire. The only antbird was a Pacific Antwren, who looks like a misproportioned Black-and-white Warbler. There were a couple of Thick-billed Euphonias. The males do not have any dark on the throat, and they have a yellow crown. The only ovenbird we saw was a Plain Xenops, hanging from a branch. We saw three species of woodcreepers. The Straight-billed Woodcreeper was in the mangroves. There was a pair, with an older and younger bird. The younger one had a darker bill. The Streak-headed Woodcreeper was also in the mangroves, as was a Cocoa. Identifying woodcreepers can be a challenge if one does not see them in good light. A couple of them are significantly smaller, but most are about the same size, shape, and color. One needs to look at subtle differences in plumage on the breast, throat, head, and back. Bill size and shape can also be important. A lot of swifts were flying near the bus stop at the entrance to Providencia. Among them were some Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts, who are long and narrow, showing white on the neck and body. The Short-tailed Swifts have noticeably short tails. Some swifts appeared to have somewhat longer tails, and they could have been Chimney Swifts. Swifts can be very difficult to identify, because one seldom gets prolonged looks at them as they whiz by. We had nice scope views of a perched Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. A Scaly-breasted Hummingbird was perched for a scope view near a coffee plantation just before lunch. We saw a tiny Stripethroated Hermit who looked little larger than a locust. We had long looks at a female Sapphirethroated Hummingbird at the fort, and a fleeting glimpse of the male. We also saw a female Violetbellied Hummingbird on the Achiote Road. Panama has a great variety of flycatchers. The best flycatchers of the day were a pair of Long-tailed Tyrants. The male is a monochrome bird with a tail almost as long as the rest of his body. The tail splits in the middle. The female does not have a long tail like the male. We saw a pair of migrant Eastern Kingbirds to go along with the very common Tropical Kingbirds. There was an Eastern Wood Pewee and a Great Crested Flycatcher. We saw the similar Social and Gray-headed Flycatchers. The Gray-headed has a head that is noticeably lighter than the Social’s. We saw both Great and Lesser Kiskadees. The latter has a smaller bill and a two-note song. The Great Kiskadee is raucous bird with a variety of calls, one of which is the basis of its name. At Fort San Lorenzo, we saw a Yellow-bellied Elaenia at the fort who seemed to be glued to its perch.

Long-tailed Tyrant

We saw a pair of White-shouldered Tanagers – the males are mostly black. There were Palm and Blue-gray Tanagers, as well as a Crimson-backed Tanager. I saw a female Scarlet Tanager. But the star was the male Flame-rumped (or Lemon-rumped) Tanager, who has a bright yellow rump on a jet black body. I saw four species of warblers. There were a few Tennessee Warblers in the mangrove swamp. Also in the swamp were some Prothonotary Warblers – a habitat similar to the one in which one generally sees them up north. We saw a couple of Yellow Warblers, who were not the Mangrove Yellows even though we saw them in mangroves. We saw a couple of Northern Waterthrushes in Providencia, and in addition to hearing their chip notes, I heard one sing. There was a Bananaquit in a palm tree. At Providencia, we saw a Thick-billed Seed Finch, a small black bird the size of a sparrow but with a bill the size of a grosbeak. There were some Variable Seedeaters, who have a strange way of popping straight into the air without a seeming purpose. A young Black-striped Sparrow looked a bit like a faded adult. We saw few raptors today. Near the locks was a pair of American Kestrels. We saw a light phase Short-tailed Hawk, and about five Common Black Hawks, including an immature. We saw a flyover Great Blue Heron and quite a few Little Blue Herons. Both of these species are migrants. There were a couple of Snowy Egrets at the locks, a lot of Cattle Egrets with cattle, and a few flyover Green Herons; all three of these species are residents. We saw Brown Pelicans near the fort and a Magnificent Frigatebird near the locks. From the fort, we were able to scope a Willet. In the same area, we saw large flocks of Blue-winged Teals in flight – we also saw some near the locks. There were Spotted Sandpipers in a number of places.

Geoffroy’s Tamarins

As for non-bird species, we saw a lot of Common Morpho butterflies as well as a Banded Peacock. A River Otter crossed the road in front of us in the mangrove swamp. A White-nosed Coati was at the entrance to the fort, showing its long tail. We saw quite a few Central American Agoutis, who look like giant guinea pigs. We saw a group of White-faced Capuchin monkeys as well as a pair of Geoffroy’s Tamarins grooming each other. The dogs here seem surprisingly docile. When we stopped to eat lunch, one came to the place where we were eating, hoping for a handout. It appeared to have a lot of scars on its head, and it followed our every move. As we were getting ready to pack up, Alexis threw a sandwich onto the ground, which the appreciative dog quickly gobbled up.

October 6, 2012 Today was the first day I saw some sunshine, although it was raining by midday. It was also the first day I was able to go to the observation platform at the top of Canopy Tower at dawn. The first bird I heard was a Rufous Motmot. I saw two Red-lored Parrots in a tree. They have black on their primaries which you can see when the birds are perched. A surprise was seeing two Glossy Ibises fly by – they turned out to be the only two I would see in Panama. After breakfast as we were preparing to get into a vehicle, I saw another Eastern Wood Pewee. They seem to be everywhere. I also saw a male Green Honeycreeper and a Palm Tanager. In a tree near the observation platform across from the front door was an Olivaceous Woodcreeper, one of the few woodcreepers who is not difficult to identify because of its small size and small bill. A Long-billed Hermit streaked in. And I saw a Mantled Howler Monkey in a tree, stretching as if he had just awakened. Alexis took me, Tony, Amy, Carla, and Greg to the Metropolitan Park in Panama City. It is the only large forested park in any Latin American capital city, and it has more than 470 acres of dry lowland pacific forest. To get there, one must go along the canal and through parts of Panama City. On the way, I saw some Whimbrels in a field at the domestic airport. I also saw some Great Egrets and Tropical Kingbirds.

At the park, we saw a big-bellied tree, which Alexis said is the national tree of Panama. A friend who works for the Smithsonian later told me that these trees are related to cacao trees. He also said the big-bellied tree is in genus Sterculia, which is named after the Roman god of fertilization and manure. A Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth was sleeping in a tree, looking like the end of a wet mop. We saw another one later as well as a couple of Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths – they are the ultimate tree huggers. I saw a Crimson-backed Tanager, which is a stunning tanager with crimson and black plumage and a silver beak. I really liked the tiny Southern Bentbills. They have a bent upper mandible, and they make a noise that sounds like a joy buzzer. I also saw a Northern Waterthrush. The White-vented Plumeleteer is a big hummingbird with a white vent and a long tail. A Rufousbreasted Wren was very cooperative, with a black checkered throat and a striped tail. The Rufousand-white Wren and Black-bellied Wren were singing, but we did not see them. A Zone-tailed Hawk flew over – it has a long tail, and the shape is only slightly different from a Turkey Vulture. We saw a very yellow Acadian Flycatcher. We also had a nice look at a Veery on the ground, who was first misidentified as a Gray-cheeked Thrush. We saw a couple of Swainson’s Thrushes, and I heard the “whit” note many times. There was a female Summer Tanager. I saw a male Black-andwhite Warbler foraging in some hanging vines, and I did not get on a Worm-eating Warbler that some people saw because I was looking at a pair of Red-crowned Ant-tanagers. The male looks a bit like a slightly washed out male Summer Tanager. I got to see the male Rosy Thrush-Tanager, who has a dark back, a rosy breast, and a white eyeline. Nobody else in our group saw it, and I did not realize how difficult they are to see. They skulk on the ground, singing a loud three-note song persistently. We heard others but never saw them. Most of the other people saw a female and young male Lance-tailed Manakin, but I did not get on either. We saw a perched Streaked Flycatcher, which has a rufous tail coming out of its streaked body. I also saw a Yellow-Olive Flycatcher. I saw a Western Slaty Antshrike, who was dark gray with white dots on his wing. We also had a nice scope view of a Keel-billed Toucan.

Keel-billed Toucan

Along one of the paths were Ortiga plants, which have huge leaves and cause an allergic reaction similar to poison ivy. We saw a Cuipa tree, which is tall and thick. Alexis said native people use them for canoes. There were Heliconia flowers in many places, and I saw a Heart-spotted Heliconia butterfly. There were more Common Morphos, and I also saw an Owl butterfly. It is large and brown with an eyespot on the underwing. The top of the wings are a beautiful blue in front and gold on the back. There were a lot of leafcutter ants working industriously. Some were crawling up and down the wooden barrier to one of the footpaths. One of the two highlights of the trip was seeing a group of three Panamanian Night Monkeys perched on the rim of a hole. The two young were on top of the adult. They have sweet faces and tiny hands. The other was seeing a Common Potoo, who a ranger pointed out in a tree at the entrance to the park. From one angle, the potoo looked exactly like the continuation of the branch it was resting on. It looks like a somewhat fatter version of the Australian frogmouths. On the ride back to the Tower, we saw a Savanna Hawk in a field at the airport. It is very large and rufous. A sign on the way back to the Tower said Access a diablo.

Panamanian Night Monkeys

Common Potoo

Back at the Tower, I had a great look at a Blue-chested Hummingbird from the window of my room. I had seen one earlier at ground level, and it looked dingy, but the one from my window showed a beautiful blue sheen on the side of its throat and breast and an iridescent green back. Before lunch, I saw a perched Black-breasted Puffbird from the window near the dining table. After lunch, a guide named Michael took me and Tony to the Summit Ponds on Old Gamboa Road. Shortly after we arrived, it started to rain fairly hard, so we did not stay long. Two of the first birds we saw were a pair of Bat Falcons perched on top of a water tower, looking like two ornaments on the supporting poles. I could see the face pattern and the rufous leggings on these small falcons. There was a perched Yellow-bellied Elaenia, showing a bit of a ruffled crest. A little further on we saw two distant Boat-billed Herons in the scope. One had its back to us, and the other was on a nest, with its bill pointed down to about 7 o’clock. We did not see them well. Among the migrants we saw were a Prothonotary Warbler in good plumage, another Northern Waterthrush, and a Baltimore Oriole. As with many other places, there were Eastern Wood Pewees.

We also added two new mammals – two Red-tailed Squirrels and a Variegated Squirrel. The squirrels here seem to have bushier tails than our Gray Squirrel.

October 7, 2012 Alexis, Tony, and I left the Tower at 5:30 this morning to go into the highlands by way of Panama City. It was the first day I did not see any rain, and the weather in the highlands was cooler and less humid. Our first stop was at Cerro Jefe, which is at 3,300 feet. We found a Blue-black Grassquit near the entrance to the path we walked up, and we saw a group of Gray-headed Chachalacas in the trees, forgetting that they are not songbirds. The first special bird we saw was a female Yellow-eared Toucanet in the scope. She did not have a yellow earpatch like the male, but otherwise looked the same, with a two-toned bill attached to a mostly black and dark green body. There was a female American Redstart and a Northern Waterthrush. A couple of Lineated Woodpeckers were in the trees. Five Mealy Parrots flew over, using a similar short shallow wingbeat as the Red-lored Parrots. We found two White-vented Euphonias. They have a yellow cap and a black bib, and they were exceptionally cooperative in letting us see them. Also cooperative was a Thrushlike Schiffornis, who is about the size of a Swainson’s Thrush. We saw the olive-brown race, who is olive with brown wings and a slightly lighter throat. They stay around the forest floor and can be difficult to find, but this one behaved as if we were not there, popping right out into plain view. It kept dipping its head as if looking for something, and when it vocalized, we could see the inside of its mouth, which is red.

Thrushlike Schiffornis

We had a scope view of a Black-and-yellow Tanager, which is bright yellow with black wings. I got a quick look at a Rufous-winged Tanager in a tree. I could see the brownish head and green body, but its wings were concealed behind a leaf before it flew. I did not realize at the time how difficult this bird is to find; when I told a guide at Canopy Lodge the following week that we had seen one, he said he has never seen one in all of his years of birding. The nest of a Bay Wren was right next to the path – it is a leafy ball. When we got back to the entrance, a half dozen Blue-fronted Parrotlets flew across

the road, but I did not catch any of the fieldmarks. There was a conifer near the entrance that had a bunch of Tennessee Warblers and one Blackburnian Warbler.

Bay Wren Nest

We left Cerro Jefe and drove toward Cerro Azul, which is at 2,500 feet. We entered what must be the mother of all gated communities. The area inside the gate is enormous, and if you want to visit, you must pay. We stopped and tried to find a Scaly-breasted Wren, who was calling nearby. There was a House Wren hopping on a steep roof. We also drove past a lot of chicken farms, with many birds confined into small spaces. We then went to an amazing place called the Kaufmann House, which is owned by the American Karl Kaufmann and Rosabel Miro, who is Panamanian and the executive director of Panama Audubon. In the back of the house is a patio surrounded by eight hummingbird feeders. There are many flowering bushes and trees in front of the patio, and beyond these is a spectacular view of the valley. Take this beautiful setting and mix in more than a hundred manic hummingbirds of 13 species and you have the recipe for an overwhelming experience. It is hummingbird heaven and Christmas Count hell. Sitting and watching this profusion of hummers can be exhausting. After a while, one can identify most of them, with the only challenges coming on some of the females. The hummers seem to have a pecking order that is not based on size. Some of the smaller hummers drive away the large ones. The hummers also drive away other birds. We saw them buzz a Tennessee Warbler and a Baltimore Oriole. The Bananaquits come to the hummer feeders, but they seem to warily approach before drinking. There were also Red-legged Honeycreepers who came to the feeders as well as Yellowfaced Grassquits. One of the common hummers is the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird. It looks a lot like a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, except that it has a white belly. Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds were also at the feeders. The Green Hermit is very big, with a long curved red bill and a tail with a couple of feathers that

extend beyond the end, making the bird look even bigger. It is one of the big hummers that sometimes is driven away by the smaller ones. It is greenish, and there were also a couple of Longbilled Hermits around, who are brownish on the back instead of green like the Green Hermit. The White-necked Jacobin is another large hummer who sometimes is bullied by the smaller ones. The males have a narrow strip of white between their purple head and green body. The tail of both the male and female has a lot of white in it, which along with the size is a way of identifying the female. She is plainer, with a scaly breast and no purple on the head. The Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer looks a lot like the White-vented Plumeleteer, except that it has less white on the vent and red feet instead of black. There were Blue-chested Hummingbirds, who are common around Canopy Tower. A lot of hummers have purple or violet in their name, which can be confusing. The Violet-headed Hummingbird is a small hummer who does not come to the feeders, preferring to stay in the nearby flowers. The male has a purple head and a white spot behind its eye that makes it look like the birds in a lot of my bird photos – the bird equivalent of “red eye” in many photos seems to be “white eye.” The Violet-capped Hummingbird is an electric green with a violet cap. The Violet-crowned Woodnymph is larger than the previous two, with the male combining a brilliant green throat with a purple cap. His vocalizations sound like the horn on a clown car. The Purple-crowned Fairy was one of my favorites. It is longer than the woodnymph and much sleeker and delicate looking. It is green on the back and white underneath. It seems to spread its tail more than the other hummers. It also is bullied by the smaller hummers. The Brown Violetear is harder to find but easy to identify. Because it is mostly brown, it looks like none of the other hummers at the house. It has a pale malar stripe and a purple patch by the ear, One was up in a tree, contorting its body to sun itself.

Green Hermit

Violet-headed Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Woodnymph

We saw a couple of notable hummingbird species. One was a female Green Thorntail. She does not have the long forked tail of the male, but she is still striking. She is mostly green, with a white malar stripe, a white band above her tail, and some white patches on her sides. But the really special one we saw was a White-tipped Sicklebill. We had to hike down a steep path to reach some Giant Heliconia flowers – one of the types the bird likes. Each blossom is big and red, and each stalk has

about 20 blossoms – imagine a stalk with 20 male Northern Cardinals pecking at it, ten on each side. The Sicklebill prefers the ones in the shade – I am not sure why. We waited near some of these plants, and one of the Sicklebills appeared briefly. Even with a brief look, the profile was unmistakable. It is much broader than most hummingbirds, and its bill is huge and curving downward, almost forming a semicircle. After it left, we waited a bit and then decided to have lunch. On the way back up the hill, we saw a female Checker-throated Antwren, a tiny bird who did not have much checkering on her throat. There was a Western Slaty Antshrike, who seems to be the most common of the antbirds. We also saw an adult male and young male Black-throated Trogon. The adult male is the only trogon in Panama who is green on the back and yellow underneath. At one point, I had the male Black-throated Trogon in the same binocular field as a female Slaty-tailed Trogon. We had a nice view of a male Hepatic Tanager. It is slightly darker than a Summer Tanager, with a dark bill instead of a light one like the Summer Tanager. We saw other Hepatics during various parts of the day. There was a Canada Warbler in fall plumage in the nearby bushes. It had only a faint necklace. Pink-cheeked Heliconian butterflies were in the area along with a species of clearwing and a yellow Julia. An ameiva lizard ran along a path near the patio. There were some good sightings from the lawn as we looked into the valley. About seven Mississippi Kites in various plumages flew over, not far from us. Way down in the valley, we scoped a pair of White Hawks, who were wafting in the breeze. They have short white tails with a black terminal band. Their underwings are mostly white, but their upperwings have a lot of black on them. We also saw a soaring King Vulture. It was too far away to see any detail on the head, but we could see the dirty white body (darker than a White Hawk) and the black feathers on the underwing. We saw in the distance a kettle with hundreds of Broad-winged Hawks and some vultures mixed in. After lunch, we left the Kaufmann House to look for a Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker, a Panama endemic. At our first stop, we found a pair. The male is greenish with a red cap and a red malar stripe with a buffy stripe above it. His back is green, and he is mottled below. The female lacks the red malar stripe. These woodpeckers are about the size of a Hairy Woodpecker. We had a great look at a Carmiol’s Tanager, which is also called an Olive Tanager. It is a nondescript tanager who is almost entirely olive. What happened next was one of the most memorable birding experiences I have had in a long time. We stopped at the administration office to pay our fee for coming into the area. As we were about to leave, a wave of about 10,000 Broad-winged Hawks started to fly toward us. We were on a mountain ridge, and this is an obvious migratory path for the hawks. I have heard about the waves of hawks that fly through places such as Veracruz, Mexico, but I had never actually seen a wave like this. We drove down the road a bit, and I got a fleeting glimpse of a Buff-rumped Warbler as it flew into a stream in a ravine. Streams are its preferred habitat. We then stopped at an area to look for a White-ruffed Manakin. We found a female, but no male. The female is a small round green bird with a dark tail. On the way down, we saw a Scale-crested PygmyTyrant, a tiny bird with a pale eye and a slightly misshapen head. We also saw another Blackburnian Warbler. On the way back to our vehicle, we saw a tiger beetle crawling through the grass. Our final stop of the day was at the home of an American ex-pat named Bill Arden. He calls his home Casa Colibri, and it has almost as much hummingbird activity as the Kaufmann House. It also has tables with fruit, which gives it an added dimension. Above one of the hummingbird feeders is a basket for fruit, and at one point, it contained three Tennessee Warblers. A feeding table on the deck had a Black-cheeked Woodpecker. I had missed a couple of Bay-headed Tanagers earlier in the day, but there was one right at a feeding table near where I was standing. This is one of the really pretty tanagers, with a bay head, a green back, and deep turquoise underparts. A female Hepatic Tanager

came to eat, along with Thick-billed Euphonias in various plumages. The male euphonia has a yellow cap but no dark bib. Alexis freed a Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer who had become tangled in a string that was used to support a feeder that had been taken down for repairs. We could see the tiny red feet which help to distinguish this species from the White-vented Plumeleteer.

Hepatic Tanager

Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer

The two hummers we came to see were a Rufous Coquette and a Long-billed Starthroat. The coquette is a beautiful but tiny hummer who frequents flowers rather than feeders. We did not see one, but we saw a starthroat. It is a large hummer with a bill that is so long that it has trouble drinking and standing on a perch at the feeder at the same time. The only way it can do it is to shove the bill halfway in so that it can get close enough to stand on the perch. It is also distinguished by its white malar stripe. It would frequently be chased away from its favorite feeder by the Jacobins.

October 8, 2012 Today was another good weather day. At 6 a.m., I went up to the observation deck. There was a perched Tropical Pewee, who is slightly smaller than the more plentiful and vocal Eastern Wood Pewees. Three Collared Aracaris were nearby, and I could see a lot of the detail on their plumage and enormous bills. Some Keel-billed Toucans were mixed in. Alexis scoped a pair of Scaled Pigeons perched on top of a tree – they are scaly below and have a two-toned red and yellow bill. Some Band-rumped Swifts flew close to the Tower, and on a few I could see the band on the rump. Some Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts were mixed in – they are one of the easier swift to identify because of their elongated bodies and the white on the throat and sides.

Collared Aracari

Scarlet, Plain-colored, and Golden-hooded Tanagers were flitting in the trees with Green Honeycreepers and a pair of Blue Dacnises. The female Dacnis is green with a blue cap. I saw a Gray Kingbird, who does not have the white terminal tailband of the Eastern Kingbird. Alexis scoped a Crane Hawk. It had its back toward us, so all I saw was a dark gray back. We heard Great Tinamous and saw flying Mealy Parrots. There was a Golden-winged Warbler in the branches, and I saw it just as it was flying. I could see the golden patches on the wings, but I did not get on the face. There was also a Tennessee Warbler foraging in a nearby tree. After breakfast, Michael took me, Sophie, Karolyne, Therese, Scott, and Marcella to the Plantation Road at the base of Semaphore Hill road (which leads up to Canopy Tower). On the way down, we saw a Red-tailed Squirrel and a Broad-billed Motmot. This was the first motmot I saw on the trip, even though I have regularly heard the Rufous Motmot. The Broad-billed looks like a small Rufous, with a large bill and a small patch of subtle green feathering on the throat that can be difficult to see. On the Plantation Road trail, we saw a pair of Spotted Antbirds down in a ravine. The female has a more complex pattern on her back, but the male has a crisper band of black spots going across his white breast. A cooperative female Blue-crowned Manakin perched near us, looking like a little green bird from a Fernando Botero painting – very puffy and round. I later saw a male Red-capped Manakin,

who is a stunning bird. I was looking at him on the ground in a ravine, so I did not see his yellow pants. But I did see the bright red cap on the jet black body. Michael saw a bird in the ovenbird family called the Scaly-throated Leaftosser, and even though it is one of my favorite bird names, I did not manage to see it. But I did see a bizarre species called a Streak-chested Antpitta. Imagine a Swainson’s Thrush with very long legs and virtually no tail and you will get a rough idea of the plumage. It has vertical streaks on the breast rather than spots. This bird is somewhat rotund, and when it calls from a log on the forest floor, one can see its entire body inflating. I have never seen any other bird species do this. A video about this species is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nLv8fZ-wAM . We found a Tamandua in a tree. It is a type of anteater with coloration similar to a Giant Panda. Its head is tan with a long snout. It snuffled down the tree and walked away. At one spot, we saw three night monkeys in a tree, but we did not get as good a view as we had on Saturday at the Metro Park. We found some jaguar poo, but there was no jaguar. The jaguar had apparently recently eaten a peccary or an agouti, because the poo had bits of hair in it. We saw both a two-toed and a three-toed sloth. I found the two-toed up in a tree, seemingly waving his arms. There was a couple on the walk named Marcella and Scott, and when Marcella saw it, she excitedly called to Scott (who was down the trail taking photos) to hurry and come see it before she realized that you don’t have to hurry to see a sloth. This one did not look like the end of a wet mop, having dried out after the rains. It looked a lot shaggier than other sloths I have seen and not as bedraggled.

Jaguar Poo

Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth

We had a great look at a male White-whiskered Puffbird. It is a puffy little bird who sat still in a tree. In the scope, I could barely make out the touch of white near the base of its bill. We saw a female Blackthroated Trogon, who was brown on back, yellow underneath, and had barring on her undertail. We found a very cooperative male Slaty-tailed Trogon. He looked as if he had just bathed, and he was vigorously preening on a high branch. When he finished, he kept coming down lower and lower until he was only about 12 feet off the ground. I saw a Plain Xenops. It is a small brown bird with two white facial stripes. Even if the bird is backlit, it can be identified by the way it behaves, hanging on branches and leaves in awkward positions.

Slaty-tailed Trogon

I saw a bunch of new birds for the trip. One was a Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, a small flycatcher with a ruddy breast and tail. There was an Olivaceous Flatbill, an olive bird whose bill is larger than many other flycatcher bills. There was a family of Dot-winged Antwrens. The male is all dark with dots on his wings and a wingbar, and the female is rufous below. At one point, we saw the male feed the female. I saw a Golden-crowned Spadebill, a small flycatcher who makes a Golden-crowned Kinglet look big. It has a distinct facial pattern, with an earpatch. I could not actually see the gold in its crown. I saw a couple of White-breasted Wood-Wrens. They are chunky wrens with short tails (which makes them look chunkier) and a complex black and white pattern on its cheek. They are loud and active.

After lunch, I saw another kettle of Broad-winged Hawks fly over, but there were only about 30. There were also huge numbers of Gray-breasted Martins in the sky as I looked up. I later saw more huge martin flocks. I would estimate that today, I probably saw a couple of thousand martins. I have to remind myself to keep looking into the sky at this time of year. I walked down the road that leads to Canopy Tower, and on the way, I saw a Black-breasted Puffbird perched close to the road. My guide Michael came by to pick me up a bit before three and we headed over to the Ammo Dump ponds just past Gamboa, a short ride from the Tower.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

One of the first birds we saw was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Other North American migrants were a few Yellow Warblers, a Prothonotary Warbler, and a Northern Waterthrush. All of these birds were in a habitat similar to where they can be found in the north. I had a very nice look at another Gray Kingbird, and there were Social Flycatchers and Lesser and Great Kiskadees. Some of the Great Kiskadees were raucous, and they were doing a two note call rather than their usual three-note Kiska-dee vocalization. A new flycatcher for the trip was the Boat-billed, who looks like a Kiskadee with a larger bill. I had a scope view of the bird and could see how big the bill is.

Nine-banded Armadillo

Michael found a Nine-banded Armadillo in the grass near the road. It eventually came out and snuffled around, seemingly oblivious to us. While we were looking at it at close range, we had a great look at a Gray-necked Wood-Rail. This rail is really big, with a brownish body and a gray neck. We had a nice look as it moved behind us to the side of the road where we were standing. In the same area was a big Green Iguana on a branch a little above eye level. We later saw a female Purple Gallinule, who is brownish with a lot of white in a tail which she frequently cocked. She uttered a lot of little “chink” notes like a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and would occasionally let out a loud squawk. We heard a White-throated Crake calling, but this tiny rail would not show itself. As we waited for the crake, a lot of Orange-chinned Parakeets were in a trees above us, occasionally squabbling with each other. One of the trees with the parakeets also had Thick-billed Euphonias, one of the most common euphonias around here. Across the street were a Ruddy Ground Dove in very bright ruddy plumage, and a pair of Ruddy-breasted Seedeaters. The male was in ratty plumage, but the female looked as if she had spent more time on her appearance. Way up in the sky was a Plumbeous Kite, which Michael identified primarily by shape. I saw a Common Tody-Flycatcher, which is a tiny bird with a black back and yellow underparts. The first Osprey of my trip flew over. We saw a female Barred Antshrike, who has a large light eye that makes her look like a character from Sesame Street. I later heard a Barred Antshrike vocalizing in a way that sounded remarkably like an American Crow. There were both Northern and Southern Rough-winged Swallows. The Southerns have a buff throat. We saw some of them flying over one of the ponds and trying to drink without landing. Some would hit the water with considerable force, which did not seem to bother them. A Green Heron flew across one of the ponds, and a Rufescent Tiger-Heron was sitting on a nest. In the same area was a solitary Black-bellied Whistling Duck sitting on a branch in a tree. The colors on this beautiful duck seemed very bright.

The day ended with two entertaining events. There was a female Yellow-headed Caracara in the top of a tree. A male flew in to mate with her and landed right on top of her rather than on the tree before getting onto her. I have seen male Ospreys do this also. The two caracaras let out a few post-coital screams before flying away. We then went to the town of Gamboa where I found one of the species I most wanted to see. On the top of a tree was a Fork-tailed Flycatcher. There was another one on a different tree nearby. The first bird would occasionally leave the perch to flycatch. It flew high into the air, spreading its remarkably long tail, looking like a little Swallow-tailed Kite. The two sides to the tail are kept together when the bird is perched. We watched it for about fifteen minutes. This bird provided a wonderful ending to another remarkable day.

Yellow-headed Caracara

October 9, 2012 I went out to the observation deck at the top of the Tower before sunrise. I could see fog covering almost everything around the canal and toward Panama City, but the area around the top of the Tower was clear. I could hear Howler Monkeys vocalizing in the background as the sun rose. I saw four species of tanagers in one tree – Scarlet, Golden-hooded, Palm, and Plain-colored. Some Fulvous-vented Euphonias and Green Honeycreepers were mixed in. I have been pleasantly surprised by the Plain-colored Tanager. Instead of being the dull gray bird shown in the field guide, it is a striking gray and black bird who always looks angry. I saw a young male White-shouldered tanager, who had tail feathers that were brownish instead of black. When trying to learn about the birds in a foreign country before you visit, there are a lot of plumages that are not pictured in the field guide. And on birds that look very similar, such as young or female tanagers, identifying them can be difficult. One of the best birds of the morning was a Green Shrike-Vireo, who is a canopy specialist. An advantage to being on an observation deck above the canopy is that one can observe the entire body of such birds rather than only the underside. This bird is a lovely green, with yellow on the throat and a strip of blue on its neck. It has a loud, persistent three-note call. In the same tree were a Red-eyed Vireo and a Tennessee Warbler, which provided a good comparison between the two. I had an excellent look at the front of a Streaked Flycatcher – previously, I had seen the bird only from behind. I could see the lines on its head and streaked breast. I also got a much closer look at a Scaled Pigeon in great light, so I could see the scaling and the two-toned bill. I finally got a good look at a

Squirrel Cuckoo, with its long rufous body, very long tail, and yellow bill. It sometimes appears to be moving through the trees like a squirrel. I saw a Forest Elaenia, which will go on my list of confusing little green flycatchers. While we were on the platform, a Bat Falcon sped past, possibly in pursuit of something. Band-rumped Swifts flew close to the tower, showing the band on their rump. This morning, I was the only guest using a guide – in fact, for most of the day, I was the only guest here. Michael and I walked down Semaphore Hill Road, which is the road that winds from the main road to the Tower. We saw the small Ochre-bellied Flycatcher. We soon came upon a pair of perched Broad-billed Motmots very close by. They have long tails with racquet tips, and one of them was swinging its tail back and forth like a pendulum. We saw a Dusky Flycatcher, which is a slightly smaller version of the Great Crested. We saw a Canada Warbler in the same tree. We also found a Plain Brown Woodcreeper. This species lacks the head and breast markings of many other species of woodcreepers. It has a short dark straight bill. The star bird of the morning was a Semiplumbeous Hawk. It is lead colored on the back and white below. It has red feet, a black-tipped red bill, a red cere, and a yellowish eye. We watched one in the scope for quite awhile. Its call is a loud ker-WEE. It is one of the prettiest hawks I have ever seen. Michael said he had not seen one in about a year. They are not rare so much as difficult to find.

Semiplumbeous Hawk

I had a nice look at another tiny Golden-crowned Spadebill. And I had a better look at a flycatcher called an Olivaceous Flatbill, who has a bill like a Boat-billed Flycatcher. I saw a lot of antbirds. There was a Bicolored Antbird, who is brown below, white above, and has bare skin around the eye. The Checker-throated Antwren is a tiny brown bird with some markings on its throat. The male Dot-winged Antwren is one of many slaty-gray antbirds with dots on its wings. He also has white edges on his black tail. One antbird who is a little different is the White-flanked Antwren, who has a distinct white

mark on its flank. The Chestnut-backed Antbird flicks its tail a lot. There was a male Fasciated Antshrike sitting on a nest. He has a red eye, and his streaks are closer together than on the male Barred Antshrike. Part of the bottom of his bill appeared to be white. And I also had a nice look at a Western Slaty-Antshrike, who seems to be the most common antbird around here. We heard the loud call of the Bright-rumped Attila, but did not see it.

Fasciated Antshrike

We saw a couple more White-whiskered Puffbirds. One sat right in front of us, and we could see the little tan speckles on his back and some dirt on his bill, probably from some recent excavation work. If you find one of these birds, you can watch it for a long time, because they don’t move much. There are other birds such as motmots and trogons who behave the same way. We saw an agouti, chewing loudly on some palm nuts. We walked to a spot where a Great Potoo has been hanging out, but he was not around. In the woods along the main road, we found an area where there was a family of Yellow-margined Flycatchers. The yellow margins on its wings at times look like vertical stripes. In the same area was a vireo with yellow flanks, probably a Philadelphia. Michael looked at two hawks way up in the sky and called them a Gray-headed Kite and a Swainson’s hawk, The Gray-headed Kite has very broad wings. Later, a kettle of about 500 Broad-winged Hawks passed through.

White-whiskered Puffbird

The other star bird of the morning was a young male Cinnamon Woodpecker. It has a hammerhead look. I saw some red near the chin, and the breast has little black semicircles. The back is a rich cinnamon color. The bird picked a spot and stayed there, giving us good long looks. In the same area was a Masked Tityra whose vocalization sounds like an old man saying “Eh?” When we got back to the Tower, I discovered that all of my belongings had been taken up one floor. I had started in a small single room with no bathroom and shower. My new room has both, is more spacious, is closer to the Wi-Fi signal, and has a better view of the canopy. I ate lunch alone, because no other guests were here. A birder from England named Martin arrived this evening. The name of my new room is Collared Forest Falcon, while Martin is in the Masked Tityra room. After lunch, Michael and I hopped into a vehicle, and as we were going down Semaphore Hill Road, Michael spotted a Rufous Motmot in a tree. It is larger than the similar Broad-billed Motmot, but it has no green on the throat. But like the Broad-billed, it was moving its long tail back and forth. We then went to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort at the Panama Canal. There is a one-lane bridge, with the canal on one side and the Chagres River on the other. The resort runs along the Chagres. Near the entrance, Michael found a Whooping Motmot, which used to be called the Blue-crowned. The blue on its head forms a jagged circle and looks like the type of crown that a king would wear. I also saw two new woodcreepers for the trip. The Streak-headed Woodcreeper is smallish and has a streaked head and breast. The Northern Barred Woodcreeper is rufous, and we could see the barring on its front and back. The barring is so fine that it almost gives the appearance of ruffled feathers. We once again heard the White-throated Crake but did not see it. There were a pair of Yellow-crowned Euphonias in a tree. I was looking at the female and missed the male. I briefly got on a Buff-breasted Wren skulking and fussing in the marsh. It was near a spot where we had a wonderfully close look at a Rufescent Tiger Heron. Among the North American migrants I saw were a Prothonotary Warbler, a

bunch of Yellow Warblers (including a male with red streaks), and a Northern Waterthrush which I saw while Michael was off getting our vehicle as a rainstorm was rapidly approaching.

Rufescent Tiger Heron

During the rainstorm, we stood under an awning. There were two Common Moorhens in the river. Some Mangrove Swallows were perched nearby, and I had a much closer look at the white rump than I had previously. A Spotted Sandpiper landed on one of the docks. Across the river, we saw a group which included Great Egrets and Little Blue Herons. I also had a chance to mess around with my camera and discovered that I can digiscope with video. Before March, I had never owned a camera, and before a few days ago, I had never tried to digiscope. The guides here encourage digiscoping. I practiced video digiscoping on one of the Great Kiskadees who was perched near us. I could see the yellow on top of his wet head.

Great Kiskadee

When the rain let up a bit, we saw two male Purple Gallinules and a youngster. The behavior of one of the males was strange. This beautiful bird with the two-toned bill would suddenly would let out a chink note and violently raise his wings as if he had just received an electric shock. It was not evident why he kept doing this, but it was funny nonetheless. Before we left, we walked through a grassy area, where we saw a Yellow-bellied Elaenia in a tree. It is flycatcher with a crest and wingbars. We also saw a small group of Smooth-billed Anis and a Greyheaded Chachalaca. In a nearby grassy area, we saw eight Lesser Capybaras, who are lesser in name only. These critters are really big and heavy. Regarding other mammals, we saw a lot of Agoutis at the resort. And back at the Tower after dinner, Michael spotted a Kinkajou, and we had a nice look at it. As for reptiles, we saw the front end of a Narrow-snouted Spectacled Caiman who was probably about ten feet long.

Purple Gallinule

Narrow-snouted Spectacled Caiman

October 10, 2012 Today was a grueling but rewarding day. Michael took Martin and me to the Pipeline Road, which is one of the best places in Central Panama to find forest birds. We got off to a difficult start. We left the tower at 6:30, but on the way down Semaphore Hill Road, we ran into a downed tree that was

blocking the road. Michael and another man took about 30 minutes to clear it away with a machete and an axe. When we arrived at the Pipeline Road area, the road was muddy and rutted. At times, riding on it felt like being in a blender set at low speed. But the birding was fantastic.

Fallen Tree on Semaphore Hill Road

One of the highlights was a Great Tinamou. This secretive bird is the first one listed in the field guide, and the 2008 listing of the birds of the world had tinamous first in phylogenetic order. This bird mostly walks around on the forest floor, and its plumage blends in with its surroundings. It is 17 inches long but actually looks bigger because it has a short tail. Michael found one next to the path, and we watched it for at least ten minutes. It did not seem at all wary about us, being intent on pecking around for food. I have heard a Great Tinamou calling almost every day I have been in Panama, but I had not seen one.

Great Tinamou

A much more uncommon sighting was a pair of Marbled Wood-Quails, who are listed as rare in this part of Panama. Martin and I saw a bird run across the path. It had a brown body, and its face looked red. Michael later got the scope on one, while another one called. The call is loud and sounds like a squeaky wheel on a hospital trolley. The red I saw was actually bare skin around the eye. We then went a bit down the road to do more birding, but one of the wood-quails seemed to be following us. It walked in the same direction we were going, fairly close to the path, calling intermittently. When I showed the photos I took to some of the other guides, they were amazed that we saw this species. There were lot of Howler Monkeys screaming. Some were in the trees over our heads, and we had to be careful when they started to drop poo down on us. It mostly hit the leaves. Every minute or so, a gang of them would all howl at the same time, sounding as if they were cheering at a sporting event. One of the effects of their moving through the treetops was that they disturbed a Choco Screech-Owl, who landed in a branch at eye level right near where we were standing. The other guides were pretty amazed by the photos of this bird also.

Marbled Wood Quail

Choco Screech-Owl

We had wonderful views of two species of manakins. The male Blue-crowned Manakin is a jet black bird with an electric blue crown, while the male Red-capped is jet black with a red cap. These birds are only 3 inches long, and when they are not perched, they move around quickly. We also found a female Golden-collared Manakin, who is slightly larger and mostly olive colored.

When we arrived at the Pipeline Road, we had a nice look at a Slaty-tailed Trogon. A Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher came into view, as did two Chestnut-mandibled Toucans. We heard a Black-faced Antthrush but did not see it. There were some Purple-throated Fruitcrows in the trees. There were a couple of Yellow-rumped Caciques in the same trees as the fruitcrows. I had a nice look at a Blackstriped Woodcreeper. This species has streaking on its back as well as its front. The streaking on the back features a few vertical black stripes. I had a much closer look at a Cinnamon Woodpecker than I had yesterday – a male with a lot of red on his cheek. On the forest floor, I saw a female White-bellied Antbird, who is brown on the back and has a dark cheek. I had a fleeting glimpse of a Black-bellied Wren, who also has a rufous back. Both of these last two birds are loud skulkers. A Stripe-throated Hermit flew across the path – it is much smaller than the other hermit hummingbirds. We had nice looks a Rufous Motmot. We heard a calling Collared Forest Falcon, but we never saw it – I was interested in seeing it because I am in the Collared Forest Falcon room at the Tower. It seemed as if Blue Morpho butterflies were everywhere. Their flight is fast and bouncy, which makes them difficult to photograph.

Blue-crowned Manakin

At about 1:30, there was a heavy rainstorm. We broke for lunch and then had to wait until the rain ended. The wait was worth it, because we found an ant swarm. Many birds look for swarms of army ants, because the ants stir up insects and other prey for the birds to eat. We had amazing looks at a Spotted Antbird, who was perched too close for me to focus my binoculars on. A pair of Bicolored Antbirds were also there. They are brown on top and white below, with blue skin around the eye. The Chestnut-backed Antbird, a brownish bird with a chestnut back and blue skin around the eye, also joined in the feeding activity.

Cinnamon Woodpecker

A lovely Gray-headed Tanager came in. This bird is yellow below and olive above, with a gray head. It is larger and brighter than the female White-shouldered Tanager, whom we earlier had seen along with her mate. We saw a Plain Brown Woodcreeper, who has a dark malar stripe, and a Northern Barred Woodcreeper. A Red-capped Manakin popped in, along with a Checker-throated Antwren. My favorite bird in the flock was the Song Wren, a small dark wren with a blue orbital patch. We heard this wren sing, and the field guide describes the song as sounding like a haywire cuckoo clock.

Spotted Antbird

Other birds we saw included the tiny Tawny-faced Gnatwren, who has a shorter bill than the Longbilled Gnatwren. We saw a Spot-crowned Antvireo, who has little spots on the top of his head. A Moustached Antwren was foraging in a treetop. Its plumage resembles a Black-and-white Warbler. Throughout the day, the only warblers we saw were about a dozen Northern Waterthrushes. They really seemed to enjoy feeding near the myriad puddles.

Red-capped Manakin

The rains made the parts of the Pipeline Road impassable, so we decided to visit the Ammo Ponds. Almost as soon as we arrived, a really heavy thunderstorm blew in. We decided to go home, but not before we once again heard the call of the White-throated Crake which I have heard during the previous two days. When we got back to the Tower, I stayed outside and tried to clean some of the mud off of me, especially one of my shoes that had sunk into the mud on the Pipeline Road. But today was worth getting wet and muddy for. We have spent a lot of time over the past few days trying to see birds skulking on the forest floor. But when there is an ant swarm, these same birds come right out into the open and are not at all shy. I marvel at the skill of the Canopy Tower guides in locating birds. Martin said that people who don’t spend large amounts of their lives staring at screens can see more. I realize that if I come back, I should bring a different pair of binoculars. I use a pair of Zeiss 10x40s. They have been good binoculars, but they do not let in enough light to allow me to see well when looking into a dark rainforest floor. They also do not close focus inside of ten feet, which is a detriment on a trip such as this.

October 11, 2012 This morning got off to a foggy and windy start. At 6 a.m., there was not much action around the Tower. We saw a White-tailed Kite fly by – a white raptor with long pointed wings. We also saw a howler monkey breaking off fruits in a tree – these monkeys are vegetarians. By the time we were ready to leave at 7, the fog had burned off, and the sun was shining. Michael took me and Martin to the Gamboa resort. It is the same place I had gone a couple of days ago, but this time we went to a different section of this large complex. We had a good look at a Buff-breasted

Wren, who is a skulker. In terms of volume, this bird sounds at least twice as loud as our Carolina Wren. Many other species here are much louder than northern species, especially many of the antbirds. Both male and female birds vocalize here throughout the year. The migrants who come here are for the most part quiet. We saw a Common Tody Flycatcher nearby. In a tree in the parking area, there was a Scrub Greenlet, a smallish vireo with a pale bill and a pale eye. It has a gray head with an olive back and yellow underparts. We later saw a Golden-fronted Greenlet, who has a brownish cap. We saw two Wattled Jacanas squabbling near the water. I could see the giant feet on one of them. Also, I saw that their flight involves flapping twice and gliding, and you can see a lot of yellow on their wings. For shorter flights, they seem to fly with their landing gear halfway down. A Giant Cowbird flew by, looking almost as large as a crow. I saw Great Antshrikes, who like many antbirds tend to stay in the undergrowth. The male has a black back, white wingbars, and is white underneath. The adult has a red eye, and we also saw a younger male with a dark eye. There were a male and female Red-throated Ant-Tanager. These are large tanagers with long tails. The male is dark brown with a red throat, and the female is lighter brown with no red on the throat. There were a pair of Flame-rumped Tanagers near our vehicle. We saw a few Cinnamon Becards, who are a bright cinnamon color. I had a nice look at a Yellowbilled Cacique, who has yellow eyes that stand out on his black plumage as much as his large yellow bill. These birds hop around a lot through the trees, because apparently, they do not fly well. They can be very difficult to find, so we were lucky to see one. I had some nice looks at a White-necked Puffbird. The back of its neck has a white band like some kingfishers. Both puffbird and kingfishers tend to sit in the same place for long periods of time, and the line on the neck breaks up the shape of the bird so that from a distance, a predator would see two shapes rather than an entire bird profile.

Yellow-billed Cacique

We did well on the North American migrants. I had a great look at an adult male Mourning Warbler, foraging in a low bush. Michael saw a female Chestnut-sided Warbler. I found a Great Crested Flycatcher, and there were two Baltimore Orioles. Mixed in were a few Red-eyed Vireos. Regarding woodpeckers, we saw Red-crowned, the most common species around here, and a Crimson-crested. We heard a Lineated Woodpecker. There was a Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, who resembles a lot of other flycatchers. There were a couple of other tyrannulets I was not able to get on. One of the highlights of the morning was seeing a Collared Forest Falcon, which is the name of my room. This bird was an immature, with a barred breast and a brownish back. We saw the bird fly, and it was very big and elongated, showing a lot of brown. We then had good looks at it perched in a tree.

White-necked Puffbird

Red-crowned Woodpecker

Just after we got back to the Tower for lunch, the rains came. After lunch, the rain intensified. Some bolts of lightning hit very close to the Tower. As the thunder crashed, so did I, taking my first nap since I have arrived. I woke up a little before three, which was when we were supposed to leave on another outing. I quickly got dressed and went outside just as the rain was stopping. A lot of people don’t like to come to Panama during the rainy season, and I am not sure why. Martin and I have the place all to ourselves, and there are not that many occasions when the rain stops us from birding.

The guides here tend not to use raincoats or umbrellas, even during driving rain. You basically just accept that you are going to get wet and deal with it. The Panamanian children seem to think that heavy rain is funny, and I see them laughing as they walk through it. Often, the birds take cover during the rain, so when it ends, there can be a lot of activity, and that was the case today. The rain tends to cool things off, while during the dry season, the heat can become oppressive. The birds at this time of year are more abundant than in most parts of the dry season, because mixed among the residents are a lot of migrants. Michael had gone home after lunch, and Alexis was back as our guide. We went to the Ammo Ponds and the nearby paths. The third time was the charm for finding the White-throated Crake. This bird is about the size of a Black Rail. We saw a young bird who looked mostly rufous, with a greenish bill and white on the throat. As we were looking down, I had to back up to see it through my binoculars which close focus to ten feet. Around the same area, we saw two Tropical Mockingbirds, who look a bit like a slightly larger version of our mockingbird but lack the white on the wings. They have white on the tail and a yellow eye. Their movements also seem more elegant than our Northern Mockingbird.

Tropical Mockingbird

Two Black-bellied Whistling Ducks whistled as they flew over. Their wings show a lot of white. We saw an immature Rufescent Tiger-Heron, who had barred plumage, including a narrow strip that ran down the middle of its breast. A young Green Heron was also present. Some Black Vultures, who are very common here, were standing on utility polls with their wings stretched out like a cormorant, presumably to dry them after the heavy rain. There were a lot of swallows around. There were a few Cliff Swallows mixed in with the Barn Swallows, Northern and Southern Rough-winged Swallows, and Gray-breasted Martins. A pair of Yellow-headed Caracaras flew over – I don’t know if they were the same two who had mated nearby the other day. Earlier in the day, we had seen some caracaras eating roadkill.

Cliff Swallow

Near where we saw the crake, we saw what were probably the same four Smooth-billed Anis who were there two days ago. Two of them were on the branch of a tree and appeared to be snuggling against one another. Most birds don’t perch that close together. We saw three finches in the reeds. The Ruddy-breasted Seedeater male has a lovely ruddy breast and a slightly darker back. Variable Seedeaters are quite common, and the Thick-billed Seed Finch is all dark with a massive dark bill. We scoped one of the seed finches who was singing from a nearby reed. Later, we saw a female Blue-black Grosbeak, who is solid chocolate brown rather than either of the colors in her name. Around the same place, a Black-tailed Flycatcher whizzed by us. I did not see much other than the yellow rump, but I never remember seeing a flycatcher fly that fast. Most seem to be built for maneuverability rather than speed.

Smooth-billed Anis

We saw a pair of Dusky Antbirds. The male is dusky all over, with wings that appeared to be a bit darker. The female is tawny underneath with an olive back. We found a pair of Buff-throated Saltators, who have big bills. There is a black semicircle that encloses its tan throat. Chestnutmandibled Toucans were making their six syllable call repeatedly in the background, and howler monkeys were roaring from a distance. We found a nice mixed feeding flock. Among the North American migrants were a Chestnut-sided Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, and Summer Tanager. We saw both male and female Fasciated Antshrikes, whose finely barred plumage makes them very handsome. They also have large bills, and the male came down below eye level to hunt insects. The female has a russet cap to go along with her striped plumage. There were some Crimson-backed Tanagers flitting around, along with a pair of White-shouldered Tanagers. The female White-shouldered looks like a smaller, duller version of the Gray-headed Tanager. There was a Bright-rumped Attila in the same tree, but the light did not enable us to see the bright yellow rump. As we were getting ready to get into our vehicle to go home, we saw an adult Rufescent Tiger-Heron standing in the middle of the road where we were parked. As I walked in its direction, it started to walk across the road. It hunched its shoulders and leaned forward as it walked, looking like Groucho Marx. October 12, 2012 This morning, I got up early to look at some photos in albums in the dining area. They feature some of the people who have come to Canopy Tower, including Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, who came in January, 2000, right after the Canal had been turned over to Panama, and Martha Stewart. I also looked at photos showing the process by which Canopy Tower was converted from a military facility to a tourist facility. As I was about to carry one of the albums to a sofa, I noticed a small House Gecko on top of it. These little guys are surprisingly loud, and they frequently vocalize around the Tower. I went to the observation deck, and I did not see much. We had only fifteen minutes before breakfast, and the sun was not all the way up. I saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler. While we were waiting for the

vehicle to leave, I noticed that Blue-chested Hummingbirds sound like electrical sparks when they are around the feeders.

Canopy Tower Before Renovation

Canopy Tower Now

This morning, Alexis took Martin and me to a remarkable area called the Rainforest Discovery Center. We went to the Pipeline Road, and instead of bearing right at the main fork, we went left. We climbed to the top of an observation tower that is almost 100 feet high, which allowed us to look out over the canopy. One of the first birds that we saw was an immature Great Black Hawk, who has more white on the throat than the similar immature Common Black. We soon saw perched in a distant tree a male Blue Cotinga – the same species that is on the cover of my field guide. They are difficult to find at this time of year, because they have just been breeding. It looked as if there were an electric blue spot in the tree where it was. He was a bit too far away to pick up much detail of his plumage. We stayed up in the canopy for a long time. A male and female howler monkey were relatively close by. The female is smaller and has some buffy fur, compared to the all black male. A male and female Tropical Gnatcatcher were below us. The male has a black crown and tail, while the female lacks the black crown but has a black tail. Both have white outer tail feathers like our Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. I noticed that the colors on the birds here seem really saturated and bright compared to our birds in the north. I’m not sure if it is because of the way the light here hits the feathers. We saw a Crimsoncrested Woodpecker below eye level (since we were so high up), and I could see the heavy barring on the belly and the white vee on the back. We looked down on a Pied Puffbird and could see the tiny white spots on its black head.

Mantled Howler Monkey

A lot of our time was spent trying to sort through swallows, swifts, and raptors. We had a distant look at some Purple Martins who were not in breeding plumage. Mixed in were some Bank Swallows, which are known to some people around here as Sand Martins. There were also Barn and Northern Rough-wings mixed in with a lot of Gray-breasted Martins. The swifts are much more difficult to identify, especially for someone who comes from a “one-swift” area. We saw a lot of Band-rumped Swifts, who have a band on the rump and have a light throat. The Short-tailed Swift, who is very common, is completely dark below except for the tail area. We saw Chimney Swifts, who have noticeably longer wings than the other two and have a light chin. The sky was full of vultures and one Anhinga, soaring like a giant plus sign. Mixed in was an immature King Vulture, who had a dark head instead of a yellow one. We also saw a Hook-billed Kite, who has long, broad wings. After more than two hours on the tower, we descended and went to the Discovery Center, where there are many hummingbird feeders. It was not as active as the patio of the Kaufmann House, but it had more than enough activity. There were about a half dozen species of hummers. The one we went to see was the Violet-bellied, a stunning little bird with a deep purple belly and a green head. One of these hummers had a favorite perch in the sun which he kept returning to, and he glistened when the sun hit him. We also saw the very big Long-billed Hermit, who is brownish, and the much smaller Stripe-throated Hermit (who used to be called the Little Hermit). The Stripe-throated Hermit was frequently driven away from feeders by the Blue-chested Hummingbirds. Near the patio, we saw a Black-headed Tody Flycatcher, who has a white throat that distinguishes it from the similar Common Tody Flycatcher. Before we left, I bought a tee-shirt that has a Streak-chested Antpitta on it – I must not be the only person who is enchanted by this species.

Violet-bellied Hummingbird

We then went to a wetlands area. All of these places are within a short walk of the parking area, which makes this facility a treasure for bird diversity. Right after we arrived, an Osprey flew across. And Eastern Kingbird flew in to get a drink on the fly. Looking out over the water, we saw a pile of brush covered with Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. A young Snail Kite flew down to join them, while another Snail Kite flew low on the right. We could see the white rump band on both, and the young one was brown rather than slaty gray. Some of the ducks were sleeping, while the young kite was preening. Once, I saw a Lesser Kiskadee in the same scope field with the kite and a duck. There were a lot of other Lesser Kiskadees around, and one of them was beating the stuffings out of a dragonfly to prepare it for swallowing. It eventually dropped the insect when another kiskadee came. There were a couple of Common Gallinules who sometimes vocalized. And there were some Wattled Jacanas, including a young one who was brown and white instead of black.

Snail Kite & Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

On the way back toward the vehicle, we saw a displaying area for male White-shouldered Tanagers. There was one female sitting quietly about five feet from us and about six males trying to win her favors. But unlike many leks which tend to be relatively peaceful (albeit active) places, these tanagers were acting very aggressively toward each other. They danced on branches, showed their bright white wing patches (which on a resting bird are partly hidden), and sometimes attacked each other in the air, going talon-to-talon like a couple of raptors. I was not aware that tanagers behaved in such a manner, and apparently, most species do not. We also saw a Black Hawk-Eagle soaring way up in the sky. It has very broad wings and a longish tail. All of a sudden, the bird went into a dive and must have traveled a thousand feet straight down. We also had an outstanding view of a Green ShrikeVireo in the scope, and I saw much more detail on the bird than I had seen a few days ago. We arrived back at Canopy Tower just as lunch was about to be served. After we ate, Martin and I were about to leave the table when I noticed some movement to my left. The three-toed sloth, who had been absent for the last couple of day, was not only back but moving around. Martin and I shot video footage of him for about a half an hour. The sloth was eating the leaves on the tree, and he spent a lot of time scratching himself. Their fur contains a lot of vermin. He climbed and was about as active as one can expect a sloth to be.

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

In the afternoon, we went to the Summit Zoo, not far from Canopy Tower. Near the entrance are a lot of Little Tent-making Bats. They are small, and a number of them formed a chain underneath the leaves of a palm plant. The zoo is flycatcher heaven, with a lot of different species. We saw a Panama Flycatcher, which is a Myiarchus flycatcher with more gray and less chestnut than the Great Crested. We saw a Yellow-Olive Flycatcher, who is very similar to the Yellow-margined. The YellowOlive has a pale iris, while the Yellow-margined has a dark eye. There were many Rusty-margined Flycatchers, who are like the Social with a darker face. We saw a Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, and Streaked Flycatcher. I also finally saw a Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, which looks a little like a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

American Pygmy-Kingfisher

One of the best birds of the visit was an American Pygmy-Kingfisher, perched on the railing of a footbridge. It is rufous below, with a white vent. I had a nice scope view of a female Summer Tanager, with her pale bill. We also scoped a Chestnut-headed Oropendola and a Black-chested Jay. At one point, we saw about five different species of birds in the same tree, but instead of foraging, they were standing near each other. The group included Palm and Blue-Gray Tanagers, Thick-billed Euphonias, and others. There might have been a snake nearby. Regarding migrants and other wildlife, I saw four species of warblers today – Yellow, Canada, Chestnut-sided, and Northern Waterthrush. I saw a species of cattleheart butterfly, the enormous caterpillar of a Giant Swallowtail, a Gulf Coast Toad, and a Variegated Squirrel. We also saw a group of White-nosed Coatis on Semaphore Hill Road. They are related to raccoons and have long ringed tails. Their faces look a bit like a bear’s. October 13, 2012 This morning, when I woke up, I was pretty much the only person in Canopy Tower. Alexis and Martin had left at 5:30 to go to Cerro Azul, and a staff person was present to prepare breakfast. I went up on the observation deck, and I watched the sunrise. It was clear around the deck, but the canal and the city in the distance were covered in fog. Howler monkeys were howling in the background. I heard parrots and pewees calling, and toucans were croaking. I heard the fast three-note call of the Green Shrike-Vireo, and I saw two of them in the top of a tree. I also heard the slower and more deliberate three-note call of the Black-faced Antthrush, whom I still have not seen. Band-rumped Swifts were flying over. As the sun provided more light, I saw a male Summer Tanager in fine plumage. There were Baltimore Orioles, including an adult male in shining plumage and an adult female. There were a lot of Red-eyed Vireos foraging in the trees, along with a female Yellow Warbler and a female

Blackburnian Warbler. Mixed in with these migrant birds were residents such as the Golden-hooded Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Green Honeycreeper, and Common Tody-Flycatcher. I took a close look at the flycatcher to see the yellow throat, which distinguishes it from the Black-headed Tody Flycatcher I saw yesterday. These are tiny birds. The only new bird I saw was a Common Nighthawk flying by. The white on the wings looked pretty far from the tip, One never knows what will fly by the Tower. I was soon joined by a nice young woman named Alva. She is a hawk counter, but since it was too early in the morning for much hawk action, she watched some of the songbirds with me. I had my breakfast, and then instead of waiting until 9 to leave for Canopy Lodge, we left a bit after 8. We drove northwest toward the highlands, crossing the Centennial Bridge over the canal – I had seen it many times from the Tower observation deck. At one point, the driver pointed out the Pacific Ocean. We passed two boys on the road, each holding a stick with two parakeets on it. I later asked one of the guides about this, and he said the boys capture birds just out of the nest and attach them to a stick with fine thread. After a two-hour drive, we arrived in El Valle de Antón, also known as Crater Valley, which is the location of Canopy Lodge. It is in the crater of a long dormant volcano that last erupted five million years ago. The area around the Lodge is filled with flowers, streams, and forests. The temperature is noticeably cooler here. The rooms at the Lodge are more comfortable than the ones at the Tower. The Lodge was built from scratch for tourists, while the Tower is a retrofitted military facility.

Long-billed Starthroat

The first hummingbird I saw was a Long-billed Starthroat, the same species we worked so hard to find when we were in Cerro Azul. Canopy Tower does not have feeding tables, but there are some here at the Lodge. The most common visitors are Thick-billed Euphonias, Bananaquits, and BlueGray Tanagers. The other common hummers around here are the Rufous-tailed and Snowy-bellied. At the feeders, the only new species for the trip was a Rufous-capped Warbler, who seems thin for a warbler and cocks its tail like a wren. I also saw Crimson-backed and Flame-rumped Tanagers.

I had a couple of hours to kill after lunch, and so I asked my guide Eliecer to take me to the market in El Valle. There were a lot of stands, and I bought some mola items. Mola is a way of using appliqué on cloth, and it is a specialty of the Kuna Indians in Panama. There is a mola pillow on the bed in my room in the Lodge. If you try to walk away from some of the shops, the people there will haggle to try to get you to buy something. When we got back, Eliecer asked if I wanted to see a pair of Mottled Owls. They were roosting in a tree next to some of the cottages. These owls are mid-sized, have vertical streaks on their front, and have no ear tufts.

Crimson-backed Tanager

Southern Lapwings

At three o’clock, Eliecer, Tony, and I went to La Mesa Road, about fifteen minutes from the Lodge. The weather had worsened, and it began to rain. We drove past some chicken farms and stopped in an area where there were rice fields. Some of the fields were covered with Southern Lapwings – too many to count – looking for insects. Along the way, we saw some fruiting trees that had a lot of birds. A new bird for the trip was the Silver-throated Tanager, who is a dull yellow with a streaked back and a light throat. In the same trees, I found a Bay-headed Tanager, which is one of the pretty ones in the highlands. We went into the rainforest and walked on a trail just as it began to rain hard. The normally dark conditions became even darker, but we were not getting all that wet. Most of the rain was hitting leaves. Still, it was difficult to bird, so we decided to call it quits. Before we did, I added a few new species. There was an Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, who is brownish on the back with red legs, a red bill, and red orbital rings. It is much less robust looking than a robin. We had a quick look at a Ruddy Quail-Dove. We could not see the marks on the face. There was a Plain Antvireo, who as the name would suggest, is a plain looking bird. I also saw a Western Pygmy Squirrel, who is small, brown, and has a tail that is not bushy. We saw impatiens flowers as well as blue hydrangeas. There were also a lot of ant swarms. Some of them involved leafcutter ants, while others were army ants. There was a huge swarm of army ants on one of the roads, but we did not see any birds following the swarm. As I was going back to my room, I checked on the Mottled Owls, and they appeared to be a little more active than they were previously. I later heard them call when I was in my room. October 14, 2012 I woke up this morning a little before five, and I could hear a Mottled Owl calling. The call sounds like a hoarse HOO note being exhaled twice, and the vocalizations came every 30 to 60 seconds. By the

time I got up and was getting ready for breakfast, a Bay Wren was singing very loudly. Before we left, our guide Eliecer scoped a Spot-crowned Barbet in a tree near the patio. Our group consisted of me, Tony from New Zealand, a couple living in Delaware named Phil (from Wales) and Ellen (from the US), and Eliecer. We went to Rio Indio and Jordanal on the Caribbean slope. We had a beautiful sunny morning, and we saw a lot of great birds. As we were driving, a Gray-necked Wood-Rail ran in front of our vehicle. We could hear the song of the Bright-rumped Attila, which ascends to a climax. We heard a Buff-rumped Warbler, who sounds like a Northern Cardinal and forages along the rocks in streams like a waterthrush. We stopped to look at some Blueheaded Parrots in the top of a tree. We had nice looks at a pair of Plain Wrens, who do not seem more plain than a lot of other wrens. The House Wrens here sing a more musical song than the ones I hear in the north. We heard a Little Tinamou calling from far away.

Plain Wren

I finally had a good look at a Golden-winged Warbler. A female was foraging in a tree, and she came pretty far down, out in the open. There were a lot of other migrants today, including a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Baltimore Oriole, Tennessee, Chestnut-sided, and Blackburnian Warblers, Northern Waterthrushes, a Summer Tanager, Red-eyed Vireos, and a lot more Eastern Wood-Pewees. We saw a couple of Tropical Pewees, who look very similar to the Eastern Wood-Pewee. Just as where I live, there are feeding flocks, but the ones in Panama have a remarkable diversity, and one finds them much more frequently. I saw a couple Scarlet-thighed Dacnises, who are small tanagers. They are blue on top and black underneath, and on one of them, I saw the scarlet thighs, which are often inconspicuous. The Tawnycapped Euphonia was a new bird for the trip, looking like a lot of other Euphonias, but it has a tawny crown and a white vent. We scoped a female, and I could see her breathing. We later had nice views of some males. Euphonias are in the same family as goldfinches. We found a Streaked Saltator, who is smaller than the other saltators. It is white underneath and has fine streaks on its breast. We saw a lot of Buff-throated Saltators. Saltators look like grosbeaks. We found a tree with a lot of

hummingbirds feeding on some white flowers. Among them was a male Green Thorntail, and I could see the unusual thorn-like tail.

Barred Puffbird

I had a much closer look at a Black Hawk-Eagle. It is a very big, broad-winged raptor. I could see some black-and-white stripes on the underwing. We later saw a couple of Roadside Hawks fly by as well as a perched one. They have a gray back, and in flight, show a lot of rufous under the wings. We had nice scope views of a Barred Puffbird, who looks a lot like the White-whiskered. It has a large bill and a pale eye. There were two close together. We also scoped a lovely little Blue Ground-Dove, who is uniformly blue-gray, with spots on the wings and an immaculate breast. We saw a Brown-capped Tyrannulet in good light, and it appeared to have a grayish cap. We also saw a bird with the unfortunate name of Paltry Tyrannulet. Alexander Skutch called them Mistletoe Flycatchers, because they pass mistletoe seeds through their system, and when they eliminated them, they wipe the sticky seeds from their bottom onto leaves. The Australian Mistletoebird behaves in a similar manner, as do various other species around the world. We saw a Jet Antbird, but the light in the area where he was foraging was not good enough for me to see the white dots on his wings. We knew it was a Jet Antbird because it was vocalizing.

Slate-colored Seedeater

I saw a few other new birds for the trip. The Slate-colored Seedeater looks like a junco with a big yellow bill that looks larger than a grosbeak’s. I had a nice look at a Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, who is one of the easiest woodcreepers to identify because it is so small and has such a small bill. There were also some non-bird sightings. We saw a tiny Glass Frog who looked to be less than an inch long. I photographed a Banded Peacock Butterfly. And we saw one of the long hanging nests of the Crested Oropendola.

Glass Frog

A little after noon, the skies opened up. Today, we pretty much had the gamut of weather conditions, including sunny, overcast, drizzle, rain, hard rain, really hard rain, and really really hard rain. The roads are not good to begin with, which is why we were in two four-wheel-drive vehicles. When you throw in heavy rains causing mud and, in places, knee deep water, getting around was a bit of an adventure. Likewise, walking on some of the paths was treacherous. But the birds were great. I realize that there is no way I could have done most of the things on this trip without experienced guides. We had lunch in a shelter by a fast running stream during the deluge. In the shelter, there was a bat roosting inside the roof which Eliecer later tentatively identified as a Least Sac-winged Bat. When the rains became so bad that we had to seek shelter, Eliecer stopped at the house of a family he knew. The place had chickens (and little chicks), dogs, cats, and small children running all over the place. There was also a feeding table where Eliecer put some bananas. Among the birds who came to the table were Flame-rumped, Blue-Gray, Crimson-backed, and White-lined Tanagers, the latter being a new bird for me on the trip. The male is all black with a little white line showing on the top of the wing. More white shows when the bird flies. The female is a uniform rufous color. There were Thick-billed and Tawny-capped Euphonias, Green and Red-legged Honeycreepers, a Buff-throated Saltator, a Black-striped Sparrow, and a Tennessee Warbler. At one point, the table was cleared when a relatively huge Rufous Motmot came to eat.

Least Sac-winged Bat

Buff-throated Saltator

Rufous Motmot

October 15, 2012 The Mottled Owl began his HOO HOO call this morning at about 5:40. It sounded as if one was right near my room, so I slipped on some clothes and went outside. I heard both owls calling, and one call was lower than the other. My friend John Young in Australia once showed me how to tell the difference between the calls of male and female Southern Boobook owls. I went to the spot where the sound of the Mottled Owls was coming from, and one of the owls popped onto a branch about 12 feet in front of me. It then went up to a higher branch, and the other owl landed just above and to the right. Today, Eliecer led a walk on the Las Minas Trail with me, Tony, Phil, and Ellen. The road follows the ridge line, with beautiful views of forested mountains, and there is some grassland habitat. At one point, we could see the Pacific Ocean. Right at the beginning of the trail, we saw Bay-headed Tanagers in great light. A much more difficult bird to see was the Chestnut-capped Brush Finch, who darts around quickly and skulks in the underbrush. I had one good look at the chestnut cap, black face, and bright white throat. I also saw a pair of Mourning Warblers, and had a nice view of the male, who was chipping loudly. Considering I am originally from the Philadelphia area, I was glad to see both the Mourning Warbler, whose species name is philadelphia, and later a Chestnut-sided Warbler, whose species name is pensylvanica. I had a nice look at a Spotted Woodcreeper, who has tan spots on its brown belly. It has a buffy eyering, and we were close enough to observe its feet while it crept up the tree. In the same area on the forest floor, we looked down on a Scaly-breasted Wren who looked like a dark little bird from above. We had a scope view of a Spot-crowned Antvireo, and we could see the tiny white dots on its black crown. I got a much closer look at a Paltry Tyrannulet in good light. I saw my first Yellow-bellied Seedeater of the trip – a male – and we had two good looks at a Wedge-tailed Brush Finch. This finch sang from a perch on grass, and his gape was yellow. He had a large yellow bill, a sparrow-like back, and a plain white breast. I also could see an eyeline. We later saw a much closer one and could see the unusually long tail. We had a nice look at a Black-striped Sparrow, who has a similar plumage design to a Worm-eating Warbler.

Bat Falcon

As we were walking, we saw an Ornate Hawk-Eagle soaring above. It has broad wings and appears rufous underneath. A perched Bat Falcon gave us some nice looks, and we saw a flying American Kestrel. We saw an Orange-bellied Trogon, who looks a bit like the Elegant Trogon in Arizona. It does not go east of the canal. There were young Silver-throated Tanagers, who are mostly green. I saw my first Common Bush-Tanager of the trip. It is a small tanager with a dark cap, green back, lemony breast, and a small white spot behind the eye. There was a preening Plain Antvireo, and I could see its eyering.

Tufted Flycatcher

We saw a Pale-vented Thrush. who is in the same genus as the American Robin, and it has one of my favorite scientific names: Turdus obsoletus. When we scoped one, I could see the cloaca on its white vent. We saw a female White-ruffed Manakin, but I still have not seen a male. This manakin was sitting on a branch until it got buzzed by a tiny Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant. We had a great view of a Tufted Flycatcher, one of the few flycatchers who has a few different colors on its palate. It has a lovely tawny breast with a lemony belly. In the scope, I could see its folded crest. We did pretty well on migrants. We saw a Swainson’s Thrush, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, an Eastern Meadowlark, Cliff Swallows, Baltimore Orioles, and Scarlet and Summer Tanagers.

Eastern Meadowlark

We saw a plant called a pink banana. It has a lovely flower, and its fruits are little pink bananas that don’t taste good enough for human consumption. We saw a satyr butterfly and there was a Tiger Dot Beetle, who is blue with a couple of white dots. A little later in the day, I saw an Aztec Ant nest high in a tree, resembling a round hornet nest. Eliecer said the ants live in the trees.

Red-crowned Ant-Tanager

We got back to the Lodge around 12:30, which is when lunch is served. After I ate, I took a shower and then had a one-hour massage. It felt good after 11 days of birding. When the massage was done, I got ready to go out on our 3 o’clock trip, but it was rained out. Instead, we stayed around the Lodge and watched the feeders. One can identify the Rufous-capped Warblers simply by their silhouette because of the way they cock their tail. There was a Garden Emerald, a small hummingbird who is almost entirely green. A male Summer Tanager sat in one of the trees, and a Green Kingfisher was perched by the stream. A Chestnut-headed Oropendola came to the feeders, as did Baltimore Orioles. I had an excellent look at a Bay Wren, who has more attractive plumage than most other wrens. I don’t know if this was the same individual whose song was so loud early in the morning outside my room. A female Red-crowned Ant-Tanager came to the feeders. She was brownish, and you could see a small red crown on her head. An adult Buff-throated Saltator appeared to be feeding a begging youngster. I was glad to take the afternoon off. When I go birding at home, I usually come home for lunch and do not go out again at 3. The days down here are so rich with experience that one occasionally needs some time to rest.

Green Kingfisher

Chestnut-headed Oropendola

Baltimore Oriole

Flame-rumped Tanager

October 16, 2012 This morning, I heard the Mottled Owls again. I did not see them in the place they were yesterday. When I went to the dining area, I heard one calling nearby, and when I walked closer, one flew in

front of me and behind the building. I went to the bridge where a Bay Wren was singing loudly. I waited a bit, and he popped up a few times and gave me nice looks.

Gray-necked Wood-Rail

After breakfast, Eliecer took me, Phil, and Ellen to a different area of La Mesa than we had visited previously. It was a bit down the road from the area where we birded yesterday. On the way over, we had a long look at a Gray-necked Wood-Rail walking in the grass by the side of the road. Eliecer found a Blue-throated Toucanet, who used to be called the Emerald Toucanet. This large green bird has a big bill with white at the base. A Bat Falcon flew by, flying a bit like a bat. I saw two new tanagers for the trip. The Dusky-faced Tanager is dark like an Olive Tanager, but it has a Tawny crown and a black mask. It is very fussy, constantly giving harsh chip notes. These tanagers are usually heard before they are seen, We also saw a male Tawny-crested Tanager, who is jet black with a tawny crown. There were Red-crowned Ant-Tanagers around, with the males looking a bit like a large Hepatic Tanager. It is one of the larger and more robust tanager species. We had good looks at two attractive wrens. The Rufous-breasted Wren has a black-and-white checkered throat and a rufous breast. The White-necked Wood-Wren has a checkered pattern on its face, a white breast, and a rich chestnut back. We heard the chink notes of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and later saw one. There was a Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher, who is one of a few similar looking flycatchers with a yellow rump and dark wings and tail. We saw and heard quite a few Yellowbellied Elaenias, flycatchers who have a one-note call. A Bicolored Antbird popped up on a stick a few feet from us before flying into the forest.

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

One of the toughest birds to see was a Buff-throated Foliage Gleaner. It is dark brown above, light brown below, and has a buffy throat. It is an ovenbird, but it is not related to the warbler we call an Ovenbird. These ovenbirds are insect eaters and are confined to the Neotropics. Alexander Skutch wrote a book about them. They are all mostly brown birds and usually difficult to see. The only other ovenbird species I have seen on this trip is the Plain Xenops. The ovenbirds and woodcreepers are in the same family. We returned to the Lodge just before lunchtime. Martin had arrived from Canopy Tower, and he said that one day at the Metro Park, he saw about 100,000 Broad-winged Hawks flying over. After lunch, the other three wanted to go to the marketplace in El Valle, so we stopped there before birding. I saw buses whose exterior was painted in a style that borders on the psychedelic; they looked even more psychedelic when lit up at night. In the background of this area was a mountain called the “Sleeping Indian,” because the outline looks like a person lying down.

Mottled Owl

When people were finished with their shopping, we went to an area called Cariguana, which rhymes with marijuana and means “face of the iguana.” We went on a street nicknamed Millionaire Road because it has a lot of big houses occupied by rich people. The roads in this area are well paved, and vehicles were driving faster than is typical in El Valle. Most of the roads in El Valle are not paved, and if you drove fast, you would quickly destroy your vehicle. When we got out to bird, we saw a male Barred Antshrike, who has a pale eye. Martin must have brought his owl mojo with him, because within about three hours after lunch, we had seen three species of owls. Before we had left the Lodge, Eliecer located one of the Mottled Owls and had it in the scope. Later in the day as we walked down a path through the forest. I was behind Eliecer, and we saw a very large owl fly ahead of us. It looked as if it had long, narrow wings. We soon located the bird, and it was a juvenile Spectacled Owl, the largest owl species in Panama. The adults have brown heads with white crescents around the eyes. This bird still had some of its down feathers on its head – it looked as if it were wearing one of George Washington’s white wigs. We walked a little further into the woods, and just as it began to rain, Eliecer found a Tropical Screech-Owl. It was a gray morph, sitting very primly and erect in a tree about 15 feet off the ground. We waited out the rain in the van and then began to bird again. We heard an incredible racket made by Gray-headed Chachalacas. As we were looking for a Rufous-and-white Wren, the skies became very dark, and we had to call it a day.

Spectacled Owl

We had a pretty good day for Neotropical migrants. I or someone in the group saw Tennessee, Blackburnian, Canada, Golden-winged, and Black-and-white Warblers, a Red-eyed Vireo, a Swainson’s Thrush, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Summer Tanager, Barn Swallows, Eastern WoodPewees, Broad-winged Hawks, and an Osprey.

Tropical Screech-Owl

October 17, 2012 We had breakfast this morning at 5:30 and headed off for a day of birding in Juan Hombron, the beach at Santa Clara, and El Chiru. These areas have a different habitat than the area around the Lodge, featuring Pacific dry forest and wetlands by the Pacific Ocean. Our guide was Danilo, who is

Eliecer’s brother, and our group consisted of me, Martin, Phil, Ellen, and Sharon from Seattle. When we left, the weather was drizzly and misty. On the way to our destination, a peacock crossed the road in front of us, which turned out to be a good omen for the day.

Roadside Hawk

Juan Hombron provided one of the best mornings of birding I have ever had. When we arrived, the weather was bright and sunny. We started out seeing Southern Lapwings fly over, and I noticed that they have very long wings. We saw a Roadside Hawk, appropriately perched by the roadside. It is a medium- sized hawk, with a gray back and rufous barring on the belly. It also has a yellow cere, eyes, and legs. Its plumage is like a Cooper’s except that it has a gray throat. There were a lot of Groovebilled Anis around, lacking the bulge in the upper mandible that the Smooth-billed has. Later, we came across a small group of Greater Anis, who look very large by comparison. We saw a few Mouse-colored Tyrannulets, who did not look especially more mouse-colored than a lot of other flycatchers. Another flycatcher we saw was the Lesser Elaenia, who compared to the Yellow-bellied Elaenia is smaller and has no crest. We also had good looks at a pair of Barred Antshrikes.

Groove-billed Ani

Barred Antshrike

One of the star birds of the morning was a male Lance-tailed Manakin. The male is black with a red cap, turquoise back, and yellow legs. We were also in an area with Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures, who look like Turkey Vultures, but they have yellow heads. We saw quite a few from relatively close range, because they often fly low. I saw one take off from the ground, allowing a good look at the head. There was a beautiful pair of Brown-throated Parakeets, who had yellow just below their eyes. We heard a Crested Bobwhite and saw one fly. The call sounds similar to the Northern Bobwhite.

There were many Sapphire-throated Hummingbirds around. We had worked hard to find one at Fort San Lorenzo on my first full day of birding at the Tower, but today, I saw a lot of them, including a couple in the scope.

Brown-throated Parakeets

Sapphire-throated Hummingbird

Aplomado Falcon

Another star bird was an Aplomado Falcon. We saw one fly, and it landed on a branch right next to its nest. It has plumage similar to a Bat Falcon, but it is 50 percent bigger and has a normal facial pattern for a falcon. We could see the reddish leggings when it flew and when it was perched. There were a lot of soaring vultures, and once when we looked up, we saw soaring with them an Osprey and a Wood Stork. The stork has a similar flight profile to an Anhinga. We later saw another stork flying, and it flew very low and slowly, like a vulture. We saw an immature White Ibis flying, and later we saw an adult flying. We saw quite a few Panama Flycatchers, who look like washed out Great Crested Flycatchers, lacking the rufous in the wings and tail. There were flycatchers all over the place, including a Forktailed perched rather close to us.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

We were able to find a Veraguan Mango, a hummingbird endemic to Panama. Danilo imitated a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, and the mango came to perch at the top of a bare tree. It is a mostly green hummingbird with a long curved bill. In the same area, we saw a Straight-billed Woodcreeper, who has a large straight white bill. And we saw a Rufous-browed Peppershrike, who is a vireo with a reddish stripe above its pale eye. The wetlands areas were filled with Cattle, Great, and Snowy Egrets, as well as Green and Little Blue Herons. Perched on the ground in one area was a Crested Caracara. We later saw one flying, and we also saw Yellow-headed Caracaras. We had nice scope views of Savanna Hawks, and they appeared to have very pale heads. And we saw a couple of American Kestrels. Before lunch, we drove to a wetland area near the Pacific Ocean. Many Magnificent Frigatebirds soared overhead, looking very Gothic. A Wattled Jacana was tending to her young. A flock of Blackbellied Whistling-Ducks jostled for positions on fence posts, which was a bit comical. We scoped a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and perched nearby were a Green Heron and an Anhinga. As we were driving away from this area, we heard the two-note call of the Pale-breasted Spinetail. It is an ovenbird who likes to hide in the grass in wetland areas. When it popped out, I got a look at it perched on a strand of fence wire, and I could see everything but the tail. The bird called persistently, and once when a noisy tractor passed by and beeped its loud horn, the bird did not flush.

Magnificent Frigatebird

Wattled Jacana and Chicks

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

We had lunch in an area called Santa Clara at the beautiful beach home of Raul Arias, who created Canopy Lodge and Tower. I had met Raul a couple of nights ago, and we had a nice chat. I gave him a copy of the latest American Bird Conservancy magazine. He gave me an Espiritu Santo orchid, the national flower of Panama. The flower is so named because the inside looks like a dove with open wings. The beach house overlooks the Pacific, and while we were there, I took off my hiking boots and waded into the water. I later scanned the water, and flying with the frigatebirds and Brown Pelicans were some Brown Boobies. I could see the brown bib on the birds as they flew. Perched on some pilings way out in the water were a group of Blue-footed Boobies, who were white underneath all the way up to the bill. They were too far away for me to pick up any foot color. On the beach, there were a lot of Black Vultures acting like beach bums. Running along the shore were a pair of Whimbrels and a pair of Willets. Earlier in the day, we had seen a Solitary Sandpiper.

Black Vultures

After lunch, we went to El Chiru. We arrived at about 3:30, but we had not birded long before it began to rain so hard that we decided to call it a day. Before we left, I saw my first Lesser Goldfinch of the trip. We saw a flock of Fork-tailed Flycatchers fly over, which was quite impressive. And I saw a Plainbreasted Ground-Dove, who was slightly smaller than the countless Ruddy Ground-Doves we had been seeing all day. Regarding migrants, one of the big surprises was seeing a Morning Dove. I also saw many Yellow Warblers, a couple Northern Waterthrushes, two Eastern Meadowlarks, many Yellow-billed Cuckoos, countless Barn Swallows, a Summer Tanager, a Swainson’s Thrush, and an Olive-sided Flycatcher. I think the reason I enjoyed today so much is that there always seemed to be a lot of birds about, and I did not have to squint at a dark rainforest floor or canopy to try to find them. Today’s experience seemed to provide a good mix of habitats combined with ocean air. We saw slightly more than 80 species, but many of them were new for me on the trip. October 18, 2012 This morning, we could get a little more sleep. Breakfast was at 6:30, and afterwards, Danilo took me, Martin, Phil, Ellen, and Sharon to Chorro El Macho, (which has an 80 meter waterfall), Las Minas Road, and Candelario Road, all close to the Lodge. When you bird in a rainforest, the light is not good, and many of the birds move around quickly, so if one is as slow with binoculars as I am, one sometimes does not get a good look at a given species the first time around. One might have only a quick glance, which is why seeing a species again might provide a better look than one had had previously. One of the birds we were looking for was the White-tipped Sicklebill, the large hummingbird with the semicircular beak. I had had about a five second look at one at Cerro Azul, but today, we were looking at only one large Heliconia, and the bird came in to feed, giving us a long look. A couple of days ago, I had had a brief look at a Scaly-breasted Wren, but today, we watched two in a territorial squabble near to us. Normally, they bob their tails when they walk, but the one I had a good look at today was too occupied with the other wren to behave that way. It was still difficult to see any pattern on their plumage in the low light of the forest floor. We were also looking for a Rufous-vented GroundCuckoo, who is like a big Roadrunner. They can be found following ant swarms, but we did not find any swarms. A couple days ago, Danilo saw two in the area where we were today.

White-tipped Sicklebill

At La Mesa, we heard someone driving around with a loud speaker, uttering what sounded like a Moslem call to prayer, but he was merely asking people to sell aluminum. Danilo came equipped with a machete, and he used it on a muddy path where we looked for a Black-crowned Antpitta. Once again, we did not find one. We then went to another area and saw a few feeding flocks. I ended up seeing three new antbirds for the trip. The Slaty Antwren is another one of the dark antbirds with a few white spots on the wings. The female is a classic LBJ. I saw a Russet Antshrike, who is another LBJ. I would have enormous difficulty trying to sort these species out on my own. The easiest one to identify was a Dull-mantled Antbird, who has a dark gray cap, dark brown wings, and a red eye which is very noticeable. We found two who were making a lot of noise on the forest floor.

Dull-mantled Antbird

While we were in the forest, I had a nice look at a Buff-throated Foliage-Gleaner, the same species I had a brief look at a couple of days ago. I could see the buff throat and the long tail. We also got a

much closer look at a Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch, who is a really big finch – about seven inches. I did not see the entire bird the other day. There seemed to be a family of Tawny-faced Gnatwrens working one of the areas. I had a very good look at one of them and could see the tawny face. When on the ground, they tend to cock their tail like a wren. I had an excellent look at a Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher, and I could see the yellow on its rump. Regarding migrants, there were Canada Warblers in a few places. I had a fleeting glimpse of a Mourning Warbler and a nice look at a Blackburnian. I heard the whit note of a Swainson’s Thrush. Flying very high in the sky with some vultures were two Swainson’s Hawks – I could make out the rufous bib when looking at one in the scope. As we were coming out of the forest, it began to rain, so we went back to the Lodge for lunch. By the time lunch was over, it was raining even harder. At three when we were supposed to go out birding, it was still coming down hard, so we stayed at the Lodge and looked at the feeders. Among the species seen around the feeders were: Collared Aracari; Rufous Motmot; Blue-Gray, Palm, Crimson-backed, and Flame-rumped Tanagers; Thick-billed and Tawny-capped Euphonias; Rufous-capped Warbler; White-tipped Dove; Clay-colored Thrush; Buff-throated Saltator; and House Wren. A Red-tailed Squirrel came to one of the feeders, and instead of nibbling on a banana as the birds do, it simple ran off with an entire banana. While it was on the feeder, it curled its tail backward so that it was resting on its back. I had never seen a squirrel do this.

White-tipped Dove

Red-tailed Squirrel

Clay-colored Thrush

Thick-billed Euphonia and Blue-gray Tanager October 19, 2012 This morning, I got up at 4:30 to see if the Internet was working. I went to the dining area, which is the only place that gets Wi-Fi, and the signal was not yet up. However, I did find one of the staff busily reading through a couple of Panama field guides, with the pages opened to the Northern Scrub Flycatcher, one of the flycatchers that looks distressingly like a lot of the other flycatchers. Breakfast was at 5:30, and after we ate, Danilo and Eliecer took us to a remarkable, albeit strange, place called Altos del Maria. It is located in the mountains on the continental divide east of El Valle, and the beautiful scenery features mountains, cliffs, and valleys. Our destination was an expanse of cloud forest at 3,600 feet that has a lot of highland bird species not found near the Lodge. We needed fourwheel-drive vehicles to get up there, because although the roads are well paved, they are really STEEP, as in 30-degree incline steep. To get into the area where we were going, we had to pass three security checkpoints. There are some beautiful homes we went past, but the place was somewhat eerie. The only people we saw were a few construction workers and the guards at the checkpoints. It was as if a neutron bomb had hit the area. People use these homes for weekends and vacations, but the homes are not in an area that would allow many friends to visit, unless they have a four-wheel drive vehicle and can negotiate the steep inclines. There are a lot of introduced pines, and the number and uniformity of them really sticks out after one has been in a rainforest where one does not see large groups of anything. The decoration of the area features a lot of Neoclassical statues of women in various states of undress. The birding was outstanding. We started out in a light drizzle, but it soon cleared, and we did not experience any rain for the rest of our birding day. At our first stop before Altos del Maria, we found a Tody Motmot, the species on one of the Canopy Lodge tee-shirts. It does not look like any of the other motmots, being small and having a prominent white stripe on its face. When we arrived at Altos del Maria, we found a young White-ruffed Manakin, a small round green bird with a white throat. We later found an adult male, who is black with a white throat. We saw both a male and a female Orangebellied Trogon. The two sexes have different undertail patterns. The male’s tail is heavily barred, while the female has only a few marks. I found a perched female Green-crowned Brilliant, and I later found a male. This hummingbird is large with a spot behind its eye, with the male being mostly green. About half the size of the brilliant is one of the hummingbirds we went to this area to see. It is called a Snowcap, and we saw a male at some flowers about 50 feet up in a tree. The tiny male Snowcap is purple with a white cap and a white vent, making it appear white on both ends and dark in the middle.

White-ruffed Manakin

Orange-bellied Trogon

I saw two new wrens for the trip. The Ochraceous Wren has a little tinkling song compared to some of his really loud relatives. The Gray-breasted Wood-Wren is much louder and looks a lot like the Whitebreasted Wood-Wren with a gray breast. I also saw two new ovenbirds. While we were looking at some tanagers, a Red-faced Spinetail popped into the open. It has a red cap and face, and I had a good look at the long tail, unlike my view of the Pale-breasted Spinetail the other day. And I saw a Spotted Barbtail, who is brown on the back and heavily spotted underneath. The spots are light, and the background is dark. At times, it behaved like a cross between a xenops and a woodcreeper. There were quite a few Black-and-yellow Tanagers in the area, who are a bright yellow with black wings and tail. I really enjoyed seeing a male Blackburnian Warbler in breeding plumage. I have seen quite a few Blackburnians since I have been here, but this was the first male in breeding plumage. As much as I have enjoyed seeing so many new birds, I still get a thrill whenever I see that orange throat.

Right before lunch, we went to look for a Black-crowned Antpitta. This species is very secretive and walks along the ground at a fast pace. We saw one cross an area twice, but all that I saw was a black blur. Danilo and Martin went down to look for it. I did not go, because the area where they went was down a steep, muddy hill, and I did not want to risk hurting myself for the final week of my trip. Ellen and Phil did not go either. Martin and Danilo saw the bird, and then we went to lunch. We ate at a place designed to observe birds. The eating area, which had running water and toilets, had few birds. It is up more than a hundred steps, and up more steps from there, we once again went to look for the antpitta. This time, one walked along the forest floor and eventually crossed the path on which we were walking. Unlike the field guide image, which shows a bird with a dark brown back, the bird I saw had a rufous back. It has long legs and no tail. It tends not to fly much and seems to get around mostly on foot. Its behavior is not much like the Streak-chested Antpitta who so captured my imagination when I saw it last week. After lunch, we went to the foot of the steps, and we encountered a nice feeding flock. Among the birds were a male Summer Tanager, a Yellow-throated Vireo, a Bright-rumped Attila, a Great Crested Flycatcher, and a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher. The Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher was streaked below with a rufous tail. We later saw a Great Black Hawk fly, showing a white rump and a white tailband. On the way home, we stopped at a spot and saw a pair of Peregrine Falcons. While were watching one perched at the top of a tree, we also saw a Bat Falcon fly by. We then stopped at the place where we saw the Tody Motmot this morning, and Danilo put the scope on a male Rosy Thrush-Tanager. I could see the rosy throat and the little bit of red over the eye. At the same stop, we saw a perched male Long-tailed Tyrant. As we were driving back to the lodge, Danilo somehow managed to see a tiny hummingbird perched way up in a bare tree. It was a female Rufous-crested Coquette. She has a white band above her tail like a male coquette and like the Green Thorntail. She too is tiny, being only slightly bigger than the Snowcap. When we got back to the Lodge, we saw both Band-rumped and White-collared Swifts fly over. The latter are larger and have longer wings than the former. Among the other migrants seen by me or the group who were not mentioned above were Broadwinged Hawks, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, Eastern Wood Pewees, Golden-winged and Tennessee Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, Barn Swallows, Hepatic Tanagers, and Swainson’s Thrushes. I also saw a katydid species that mimics a leaf.

Katydid

October 20, 2012 Today was a travel day. Ellen, Phil, Martin, and I left Canopy Lodge at 10 am. I had breakfast at 6:30, and there were two women named Martha and Maria who were with us. They are from Miami by way of Cuba. At 7, Eliecer (whose birthday was today) and Martha were leaving for a walk up the road from the lodge, and because I did not have much to do until 10, I asked to join them. Martha is not a birder, but she is very interested in nature, and we had a pleasant walk on a beautiful sunny morning. On the walk, I saw two new birds for the trip. The Buff-rumped Warbler, along with the Rufous-capped Warbler, is a resident warbler in the vicinity of the Lodge. It is a brown bird with a buff rump and a buff undertail. It is generally found around streams, and because it darts around so much, it can be difficult to see. I had not had a good look at one, but today, I saw one foraging amid the large rocks in a stream. In the same stream was an anole lizard, and at times he was expanding the red pouch on his throat. Later, we saw another Buff-rumped Warbler very close to us, foraging in a drainage gully by the side of the road. I was able to look at it in the scope. Another new bird was the Orange-billed Sparrow, who does not look like any of the sparrows where I live. It is mostly green, and its black head has narrow white stripes, unlike a White-throated whose black and white crown stripes are about the same thickness. The glaring feature of this sparrow is a huge orange bill. Most of the ones I have encountered in Panama have been skulking along the forest floor, but today was the first time I had a good look at one. When we were walking down the driveway to the Lodge, Eliecer said that the flowers across the road sometimes attract Rufous-crested Coquettes, the tiny hummingbird who is one of the specialties of the highland. He said he had not seen one in this area for a few months. As we walked a little further on, Eliecer spotted a male in the top of a bare tree. I had a brief look at the backlit bird before it

zoomed away. Eliecer was very excited about the sighting. We had seen a female yesterday, also perched in the top of a bare tree. We later saw a Green Thorntail, a small hummer who resembles the coquette with its white stripe on the rump, and a male and female Violet-crowned Woodnymph. The male woodnymph was feeding on purple flowers so close to us that I could not use my binoculars on him. As we were walking, we saw a Gray-necked Wood-Rail scurry across the road behind us. They appear to be the size of a chicken, with long legs. We went to the Chorro El Macho waterfall, and Eliecer asked where we had seen the White-tipped Sicklebill when we were with his brother Danilo. I told him that it was at a Giant Heliconia flower just across the bridge we were about to cross. When we got to the flower, the sicklebill popped right up and fed for about two minutes. I had a long look at both the big curved bill and the white tips to the tail feathers. I soon left Eliecer and Martha to head back to the Lodge. While I waited to get into the van to leave, I spent some time around the feeders. I saw a Red-tailed Squirrel once again curling his tail over his back as he ate. There were a lot of tanagers, euphonias, and other birds. We left a little after 10 and began the long drive from the Lodge to the airport in Panama City to drop off Ellen and Phil. The scenery around El Valle is beautiful, and there are some vistas where one can see the Pacific in the distance. I used to have a drama professor in college who talked about the trend in very elaborate and expensive theater productions, and he described them as the type of works where you leave the theater whistling the scenery. The drive today provided the natural equivalent for the first hour or so. As we got closer to Panama City, the beautiful scenery disappeared, and we became stuck in traffic a number of times, mostly due to Saturday road construction. As we drove through the city, we went past some mudflats that had a lot of shorebirds, but our vehicle was moving too fast to allow us to identify them. We did not get to the airport until just before one, and Martin and I did not get to Canopy Tower until a bit after 1:30. The staff prepared lunch for us. Just when we arrived at Canopy Tower, some heavy rains came. During heavy rain, it is difficult to hear any birds, even though some remain active. We decided not to go out for our 3 o’clock walk, which is probably just as well. At about 5, the weather cleared, so I went up to the observation deck. Currently staying at the Tower are Boris and Iva from Bulgaria, Christian from Norway, Gary from Houston, and Martin. I was able to get reacquainted with some of the birds at the Tower. I saw a couple of Chestnut-sided Warblers (I had also seen one at the Lodge this morning) and a Canada Warbler with a nice necklace. We stayed out until about six, watching the clouds and the changing light over the beautiful scenery in the distance.

Blue Dacnis

Sunset at Canopy Tower

October 21, 2012 This morning featured some of the best weather since I have arrived. It was clear and warm when we went up to the observation deck at six to watch the sunrise. I saw a good mix of migrants along with the local birds, including a Blackburnian Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warblers, a Swainson’s Thrush, Eastern Wood Pewees, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow-throated and Red-eyed Vireos, and a Summer Tanager. The residents included Golden-hooded, Plain-colored, and Palm Tanagers, a Green Honeycreeper, Keel-billed Toucans, Dot-winged Antwrens, a Black-breasted Puffbird, and a

Lesser Greenlet. A male and female Blue Dacnis perched at the top of a tree, and Michael said the male Dacnis is called the “Baby Cotinga,” because it is an electric blue like the Blue Cotinga. We saw a Brown-capped Tyrannulet and a Black-capped Pygmy Tyrant, both of whom are tiny birds with yellow bellies. A female Red-capped Manakin was perched on a branch, and like many female manakins, is a round plain olive bird.

Blue Dacnises

Black-breasted Puffbird

Blue-chested Hummingbird

After breakfast, Michael took me, Martin, Gary, Christian, Iva, and Boris for a walk down the Semaphore Hill Road. Before we left, we saw a Tiger Longwing butterfly, who has long antennae. A bit after we started, we found a large land snail in the road. One of the first really unusual birds we saw was a Rufous Mourner, and we heard it singing its mournful long single note. It is a brown bird with barring on the breast like a Northern Barred Woodcreeper. Michael said it is only the third time he has seen one in fifteen years of birding. A big surprise was seeing two Cocoi Herons fly over, considering that we were not in a wetlands area. They look like Great Blue Herons. I got a fleeting look at one, and then the pair flew into the open. I could see the white feathering on the upper legs, unlike the Great Blue whose upper legs are the color of cooked turkey drumsticks. In the trees, we saw both two-toed and three-toed Sloths, as well as coatis. The Tower area has many more mammals than the area around the Canopy Lodge. We also saw a couple of agoutis scrambling around.

Snail

Being in Panama right now is like being in the middle of a three-ring circus. The first ring is the forest birds. The second ring is all of the wonders of the rainforest. And the third ring is all of the hawks that are flying over. Some tour groups come here only for the hawks. This morning did not have a great flight, but there were a lot of raptors and vultures in the air. In one spot, we saw two Peregrines mixed in with the Broad-winged Hawks and vultures. We later saw a Gray Hawk, who appeared to have slightly darker patches near the end of its wings. Later back at the Tower, we saw a lone Swainson’s Hawk circling in the distance. A species I really wanted to see was a Black-faced Antthrush. I have been hearing the slow threenote call on many days of my trip, and today I saw one. Like the Black-crowned Antpitta two days ago, this bird walks along the forest floor, and it has a very short tail which it often keeps cocked. Its back is much more rufous than the field guide shows, and it has a black mask. We saw a male and female Chestnut-backed Antbird, and I could see the blue orbital skin, which the similar Dull-mantled Antbird does not have. We saw a female White-tailed Trogon perched in the open. Like the Orangebellied Trogon, the female’s undertail pattern is different from the male’s, showing more barring rather than white. A Dot-winged Antwren was flitting around in the same area. A female Blue-crowned Manakin was perched on a branch – another round green bird. We saw wild papaya, which is different from the fruit that people eat. And we had a nice look at a butterfly that might have been a Cyan Emperor.

White-tailed Trogon

I was able to see a male Slate-colored Grosbeak. The bird is almost entirely slate gray, but it has a huge red bill like a male Northern Cardinal. The chip note sounds like a cardinal’s, and the song sounds a bit like a Baltimore Oriole’s. We also saw a Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, a bird whose name is almost as long as its body. It is one of the smallest songbirds I have ever seen, measuring only 2.5 inches. It is white below with a yellow undertail and dark cap. One of the reasons it looks so small is that it has no tail to speak of. I am not sure what advantage there is to having such a short tail. After lunch, we went to the Ammo Ponds and surrounding areas. I saw a lot of birds I had previously seen, but I saw a few new things. There was a perched Amazon Kingfisher, who is the size of a Belted Kingfisher, but green. Another difference is that the male we saw has a rufous breastband, and the female does not. With the Belted, the female has a rufous breastband, and the male does not. We saw a single Purple Martin among the many Barn Swallows and Gray-breasted Martins. The Purple Martin was bedraggled and looked as if it had just come out of the water. Mixed in with the swallows and martins was a Mangrove Swallow. While we were going back to the van, Michael spotted a crocodile. It started to swim toward us, went totally underwater, and then surfaced back toward the middle of the pond.

American Crocodile

Before we left, we saw a male Golden-collared Manakin. This was the first male I had seen, and I had a bit of trouble getting on the bird before I finally saw it. The weather had become dark and threatening, and we were looking into a dark patch of forest. The manakin has a golden collar and throat along with a black cap. He sat on a branch and preened. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard some owls calling outside my window. It sounded as if the area around Canopy Tower had been invaded by Black-and-white Owls. At least four were giving their rising six-hoot call, which places extra emphasis on the final hoot. I went up to the top floor to get the searchlight. I then went outside and looked in a number of trees, and as I was shining my light toward the eastern side of the Tower, I saw one fly. There was another one calling from nearby, and as I was looking for it, Michael came out. He was able to mimic the call of the owl, and one flew right over our heads. It landed in a branch near the raised platform in front of the Tower. We were able to spotlight it and had some really nice views. Michael went and got a telescope, and when he came back, the owl had not moved. The bird is larger than the Mottled Owls I saw at the Lodge, but smaller than the Spectacled Owl. It has dark wings and heavy black and white barring below. It does not have ear tufts. The owl presented a fine ending to another wonderful day of birding. When I finally went to bed after midnight, the owls sounded as if they were even closer than when I was outside. They were hooting frequently when I fell asleep.

Black-and-white Owl

October 22, 2012 This morning, we were up on the observation platform at our usual time of 6 a.m., but we could spend only a half an hour there before we had to eat breakfast. A new bird for the trip was a Bay-breasted Warbler. I looked down on the bird and could see some bay on the sides and a streaked back. Michael took me, Martin, Boris, Iva, and Gary to the Pipeline Road. Christian left at midday yesterday, and he was replaced this morning by a couple from England named Matt and Nicola. Last night while I was up on the third floor to get a stronger Wi-Fi signal, Matt came down from the fourth floor with a vial which contained a small spider he thought might be related to the black widows. Nicola is more interested in moths and was especially interested in a moth that landed in Martin’s cereal bowl after he had finished eating. When we got to an area just before the Pipeline Road, the trees were filled with birds. I spotted a Golden-winged Warbler, and I am always glad to see this species and affirm that it still exist. I have not seen one in the Washington, DC, area for many years. One of the best birds of the morning was a Little Tinamou, crossing the road right out in the open. It has a gray head and a rufous back, and it is much smaller than the Great Tinamou we saw on our last trip to the Pipeline Road. We had a good look at a Black-bellied Wren, who is dark brown on the back and has a white throat. A Lineated

Woodpecker popped onto a branch at eye level, and we could see the sun showing through its bright red crest.

Lineated Woodpecker

One other new bird for the trip was a Rufous Mourner, a bird whose plumage is entirely rufous or a variation of it. The bird was flycatching, and it is considered one of the flycatchers. The Speckled Mourner I saw yesterday is lumped with the becards and tityras, but taxonomists are not sure where these species should be classified. Iva saw an oriole that she said was orange. It was a Baltimore, and because I was wearing a Baltimore Oriole hat, I showed her the image on it. We spent a lot of time today looking at wildlife other than birds. We saw some small frogs, one of whom was a poison dart frog. Another was a leaf frog, who looked like a leaf. We saw a lot of beautiful butterflies and a Helicopter Damselfly, who moved around on its delicate wings. There was a giant spider on a pink ribbon – I am not sure of the species of the spider or why the ribbon was there. We also saw an array of remarkably well camouflaged insects. And we saw a number of flowers of the Hot Lips plant, which is in the coffee family.

Spider

A highlight was a young Variegated Squirrel. The Gray Squirrels at LBJ Grove in Washington can be fairly aggressive when approaching people for handouts. This Variegated Squirrel actually climbed onto people. He first went to Iva, who was carrying a video camera on a tripod, and climbed up one of her legs and kept going until he reached her shoulder. He also explored her camera, getting far too close to be the subject of footage. Then he jumped down and climbed up my leg and torso. This little guy seemed to be hungry, thirsty, and curious.

Iva with Variegated Squirrel

Me with Variegated Squirrel

We finished our morning of birding and headed back to the Tower along a road that runs by the canal. We watched a Yellow-headed Caracara taking a dust bath. As we were stopped for the light to get onto the one-lane bridge, we saw a large cruise ship in the canal called the Peace Boat, advertising

the goal of ending world poverty by 2015 and spewing a lot of smoke into the air. We arrived back at the Tower in time for lunch, and we were joined by a woman named Zelesny who is the manager of Canopy Tower. After lunch, a thunderstorm blew in, and it began to rain heavily. I went to my room and fell asleep. I woke up at three, which is when our trip to the zoo was supposed to begin, but we waited another hour or so for the rain to let up. We finally left a little after four, and when we drove to the zoo, we found it had closed at 4. We then drove across the road to the Summit Ponds. It is in an area where the national police train, and a lot of them were just getting off duty when we arrived. Between the traffic and the rain, birding was difficult, so we decided to call it a day. As we were returning to the van, we saw a frog no bigger than a piece of gravel. It was amazing how tiny it was. When we tried to look at it more closely, it flattened itself out and blended in with the road. October 23, 2012 I woke up around 2:30 this morning and could hear a Mottled Owl calling. I went back to sleep, and when I eventually got up and went to the observation deck at six, I could still hear it. We did not stay on the deck long, because we had to eat breakfast and leave Canopy Tower at seven. On the observation deck, I was able to look down on a Bay-breasted Warbler and could see the streaks on its back. This species is now starting to come into Panama. There were also a male and female Summer Tanager. After breakfast, when we were getting ready to depart, I spotted a silhouette bird in a tree near the Tower. It flew to a closer tree, and I saw it was a female Blue Cotinga. She was brown with a spotted breast. Michael took me, Martin, Nicola, Matt, Boris, Iva, and Gary to a section of the Pipeline Road that we did not visit yesterday. Getting to our destination was a bit difficult, because the heavy rains last evening had made the dirt road rather soupy. A couple of times, Michael had to get out of our vehicle and chop away fallen tree limbs with a machete. We got off to a good start birding when Gary spotted a Great Jacamar. It in some ways resembles a large hummingbird, with iridescent green plumage. It is rufous below, and from certain angles, you could see a bit of white on the throat. A few times, it uttered its plaintive whistle.

Great Jacamar

In the same area, we saw a Checker-throated Antwren. There was a Plain Brown Woodcreeper who was trying to swallow a large wolf spider, and there was also a Broad-billed Motmot. For the second day in a row, we found a Rufous Mourner. We then found an ant swarm, and had nice looks at a Bicolored Antbird. I also got my first look of the trip at an Ocellated Antbird. I could see the orbital ring and the light brownish breast. The light was not especially good on the forest floor. During our visit to the Pipeline Road, we saw many unusual insects in addition to the birds. One looked like the Darth Vader of bugs. Someone found a walking stick insect, and I held it on a leaf while everyone else photographed it. At one point, the insect walked off the leaf and climbed onto my head.

Stick Insect

Darth Vader Bug

We soon found a pair of Streak-chested Antpittas, which remain my favorite bird of the trip. One ran across the road, and another stayed on the forest floor and sang. I saw this one raise its wings, but I did not see it inflating itself as I did the other time I saw the species. I later also saw a Black-faced Antthrush, another skulker. There was a Song Wren on the forest floor behaving like a leaftosser. We also heard the wren’s haywire cuckoo clock song. It is one of the species who is better to hear than see. A cooperative Spotted Antbird sat on a rock and tried to take advantage of an ant swarm. We also saw a cooperative male Blue-crowned Manakin after having seen the female. We had nice looks

at a Buff-throated Foliage-Gleaner, and it is one of many species who is more rufous than is pictured in the field guide. I once again heard a Scaly-throated Leaftosser but did not see one. We had lunch in a small clearing on the Pipeline Road and had a nice scope look at a Tamandua. It eventually went up into a tree and took a siesta. We then had to say good-bye to Martin, who was heading back to England on a flight this evening. The word Sputnik means “traveling companion” in Russian, and Martin has been a wonderful Sputnik during my time in Panama.

Northern Tamandua

The remainder of the group then headed over to the Rainforest Discovery Center. There were howler monkeys in the trees in the parking lot. We went to the hummingbird feeders and saw many different types of hummers. The White-necked Jacobins seem to be the most noticeable of the lot. I sat an arm’s length from one of the feeders, and it is amazing how small all these hummers are. We then went up the tower at the Discovery Center and looked for a male Blue Cotinga, but had no luck. Two Blue-headed Parrots flew over, showing a much deeper wingbeat than Amazona parrots such as the Red-lored. We found a White-necked Puffbird, and near the bottom of the tower saw a female White-whiskered Puffbird. On the Pipeline Road, we had seen a Black-breasted Puffbird, so we had a good puffbird day. We also saw three species of Motmots. We later went to the wetland area and saw a pair of Snail Kites. It was getting late in the afternoon and the skies were threatening.

Because we were riding in an open-air vehicle, we decided to try to get back to Canopy Tower before the rains came.

Mantled Howler Monkeys

October 24, 2012 We intended to get an early start this morning to go to the Metro Park before the rush hour traffic became bad. When we were about to leave at 6:30, I saw a hawk moth caught in an orb web spider web, struggling to get free. After awhile, it managed to get one wing free, and just before we left, it became totally free. Michael was leading the trip for me, Matt, Nicola, and Gary. We ended up in about four traffic jams, and a trip that normally takes 25 minutes took an hour and 45. On the way, we saw more of the psychedelic buses, including one with a strangely young looking photo of Sylvester Stallone on the back. While we were stopped in traffic, I saw a Baltimore Oriole perched on some razor wire, and there was a Yellow Warbler foraging in some bushes. When we finally got to the park at about 8:15, we saw a nice mix of resident and migrant birds. Among the migrants were the ever present Eastern Wood Pewees, a few Bay-breasted Warblers, a Black-and-white Warbler, a Northern Waterthrush, and an Acadian Flycatcher. A new bird for the trip was a Yellow Tyrannulet, which had a warblerish look to it. I had a nice look at a Rufous-breasted Wren and could see the white streaks on its black throat. We had very close looks at some beautiful birds such as a female Slaty-tailed Trogon, a female Gartered Trogon, and a Whooping Motmot, which used to be part of the Blue-crowned species which has been split. The Common Potoo was in the same tree I had seen him previously. I noticed it had a bit of white near its wing.

Gartered Trogon

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Whooping Motmot

Common Potoo

We walked through the forest and saw wild cashew trees, the fruit of which is not eaten by humans but enjoyed by other mammals. It also is a favorite food of the Great Tinamou. We saw an Orangebilled Sparrow on the forest floor. We had a nice look at a Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, which looked much paler below than in the field guide. We also had close looks at Social Flycatchers, who are one of the common flycatcher species in this area. For Panama, the birding was slow, even though we

saw a lot of species. We occupied ourselves looking at insects, spiders, plants, and other things. We saw a damsel fly that appeared to be about four or five inches long. We saw a strangler fig that had enveloped one of the trees. A collection of Bonsai trees appeared to be an attempt to create a dwarf rainforest. And we saw a pond that had a lot of Red-eared Slider turtles in it. As we were preparing to return to our vehicle, we suddenly encountered a large feeding flock with a lot of species. Some of the migrant species were Blackburnian and Prothonotary Warblers and a Yellow-throated Vireo. The flock included Dusky Antbirds, a Fasciated Antshrike, Red-throated AntTanagers, Crimson-backed and Carmiol’s Tanagers, a Forest Elaenia, a Golden-fronted Greenlet, a Gartered Trogon, a Tropical Gnatcatcher, a Southern Bentbill, and a Cocoa Woodcreeper. One bird who stood out from the group was a Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher. It has a yellow rump, and it kept its tail fanned while it was flitting. It reminded me of the fantails I saw in Australia.

Social Flycatcher

The Metro Park was where Martin had seen the 100,000 Broad-winged Hawks. We did not see any sign of hawk migration, but on the way back to the Tower, we saw a large kettle of vultures. At one point in our drive, we were again stopped in traffic. This time, people were intentionally blocking the roads to protest the sale of state-owned land in Colon to private interests. The protest did not delay us long, and we were back at the Tower a bit before one. However, we were supposed to go to the zoo in the afternoon, but it was closed because of the protest. Instead, we went to the area around the Chagres River. We were joined by Paula from Oregon and John from Texas. Matt spotted a distant Peregrine Falcon perched on a tower. There is a road sign about crossing iguanas, and we saw one fall from a considerable height into the water. We found a Streak-headed Woodcreeper and could observe the streaks on its breast and how it is smaller than the more common Cocoa Woodcreeper. We saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Common Tody-Flycatcher, and a flyover Fork-tailed Flycatcher. We also found a Tamandua sleeping in a tree and a family of Purple Gallinules, with a male, female, and small black downy chicks.

During the drive through the resort, we saw a lot of agoutis. For a lot of the trip, Michael and I had a running joke about counting agoutis. One day, in a relatively short period of time, we counted more than twenty of them. There certainly is no shortage of them, especially at the resort. We went down to a field and saw about 20 Lesser Capybaras. They are much bigger than agoutis and can weigh up to 80 pounds. Nearby, two Black Vultures were perched on the railing of a gazebo. On the other side of the field, a flock of Band-rumped Swifts flew around. A few appeared to dive into the grass and stay there. I did not see where they landed. I had never seen swifts do this before.

Lesser Capybaras

October 25, 2012 Today was my last full day in Panama, and it was a full day indeed. Michael took me, Matt, Nicola, and Gary up to Cerro Azul. We left at 5:15 to avoid both the rush hour traffic and the demonstrations around the city. We did not encounter either, but the weather did not cooperate. We were at a higher altitude, and for most of the day, there was mist in the area that was absent around the Tower. Today also featured the windiest weather I have seen in Panama so far, and the light conditions were not always good for seeing color and detail on birds. Still, all things considered, we saw a lot of birds. We did not get back to the Tower until 5:15 in the afternoon. One of the birds I saw at our first stop was a Black Phoebe, the first I have seen on this trip. It was on a rock in a stream. We looked in this area for a Fasciated Tiger-Heron (which my spell checker wants to make into a Fascinated Tiger-Heron), but we were not successful. We then had a run of seeing bay-colored birds. We saw a Bay Wren near the stream with the phoebe, and it was uttering loud chip notes. We then went to an area and saw Bay-headed Tanagers and a Bay-breasted Warbler. We also saw a Swainson’s Thrush, a Tennessee Warbler, a Gray-headed Chachalaca, and a male Blueblack Grosbeak. We saw a Shining Honeycreeper, one of whose distinguishing fieldmarks is yellow legs. There were a Scarlet Tanager and a male Summer Tanager, two Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, and a young Palm Tanager begging for food. We found a male Gartered Trogon in good light and could see the green back and blue eyering. Lesser Goldfinches were foraging in flowers and squabbling with a Tennessee Warbler. A couple of Broad-winged Hawks flew over, and we scoped a distant White Hawk, who in the scope looked like a small white dot in the forest.

At 8:45, we went to the home of Jerry and Linda Harrison, who are biologists. Jerry compiled the plant list that is on the Canopy Tower website. They have many hummingbird feeders, and they usually put out bananas, but they did not have any. Instead, they put cooked rice on a feeding table, and the Black-cheeked Woodpeckers spent a lot of time eating it, as did Yellow-faced Grassquits. A Tennessee Warbler came and searched all the baskets and tables where the bananas usually are before flying away. They like to eat bananas in the winter. We saw a White-vented Euphonia in a tree, and I could see the vent. We heard a Scaly-breasted Wren, formally know as the Southern Nightingale Wren. Jerry said it has one of the longest songs in the bird world. We then headed over to the Kaufmann House, which has eight busy hummingbird feeders. It was not quite as good the second time around, mainly because the beautiful vista of the valley was covered by fog and mist. Still, we saw some nice birds. An Emerald Tanager was new for the trip. It did not look very green because the light was not great. But the hummingbirds were still great. The Violetcrowned constantly squeaks, so you would know when one was near the feeders. Unlike last time, the Brown Violet-ears came to the feeders. After we ate lunch, we headed down a path from the side of the house where people go to see the White-tipped Sicklebill. We did not see the sicklebill, but we saw the Giant Heliconia flowers it feeds on.

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Yellow-faced Grassquit

White-necked Jacobin

When we left the Kaufmann House, we went down a hill and found a busy feeding flock. It featured Bay-headed, Hepatic (male), and Golden-Hooded Tanagers, an American Redstart, a Yellow-bellied Elaenia, and a House Wren. We got a good look at a Paltry Tyrannulet, who shows yellow edges on its primaries when its wings are folded. The elaenia had its crest up. The weather was still foggy and windy when we went to look for the endemic Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker, but we did not see one.

We stopped near our first stop of the day and saw a female Green Kingfisher standing on a rock. The kingfisher walked across the rock, and I can’t remember ever before seeing a kingfisher walk. We headed home past the airport, and along the way, we saw some birds. A White-tailed Kite was flying, as was an adult Snail Kite. We saw a Fork-tailed Flycatcher perched on a fence wire, with an Eastern Meadowlark perched on a post on the other side of the road. We saw a group of Greater Anis and could see their very long tails. Among the birds that Michael saw in the front seat that I could not see well from the middle of the second row were Black Terns and a couple of flying Yellow-crowned Parrot, the latter of whom are in the same Amazona genus as the Mealy and Red-lored. We then went to look for shorebirds, but the tide was so low that many of the birds were too far away to identify. Among the closer ones I could identify were Black-necked Stilt, Southern Lapwing, Whimbrel, Willet, and Short-billed Dowitcher. We had gone to one shoreline to look for birds, but the banks of the river were covered with trash. There was also a lot of trash on the beach where we were looking at the shorebirds. After dinner, Alexis and Michael took me, Matt, Nicola, Gary, Paula, and John out spotlighting. We saw a two-toed sloth and then found a Common Potoo calling. The potoo’s call consists of five long and sad notes that descend in pitch. It was good to see this species active by night instead of only seeing it sleeping on a perch by day. We found a Central American Woolly Opossum, an attractive brown creature with pink ears and a pink nose. And I saw my first snake of the trip – one of the birdeating snakes. We could see the eyeshine as the snake stretched across a limb. Others also saw a Boa Constrictor wrapped around a branch. While we were in the open-air vehicle, I felt something fall around the collar of my shirt. When I tried to brush it off, I discovered it was one of the small caterpillars that sting wherever they touch you, so I got stung on the right side of my neck and on a few fingers on my left hand. The stings hurt for about 30 minutes, but then they stopped.

October 26, 2012 On my last morning in Panama, I went to the observation deck of the tower to look and listen. Last night before I went to bed just before 1 a.m., I heard a Mottled Owl hooting. We had not heard any owls when we were spotlighting. This morning, I could hear a Bright-rumped Attila, a Green ShrikeVireo, Keel-billed Toucans, howler monkeys, and, of course, Eastern Wood Pewees. I saw a toucan, and I saw yet another Bay-breasted Warbler. At breakfast, Matt said that Palm Tanagers would sometimes wait outside a window while people were eating breakfast and come inside to steal table scraps after people left, similar to the behavior of gulls at some baseball stadiums.

Palm Tanager

Michael found the same species of moth that I had looked at with Matt and Nicola last evening. It has big red eyespots that you cannot see when the wings are folded. At 7:30, Michael took me, Nicola, Matt, Gary, and John to the Gamboa Resort. On the way over, we saw both a Yellow-headed Caracara in the road and a perched Broad-winged Hawk. Around the parking area of the resort, we saw Crimson-backed and Flame-rumped Tanagers, Southern Rough-winged Swallows, and Variable Seedeaters. A Red-crowned Woodpecker quietly perched at a hummingbird feeder drinking sugar water. A Ruddy Ground-Dove and a Tropical Kingbird were on the wires, and I heard a Purplethroated Fruitcrow. We walked down by the water and saw a Common Tody-Flycatcher and a Buffbreasted Wren. A Spectacled Caiman was swimming near the far shore, and Lesser Kiskadees were at the near shore. We saw a group of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and a Wattled Jacana in the distance. When we walked back to the road, we saw a Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, who is similar in appearance to the Paltry Tyrannulet. We also saw a first year Rose-breasted Grosbeak. There was a Boat-billed Flycatcher sitting on a wire next to a Purple Martin.

Moth

We were in an area near an educational facility called the Serpentarium where people can learn about snakes. Two of the people who worked there had found a Boa Constrictor who was only a few days old. It was on a stick, and we had to be careful when taking pictures, because it was coiled in a position from which it could strike. In a nearby bush, we saw a pair of Black-striped Sparrows, while a Keel-billed Toucan called from the top of a tree. There were noisy Great Kiskadees in the area, along with a Clay-colored Thrush and Lemon-rumped and Plain-colored Tanagers. Michael showed us a tree that had some mistletoe growing on it, probably from seeds deposited there by a Paltry Tyrannulet. Alexander Skutch preferred to call this species the Mistletoe Flycatcher, which does not have the negative connotations of Paltry.

Boa Constrictor

We then walked up a road where I had on a previous visit seen workers eating raw sugarcane. We saw a pretty butterfly Michael identified as a Gray Cracker, so named because of noises it makes during its breeding season around April. It was on the multi-colored bark of a tree. Matt said the colors represented different communities of lichen. We then walked along a path into the woods and saw a lot more species of birds. A new bird for the trip was a Black-headed Saltator, who looks like a Buff-throated Saltator with a white throat. Seeing this bird meant that I would see at least one new bird for the trip every day I was in Panama. There was a handsome female Dot-winged Antwren, who is rufous below. A large kettle of migrating Turkey Vultures soared overhead. I saw a Cocoa Woodcreeper and noticed that they go down a tree feet first. We saw a White-whiskered Puffbird, a Gray-headed Tanager, a Checker-throated Antwren, and a female Spotted Antbird. A small group of Orange-chinned Parakeets flew over. We heard the loud song of a Bay Wren and had a nice look at a Western Slaty Antshrike. We saw the two-toed tracks of a peccary. A Plain Xenops was behaving like a woodcreeper. We found a Lineated Woodpecker, and saw an Olivaceous Flatbill, who was calling frequently.

Gray Cracker

Today was sunny and clear, which made a huge difference when looking at birds. One of the birds I saw differently was a male Golden-collared Manakin. The other one I had seen was on a branch deep in the woods in fading daylight. This one was in bright sunlight, and I could see the beautiful yellow collar and neck along with his bright red legs. The collar really glistens. I had a nice look at a Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, a Yellow Tyrannulet, and a Forest Elaenia. A Scrub Greenlet was in a nearby tree, singing persistently; we had a really good look at its pale eye and pink bill. A Cinnamon Becard foraged actively on the other side of the road, giving us long looks. There was a handsome male Fasciated Antshrike and both Yellow and Chestnut-sided Warblers. As Michael drove up Semaphore Hill Road for my final time, he stopped so that we could see two lovely birds. A Blue Dacnis was foraging in a tree, and the same tree contained a male Blue-crowned Manakin close to the road on a bare branch. I’m glad that the final species of my final trip turned out to be a manakin. When I got back to the Tower, I had a number of things to do relatively quickly. I had to shower and get cleaned up for my flight home. My flight was scheduled for 6:48, but Panama continued to have demonstrations about the Colon land sale legislation. As such, I was told I should leave the Tower as soon as possible. I said my good-byes to people, including Michael who is an extraordinary guide. He never uses tapes, and I assume that he must have perfect pitch, because he is capable of imitating a remarkable number of birdsongs and other animal sounds. I also said good-bye to Matt and Nicola. It was great to bird with them after they arrived on Monday night. They added many dimensions to the way I experienced the rainforests with their knowledge and interest in spiders, insects, plants, mosses, and a lot of things that I probably would have glossed over while looking for birds. And of course, I had to say good-bye to the sloth outside the dining area whom I enjoyed watching so much during my visit.

Our ride to the airport turned out to be uneventful. We took a longer route that avoided Panama City, so I arrived at the airport a bit after two. It gave me time to write the final installment of my field notes. The trip was more physical than I anticipated, but I held up pretty well. I would seriously consider returning to Panama at some point, especially after the people at Canopy Tower open up a camp in the province of Darien. Today was a fairly ordinary day in Panama, but compared to what I am used to, it was extraordinary. The word “galore” comes from a Gaelic word that means “enough.” Somewhere along the line, the meaning changed from being enough of something to being a profusion of it. In Panama, have seen birds and nature galore in both meanings of the word.