Crested Bobwhite, Panama May 2007.

An odd one to finish with, but then it did look odd sitting up a tree too! Next trip: Brazil August 2007.

Rufous Motmot, La Mesa, Panama May 2007.

We spent a bit of time at a slightly higher elevation at a site known as La Mesa. Not too much in the way of forest in this area but we did see White-ruffed Manakin, Blue-throated (Emerald) Toucanet, female Snowcap, Slate-coloured Seedeater, etc up here. Best bird at the other highland site - Cerro Gaital - produced a nice Black Guan.

Tody Motmot, Panama May 2007.

Bird of the trip for me was undoubtedly this Tody Motmot (top photo). Pretty difficult to find in its range (mainly Central America), but it has to be the Canopy Lodge's star bird as it's quite easy to find nearby. As usual though this one was in a dark ravine and I could only get this poor record shot of a great bird. Plenty of birds on the way though, including this smart Tropical Screech-Owl roosting in a pine tree.

Mottled Owl near Canopy Lodge, Panama.

So, on our first afternoon near Canopy Lodge we set off to look in the hill forests near the lodge. We tried a couple of spots for Tody Motmot (no luck), but ended up with this smart roosting Mottled Owl as bird of the afternoon.

Canopy Lodge garden birds, Panama May 2007.

Of course the star bird in the lodge grounds was the Rufous-crested Coquette, but there were lots of others too. Some "different" hummers (to the tower) included the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird (top), Garden Emeralds, Green Hermit and Long-billed Starthroat. Regular visitors included the above birds - Clay-coloured Robin (Costa Rica's nationa bird - Panama's is Harpy Eagle!), Crimson-backed Tanager, Flame-rumped Tanager and Chestnut-headed Oropendola.

Canopy Lodge, Panama 26 - 29 May 2007.

Canopy Lodge is situated just outside El Valle de Aton in the foothills (approx. 600m) and takes roughly 2 hours to get to by road from the Canopy Tower. The lodge sits by the river and there's plenty of birds in the grounds including the handsome Rufous-crested Coquette. Just above the lodge there are a few patches of mainly mature secondary forest but extensive forested areas are pretty non-existant in the immediate area. Excursions to forest patches a little higer such as Cerro Gaital and La Mesa can be arranged at the lodge.

Canopy Tower, Panama.

We left Canopy Tower after a week of birding in the surrounding Soberania NP. In truth the only bird we didn't see elsewhere was the Green Shrike-Vireo but we had unforgetable views of Chestnut-mandibled and Keel-billed Toucans (above) and Collared Aracaris (image at foot of this entry).

Semaphore Hill road below the tower with its steep sided banks was a favourite of White-whiskered and Black-breasted Puffbirds (above), whilst the feeders in the tower car park had White-vented Plumeleteers (below), Blue-chested Hummingbirds and White-necked Jacobins.

The dawn chorus at the tower started with the sounds of Mantled Howler Monkey, Collared Forest-Falcons, Broad-billed Motmots and Western Slaty Antshrikes. Mottled Owl and Choco Screech-Owls could be heard at night whilst Kinkajou and Common Woolly Opossum could be seen in the trees surrounding the tower after dark.

Common Potoo - Pipeline Road revisited.

A second, more extensive trip along the Pipeline Road on 24 May found us nearly 9 kilometres in as far as the Rio Mendoza bridge. A decent ant-swarm attracted Plain-brown Woodcreeper, a couple of Grey-headed Tanagers, Bicolored and Spotted Antbirds. An Ocellated Antbird was also there, calling close by but infuriatingly remained hidden. After several tours to Central America I am still missing this attractive forest dweller. Other birds of note today included Song Wren, Rufous Mourner, Streak-chested Antpitta (seen well), Black-faced Antthrush, Spot-crowned Antvireo and King Vulture. A Thrush-like Schiffornis gave us fleeting glimpses in response to playback close to this Common Potoo's roost post.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Ammo Dump Ponds.

Visiting Panama at the start of the wet, oops sorry - "Green", season left us pretty bereft of water birds. A trip to the Ammo Dump Ponds produced a few bits 'n' bobs like these Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Rufescent Tiger-Herons and first class views of White-throated Crakes too.

Old Gamboa Road, Panama May 2007.

The Gamboa Road is only a short drive from the Canopy Tower so we made a few visits there during our stay. The Summit Ponds provided us with a bit of variety including this smart American Pygmy-Kingfisher as well as Boat-billed Heron, American Crocodile and Spectacled Caiman. The "drier" forest here held Lance-tailed Manakins, White-bellied and Jet Antbirds as well as a pair of day-roosting Spectacled Owls. The nightbird theme continued with this juv' Great Potoo roosting between the tower and Gamboa.

The Pipeline Road, Panama.

A few more images indicating the diverse bird community of the Pipeline Road. A pair of Violaceous Trogons (male, top) performed nicely and complimented the Black-tailed, White-tailed, Slaty-tailed and Black-throated Trogons seen already. Further along the road we made stops for Western Slaty-Antshrike (centre) amongs others as a Pheasant Cuckoo teased us as it called in the distance.

It was noticeable that many of the larger birds such as motmots, trogons and this Squirrel Cuckoo had pretty ragged tail feathers at the time of our "Green Season" visit.

Cinnamon Woodpecker, Pipeline Road 21 May 2007.

It took us a good hour and a half to get out of the first clearing this morning, there were so many birds. Once we'd had our fill of the hawk-eagle and thrush-tanager we concentrated our efforts on the Cinnamon Woodpecker that had been calling and begging for attention.

Black Hawk-Eagle on The Pipeline Road, Panama.

Panama's famous Pipeline Road is well known as a productive birding locality. On 21 May we birded the entrance and the first couple of kilometres only (it was slow going with plenty of birds to look at). We were enjoying great views of a male Rosy Thrush-Tanager when this superb Black Hawk-Eagle was found (well done Allan!). Not often seen perched and to have one so close was a real treat.

Blue Cotinga, Gamboa 22 May 2007.

After a very wet morning (making use of the time, visiting the Panama Canal at Miraflores Locks) we were relieved to get out this afternoon to Gamboa. Scrub and Golden-fronted Greenlets were our first birds but more gaudy fare was available in the form of Black-chested Jays and this nice male Blue Cotinga.

Puffbirds, Motmots, Trogons galore ........ and a hawk!

After just one morning in the vicinity of the Canopy Tower it was pretty obvious that Soberania NP was one of the best places to see trogons, motmots and puffbirds. As we wandered down Semaphore Hill (below the tower) we bumped into plenty of Slaty-tailed Trogons, Broad-billed and Rufous Motmots and a couple of Black-breasted Puffbirds (at the northern-most limit of their range here in Panama). Our first morning on Semaphore Hill was indeed a good introduction to the local avifauna with a nice selection of Neotropical birds seen including Cocoa Woodcreeper, Spotted Antbirds, Checker-throated and Dot-winged Antwrens, White-breasted Wood-Wrens, Slaty-tailed Trogons and Red-capped Manakins seen quite easily. This superb Crane Hawk (top) caused a bit of a panic as it landed near the road though!

Upper Deck, Canopy Tower Panama 20 May 2007.

If there's one bird that is just about impossible to see without visiting the Canopy Tower, it has to be Green Shrike-Vireo. This bird keeps well to the tops of the trees and the constant Greenshank-like "tuw-tuw-tuw" can be very irritating indeed, and must be more so if you can't find one from the forest floor trails! Plenty of other stuff on view from the deck this morning, including Chestnut-mandibled and Keel-billed Toucans, Collared Aracaris, Blue Cotinga, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Red-lored and Mealy Parrots. Three-toed Sloth and Red-naped Tamarins (above) were also seen from the top deck at times too.

Canopy Tower, Panama May 19 - 25 2007.

Back to Central America for the third time this year. This time it was Panama for a two-centred tour, the first week being at the famous Canopy Tower in the Soberania NP only 45 mins from Panama City. This was my second visit to the tower, but the second locality - the Canopy Lodge at El Valle de Aton was to be a new site for me.
We arrived in Panama pretty late on 19th on Continental flights from Manchester via Newark and transferred to the tower for a welcome night's sleep. The first morning at the tower is a great exprience as you view across the forest from the top deck and the pic above shows the view from the tower at dawn, looking across the canopy.