Driving back from Las Minas after seeing Black-crowned Antpitta.Moving into the foothills near El Valle de Anton, we spent a few nights at the Canopy Lodge. Personally I like this part of the trip better than our stay at the Tower. The accommodation is much nicer and although the birding is in mainly remnant forests, the birding is more interesting. Having heard that Black-crowned Antpitta had been seen of late (we didn't even hear one last year) I was pretty keen to make a real effort to see one on this trip. So I persuaded Tino (pictured above with me on the back of the 4x4) that it would be a very good idea to see this bird. After a couple of attempts in the La Mesa area we tried in a patch of forest on the other side of the hill and bingo one responded to playback almost immediately! Although it was below us it was really quite easy to see too as it popped in and out of view singing back every now and then. On the way back it started to rain as we bounced around on the back of the truck - but who cares! A pair of Emerald Tanagers on the way back were pretty good too (never seen them in Panama before) and that beer I had sitting outside the lodge when we got back to the lodge tasted real good (especially as I was watching male Rufous-crested Coquette at the time too!).
The Canopy Lodge area is pretty good for motmots too. Plenty of Rufous Motmots (above) in the forests near the highlands of La Mesa and around the Canopy Adventure property.
Tody Motmot, Panama May 2008.
The dark forests of the Canopy Adventure grounds are also a great place to see the Tody Motmot - certainly one of the lodge's speciality birds and a welcome sight on our last full day in the area.
Tody Motmot, Panama May 2008.
We bumped into a lot of other good birds while we searched for the real goodies of course. Orange-bellied Trogon (above), Vermiculated Screech-Owl (singing by day!), White-ruffed Manakin, Barred Hawk, Barred Forest-Falcon, Scaly-throated Leaftosser, White-tipped Sicklebill and Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush certainly fall into this category.
Golden-hooded Tanager, Panama May 2008.
Blue-throated (Emerald) Toucanet, Panama May 2008.
White-tipped Sicklebill at a Heliconia patch in the forests of the Canopy Adventure property.
Plain-brown Woodcreeper (nesting in a lamp post), Panama May 2008.
On our last afternoon Tino took us to some dry forest where we had crippling views of both Lance-tailed Manakins and best of all, a stunning male Rosy Thrush-Tanager. The pic above shows one of Panama's endemic 'square trees' in the grounds of the Hotel Campestre in El Valle where we birded this afternoon. Shame about the carvings! 
