Welcome

Special Birding Trips

Trip Reports

Gift Memberships

Century Club Benefits

ABA DONOR TRIP

The Canopy Tower, Panama

with Dick Payne and Paul Green
23-30 March 2003

Bird list | Part 1

Day Four. Wednesday 26 March 2003. Metropolitan Park, Panama City.

This more leisurely day found us in Panama City's Metropolitan Park. We spotted some remarkable birds for the City, the highlight for many being the Lance-tailed Manakin, a bird with a remarkable sharp tail. Other notables included a Boat-billed Flycatcher, Golden-fronted Greenlet, a Rufous-and-white Wren, and Blue-headed Parrot. As we climbed our first hill, we had great looks at a perched Collared Forest-Falcon, sitting with one leg raised. Our walk in the park also gave us a panoramic view of Panama City.

Just as the heat was becoming less bearable, we returned for lunch and a siesta. Before leaving for our afternoon birding trip, Dick presented two binoculars and two copies of Ridgely's Birds of Panama to Raúl for distribution to local projects. As the result of this gesture, Bob and Mary Kay decided to leave their binoculars behind, donating them to Birders' Exchange. Thank you, Bob and Mary Kay.

We then went down for a brief trip to the Panama Canal to watch boats pass through the Miraflores Locks. While there, we spied Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, and a Peregrine soaring with the Black Vultures, as three gulls went by unidentified.

We returned for aperitifs and a dinner of lasagne, plantain, melon and beets, followed by a remarkable coconut milk Crème Caramel. With no television, radio, telephones, or newspapers, by this time of the week we were feeling blissfully distant from the real world, to the extent that most of us knew not what day it was. Fortunately, several of us had dated pill boxes, and we confirmed that yes indeed this was Wednesday because that is what our pill boxes told us—and, yes, tomorrow was going to be a strenuous day.

Day Five. Thursday 27 March 2003. Achiote Road.

Today was our big march day. We arose at 4:00 am for a 4:30 am breakfast and a 5:00 am departure by air-conditioned bus with Carlos and José to Achiote Road with Ricardo, our driver. From the bus, we caught site of such notable birds as Southern Lapwing, Amazon Kingfisher, and Red-breasted Blackbird. At 7:30 am we had arrived at the third bridge for another of those amazing birding stops. Very quickly, we had some good looks at some great raptors, Double-toothed and Hook-billed Kite. In addition, we saw Pied Puffbird, Cinnamon Woodpecker, White-headed Wren, and Chestnut-headed Oropendola, adding up to 60 species by 0900h. We went on to add the magnificent Long-tailed Tyrant, another Blue-headed Parrot, and a pair of Yellow-headed Caracaras before taking shelter from the sun.

After a snack break beneath a tree, during which we spotted Gray-breasted Martins, Red-crowned Woodpecker, and the Osprey soaring with Black Vultures, we walked along a dirt road, where we educated ourselves about some of the plants that were growing, including the Calabash tree (Crescentia cujete) which yields large fruits used for containers, and the Achiote tree (Bixa orellana), the seeds of which yield a red pigment used by native peoples for skin decoration, and more recently for lipstick.

By 11:00 am it was becoming very hot. The birds became scarce, and one by one we retired to the comfort of our bus. Shortly after 10:30 am each day birds rapidly became scarce and the environment less conducive to searching! We drove on to Fort San Lorenzo, built where the Chagres River enters the Caribbean Sea. We had lunch, which included some excellent pesto chicken sandwiches, eaten beneath a nesting colony of Chestnut-headed Oropendolas. We explored the Spanish fort, which was built in 1761, the third construction here since 1595. Thirty minutes in the melting midday sun was enough, so we drove a short distance to walk one of the roads that offered some shade. This was not very productive due to the heat, and we headed back toward Cristobal. En route we stopped at some short grass around the locks to see some shorebirds, and also saw a stunning Saffron Finch, an introduction from South America, followed shortly thereafter by another introduced species, House Sparrow.

This long, hot, and at times stressful day had a very pleasant coda: a trip back home on the Panama Tourist Express train, a 48-mile journey alongside the Panama Canal from Cristobal to Corozal, just outside Panama City. We entered the air-conditioned and carpeted tourist car at 4:45 pm and were served drinks by the hostess. As we relaxed, the train began to move and, for much of our journey passed through the waters of Gatun Lake and the Panama Canal. The birds were plentiful, and included 17 Snail Kites. We had crossed the continent by train! Julio met us at the railroad station in Balboa in his two-day-old bus, and we were taken back to the Canopy Tower for dinner at 7:30 pm.

Day Six. Friday 28 March 2003. Plantation Road, and a search for an ant swarm.

Today we get up at for a relaxing day, with an 6:00 am meeting on the deck, although one small group made off down the hill at first light to search for the Pheasant Cuckoo. From the deck, we saw Gray-headed Kite, Blue Cotinga, Red-lored Amazons, and a howler monkey at close range.

This was a day off for José, so Carlos led us on a leisurely walk along the shaded trail of Plantation Road. We had good close looks at all of the trogons, Long-billed Antwren, Gray-headed Kite, White-whiskered Puffbird, Fasciated Antshrike, and Olivaceous Flatbill.

We returned to the beginning of the trail by 11:30 am and headed back to the tower. Terry had walked ahead and found for us a White-necked Puffbird in clear view. Exhilarated by this view, we returned for lunch and siestas. Meantime, we had hatched a plan to drive the Pipeline Trail, to see if we could detect an ant swarm and the various birds associated with it. Therefore, at 3:00 pm we set out on the back of the Rainfomobile for trip along the Pipeline Road. While we did not locate an ant swarm, we did find a Long-billed Antbird, and some of us caught a glimpse of the Collared Aracari, amazing! We encountered a group of scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute putting up nets for catching bats. We tried again to attract a Pheasant Cuckoo and did not, although Bob had Carlos convinced when he made the call from the back of the truck! We were back at the tower by 6:15 pm, and dinner at 7:30 pm, and to bed, ready for a new day at 4:00 am and off to El Valle.

Day Seven. Saturday 29 March 2003. El Valle de Anton, Cocle.

Today was spent climbing a little in altitude, to around 3000 feet asl, into the foothills to the town of El Valle, a two-hour journey in the air-conditioned bus, which we began at 5:00 am. We headed north toward the Caribbean coast, then east, and then south into the foothills. This was also our last day of birding with Carlos, for Sunday was his day off, just as today was José's day off. We stopped at the Canopy Adventure, one of Raúl's enterprises that aims to educate people about the rain forest ecosystem. Raúl's family has owned this area for some time, and Raúl grew up exploring the area around the waterfall. This was his first small step into ecotourism about 15 years ago, which provides people with an educational experience and creates local employment. The facility also boasts a four-star bush loo with tiled floor and walls and running water. Raúl appeared down the road in his Vietnam-era jeep. We birded at the loo stop for a while and then went on to more roads and birding. The birds were good as usual, including Yellow-faced Grassquit, Red-crowned Ant Tanager, Rufous-headed Tanager, Violet-capped Woodnymph, Rufous-crested Coquette, Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, and Blue-crowned Manakin, the stunning Rufous-and-white Wren and Rufous-capped Warbler. For some, the sight of two Swallow-tailed Kites was the best of the day.

Lunch today was our most memorable, under the canopy at Raúl's summerhouse guesthouse. We had an assemble-yourself Panamanian soup, with chicken and various local vegetables, with banana bread for desert. All the time we were watching the birds. Birds from a colony of Chestnut-headed Oropendolas in the Eucalyptus trees paid frequent trips to the feeder, with a variety of already familiar birds including Red-crowned Woodpecker. We also watched a female Giant Cowbird trying to deposit eggs in the nests of the Oropendolas. Instead of siesta, we returned to the Canopy Adventure reserve and there did a small loop and found a life-bird for Carlos, the Dull-mantled Antbird. The hummer feeders at the entrance were good, and we had a Garden Emerald and Green-crowned Brilliant. We visited the gift stores in La Valle, then drove the two hours home in the bus, collecting Carlos' wife Evelyn on the way back home.

During aperitif time, we bade farewell to Carlos and his wife Evelyn (the happy couple are expecting a daughter in July), and we had dinner at 7:30 pm of green rice and pork, with stuffed squash and broccoli. After dinner, we had a conversation about the American Birding Association. Dick and Paul welcome your comments on what the ABA does and what new things you think we as an organization might do.

Day Eight. Sunday 30 March. Birding around the Tower.

Following on from our long day on Saturday at La Valle, we planned to spend our last day doing some more leisurely birding around the Canopy Tower. We had our regular 6:00 am gathering on the deck with a good sighting of a group of migrating Swainson's Hawks. We counted at least 17 that flew in and landed in a series of trees, waiting for the thermals to begin.

Today was Carlos' day off, and we had our last day of birding with José (and as a gesture of kindness we lent him a binocular for the day). After breakfast, we chose to walk slowly down the hill as we had done on Monday. Another day, different birds. We had great views of Broad-billed Motmot, Great Jacamar, and White-vented Plumeleteer, and our attempts to bring in a Pheasant Cuckoo and the Orange-billed Sparrow failed.

Our vehicle took us back up the hill for lunch and our last siesta for a while. For a leisurely afternoon, we drove down to Gamboa where the Chagres River crossed the main road and enters the canal. Our somewhat tired crew took in the sites with a few birds.

Day Nine. Monday 31 March. Departure.

Grace had coordinated shuttles to accommodate our various departure schedules, the first group departing before 6:00 am. Jim was heard to advise the dusting of our clothes with sulfur, since the Panama City Airport is a renowned site for chiggers. Helen had the opportunity of having breakfast many times that day; Dick and Paul joined her for her second.

The future, and a postscript.

Raúl, José, and Carlos will all be at the ABA Convention in Eugene, Oregon this June, so several of us will be having a reunion there.

Special thanks go to everyone for having made this trip so pleasant.  We have enclosed a checklist that serves as a record of the complete list of the species seen by the group.

We have posted this account on the ABA website. To look, please go to <www.americanbirding.org/cc/cctrpan1.htm>. We have also enclosed a compilation of the photographs on CD, together with some freeware software for you to install if you would like. The software includes Photoexplorer, which will allow you to view and organize the pictures; and GPhotoShow is a screensaver that will display photos at random when in screensave mode.

Dick and Paul thank you all for joining us. We greatly enjoyed spending time birding with you. We look forward to seeing you again at an American Birding Association event, and thank you for your past and future support of our organization.

Once again, feel free to contact any of us with your thoughts and suggestions on helping us to serve you better in the future.

Bird list | Part 1

Download a PDF of this trip report (the file is 514kb and you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to read, save and print it)

For more information about ABA Donor Trips, please call (800) 850-2473 ext 233 or email .