Monday, March 31, 2014

Another day, another owl


Well, yesterday when we saw the mottled owl, I blathered on about how I wanted to see a spectacled owl, not out of complaining, just out of an outpouring of owl-related words with the joy of seeing an owl.  Our guide just smiled and said you never know.  I never ever suspected he had a good lead on a spectacled owl!  What a day this turned out to be.

First, after a brief time at the feeders we loaded into the car with the guide and another couple.  We stopped at a pond in someone's yard and stayed on the road, watching a gorgeous kingfisher and a somewhat shy green heron.

green kingfisher

green heron




black-striped sparrow

lineated woorpecker
masked tityra

violet-crowned woodnymph

Back into the van and up a hill, where we walked along the road for a while.  What a gorgeous area!

tufted flycatcher



blue-headed parrot


plain wren

roadside hawk

mystery bird

We took a little trail looking for an ant pitta and didn't find it, we had to content ourselves with a pair of trogons.  Poor us!  :-)
orange-bellied trogon
Back on the road, we kept on and found someone's goal bird - toucanet!  We saw it flying a couple of times earlier, and while the group was looking for a wren I went ahead and saw it fly into a tree.  I felt like such a hero!  We all got good looks (but not good pictures) before it left again.
blue-throated (emerald) toucanet
silver-throated tanager

These crickets were crazy looking!  The guide didn't remember ever seeing them before.  Turns out they are the juveniles of one that looks quite different and is fairly common around here.  So cool looking!

Off on another ride, this time just us and the guide.  Walking along a road we were able to go into a private property with the groundskeeper.  And what grounds they were!  Obviously the owner(s) and the groundskeeper(s) love nature, they have a nice chunk of property they are leaving as a natural forest, with nice trails through it.  We walked along for a very short way when suddenly.......
spectacled owl
Hahahahahahaa, it's the exact owl I was blabbering on about!  And it's just as gorgeous as I was picturing in my head!!!  Oh happy day.  After a long look we moved on, the groundskeeper went a different way.  Briefly.  He called us back, because he had flushed this handsome fellow.

common pauraque
 That's right, you never know.  More walking along the trails, it was a surprising amount of walking, and then eventually we were rewarded with this little fellow!  This is the only motmot that doesn't have the racquet tail, and it's quite a bit more shy than the others.  Coincidence?  I think not.  
tody motmot

Also somewhere along there we saw more oro nests, one complete with and oro!

crested oropendola

It didn't like us watching, and let us know from a nearby perch.
crested oropendola 
A last stop to see some birds on a field had me finding a white hawk.  I felt so great!  It was quite far off though, so no good pictures.  What a great day!




Sunday, March 30, 2014

Welcome to Canopy Lodge!


After a wonderful night at the Waldorf in Panama City, we were whisked off to Canopy Lodge.  Once we checked in, it was off to the feeders and down a trail to see a sloth!  Back to meet our guide, who took us much further down the same trail to see wonderful things.  :-)


golden-hooded tanager

grey-headed chachalaca

This sloth, once some other guests showed us exactly where to find it, was a joy to watch.  Not exactly secretive!
sloth
 Back at the feeders, there was plenty of activity.
thick-billed euphonia, crimson-backed tanager

chestnut-headed oropendola

streaked saltator, blue-grey tanager

fulvous-vented euphonia, crimson-backed tanager

green honeycreeper

bronze-tailed plumeleteer 

bay-headed tanager
On the trail again, where the sloth was relaxing.
sloth
We pressed on, running into this handsome fellow.
fasciated antshrike
And this guy!  What a joy to see an owl!
mottled owl
 We went up to a waterfall, and got to see a motmot hanging out in front of it.
rufous motmot
Wait - make that a pair of motmots!  Hopefully there will be more motmots here soon.
rufous motmot
 We loved the bridges.
husband and guide


Coming back along the trail and along the road, we found more fun stuff - toucans!
keel-billed toucan
 And this mystery bird.  I don't remember what it is, it's not on our checklist, and I can't find it in the Panama book.  Which probably means it's super common and I just missed something obvious.
mystery bird


Saturday, March 29, 2014

Goodbye to Red Frog

Our last morning at Red Frog!  I started off the day in my favorite way, waking up with the birds.  Including this cousin to an old friend.

olive-crowned yellow-throat
 A grackle gave us a good contrast in terms of size for this bird, which I guess is some sort of crow.  Wish the light had been better, to get more than just a silhouette!  
grackle, crow
 The wood rail came by the pool, giving us quite a nice view.
grey-necked wood rail
 And then there were the regulars.
black-cowled oriole

Cherrie's tanager (female)

swallow
 Running around with errands to wrap everything up, Jack and I finally saw a sloth!  There were two, and we would have missed them except we saw someone else looking and asked them what they were seeing.  Sloth!  :-)

sloth
 We brought Jack's parents back to see, and we all had a good view.  And we got to show several other people, which I love.
sloth
 Back to the villa just in time to say good-bye to the woodpecker, and then collect our bags and head to the ferry.
lineated woodpecker

We had a break between the ferry and the airplane, so we visited one of the many fun little places on the beach.  And so did Jack's new best friend! The hummingbird liked to perch on the old bike hanging right above Jack's head.  :-)