Located about 2 hours outside of Panama City in the vicinity of El Valle del Anton lies Canapy Lodge. The Lodge is a mecca for birders from all around the world and offers wonderful accommodations amidst some of the most lush habitat in Central America. The Lodge is located on the slopes of a caldera of an extinct volcano and is surrounded by the Cerro Gaital National Monument. The cloud forest provides habitat for a remarkable variety of tropical avian wildlife.
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| Safron finch |
As we flew into Panama City on the evening prior to the beginning of our adventure, we were all anticipating a great week of birding. Eight members of our local birding club, the Mearns Bird Club of Orange Country, NY, had planned a special tour of the preserve and surrounding environs, and our expectations were only heightened by the reputation of this world renown birding locale.
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| Blue-gray tanager |
Upon rising early the next morning, we joined our guide John Coons in scanning the surroundings of the urban setting of the Comfort Inn in Panama City. If birdwatching the grounds of the hotel was any indication of what was ahead of us, we were certainly in for a special experience. Among the birds we first spotted were the beautiful Safron finch, Ruddy ground dove, Social flycatcher, Blue-gray tanager, and a Magnificent frigatebird flying high overhead.
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Magnificent frigatebird
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Before making the trip up into the caldera, we made a stop at one of the many parks found in the area. Metro Parc is an oasis within the borders of Panama City where one can find a nice assemblage of tropical avian species. Within a few minutes on the trail, we encountered our first beauty, the Whooping motmot. The motmot family is a small group of birds which perch on a low limb and seek out insects which are often scared up by swishing their long spatulate tails from side to side.
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| Whooping motmot |
Among the many new species we encountered was a reclusive Common Potoo. The grey and brown speckled pattern of its plumage and the way it perches among the branches make this bird difficult to find to say the least. Even as I photographed the bird, I really wasn't sure I was getting it in the frame of my camera until I was able to examine the downloaded image more closely on the computer screen. One of the common names of this bird is the "Pour-me-one", an intriguing name but one for which I have not a clue as to origin. Note in the photo how the bird perches in an upright position so as to mimic the surrounding branches of the tree. The one feature which gives up the potoo's position is its orange eye which is visible in the photo.
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| Common potoo |
We were soon on our way up the mountain passes to our home for the next 6 days, Canopy Lodge. Upon arrival, we were shown to our quarters, spacious stone floored living areas with large comfortable beds and beautiful balconies overlooking the dense foliage of the cloud forest. The dining area is all open air and overlooks a number of rustic feeders which the staff continually fills with the birds favorite fare....fruits. It was one continual parade of colorful birds of this tropical paradise, and we were quickly learning the names of those which were the most common and likely to visit. One of the wonders of Panama's bird life is the number of species of hummingbirds. We quickly learned to spot the Snowy-bellied and Rufous-tailed hummers! There are 59 species of hummingbirds in Panama and we were only scratching the surface of the great number of these birds found throughout this magical country. With many of the hummers favorite floral feasts found on the grounds of the lodge, it was not hard to spot these tiny wonders as they flitted from flower to flower in search of the nectar hidden down within the blossoms. More on the many sightings at the Lodge on our first day in the next installment of Naturally Digital...coming soon!
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| Rufous-tailed hummingbird |
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Snowy-bellied hummingbird
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