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| Down the Jordanal Road |
What an exciting day as we travelled along the "unimproved" roads of the more natural parts of Panama (if that's possible). Our destination is Rio Indio and the Jordanal Road. We'll be traveling in 4 wheel drive vehicles today as some of the roads we'll traverse are steep, rutted, and quite slippery the wet. Today the roads we traveled on promised to be all three.
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| Cinnamon becard |
We set out early with a forecast for potentially stormy weather later in the day. We'll cross that bridge (or in the case today - "ford that stream") when we come to it. Not long after heading out onto into the field, we spot our first bird of note, the Cinnamon becard. Our personal driver, Moyo, spotted this bird as we were driving in our caravan of three FWDs. Moyo wants to get you on the birds, so if it means stopping right there and letting the others go ahead, so be it. We'll catch up in time. He pulled over and pointed out the new life bird to us and allowed me to get as many chances at a decent shot as I cared to take. No rush....we'll catch up with the group later! These passerines are fly-catchers and will feed on larger insects and spiders. Really can't tell whether this individual is a male or female since the species shows little sexual dimorphism.
Birding along these country roads is a real look into the culture of this part of Latin America. The people live modestly to say the least and were generally curious and happy to see us enjoying their little corner of this beautiful country. We often found ourselves on the grounds adjacent to private farms and homes where no-one seemed to mind our incursions. The photo shown here is of a typical mountain dwelling. In this case, we were looking to get good sightings for one of the birds of the day
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| Barred puffbird |
the Barred puffbird. Found only in Pamana, Ecuador and Columbia, this species is uncommon throughout its range and we were therefore more than excited to see and capture and image of this bird. As it so happened, we did find several more individuals throughout the day. This bird is noted for being a tough one to see since it often prefers to hang out in dense foliage and then occasionally come out for a quick foray to grab a passing insect. Some of the birds we were introduced to in Panama I found confusing when it came to distinguishing one from the other (Kiskadees, Social flycatcher, Boat-billed flycatcher and others for example), so it was kind of nice to have a bird like the Barred puffbird which was really quite distinctive!
Since I mentioned the flycatchers as being a rather confusing group (at least for me), allow me to post several shots showing exactly what I mean. First of all, one of the more common of the group, the Social flycatcher. This bird was seen on all but one day during out Panama adventure.
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| Social flycatcher |
Next, the Boat-billed flycatcher. We saw this bird on day 5 (this day) only. Note the heavier bill and a broad superciliary that are barely separated on the back of the head.
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| Boat-billed flycatcher |
Add one more of the group, the Greater kiskadee which we saw the next day and you can see how easily it is to confuse one from the other.
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| Great kiskadee |
As we continued our journey north, the roads became a bit more rugged and the rains began to fall. With the steep inclines of the roads which I mentioned in an earlier post and wet clay mud on the roads surface, it made for some interesting riding and we were not perplexed as to why the guides elected to use 4WD vehicles. Watch the vehicle in front of us begin to slide in the video clip below.
Occasionally, we would come across a small creek bed which crossed the roadway but is generally dry. When you get downpours like we had today, however, the stream quickly reforms and makes for some interesting driving. Our guide Moyo explained that this is the "dry season" and during the rainy times of year, it is often impossible to get past these streams. If today is representative of the dry season (which it truly wasn't) I can only imagine what the rainy season in this part of Panama must be like! Eventually, we were ready to have lunch, and our stop was fortunately under the cover of a canopy located at the local Elementary school. Students attending here come from miles around and many must walk each day. It reminded me of many old-timers' stories of "when I was young I had to walk 5 miles to school and back !" Here it is a true story! The students were all in uniform with bright white shirts. They all seemed intrigued by the presence of all these Americans with scopes, cameras, and binoculars hanging on the shoulders. We did have fun interacting with them despite the language difference.
But now, back to the birds. One of the most fascinating species we encountered was the Rufous-crested coquette. We were not far from the school when John our leader spotted this little hummingbird. We found these in precisely the habitat which the field guides tell you they will be...along shrubby clearings, forest edges, and Roadsides where we found this one.
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| Wedge-billed woodcreeper |
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| Rufous-crested coquette |
So many new species were found on this day, it is really difficult to pick out the most memorable for this blog entry. I will therefore limit it to two final birds. One, while not all that remarkable as far as plumage I will include since it was rather difficult to find. The Wedge-billed woodcreeper is the smallest of all woodcreepers. The individual seen here more than likely will not look similar to other individuals found throughout Panama as there are 13 subspecies found in Central America, each having a slightly different plumage. I was very happy to be able to see and capture this little guy with my camera. Another lifer for most of us!
My last bird of today's entry is certainly not the last that we saw, nor perhaps the most glamorous. But, it is among the top picks for the trip to be sure. The bird is the Plumbeous kite. What made this bird one of my picks-of-the-trip was its cooperative behaviour in posing at length for all of us with cameras. We were able to walk around its overhead perch to get the best angle, the best lighting, and hopefully the best pose. It is a beautiful bird which is known to follow primates around in the hope that their movements will stir up some insects, their food of choice. Perhaps this is why this kite was so willing to sit around and watch us watch him. What a way to end up and most memorable day in Panama.
I should also add into today's sightings one of the true iconic mammals of Central and South America....the sloth. We did have several sightings during our Panama birding travels. Today's final shot is of the Brown-throated three toed sloth. I mentioned how the kite was so obliging in letting us get good shots. Well, there is probably no other mammal on the face of the earth that is easier to photograph than a sloth. If you're looking for great video action shots, look elsewhere. But for the opportunity to capture an image of a mammal in it's natural elements, the sloth is hard to beat for ease of shooting. Tomorrow is our final day in the field for finding new birds and mammals of this most remarkable country. Sad how the time goes so quickly when you have such an opportunity as this. We will always be grateful that we were able to share it with such good guides and such good friends.
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| Brown-throated three-toed sloth |
Occasionally, we would come across a small creek bed which crossed the roadway but is generally dry. When you get downpours like we had today, however, the stream quickly reforms and makes for some interesting driving. Our guide Moyo explained that this is the "dry season" and during the rainy times of year, it is often impossible to get past these streams. If today is representative of the dry season (which it truly wasn't) I can only imagine what the rainy season in this part of Panama must be like! Eventually, we were ready to have lunch, and our stop was fortunately under the cover of a canopy located at the local Elementary school. Students attending here come from miles around and many must walk each day. It reminded me of many old-timers' stories of "when I was young I had to walk 5 miles to school and back !" Here it is a true story! The students were all in uniform with bright white shirts. They all seemed intrigued by the presence of all these Americans with scopes, cameras, and binoculars hanging on the shoulders. We did have fun interacting with them despite the language difference.
My last bird of today's entry is certainly not the last that we saw, nor perhaps the most glamorous. But, it is among the top picks for the trip to be sure. The bird is the Plumbeous kite. What made this bird one of my picks-of-the-trip was its cooperative behaviour in posing at length for all of us with cameras. We were able to walk around its overhead perch to get the best angle, the best lighting, and hopefully the best pose. It is a beautiful bird which is known to follow primates around in the hope that their movements will stir up some insects, their food of choice. Perhaps this is why this kite was so willing to sit around and watch us watch him. What a way to end up and most memorable day in Panama.
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