Day 3: Pipeline Road, Panama Mudflats, EVERYTHING!

Wednesday 27 November 2013 90 °F

Hi all,

Today was arguably the best day of birding in my entire life. I saw 86 avian species with a whopping 47 life birds (birds that I hadn't seen before)!

My family and I were picked up at a quarter 'till 6:00AM by a guy named Mario, who would turn out to be a marvelous guide, birder, and new friend. We first drove to Pipeline Road and the Rainforest Discovery Center, taking birding stops at Ammo Dump (great wetland habitat) and the hummingbird feeders at the Rainforest Discovery Center. Soon, our entire family was on the top of a tall structure that came up out of the canopy of the endless rainforest. It was an otherworldly experience. Here are some photos of birds from the canopy tower:

Hooded Tanagers

Blue Dacnis (male)

Blue Cotinga (this is not a great shot, but I had to include it because it was the rarest bird of the day)

At about 10 in the morning, our family and Mario walked down the Canopy Tower, and my father and Pearl went to take a break at the discovery center while my mother, Mario, and I hiked some of the nearby trails in hopes for good interior forest birds. Here are some photos from the trails:

Squirrel Cuckoo

White-breasted Wren

Common Gallinule

Pied Puffbird

Tropical Pewee

After over an hour of hiking, we headed back to the Rainforest Discovery Center feeder to watch those magnificent hummingbirds. Here are the photos of the hummers:

Violet-headed Hummingbirds

White-necked Jacobin

Long-billed Hermit

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Soon, we piled into the car and headed out for lunch. We stopped along the way to admire birds and howler monkeys. Here are the photos:

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Howler Monkeys!

Then, after lunch at our hotel, we went to the mudflats near Panama City with Mario. However, we took a brief birding stop on the way to look for Boat-billed and other herons at a secret pond. Here are the photos:

Boat-billed Heron

Rufescent Tiger-heron

Here are the bird photos from the Panama City area:

Whimbrel

Little Blue Heron

Great Egrets

The odd couple: a Great Egret and a Wood Stork

Black-crowned Night-heron

Prothonotary Warbler

Barred Antshrike

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Willet

Yellow-crowned Night-heron

Tropical Mockingbird (juvenile)

Ruddy Ground-dove

Tricolored Heron

Here is the list of bird species that either Mario or I positively identified:

86 species total, 47 life birds

**Indicates a life bird for me

**Wood Stork

Magnificent Frigatebird
Neotropic Cormorant

**Anhinga

Brown Pelican

**Rufescent Tiger-Heron

Great Blue Heron

**Cocoi Heron

Great Egret
Snowy Egret

**Little Blue Heron
**Tricolored Heron

Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron

**Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
**Boat-billed Heron

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture

**Great Black-Hawk
**Snail Kite
**White-throated Crake
**Willet
**Lesser Yellowlegs
**Whimbrel
**Marbled Godwit

Laughing Gull

**Franklin's Gull

Rock Pigeon

**Pale-vented Pigeon

Ruddy Ground-Dove
Ruddy Quail-Dove

**Squirrel Cuckoo

(***)Yellow-billed Cuckoo (life bird for Mario)

**Greater Ani
**Band-rumped Swift

White-necked Jacobin

**Long-billed Hermit

Violet-headed Hummingbird
White-vented Plumeleteer
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

**Slaty-tailed Trogon

Ringed Kingfisher

**Pied Puffbird
**Chestnut-mandibled Toucan

Keel-billed Toucan

**Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Red-crowned Woodpecker

**Cinnamon Woodpecker
**Lineated Woodpecker

Yellow-headed Caracara

**Red-lored Parrot
**Barred Antshrike
**Streak-headed Woodcreeper
**Tropical Pewee
**Lesser Kiskadee

Great Kiskadee

**Rusty-margined Flycatcher

Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Fork-tailed Flycatcher

**Purple-throated Fruitcrow
**Blue Cotinga
**Red-capped Manakin
**Blue-crowned Manakin

Scrub Greenlet
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren

**Plain Wren
**White-breasted Wood-Wren
**Song Wren

Clay-colored Thrush
Tropical Mockingbird
Northern Waterthrush
Prothonotary Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Yellow Warbler

**White-shouldered Tanager

Crimson-backed Tanager
Palm Tanager

**Golden-hooded Tanager

Plain-colored Tanager

**Blue Dacnis
**Shining Honeycreeper
**Red-legged Honeycreeper
**Blue-black Grassquit

Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Orchard Oriole
Scarlet-rumped Cacique

**Chestnut-headed Oropendola

How can I choose a favorite bird--there were just so many! A few that I especially enjoyed were Hooded Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Blue Cotinga, Squirrel and Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Long-billed Hermit, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Boat-billed and Rufescent Tiger-herons, Whimbrel, Willet, and Prothonotary Warbler.

Overall, it was a phenomenal day of birdwatching. A big thank you to Mario for all of the help with birding and being such a knowledgable, generous guide.

Stay tuned--tomorrow we fly to Boquete.

Henry

Posted by skwclar 17:42 Archived in Panama