A great 1st day in Panama!

Monday 25 November 2013 90 °F

Hi all,

Today my family and I flew to Panama on COPA Airlines. It was a very pleasant, five-hour flight with beautiful views and very little waiting at both airports.

Within an hour of landing in Panama, we arrived at our hotel, the Radisson Summit, a beautiful place near Soberania National Park. The view from our room is miles upon miles of countless jungle, and it is absolutely birding heaven around here.

My mother, Pearl (my sister), and I took a quick but very exciting birding walk around the grounds before my dad joined us to have a swim in the beautiful pool.

Here is the bird species list. I will designate life birds with **these.

(excuse the nonexistent taxonomical order in this list)

**Neotropic Cormorant
**Great Kiskadee
**Social Flycatcher
**Tropical Kingbird
**Fork-tailed Flycatcher
**Clay-colored Thrush
**Red-crowned Woodpecker
**Crimson-crested Woodpecker
**Crimson-backed Tanager
**Blue-gray Tanager
**Tawny-crested Tanager
**Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

**Broad-winged Hawk
**White-tailed Kite
**Yellow-headed Caracara

Barn Swallow

**Southern Rough-winged Swallow
**Wood Stork

Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron

**Striated Heron

Rock Pigeon

**White-tipped Dove
**Magnificent Frigatebird

House Sparrow

**Muscovy Duck
**Rufous-and-White Wren

Great-tailed Grackle
Yellow Warbler

**Willet

Sandpiper (peep.) species

Here are some pictures of the birds:

Tropical Kingbirds

White-tipped Dove

Crimson-backed Tanager

Social Flycatcher

Blue-gray Tanager

My two favorite birds of the day were the two birds that had "crimson" in their name: the Crimson-crested Woodpecker and the Crimson-backed Tanager. Both are striking and beautiful birds.

It was a very exciting, tiring, and fun day.

Stay tuned!

Henry

Posted by skwclar 17:14 Archived in Panama