November 2013

Hi all,

After watching Panama's biggest Independence Day parade in Boquete this morning, our family went on our first quest for the marvelous Resplendent Quetzal.

The hike was at a beautiful coffee plantation that contained a large tract of old-growth cloud forest, perfect habitat for the quetzals. My mom and I hiked the quetzal trail while my dad hiked with Pearl to a waterfall, which they never found because the trail was in bad condition.

Suddenly, a large, quetzal-like bird popped out on front of us! I inspected it through my camera, but it turned out to be a female Collared Trogon, a close relative of the quetzal. Here is the picture of it:

Even after almost three hours of slowly hiking through the forest and inspecting every single tree, we had no luck finding the quetzal. However, we did find a few interesting birds. Here is a photo of a Flame-colored Tanager:

Other interesting avian species seen on the hike that happened to be life birds for me were Silver-throated Tanagers and Flame-throated Warblers, which area both very beautiful birds.

Here are some photos from back near the house in which we are staying:

Orange-billed Nightingale-thrush

Common Tody-flycatcher

Slate-colored Redstart (male)

Blue-gray Tanager

I am not up for doing a bird list tonight, although here is my current number of bird species I have seen in my life:

375 species

Before this trip to Panama, I had 265 life birds. Yesterday I had 361 life birds, and now I have 375 birds! You really get to see a lot of avian life in Panama.

So, no quetzal today. Strike one. On a happier note, the birds of the day were Collared Trogon, Common Tody-flycatcher, and Flame-throated Warbler.

The hunt for the quetzal will resume on Monday,

Show this blog to your friends and happy birding as always,

Henry

Hi all,

After many busy days in Panama City and traveling, it was nice to have a relaxing day in Boquete. The scenery is magnificent! High mountainous hills, wrapped in foggy cloud forest and dotted with beautiful farms frame the dominating Volcan Baru, the highest mountain in Panama. Did you know that it used to have a snow cap?

Speaking of snow caps, there is a hummingbird called a Snowcap that lives in Boquete that I would like to see. It is one of the tiniest birds on the world, and it is all an iridescent purple color except for a pure white cap on its head, hence its name.

Anyway, today was a beautiful, albeit rainy day. Our family relaxed for most of the day, but we did take a short loop drive around the nearby Volcan Baru National Park. It was rainy then, so we sadly didn't see any birds.

There were a few birds around our place, however, so here are a few photos I took of them. Enjoy!

Great Kiskadee

Rufous-collared Sparrow

Slate-throated Redstart (male)

House Wren

Red-crowned Woodpecker

Black Phoebe

Elegant Euphonia

Summer Tanager (female)

Wilson's Warbler (male)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak pair

Here is the bird list for today, with life birds indicated by ***these.

(excuse the nonexistent taxonomical order)

• **Orange-billed Nightingale-thrush

Blue-gray Tanager

• **White-winged Tanager
• **Flame-colored Tanager

Summer Tanager
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Black Phoebe
House Wren
Red-tailed Hawk
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture

• **Yellow-billed Siskin

Slate-throated Redstart
Yellow Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Gray Catbird
Black-bellied Hummingbird
Scintillant Hummingbird

• **Violet Sabrewing
• **Green Violet-ear
• **Elegant Euphonia

Red-crowned Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Great-tailed Grackle
Great Kiskadee

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Henry

Hi all,

After a short, smooth flight from Panama City, our family arrived in Boquete. It is a beautiful part of Panama that is essentially comprised of high mountains blanketed in foggy cloud forest. Here are a few bird photos from today:

Juvenile Red-legged Honeycreeper

Juvenile Red-legged Honeycreeper and female White-vented Plumeleteer

Male Shining Honeycreeper

Agouti

Great Kiskadee

Slate-throated Redstart (male)

Summer Tanager (female)

Rufous-collared Sparrow and Black-and-White Warbler

Rufous-collared Sparrow

Here is the list of bird species positively identified today (excuse the nonexistent taxonomical order):

• **Indicates a life bird (a bird that I have never seen before)

Great Kiskadee
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler

• **Painted Redstart

Wilson's Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler

• **Mangrove Swallow

Bank Swallow
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Great Egret

• **Cattle Egret
• **Blue Ground-dove
• **Roadside Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Great-tailed Grackle

• **Rufous-collared Sparrow

Summer Tanager

• **Black-bellied Hummingbird
• **Scintillant Hummingbird

Hopefully we will be able to look for the Resplendent Quetzal some time soon.

Stay tuned!

Henry

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

Hi all,

Today was my second day in Panama. It was a jam-packed day of sightseeing the canal area, giving a performance at an orphanage, and BIRDING BIRDING BIRDING!

Now, to the birds. I positively identified 47 species today (which will be tiny compared to tomorrow when I will go to Pipeline Road), and got pictures of many of them. First are the photographs of the birds, and then I will list the species.

Tropical Mockingbird

Keel-billed Toucan

Ruddy Quail-dove

Gray-headed Chachalaca

Summer Tanager (female)

Dusky Antbird

Thick-billed Euphonia (male)

Black-headed Saltator

Crimson-backed Tanager

Black-throated Mango (yes, it's a hummingbird, and that's its real name!)

Palm Tanagers

Rufous-capped Warbler

Blue-gray Tanagers

Magnificent Frigatebird (this is a male--you can tell by the small red throat patch. The female has a distinguishable white head--see next photo)

Magnificent Frigatebird (female)

Orange-chinned Parakeet

Ringed Kingfisher (at the time this photograph was taken, the kingfisher was actually perched on the front of one of the gigantic boats that was traveling through the locks on the Panama Canal)

Saffron Finch

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater

Social Flycatcher

Southern Lapwing

Wattled Jacana

image

Here's the species list--please excuse the lack of taxonomical order.

• **Indicates life birds

Tropical Mockingbird
Clay-colored Thrush

• **Brown-headed Parrot

Yellow Warbler
Northern Waterthrush

• **Rufous-capped Warbler

Common Yellowthroat
Crimson-backed Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager

• **Palm Tanager
• **Plain-colored Tanager
• **Thick-billed Euphonia

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture

• **Keel-billed Toucan
• **Yellow-billed Cacique
• **Scarlet-rumped Cacique
• **Black-headed Saltator
• **Gray-headed Chachalaca

Magnificent Frigatebird
Great Egret
Snowy Egret

• **Bat Falcon

Yellow-headed Caracara

• **Southern Lapwing
• **Wattled Jacana

White-tipped Dove

• **Ruddy Quail-dove
• **Orange-chinned Parakeet
• **Black-throated Mango
• **Garden Emerald
• **Sapphire-throated Hummingbird
• **Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
• **White-vented Plumeleteer
• **Ringed Kingfisher

Red-crowned Woodpecker
House Wren

• **Dusky Antbird

Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird

• **Scrub Greenlet

Barn Swallow
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
House Sparrow

• **Saffron Finch
• **Ruddy-breasted Seedeater

The most productive birding of the day was on a bird walk with my dad around the forested grounds of the hotel. We saw everything from toucans to tanagers. It was then when we saw the two best birds of the day, the Keel-billed Toucan and the Blue-and-Gold Tanager.

Happy birding, and stay tuned for a report on tomorrow, which will surely prove to be an even better day of birding!

Henry