Panama

Hi all,

Sorry I have not posted in a while, but like I said, the wifi is spotty here on the beautiful Bastimentos Island in Panama. Despite that one downside, it is truly paradise here, with an ever-lapping sea, sunny skies, and enjoyable 80-degree temperatures. Yesterday was probably the most exciting day in this entire Panama trip because our family took a tour around the surrounding bay with a knowledgable guide and another fun family. We did a number of wonderful things, like eating at a restaurant above a coral reef, seeing two other coral reefs that were simply outstanding, and bouncing up and down in the boat over big waves! Today we had a huge pot luck party with our new friends to celebrate the end of our Panama trip.

I have seen a few birds, although most of the time spent here was for swimming, studying the intriguing sea creatures, and relaxing.

Here are a few bird photos:

Spotted Sandpiper (nonbreeding plumage)

Montezuma Oropendola (male)

Green Ibis

I have gained three life birds since my latest post:

Gull-billed Tern
Sandwich Tern
Green Ibis

This means that I have now seen 428 species of birds in my life, up from 425 three days ago.

Tomorrow, we go back home to frigid Chicago, but stay tuned for a couple of wrap-up posts on the Panama trip, and in a few days, I will announce our travels for the rest of the year which will start next January.

Happy birding!

Henry

Hi all,

Yesterday we travelled in a car, in another car, in a bus, in another bus, in a boat, in another boat, and FINALLY to the secluded Bastimentos Island near Bocas del Toro. We are renting a wonderful open house right on the beach with the Gulf of Mexico right at our fingertips! NOTE: Wifi is very spotty here so I may not be able to post on this blog every day.

Other than birds, I have seen creatures in the water such as sting rays (!!), lobsters, electric eels (!!), crabs, sea urchins, sea sponges, and starfish.

Now, to the birds. I have seen quite a few birds in these last two days, including the following that are pictured, and then listed. Enjoy!

Orange-billed Nightingale-thrush

Lesser Goldfinch (male)

Flame-colored Tanager (male)

Brown Pelican

Solitary Sandpiper

Yellow-throated Warbler (male)

Bananaquit (isn't that a funny name?!)

American Pygmy Kingfisher

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Montezuma Oropendola

Prothonotary Warbler

Here is the bird list. I am going to list the raptors first because I saw a great amount of them yesterday.

• **Indicates a life bird

RAPTORS (birds of prey)

• **Semiplumbeous Hawk

Roadside Hawk
Common Black-hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Bat Falcon
Yellow-headed Caracara

• **Laughing Falcon

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture

NON-RAPTORS

Great-tailed Grackle
Ringed Kingfisher

• **American Pygmy Kingfisher
• **Least Grebe

Tropical Kingbird
Great Kiskadee
White-tipped Dove
Great Egret
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

• **Bananaquit

Yellow-throated Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
House Wren

• **Gray-breasted Martin

Blue-gray Tanager
Brown Pelican
Magnificent Frigatebird
Franklin's Gull
Laughing Gull

• **Montezuma Oropendola

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

This means that now I have seen 425 species of birds, up from 418 two days ago.

Stay tuned and happy birding!

Henry

Hi all,

Today my dad and I took an intense birding tour with a knowledgable guide in hopes of sighting a Resplendent Quetzal. Here are pictures from the trip, and results from the day can be found at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

Gray-headed Flycatcher

Baltimore Oriole (male)

Yellow-crowned Euphonia (female)

Blue-gray Tanagers

Blackburnian Warbler (female)

Violet-headed Hummingbird (male)

Tufted Flycatcher

Red-faced Spinetail

Spot-crowned Woodcreeper

Violet-headed Hummingbird (male)

Prong-billed Barbet

Black-and-Yellow Silky-flycatcher

Yellow-thighed Finch

Collared Redstart

So, it was a fabulous day of birdwatching, but the Resplendent Quetzal was a no-show. I will have to come back to Panama again when I'm older.

Here is the bird species list for today.

• **Indicates a life bird

Cattle Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk

• **Barred Hawk

Great Black-hawk

• **Black Hawk-eagle

Ruddy Ground-dove
Green Violet-ear

• **Violet-headed Hummingbird
• **Snowy-bellied Hummingbird
• **Stripe-tailed Hummingbird
• **Purple-throated Mountain-gem
• **White-bellied Mountain-gem
• **Magnificent Hummingbird

Scintillant Hummingbird

• **Prong-billed Barbet

Red-crowned Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Smoky-brown Woodpecker

• **Red-faced Spinetail
• **Spotted Barbtail
• **Ruddy Treerunner
• **Streak-breasted Treehunter
• **Lineated Foliage-gleaner
• **Spotted Woodcreeper
• **Streak-headed Woodcreeper
• **Spot-crowned Woodcreeper
• **Yellow-bellied Elaenia
• **Paltry Tyrannulet
• **Tufted Flycatcher
• **Dark Pewee
• **Yellowish Flycatcher

Black Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher

• **Gray-capped Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

• **Brown-capped Vireo
• **Rufous-browed Peppershrike

Plain Wren
House Wren

• **Ochraceous Wren
• **Gray-breasted Wood-wren
• **Black-faced Solitaire
• **Ruddy-capped Nightingale-thrush
• **Mountain Thrush

Clay-colored Thrush
Tropical Mockingbird

• **Black-and-Yellow Silky-flycatcher

Tennessee Warbler
Flame-throated Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Slate-throated Redstart

• **Collared Redstart

Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler

• **Black-cheeked Warbler
• **Common Bush-tanager
• **Cherrie's Tanager

Blue-gray Tanager
Palm Tanager
Silver-throated Tanager

• **Spangle-cheeked Tanager

Red-legged Honeycreeper

• **Slaty Flowerpiercer
• **Yellow-thighed Finch

Summer Tanager
Flame-colored Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole
Thick-billed Euphonia

• **Yellow-crowned Euphonia

Elegant Euphonia
Yellow-bellied Siskin

• **Lesser Goldfinch

81 species, 41 life birds. This means that I have now identified 418 species of birds in my life, up from 377 yesterday.

So, a great day of birding, and now I will list my nemesis-bird-of-the-day and my best birds-of-the-day.

The nemesis bird for today was definitely the Resplendent Quetzal, with Three-wattled Bellbird, Snowcap, and Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher close behind it as conspicuous no-shows. At least I will get a chance to see the Three-wattled Bellbird in Bocas del Toro.

My best birds of the day were Black Hawk-eagle, Purple-throated and White-bellied Mountain-gems, Red-faced Spinetail, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Black-and-Yellow Silky-flycatcher, Flame-throated Warbler, Collared Redstart, Canada Warbler, Spangle-cheeked Tanager, Yellow-thighed Finch, and Yellow-crowned, Elegant, and Thick-billed Euphonias.

What a wonderful day of birdwatching.

Stay tuned--tomorrow we travel to our beach house near Bocas del Toro.

Happy birding!

Henry

Hello all,

Today was a break from the birding, so I will attempt to make this post short and sweet.

My family and I went zip-lining over the rainforest today. It was very, very fun, and even my little sister Pearl went!

Back at our place in Boquete, I saw a few interesting avian species and gained two life birds: Tropical Parula and Yellow-bellied Siskin. My life list (list of birds that I have seen in my life) is now up to 377 from 375 yesterday.

Here are a few photos of the birds. Enjoy!

Yellow-bellied Siskin (male)

Yellow-bellied Siskin (female)

Tropical Parula

Tomorrow will be a full morning of searching for the Resplendent Quetzal.

Stay tuned, and happy birding as always!

Henry

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