Panama Day 2: Birding in a group where styles don’t mix

Our first day in El Valle, Panama at Canopy Lodge only called for a 6:30 a.m. breakfast, which is not too early by birding standards. In fact, some might suggest that was a rather late start, but I trust the folks at Canopy Lodge to know what they’re doing and I’m not going to argue with a later start. Not at all.

So after a quick, hearty meal of scrambled eggs, ham, toast and yogurt we headed to the Chorro de Macho waterfall at the Canopy Adventure area for wet forest and foothills species and then to La Mesa and Cerro Gaital, which is primarily an agricultural area and where there are oodles of chicken farms. (Chickens weren’t really the kind of birds we were after, mind you.)

What birders do.

We were put with a group of other birders who had already been at the lodge and that, of course, worried me. It worried me because birders are always different. For instance, I’m a terrible hiker–I’m painfully slow and I still don’t like the slippery slopes and muddy terrain. Throw gravel and wet leaves in the mix and I panic.  We had two hard-core birders in our group and nothing seemed to stop them and they didn’t seem to want anyone stopping them either.

Steve, I know, would like to go hard, hard, hard with the others, but he’s a great husband who helps me on the terrain that causes me angst. Our poor guide was left trying to figure out how to accommodate me and how to make sure his other customers were happy. I made things easier for him by telling him at lunch that I’d like to stay back and get a massage and let Steve head out with the group.

Good call, I think, for everyone. I had a great massage back at the lodge followed by a long nap while Steve had some great birding with the group.

The next day the Canopy Lodge folks arranged for Steve and I to have our own guide for the remainder of our stay. Good job, Canopy Lodge! You read your customers well and know how to accommodate to all types.

Here are some photos of some of the birds we saw on this day and some other random photos.

White-vented Plumeleteer

Walk across a treacherous bridge (well not really treacherous, but wobbly nonetheless)

Squirrel Cuckoo

Scalely-crested Pygmy-Tyrant

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous Mourner

Orange-bellied Trogon

A hummingbird faucet at Canopy Lodge

Green Hermit

The list

Here’s our list for this day. 107 species in one day! 25 Lifers for Steve; 23 Lifers for Lisa. (This is our combined list for the day. Unfortunately, we didn’t break it out for what Steve saw in the afternoon, so some of these species I didn’t see at all. I was busy getting a massage and taking a nap.) Lifers are in bold.

1. Little Tinamou (heard)
2. Gray-headed Chacalaca
3. Cattle Egret
4. Black Vulture
5. Turkey Vulture
6. White Hawk
7. Broad-winged Hawk
8. Southern Lapwing
9. Ruddy Ground-Dove
10. Squirrel Cuckoo
11. Mottled Owl (Only Steve saw and was a lifer for him)
12. Green Hermit
13. Stripe-throated Hermit
14. White-vented Plumeleteer
15. Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer
16. Violet-crowned Woodnymph
17. Blue-chested Hummingbird
18. Snow-bellied Hummingbird
19. Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
20. Orange-bellied Trogon
21. Rufous Motmot
22. Broadbilled Motmot
23. Keel-billed Toucan
24. Black-cheeked Woodpecker
25. Lineated Woodpecker
26. Blue-headed Parrot
27. Great Antshrike (Only Steve saw and is a lifer for him)
28. Barred Antshrike
29. Plain Vireo
30. Spot-crowned Antvireo
31. Slaty Antwren
32. Checker-throated Antwren
33. Dusky Antbird
34. Chestnut-backed Antbird
35. Plain-brown Woodcreeper
36. Wedge-billed Woodcreeper
37. Cocoa Woodcreeper
38. Spotted Woodcreeper
39. Olive-striped Flycatcher
40. Ochre-bellied Flycatcher
41. Sepia-capped Flycatcher
42. Paltry Tyrannulet
43. Scale-crested Pygmy Tyrant
44. Common Tody-Flycatcher
45. Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher (heard)
46. White-throated Spadebill
47. Sulpher-rumped Flycatcher
48. Eastern Wood-Pewee
49. Rufous Mourner
50. Panama Flycatcher
51. Boat-billed Flycatcher
52. Social Flycatcher
53. Gray-capped Flycatcher
54. Tropical Kingbird
55. Thrush-like Schiffornis (heard)
56. Golden-collared Manakin (Only Steve saw and is a lifer for him)
57. White-ruffed Manakin
58. Lesser Greenlet
59. Black-chested Jay
60. Gray-breasted Martin
61. Southern Rough-winged Swallow
62. Scaly-breasted Wren (heard, but eventually saw a couple days later)
63. House Wren
64. Rufous-breasted Wren
65. Rufous-and-white Wren (heard, but eventually saw a couple days later)
66. Plain Wren
67. Bay Wren
68. White-breasted Wood-Wren
69. Gray-breasted Wood-Wren (heard)
70. Song Wren
71. Tawny-faced Gnatwren
72. Long-billed Gnatwren
73. Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
74. Swainson’s Thrush
75. Clay-colored Thrush
76. Golden-winged Warbler (Lifer for Lisa)
77. Black-and-white Warbler
78. Tennessee Warbler
79. American Redstart
80. Bay-breasted Warbler
81. Blackburnian Warbler
82. Chestnut-sided Warbler
83. Buff-rumped Warbler
84. Rufous-capped Warbler
85. Canada Warbler
86. Bananaquit
87. Rosy Thrush-Tanager (heard him last year in Gamboa, but this was the first we saw him)
88. Dusky-faced Tanager
89. White-lined Tanager
90. Crimson-backed Tanager
91. Flame-rumped Tanager
92. Blue-gray Tanager
93. Palm Tanager
94. Silver-throated Tanager
95. Streaked Saltator
96. Buff-throated Saltator
97. Variable Seedeater
98. Yellow-faced Grassquit
99. Hepatic Tanager
100. Summer Tanager
101. Red-crowned Ant-Tanager
102. Black-faced Grosbeak
103. Great-tailed Grackle
104. Yellow-backed Oriole
105. Chestnut-headed Oropendola
106. Thick-billed Euphonia
107. Tawny-capped Euphonia