Panama Day 3: Mixed flocks bring mixed blessings

This post has it all: Lots of bird and mammal photos in a gallery below, a video of Steve and I (only 40 seconds long, guys!), and our bird list at the very end. So buckle up folks–there’s some good stuff here.

It’s decided. From now on we’re going to get our own private bird guide.

Thankfully, the folks at Canopy Lodge figured out that we’re the kind of birders who are slow and aren’t  “tickers” or “listers” who go, go, go after birds to see how many we can get. They didn’t say anything to us directly, but just matter-of-factly said that we’d have our own guide for our next two days at the Lodge. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

So, in comes Danilo to the picture. The guy has been guiding birders for over 20 years–long before Canopy Lodge was in the area. And this guy knows exactly where the birds can be found. He was also exceptionally patient with me and I felt more confident as I hiked because I didn’t feel like I was holding up the gang. Or pissing off anyone by my slowness.

Me, Danilo and Steve

Where do I look?

We were lucky with Danilo and ran across two different mixed flocks. Mixed flocks bring mixed blessings. You get to see a variety of species in a mixed flock, but you know what that means? Less hiking! Hooray! You can get around 10 or so species just in one mixed flock. The problem, though, is that you don’t know where to look. You find one and you either want to get a good look at it through your binoculars or take a photo, and then there’s another. And another. And another.

But, really. Who’s to complain?

First of our video reports from Panama

I decided to do some video on this trip. I think you’ll enjoy this. Click on the video and it will play. It’s less than 1 minute, so you have no excuse. Go ahead now. Play it.

Photo Gallery from this day

Click on any of the photos and it will take you to a slideshow of photos from this day. Includes a few mammals as well.

Bird List for the day

A total of 79 birds for this day, including nine lifers for both Steve and me. (Lifers are in bold.)

1. Gray-headed Chacalaca
2. Black Vulture
3. Turkey Vulture
4. Gray-headed Kite (heard)
5. Roadside Hawk
6. Broad-winged Hawk
7. Southern Lapwing
8. Ruddy Ground-Dove
9. Spectacled Owl (first good look; we kind of saw it in the Amazon last spring)
10. White-tipped Sicklebill
11. Band-tailed Barbthroat
12. Green Hermit
13. Stripe-throated Hermit
14. Violet-crowned Woodnymph
15. Blue-chested Hummingbird
16. Snowy-bellied Hummingbird
17. Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
18. Tody Motmot 
19. Whooping Motmot
20. Rufous Motmot
21. Blue-throated (Emerald) Toucanet
22. Collared Araçari
23. Red-crowned Woodpecker
24. Lineated Woodpecker
25. Bat Falcon (heard)
26. Barred Antshrike
27. Plain Antvireo
28. Spot-crowned Antivireo
29. Slaty Antwren
30. Checker-throated Antwren
31. Chestnut-backed Antbird
32. Black-crowned Antipitta
33. Cocoa Woodcreeper
34. Spotted Woodcreeper
35. Plain Xenops (one day I will use “Xenops” in Scrabble.)
36. Yellow-bellied Elaenia
37. Lesser Elaenia
38. Olive-striped Flycatcher
39. Common Tody-Flycatcher
40. Long-tailed Tyrant
41. Dusky-capped Flycatcher
42. Social Flycatcher
43. Tropical Kingbird
44. Lance-tailed Manakin
45. Black-chested Jay
46. Southern Rough-winged Swallow
47. Barn Swallow
48. House Wren
49. Rufous-breasted Wren
50. Bay Wren
51. White-breasted Wood-Wren
52. Tawny-faced Gnatwren
53. Clay-colored Thrush
54. Tennessee Warbler
55. Bay-breasted Warbler
56. Yellow Warbler
57. Rufous-capped Warbler
58. Bananaquit
59. Rosy Thrush-Tanager
60. Crimson-backed Tanager
61. Flame-rumped Tanager
62. Blue-gray Tanager
63. Golden-hooded Tanager
64. Bay-headed Tanager
65. Silver-throated Tanager
66. Shining Honeycreeper
67. Buff-throated Saltator
68. Variable Seedeater
69. Yellow-faced Grassquit
70. Summer Tanager
71. Red-crowned Ant-Tanager
72. Giant Cowbird
73. Yellow-backed Oriole
74. Baltimore Oriole
75. Yellow-billed Cacique
76. Chestnut-headed Cacique
77. Thick-billed Euphonia
78. Fulvous-vented Euphonia
79. Tawny-capped Euphonia