What a little sunshine will do

Our guide, Beny Wilson, assured me that the birds would be out in abundance after the rain stopped. I grew up in Oregon, so I’m used to rain. Lots of it. So getting a little wet on our first day of birding in Panama didn’t scare me. Plus, rain in the Tropics is warm—not cold like it is in Oregon. But birds don’t exactly care for rain—cold or warm—so they were hunkered down like we were as we chowed down our empanadas and waited for the rain to stop.

Just as we were wiping our faces after our empanada feast, it looked like it was going to clear up. Next stop, Carretera a Juan Hombrón and Laguna a Juan Hombrón. The sky was blue with the occasional clouds moving away. The grasses and leaves sparkled like emeralds with the water drops still clinging on to them and everything smelled fresh, like someone had just mowed the lawn.

Birding Laguna a Juan Hombrón with Steve and our guide, Beny Wilson.

The first bird to greet us was this fork-tailed flycatcher.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

There were still puddles around and you know what that means—mosquitos. I was glad I had my new BugsAway® Damselfly™ jacket the folks at ExOfficio sent me to try.

Love this jacket from ExOfficio

There are two things I love about this jacket. First, I have been waiting for a technical jacket that is very lightweight and has mesh sleeves. Those mesh sleeves mean I don’t feel like I’m wearing a plastic sack in the jungle like other “technical” long-sleeve shirts make me feel. I swear, I thought I was going to suffocate when we were in the Amazon a couple years ago. But this ExOfficio jacket is amazingly lightweight and dries very quickly. The second reason why I love this jacket is because mosquitos love me. No, make that hunt me. I swear, I could be in a group of people and the mosquitos will only feed on me. This jacket means I don’t have to bathe in deet. During this trip I didn’t get a single mosquito bite on my arms when I was wearing this jacket even though the sleeves have the mesh fabric.

Enough about the jacket (though I could go on forever about it). It was so surprising to see birds everywhere in the afternoon. This was around 1:00 and usually the birds (and I) are ready for siesta.

Not these guys.

Woodstorks – Juvenile

Little Blue Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Wood Storks flying overhead

A newish immigrant from Colombia is the Southern Lapwing. These birds weren’t found in Panama 30 years ago, but they’re residents now and it’s exciting to see them out for a stroll.

Southern Lapwings

And nothing gives me greater joy than watching Wattled Jacana and their ginormous spider-like feet.

Wattled Jacana

Check out those feet!

The award for “Most Cooperative Bird” goes to the Rusty-margined Flycatcher, showing us those rusty margins.

Rusty-margined Flycatcher

On this trip I was particularly enamored with both the Grooved-billed and Smooth-billed Anis, which are part of the cuckoo family. They seemed to be everywhere.

Grooved-billed Ani

Grooved-billed Ani sunbathing

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater

Thick-billed Euphonia

I also got excellent looks at the Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture. Did I ever tell you about that time ON OUR HONEYMOON when Steve had us driving through a garbage dump in Celestun, Mexico looking for a Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture? A GARBAGE DUMP. ON OUR HONEYMOON. That time the bird was at a distance, and I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking at or for. But on this day in Panama, I got a look at the striking bird. And I’ve forgiven Steve for that trip to the garbage dump.

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

Most exciting was seeing the Straight-billed Woodcreeper, which was a lifer for both Steve and me. In Panama this bird’s range is only found along the Pacific coast line (which is where we were), so this definitely was a treat to find.

Straight-billed Woodcreeper

Just around the corner was the beach where we found a few wintering shorebirds enjoying the surf and sun.

Willet

Willet and Whimbrel

Beny was right. The birds sure did come out. It was a beautiful afternoon and we were just getting started.

The lists

The following are two lists of birds we saw during our hour and half at Laguna a Juan Hombrón and at Carretara a Juan Hombrón. Both places are quite close to each other, but they’re distinct areas that Beny posted separately on eBird.  Lifers in bold.

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
2. Muscovy Duck
3. Crested Bobwhite
4. Wood Stork
5. Magnificent Frigatebird
6. Neotropic Cormorant
7. Brown Pelican
8. Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
9. Great Egret
10. Snowy Egret
11. Little Blue Heron
12. Cattle Egret
13. Black-crowned Night-Heron
14. White Ibis
15. Black Vulture
16. Turkey Vulture
17. Common Black Hawk
18. Roadside Hawk
19. Black-bellied Plover
20. Southern Lapwing
21. Wattled Jacana
22. Whimbrel
23. Sanderling
24. Least Sandpiper
25. Solitary Sandpiper
26. Greater Yellowlegs
27. Willet
28. Laughing Gull
29. Ruddy Ground-Dove
30. White-tipped Dove
31. Smooth-billed Ani
32. Groove-billed Ani
33. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
34. Veraguan Mango
35. Sapphire-throated Hummingbird
36. Ringed Kingfisher
37. Red-crowned Woodpecker
38. Lineated Woodpecker
39. Yellow-headed Caracara
40. Orange-chinned Parakeet
41. Barred Antshrike
42. Straight-billed Woodcreeper
43. Yellow Tyrannulet
44. Yellow-bellied Elaenia
45. Paltry Tyrannulet
46. Eastern Wood-Pewee
47. Great Kiskadee
48. Rusty-margined Flycatcher
49. Tropical Kingbird
50. Fork-tailed Flycatcher
51. Masked Tityra
52. Rufous-browed Peppershrike
53. Yellow-green Vireo
54. Gray-breasted Martin
55. Bank Swallow
56. Barn Swallow
57. House Wren
58. Isthmian Wren
59. Clay-colored Thrush
60. Tropical Mockingbird
61. Yellow Warbler
62. Crimson-backed Tanager
63. Blue-gray Tanager
64. Blue-black Grassquit
65. Ruddy-breasted Seedeater
66. Variable Seedeater
67. Yellow-bellied Seedeater
68. Streaked Saltator
69. Great-tailed Grackle
70. Yellow-crowned Euphonia
71. Thick-billed Euphonia

Here are the birds we saw at Carretera a Juan Hombrón. A total of 35 and three lifers (in bold).

1. Crested Bobwhite
2. Wood Stork
3. Great Egret
4. Snowy Egret
5. Little Blue Heron
6. Cattle Egret
7. Green Heron
8. Striated Heron
9. Black-crowned Night-Heron
10. White Ibis
11. Black Vulture
12. Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
13. Purple Gallinule
14. Black-necked Stilt
15. Southern Lapwing
16. Plain-breasted Ground-Dove
17. Ruddy Ground-Dove
18. White-winged Dove
19. Smooth-billed Ani
20. Groove-billed Ani
21. Yellow-headed Caracara
22. Orange-chinned Parakeet
23. Rufous-browed Peppershrike
24. Scrub Greenlet
25. Yellow-green Vireo
26. Black-and-white Warbler
27. Prothonotary Warbler
28. Yellow Warbler
29. Crimson-backed Tanager
30. Blue-gray Tanager
31. Blue-black Grassquit
32. Ruddy-breasted Seedeater
33. Variable Seedeater
34. Streaked Saltator
35. Great-tailed Grackle