more Panama

People often ask if we see snakes while birding in the tropics. Here is an image of the only snake we found on this trip, a tiny centipede snake (Tantilla sp.) found at Cerro Azul by Karen Cedar. It wasn't much different in size from the only snake we saw in Ecuador last February. Centipede (blackhead) snakes are mostly nocturnal and feed mostly on invertebrates.

Here is a clip of Swainson's Hawks with a few Broad-winged Hawks starting to lift up over the hills on the morning we were up Cerro Azul. The observation deck was a great place to watch hawks and vultures streaming by at eye level.

Individual Broad-winged Hawks were seen on most of our walks.

The most abundant insect encountered in Panama was the leafcutter ant. The ants bring freshly cut plant material back to their underground chambers were they cultivate a particular fungus that provides the ants with food. An ant colony can contain up to several million ants!

Just to show everyone that it does rain in the rainforest. November is the wettest month of the year and yet we were rain free for the morning hours each day with only occasional rain in the afternoons.

Birding in Panama

I spent October 27 to November 4 in Panama with a group organized by Tom Hince. Visit Tom's blog for other images from this trip. Here is the view of capital, Panama City, from Cerro Azul. If you look very closely you can see a flock of migrant raptors over the city. We saw tens of thousands of Turkey Vultures, Broad-winged Hawks and Swainson's Hawks migrating through the canal zone during our visit.

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Broad-billed Motmot photographed at the Rainforest Discovery Center on Pipeline Road.

Most sloths seen on the trip were curled up asleep but this Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth was having a mid-day snack of cecropia leaves.

While birding took precedence we also took advantage of any possibility to see other wildlife such as these Mantled Howler Monkeys. One place we stayed had Geoffrey's Tamarins that visited the bird feeders every day.

This lizard was seen from the top deck of the Canopy Tower. It is called a False Chameleon or Canopy Lizard, Polychrus gutturosus. This arboreal lizard was basking on the highest branches of a tall tree near the tower.

Panama seemed to be a great location to see trogons as we generally saw several every day . This is a White-tailed Trogon, one of the less frequently seen species on the trip.

On our last full day of the trip along Pipeline Road we came across a large group of Amy Ants and their attendant bird flock. Bicolored Antbirds (image above) were most numerous but we also saw Spotted Antbirds, Ocellated Antbirds, Black-throated Antthrushes, Gray-headed Tanagers, several woodcreepers and a White-whiskered Puffbird. A very impressive mix of birds.

Long-tailed Hermit at Rainforest Discovery Center

Jupiter

Jupiter's Great Red Spot has eluded me in the past so I made a special effort to look for it on October 18. A day on Jupiter is slightly less than 10 Earth hours and the spot is in a good position for viewing for only 100 minutes. Sky and Telescope (skyandtelescope.com) publishes the times when the Great Red Spot will be visible. I was fortunate to have a clear sky during the transit and I was able to see the spot clearly in both telescopes at the observatory. I was also lucky to capture an image with the A111 telescope that showed the GRS in the lower left of the above image. The spot's colour has faded in recent decades but it was still impressive.

Rare birds

Back on August 30th I was lucky and got to see and photograph the Black-throated Sparrow at Port Burwell. This was a new species for my Canada list and a bird I had hoped to see for a long time. On Monday a Black-tailed Gull was discovered at Port Burwell but I was not fortunate to see it. Such is the way of birding.

Dumbbell Nebula

With nightfall arriving earlier at this time of year it is possible to spend some time observing the night sky and still get to bed at a reasonable time. As a bonus the weather is typically mild and the sky often clear.

This image of the Dumbbell Nebula was taken at the Hallam Observatory using my Canon 5D Mark II and the 14 inch telescope on September 12. I used an autoguider for the first time which enabled me to use 8 minute exposures for the nebula.

The Dumbbell is a "planetary nebula", a shell of gas and plasma formed by a dying star. It is high overhead at this time of year and can be seen with binoculars. It is near the tip of Sagitta, the arrow.

Manitoulin Island

We have just returned from vacation which included a bit of camping on Manitoulin Island. I include a photo of Sandhill Cranes as these birds seemed to be present in hay fields throughout the island. It was hard not to be within sight or sound of cranes while traveling on the island.

On August 24 we camped in the dark sky site at Gordon's Park and had the good fortune to have the entire site to ourselves. As the sky darkened we heard Sandhill Cranes calling in the distance, followed by the appearance of several Common Nighthawks. A displaying American Woodcock was unexpected so late in the summer as well as a singing Whip-poor-will. Late into the night we heard Barred Owls and a variety chip notes from migrating song birds.

It was a beautiful dark sky once the moon set. The image below shows our tent against the northern portion of the Milky Way. If you look closely you can see the bright smudge of the Andromeda Galaxy and the "W" of Cassiopeia.

Looking south towards the centre of the Milky Way was just incredible. From my urban backyard in Windsor I can't even see a hint of the Milky Way due to the huge amount of light pollution from Windsor and Detroit. The bright object in the left edge of the image is Jupiter.

The above images were taken with a 20 mm lens on a Canon 5D MII (two minute exposures at ISO 1600 with the camera on an AstroTrac tracking mount).

Eastern Foxsnakes

Ring-billed Gull over the Detroit River

I was out boating on the Detroit River with friends on June 18 and we were lucky to see some courtship behaviour of Eastern Foxsnakes. These two large adults were at the shoreline and apparently undisturbed by the passage of the boat. The male had a firm grip on the head of the female during our observation.

These snakes can take large prey items. Last year we watched a foxsnake consume an entire clutch of Mallard eggs. This is quite a mouthful as Mallard eggs average about 42 mm in diameter! These snakes likely also prey on Ring-billed Gull nests as their eggs are about the same diameter.

Eastern Foxsnake eating duck eggs, Ojibway Park, June 2008