Birding by boat

The trip down the Napo River was quite comfortable in this large motor launch. We did stop a few times to look at birds along the way to the Napo Wildlife Center. One of the highlights was watching a group of Pied Plovers on a sand bar.

Pied Plover

Eventually we transferred to two canoes for the two hour paddle to the lodge. We paddled (OK, we lounged on padded seats and the guides paddled) this blackwater creek several times during our stay and each trip produced great sightings.

Northern Caiman Lizard basking over the creek.

This creek was perfect for kingfishers. We had great looks at Ringed, Amazon, Green-and-Rufous, Green and Pygmy Kingfishers from the canoes. I had my best view ever of the sparrow-sized American Pygmy Kingfisher shown above.

Ringed Kingfisher

This tiny adult Zigzag Heron cocked its tail back and forth much like a motmot. We also saw a recently fledged Zigzag Heron along the creek.

young Zigzag Heron

Back to Ecuador

I'm just starting to look through my images taken in Ecuador over the past two weeks. The main stop on this trip was the Napo Wildlife Centre, located in Yasuni National Park about 50 km east of the town of Coca. Getting there involved a 3 hour trip by motor launch down the Nap River and a two hour paddle up a small blackwater creek to the lodge.

One of the most conspicuous birds along the creek and the small lake were the lodge is located is the Hoatzin. These birds uttered unbird-like grunts and hisses and flopped from branch to branch as the canoes passed by. The fermentation of leaves in their crops produces an unpleasant odour which permeates their flesh. Their local name translates as "stinky turkey" and they are seldom hunted. Hoatzins are not closely related to any other group of living birds.

Napo Wildlife Center

Bird cam

I put up my bird cam this weekend and pointed it at one of my bird feeders. The cam has motion sensor and takes a series of images whenever movement is detected. Here is one of the first shots showing a male Northern Cardinal and a couple of House Sparrows. Now I'm wondering how best to use this new Christmas present. Perhaps I'll end up discovering who is eating the goldfish in my pond?

Backyard Owl

I've had great luck with a nest box in the backyard that, over many years, has been used by Wood Duck, Eastern Screech-Owl, Great Crested Flycatcher, Northern Flicker, Starling and Eastern Gray Squirrel. The box is now in rough shape and I have a beautiful new box ready to put up in its place. I don't want to disturb the Screech-Owl that is the current occupant so I have been waiting for a day when the bird is away from the box to make the switch. To check to see if the owl is home I climb a step ladder, poke my compact camera through the hole, and take a quick photo. So far the owl refuses to abandon its roost so the new box sits unused on the back step.

A backyard bird feeder in Panama

On the road to Gamboa

Plain-colored Tanager

Blue-gray Tanager

This backyard feeder in Gamboa attracted dozens of Orange-chinned Parakeets and Blue-gray Tanagers. We also saw Red-legged Honeycreeper, Green Honeycreeper, Palm Tanager, Plain-colored Tanager, Flame-rumped Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Tropical Mockingbird, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Blue-crowned Motmot (and several Agoutis).

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