MRJ discovers the Neotropics

[MRJ]

Not having had the opportunity for extensive trips when I was younger, I decided in 2019 on a series of annual trips to see as much of the earths biodiversity while I can. The first trip was to Sri Lanka in February 2020, details of which were recorded in the Zoochat Big Year 2020.

COVID and the uncertainties that followed meant the second had to wait till 2023, my trip to Uganda. This was recorded in a diary in the Uganda forum and also in Zoochat Big Year 2023.

I am currently sitting at the airport waiting to leave on my third Big Trip, to Panama. This trip was going to be to Colombia or Ecuador, however life once again stepped in with illness in the family. Panama is a compact country with good infrastructure so if I need to return to Australia quickly I will only ever be a few hours from the airport.

Still, Panama is a mega-biodiverse country with over 900 bird species. I have never been to the Neotropics, so almost everything we see will be new.

As I said, we are waiting for the plane, which departs in two hours at 11pm. It is a 15 hour flight across the Pacific to Los Angeles, where we have a six hour layover before a six hour flight to Panama City, where we will arrive a little after 10am local time.

I will be travelling with my good friend Graeme, whom a few here will know. I noticed the last entry in the Panama forum is the thread Vision Visits Panama: The Quest for a Quetzal. @Vision visited in 2019 for 18 days. We will be there for 17 days, so it will be fascinating to compare the trips.

I hope to make daily entries, please excuse me if I get behind.

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

Great corner of the world; are you going to Darien at all? Loved sharing the bedroom and toilet with Whip Scorpions there!

 

[snowleopard]

I will follow this thread with great interest. Good luck on your travels!

 

[birdsandbats]

Have a great time in Panama! Though do be warned the avifauna of Central America is honestly overwhelming in diversity.

 

[MRJ]

Great corner of the world; are you going to Darien at all? Loved sharing the bedroom and toilet with Whip Scorpions there!

Not Darien. A little out of the way for this trip. We will be concentrating on Boquete and the Canal Zone, but at the moment (having just arrived a few hours ago) we are enjoying the Pacific Ocean near Anton to recover from the trip. First new family seen: magnificent frigatebird.

 

[MRJ]

Day 1 - arrival

Landed in Panama City about 10.30am. After passing through customs and picking up our rental we drove to our stay for the night the Royal Decameron Hotel, on the beach near Anton, arriving a little after 2pm.

Driving in Panama so far has been easy, Traffic flows well. There is a distinct lack of directional signs, lanes seem very narrow, and the speed limit is seems to be more of a recommendation.

I thought I had picked a normal hotel to relax and recover from the flight. Instead it turns out to be an "all-in" resort with all sort of rules about when you can eat etc. Thus we missed the lunch I was looking forward to and had to make do with a "make-your-own" hamburger. We would have been better off stopping at one of the many McDonalds we had passed on the way.

After that we looked for birds around the grounds of the hotel, went for a swim, had an early dinner and an early night.

First birds seen after leaving the airport terminal building were great-tailed grackles, and they have been with us for most of the day. The frigatebirds were first seen briefly while crossing the Bridge of the Americas, and almost constantly in front of our hotel. Green iguanas, which are common in the hotel grounds, produced another new Family.

Birds
73. Magnificent frigetebird Fregata magnificens (new Family)
74. Southern lapwing Vanellus chilensis
75. Turkey vulture Cathartes aura
76. Black vulture Coragyps atratus
77. Short-tailed hawk Buteo brachyurus
78. Great-tailed grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
79. Blue-grey tanager Thraupis episcopus (new Family)
80. House wren Troglodytes aedon
81. Tropical mockingbird Mimus gilvus

Reptiles
3. Green iguana Iguana iguana (new Family)

 

[Tigeanderson]

Not having had the opportunity for extensive trips when I was younger, I decided in 2019 on a series of annual trips to see as much of the earths biodiversity while I can. The first trip was to Sri Lanka in February 2020, details of which were recorded in the Zoochat Big Year 2020.

COVID and the uncertainties that followed meant the second had to wait till 2023, my trip to Uganda. This was recorded in a diary in the Uganda forum and also in Zoochat Big Year 2023.

I am currently sitting at the airport waiting to leave on my third Big Trip, to Panama. This trip was going to be to Colombia or Ecuador, however life once again stepped in with illness in the family. Panama is a compact country with good infrastructure so if I need to return to Australia quickly I will only ever be a few hours from the airport.

Still, Panama is a mega-biodiverse country with over 900 bird species. I have never been to the Neotropics, so almost everything we see will be new.

As I said, we are waiting for the plane, which departs in two hours at 11pm. It is a 15 hour flight across the Pacific to Los Angeles, where we have a six hour layover before a six hour flight to Panama City, where we will arrive a little after 10am local time.

I will be travelling with my good friend Graeme, whom a few here will know. I noticed the last entry in the Panama forum is the thread Vision Visits Panama: The Quest for a Quetzal. @Vision visited in 2019 for 18 days. We will be there for 17 days, so it will be fascinating to compare the trips.

I hope to make daily entries, please excuse me if I get behind.

For sure next time you go to the neotropics you should either go to Uruguay or Costa Rica and I just had a friend who went there and she really enjoyed it like I asked her to take pictures of the wildlife there and she sent me some very great pictures of a Scarlet Macaw, Panamanian White faced capuchin monkey and a Central American Agouti and these pictures were of them in the wild but I am saying that you should go to Uruguay or Costa Rica because I looked up the safest south and Central American countries to visit and Uruguay and Costa Rica came up and I haven’t been to either of these nations but I think Uruguay might interest you since it’s rich avifauna has made birdwatching very popular in select locations.

 

[birdsandbats]

For sure next time you go to the neotropics you should either go to Uruguay or Costa Rica and I just had a friend who went there and she really enjoyed it like I asked her to take pictures of the wildlife there and she sent me some very great pictures of a Scarlet Macaw, Panamanian White faced capuchin monkey and a Central American Agouti and these pictures were of them in the wild but I am saying that you should go to Uruguay or Costa Rica because I looked up the safest south and Central American countries to visit and Uruguay and Costa Rica came up and I haven’t been to either of these nations but I think Uruguay might interest you since it’s rich avifauna has made birdwatching very popular in select locations.

Costa Rica pretty much has all the same species as Panama, though.

 

[Tigeanderson]

Costa Rica pretty much has all the same species as Panama, though.

Oh okay it was just an idea.

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

And Argentina has a much greater diversity than Uruguay, and was certainly safe when I went a couple of years ago.

 

[MRJ]

Day 2 Carretera a Juan Honbron and drive to Boquete

We woke at 6am to drive down Carretera a Juan Honbron, which is about 15 minutes from the hotel. On our way to the car, we saw our first mammal, a variegated squirrel, in the hotel grounds.

Carretera a Juan Honbron is an ebird hotspot, and if you look at it on iNaturalist there are hundreds of observations along it. The road runs in a straight line from the Pan-American Highway to the Pacific Ocean beach. One reason I stayed nearby was to bird this road. The countryside is agricultural, with beef cattle and some form of grain production.

Unfortunately the road has recently been upgraded. It has been sealed, and a deep drain constructed on either side. There is no shoulder, and therefore nowhere to park along the entire length, except for at a bridge over a stream and at the beach. We soon realized that there was almost no traffic, so we could stop to observe birds. However we could not leave the car so our birding along the road was limited.

Once we finished here we returned to the hotel for breakfast and packed then left for Boquete. It was a divided four lane highway all the way with very little traffic except when passing through towns. In fact the road got better the further we travelled.

We got to Boquete by 6pm, just in time to see the last hummingbird before dusk feeding at the feeder on the porch of our cottage. Boquete is significantly cooler than the coastal plains.

Seen in the hotel grounds

Mammals
8. Variegated squirrel Sciurus variegatoides

Carretera a Juan Honbron

Birds
82. Crested bobwhite Colinus cristatus
83. Ruddy ground dove Columbina talpacoti
84. White-tipped dove Leptotila verreauxi
85. Western great egret Ardea alba
86. Western cattle egret Bubulcus ibis
87. Little blue egret Egretta caerulea
88. Snowy egret Egretta thula
89. American white ibis Eudocimus albus
90. American oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus
91. Western sandpiper Calidris mauri
92. Willet Tringa semipalmata
93. Laughing gull Leucophaeus atricilla
94. Royal tern Thalasseus maximus
95. Grey-lined hawk Buteo nitidus
96. Common black hawk Buteogallus anthracinus
97. Savanna hawk Buteogallus meridionalis
98. White-tailed kite Elanus leucurus
99. Red-crowned woodpecker Melanerpes rubricapillus
100. Crested caracara Caracara plancus
101. Yellow-crowned parrot Amazona ochrocephal
102. Grey-capped flycatcher Myiozetetes granadensis
103. Great kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
104. Tropical kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
105. Fork-tailed kingbird Tyrannus savana
106. Barn swallow Hirundo rustica

Boquete

107. Rufus-tailed hummingbird Amazilia tzacatl

 

[MRJ]

For sure next time you go to the neotropics you should either go to Uruguay or Costa Rica and I just had a friend who went there and she really enjoyed it like I asked her to take pictures of the wildlife there and she sent me some very great pictures of a Scarlet Macaw, Panamanian White faced capuchin monkey and a Central American Agouti and these pictures were of them in the wild but I am saying that you should go to Uruguay or Costa Rica because I looked up the safest south and Central American countries to visit and Uruguay and Costa Rica came up and I haven’t been to either of these nations but I think Uruguay might interest you since it’s rich avifauna has made birdwatching very popular in select locations.

Seven or eight years ago I was looking at a self drive visit to Costa Rica with my wife. I also knew people working on Great Green Macaw conservation there. However family issues prevented me from going ahead then. But as has been said the fauna is very similar. Our bird guide here in Boquete said today that "Costa Rica has better marketing, Panama has better roads". She may be biased.

Regarding safety I have not felt at all unsafe here so far.

Don't know much Uruguay, however I have a long list of "wants".

 

[MRJ]

Day 3 - Boquete

Boquete is a mountain retreat, attracting tourists to the mild climate and natural beauty. It is also a major coffee growing region producing high quality Arabica coffee and has a substantial expat population. To top it off it has some great birding, and this is a major attraction.

Most birding is in the cloud forests on the mountains behind the town, and so represents an opportunity to see a number of species not found elsewhere in Panama.

We are staying in Tinamou Cottages, which are set in forest above the town. There are three cottages run by Terry and Hans, a Dutch couple. Terry is a bird guide and we engaged her for each of the three mornings we are here.

Over breakfast on our deck, we were able to watch a red-tailed squirrel come down to feed on some fruit that had been left on a feed table.

Today we birded in a private estate which has substantial areas of forest. The birding was off to a great start as we stepped from the car with swallow-tail kites overhead. Then within five minutes I was looking at a beautiful male three-wattled bellbird, a species I had down as unlikely.

Afterwards we had a very nice late lunch at Finca Lerida. This establishment used to have a number of hummingbird feeders but these have all gone. I suspect this is because of the European travel industry responding to animal rights activists.

In all it was a great day.

Cottages

Mammal
9. Red-tailed squirrel Sciurus granatensis

Cloud forest

Birds
108. Band-tailed pigeon Patagioenas fasciata
H. Chirique quail-dove Zentrygon chiriquensis
109. White-collared swift Streptoprocne zonaris
110. Lesser (green) violetear Colibri cyanotus
111. Stripe-tailed hummingbird Eupherusa eximia
112. White-bellied mountaingem Lampornis hemileucus
113. Squirrel cuckoo Piaya cayana
114. Broad-winged hawk Buteo platypterus
115. Swainson's hawk Buteo swainsoni
116. Swallow-tailed kite Elanoides forficatus
117. Ornate hawk-eagle Spizaetus ornatus
118. Collared (orange-bellied) trogan Trogon collaris
119. Hairy woodpecker Leuconotopicus villosus
120. Acorn woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus
121. Northern emerald toucanet Aulacorhynchus prasinus (new Family)
122. Sulphur-winged parrakeet Pyrrhura hoffmanni
123. Three-wattled bellbird Procnias tricarunculatus VU (new Family)
124. Dark pewee Contopus lugubris
125. Mountain elaenia Elaenia frantzii
126. Boat-billed flycatcher Megarynchus pitangua
127. Tufted flycatcher Mitrephanes phaeocercus
128. Red-faced spinebill Cranioleuca erythrops (new Family)
129. Thick-billed euphonia Euphonia laniirostris
130. Yellow-bellied siskin Spinus xanthogastrus
131. White-naped brushfinch Atlapetes albinucha
132. Common chlorospingus (bush-tanager) Chlorospingus flavopectus
133. Rufous collared sparrow Zonotrichia capensis
134. Wilson's warbler Cardellina pusilla
135. Tennessee warbler Leiothlypis peregrina
136. Black and while warbler Mniotilta varia
137. Slaty-throated (redstart) whitestart Myioborus torquatus
138. Flame-throated warbler Oreothlypis gutturalis
139. Black-throated green warbler Setophaga virens
140. White-winged tanager Piranga leucoptera
141. Rose-breasted grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus
142. Black-thighed grosbeak Pheucticus tibialis
143. Flame-coloured tanager Piranga bidentata
144. Ochraceus wren Troglodytes ochraceus
145. Ruddy-capped nightingale-thrush Catharus frantzii
146. Swainson's thrush Catharus ustulatus
H. Black-faced solitare Myadestes melanops
147. Mountain thrush Turdus plebejus
148. Silver-throated tanager Tangara icterocephala

Cottages

149. Clay-coloured thrush Turdus grayi
150. Red-crowned ant-tanager Habia rubica

 

[Swampy]

What issues are raised by ARAs about hummingbird feeders? I don't think I'm aware of this. Something along the lines of manipulating animal behaviour for food of poor nutritional value?

 

[birdsandbats]

In Costa Rica, bird feeders of all kinds, including hummingbird feeders are actually illegal. It wouldn't surprise me if something similar occurs in Panama. Despite this ban, I was able to find a few places with feeders, but they were ew and far between.

So cool you got the bellbird. That was one of the top birds I wanted to see in Costa Rica but missed. I'll have to get back to Central America some day and see it.

 

[MRJ]

What issues are raised by ARAs about hummingbird feeders? I don't think I'm aware of this. Something along the lines of manipulating animal behaviour for food of poor nutritional value?

Animal activists only got traction in tourism when some of the most horrendous practices in Asia and Africa began to be exposed a decade ago. This gave them a leg up into tourism companies, and we began to see more and more animal welfare requirements come out. In effect we (Moonlit) have been fighting a series of brush fires, in conjunction with ZAA, regarding this. I don't have much problem with most of it except every company approaches it differently and with varied requirements. Add to that the normal US and European assumption that Australia is the wild west, meaning they fire first and ask questions later.

Regarding feeding, your extreme animal activist regards any human-animal contact as abhorrent. They refer to feeding wild animals as "baiting". Interestingly here in Australia, Birdlife Australia recently came out with guidelines for feeding birds in your backyard after decades of opposing it.

Regarding this case, my guess is that some agents may have told them that they could not sell their product while feeding occurred, and as it was a very minor part of their business they obliged. In Germany in particular, travel agents tell me that any suggestion they are selling product with close contact with animals leads to them being harassed by activists.

And as a side note, my guess is that hundreds of hummingbirds would have died in the days after they stopped feeding.

 

[MRJ]

In Costa Rica, bird feeders of all kinds, including hummingbird feeders are actually illegal. It wouldn't surprise me if something similar occurs in Panama. Despite this ban, I was able to find a few places with feeders, but they were ew and far between.

So cool you got the bellbird. That was one of the top birds I wanted to see in Costa Rica but missed. I'll have to get back to Central America some day and see it.

I did read about the Costa Rica government ban, and Panama may follow in the future, but this case relates to this particular company only. There is no nationwide ban.

The bellbird was a great thrill, and I am happy to say we saw another today.

 

[birdsandbats]

I did read about the Costa Rica government ban, and Panama may follow in the future, but this case relates to this particular company only. There is no nationwide ban.

The bellbird was a great thrill, and I am happy to say we saw another today.

Costa Rica had a notable drop in tourism numbers after their ban was enacted, so I would hope the Panamanian government can tell it isn't a good idea. Of course, Panama relies on tourism much less than Costa Rica does, so perhaps they would not care.

 

[MRJ]

Day 4 - Boquete

Another morning spent in the cloud forest, this time in another location. The altitude we have been working at is about 1800 metres.

While this location was also private, the public is welcome to use the trails within it. The bird list is not as long as yesterday, as about half the birds seen had already been seen the day before. However we did get some great new views of bird we had already seen, such as an emerald toucanet at nest.

In the afternoon, we walked over the Tinamou Cottages property (about 8ha) and saw a beautiful orange-billed nightingale-thrush. In Asia, I would have been sure I was looking at a pitta, and a stunning one at that. What got me is that it looked nothing like the illustration in the guide book. Only way I was able to identify it was by searching photos in iNaturalist.

Later Hans offered to take us back to this mornings site in the hope of getting a sighting of resplendent quetzals, which have proved elusive. We did not see a quetzal but had a couple of pleasant hours discussing how to put the world right.

The evening was capped by a delicious Panamanian steak at a local restaurant.

Cloud forest

Birds
151. Violet sabrewing Campylopterus hemileucurus
152. Brown violetear Colibri delphinae
153. White-tailed emerald Microchera chionura
154. Stripe-throated hummingbird Phaethornis striigularis
155. Snowy-bellied hummingbird Saucerottia edward
156. Scintillant honeyeater Selasphorus scintilla
157. Red-headed barbet Eubucco bourcierii (new Family)
158. Tropical pewee Contopus cinereus
159. Western wood-pewee Contopus sordidulus
160. Yellowish flycatcher Empidonax flavescens
161. White-fronted tyrannulet Phyllomyias zeledoni
162. Mistletoe tyrannulet Zimmerius parvus
163. Spot-crowned woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes affinis (new Family)
164. Scaly-throated foliage-gleaner Anabacerthia variegaticeps
165. Brown-capped vireo Vireo leucophrys
166. Elegant euphonia Chlorophonia elegantissima
167. Lesser goldfinch Spinus psaltria
168. Golden-crowned warbler Basileuterus culicivorus
169. Blackburnian warbler Setophaga fusca
170. Tropical parula Setophaga pitiayumi
171. Golden-winged warbler Vermivora chrysoptera
172. Grey-breasted wood-wren Henicorhina leucophrys
173. Rufous and white wren Thryophilus rufalbus

Cottages and nearby

174. White-tailed nighthawk Hydropsalis cayennensis
175. Orange-billed nightingale-thrush Catharus aurantiirostris

 

[MRJ]

Day 5 - Boquete

The original plan for our third day at Boquete was to go to the Candelabras, an area down at about 400 metres. However we had not seen that magnificent king of the Panamanian bird world, the resplendent quetzal. We had heard it a couple of times, but no actual sightings. Additionally we were keen to see a dipper, an amazing passerine that swims. Terry knew a location where we might see both.

First stop was the Three Waterfalls trail entry, where we saw a dipper from the suspension foot bridge. Also seen were a pair of torrent tyrannulets, so we got both of the American aquatic passerines. We then birded the other side of the bridge for a while, getting some great views and new species.

Coming down one of the tracks were two younger guys, who turned out to be Aussie coffee buyers from Melbourne. I had been trying to explain Melbourne coffee culture to Terry and Hans, and here was a living example. One was the world champion barista, and they were looking at the very best coffees to choose one for the next world championship.

The next stop was the Trail of the Quetzals. The actual trail is closed due to a collapsed bridge, but we used a trail that runs up behind the ranger station. Again no quetzal, however as we were about to go, I noticed a large blue bird in the forest about 100 metres further down the track. It was a black guan, but it quickly disappeared inside the forest. We went further down the track, past the location I saw it when one flew across our heads. Finally we saw three climbing a very large tree covered with vines further in the forest. We had excellent views, and while not a quetzal, still a magnificent wildlife experience.

As this is our last day in Boquete we spent some time looking at local birding sites and around the cottages. A highlight was when Graeme noted a chuck-will's widow, a rare migrant, on the ground about five metres from our deck. It was even a lifer for Terry.

Cloudforest

H. Highland tinamou Nothocercus bonapartei
176. Black guan Chamaepetes unicolor (new Family)
177. Purple-throated mountain-gem Lampornis calolaemus
178. Green hermit Phaethornis guy
179. Torrent tyrannulet Serpophaga cinerea
180. Streak-breasted treehunter Thripadectes rufobrunneus
181. Yellow-winged vireo Vireo carmioli
182. Golden-browed chlorophonia Chlorophonia callophrys
183. Yellow-thighed bushfinch Atlapetes tibialis
184. Summer tanager Piranga rubra
185. Slaty flowerpiercer Diglossa plumbea
186. Scarlet-rumped tanager Ramphocelus paniisseri
187. Variable seedeater Sporophila corvina
188. Spangled-cheeked tanager Tangara dowii
189. Yellow-fronted grassquit Tiaris olivaceus
190. Blue-and-white swallow Pygochelidon cyanoleuca
191. Long-tailed silky flycatcher Ptiliogonys caudatus (new Family)
192. American dipper Cinclus mexicanus (new Family)
193. Black-faced solitaire Myadestes melanops
194. White-throated thrush Turdus assimilis

Cottages and around Boquete

194. Grey-headed chachalaca Ortalis cinereiceps
195. Rock pigeon Columba livia In
196. Scaled pigeon Patagioenas speciosa
197. Ruddy pigeon Patagioenas subvinacea
198. White-winged dove Zenaida asiatica
199. Chuck-will's widow Antrostomus carolinensis
200. Bat falcon Falco rufigularis
201. Black phoebe Sayornis nigricans
202. Azure-hooded jay Cyanolyca cucullata