Wednesday, April 4, 2018

2018 Panama Journal - Day 7 - Part 2

Friday 2/16/18 continued.

After Oscar brought both vehicles across the river we made our way to the trail head leading to the lagoon. 

The trail was wide and clean.  Carlos told us that the community people had swept the trails for us.  He talked about how happy these people were to have us come to their community.

We got good looks at a couple of members of the Antbird family. These sneaky birds like to follow Army Ant swarms and eat the insects that are fleeing. The males are generally black while the females are brown.

Black Antshrike

White-flanked Antwren

We had all passed a spot on the trail when Oscar waved us back. He had spotted a Black-and-white Owl that everyone else had missed.

Black-and-white Owl

At the lagoon this little alligator was chilling out in the water.


We saw both adult and immature Rufescent Tiger-Herons.  They get their Tiger-Heron name from the striping on the youngsters.

Rufescent Tiger-Heron adult

Rufescent Tiger-Heron Juvenile

Up until this day Mark and I had seen every Kingfisher in the Western Hemisphere except one.  After this morning, we have seen every Kingfisher in the Western Hemisphere!

This is our last Kingfisher - the Green-and-rufous Kingfisher.  We got exceptional views of this beautiful bird!

Green-and-rufous Kingfisher male

Green-and-rufous Kingfisher female with frog

This female had caught a frog and was whacking it around pretty good before she swallowed it. Carlos got a great video through the spotting scope.


We stayed in this area for quite some time and saw wonderful birds, including a favorite hummingbird species, the Purple-crowned Fairy. 

Purple-crowned Fairy

We saw Golden-green Woodpeckers again. This time we got to see a female. They are unique in that their crown is yellow.

Golden-green Woodpecker female

Golden-green Woodpecker male

We also saw the much larger Lineated Woodpecker female.

Lineated Woodpecker female

The bonus bird at this location was a Red-billed Scythebill. This very long-billed Woodcreeper is rarely seen.
Red-billed Scythebill

Next time:  An extremely rare bird and I make a few purchases.

2 comments:

  1. Wow. Nice pictures yet again.
    It looks like the first picture of the Ant Shrike has some nesting material in it's beak.
    The Rufescent Tiger-Heron juvenile looks so differtfrom the adult, especially the bill.
    Yumm, fresh frog for breakfast. It makes me hungry.

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  2. I like my frogs fried - legs only! This is the breeding season for the resident birds. The Tiger-herons are amazing looking.

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