We took a day trip to El
Valle and hiked and drove around the Cerro Gaital area. We saw not 1, but 6
toucans in a tree. It was a large dead tree so they really stood out. They were
being quite noisy and flew from tree to tree. We increased our new bird count
quite a bit that day. We saw so many birds just standing in one place.
Unfortunately, it was a rainy and hazy day and pictures weren’t easy to get. We
broke for lunch and drove back down the hill to have pizza at Carlito’s. We
debated whether or not to go back to the same place or do some other areas. The
rain stopped so we drove back up the hill. When we first arrived we walked
around a bit and it was so quiet and there were no birds to be seen. Then it
was like someone flipped a switch and birds just came in large active
groups. We saw so many and there was no
way to get shots of them all. We saw about a half dozen Blue-headed Parrots,
Baltimore Orioles, tons of little birds, a new hummingbird and a new
Woodcreeper. Finally, we decided it was time for the drive home with a stop at
the bakery in El Valle for pastries.
Keel-billed Toucans
Black-striped Sparrow
Blue-headed Parrot
Plain Antviero
Summer Tanager
Plain Xenops
On our daily walks we have
seen male and female American Kestrals, some new Flycatchers, a Pearl Kite,
some great new shots of Kingfishers, and our current new bird count is at 236!
Ring-necked Kingfisher
Kestral
Pearl Kite
Pearl Kite
Pearl Kite
Pearl Kite
Bat Falcon
Bat Falcon
Bat Falcon
White-tailed Kite
Zone-tailed Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Dragonfly
Piratic Flycatcher
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Orange-chinned Parakeets
Yellow Warbler
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Blue-crowned Motmot
Southern Lapwing
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Blue-gray Tanager
snail on trail
cool insect
mushroom
sapo (toad)
mushrooms
lone flower on the trail
male Barred Antshrike
Great Egret
Great Egret
Getting decent shots of
birds is not easy. Small birds flit constantly so they never sit still long
enough to focus and shoot before they move. Larger birds sit still longer, but
are often much farther away. Then, identifying new birds can take a long time.
We have a couple great field guides and back those up with various websites to
try and do our best to identify them all. Some, just go as “who knows?” Even
bad shots are saved until we hopefully identify the bird. Sometimes Greg
records the songs/calls of the birds and uses that to identify ones we don’t
get good pictures of or even see. Lots of sites have recordings of birds and it
is not an easy task if you don’t even have a clue what kind of bird it is.
That’s part of the process I don’t have the patience for. (and I wonder where
our time goes?) I realize from pictures it’s hard to tell the size of Manakins
and other birds. Manakins would fit 2 or 3 in your hand. Most pictures are shot
through brush and not easy to find and focus on.We have lots of photos of bird
butts or them flying away. I said we need a blooper file.
Greg is still going to our
Spanish tutor, but I stopped. I just felt Greg could progress quicker without
spending half of our time with me just reciting everything we have learned to
that point. I really would like more time working on forming sentences than
memorizing words. Honestly, I know and understand quite a lot of Spanish and I
just got tired of spending all the time studying. It just takes a long time to
cram new things into this old brain. So, I still continue with the Duolingo
program on the computer and I enjoy doing that. Greg mentioned a few weeks ago
that we go to 2 Spanish lessons and he is asked not to speak at both of them.
(the chat club and the Jasmine lessons) He knows a lot and Claire would ask
something for anyone in the group to answer and say “not you Greg”. Jasmine was
good at going back and forth between us, but the only time he spoke in the
first half hour was if I blanked out on a word.
I finally found a fantastic
hair dresser! Thanks Susan for the recommendation. She recommended someone at
her church and she came to the condo and did a great job!
One of our favorite phrases
is “you never know what you are going to see” Driving around we saw a guy
walking along the highway carrying about
20 five gallon buckets on his shoulder stacked inside each other and sticking way
out way in front of him and in back. It’s quite common to see guys carrying
their empty or full 5 gal propane tanks, some carrying them in their hand, some
propped on their shoulder or even a wheelbarrow to push it in. In the grocery
store seeing a free item taped to the side of something else is quite common. It’s
not always related to the item it is taped to. On a box of cereal a full size bottle
of juice might be taped on. Once I saw a stick of butter taped to something. A
can of soda was taped to something etc. Once a maintenance man on our floor was
changing a light bulb in the hall and he was standing on an upside down rubber
trash can. OSHA, we don’t need no stinking OSHA!
We spent 2 nights at an
“all-inclusive” resort in the Colon area on the Caribbean side of Panama. The
Melia Panama Canal consisted of three buildings names La Pinta, La Nina and
Santa Maria. It’s located on the shores of Lago Gatun and is the former School
of the Americas. It was built by the Americans in the first half of the 20th
century when the Panama Canal was a reality and Lake Gatun dammed the Chagras
River. After the Cold War ended the U.S. was forced to move the school to
American soil and return the property to Panama. Damian Barcelo fell in love with
the building and it became a beautiful hotel.
We got up early to drive to
Colon. Before we even left the neighborhood we saw a new bird hovering in the
sky. Greg got some shots and we later identified it as a White-tailed Kite. We found the hotel and then crossed the Panama
Canal via the
swing together bridge at Gatun Locks near the Atlantic entrance. This bridge is
only opened to traffic when it is closed. The two pieces swing together to
close in order for cars to cross in one direction at a time. Ship traffic has priority
and the bridge folds into the concrete walls of the Gatun Locks to allow ships
to pass. This bridge looks much like the lock gates that control the water in
the locks. That was a pretty cool experience. Being right at water level being
in the middle of the Panama Canal. On the other side, the road was lower than the
canal so it was weird to look up at it.
We drove around the area checking it out for where to go
the next day. We drove to Achiote Road and stopped at a CEASPA center where
there was supposed to be a lookout and possibly a place to get a guide for
birding. The sound of Howler Monkeys was deafening. The howling and barking was
incessant. We found a trail “Sendero el Trogon” to go back to the next day. We
found a new hawk and what I thought were 2 new birds, but we had seen them
before, and TONS of Swallows and lots of Fork-tailed Flycatchers. We drove all
the way through some small villages before turning around in Pina and driving
back to the hotel to check in. Some of the locals were waving at us and some
wanted us to give them a ride. We were greeted as we got out of the car by a
loud Oropendola in a tree. Lunch was not included the first day as they
preferred you use the included one on our last day. So, we went in to have
lunch and for 2 it was around $60. Yikes! (made us appreciate the value of the
“all-inclusive” aspect of staying at the hotel.) We checked in and the room was
nice and huge with a great bathroom. We got unpacked and then we walked around
the grounds. Stopped at the pool bar for a couple of “free” drinks. I
eventually got a Pina Colada after they cleaned out a yukky looking blender
pitcher and made a fresh one. Then, they were out of straws so it was hard to
drink it was so frozen. We went in search of birds on the property. We saw some
Blue-headed Parrots, a bunch of Orange Chinned Parrots, some Chestnut-mandabled
Toucans and other birds we have already seen.
Chestnut-mandabled Toucan
view of lake from hotel
front of hotel
back of hotel
lobby
There was a pool of water in our bathroom and we could
hear it dripping. It appeared to be coming from a wet spot in the ceiling. We
let the front desk know in case someone left water on in the room above ours.
We got ready for dinner and
went to the evening buffet. Every lunch and dinner had a lot of variety. Always
a beef, chicken, pork and fish dish as well as tons of side dishes and salads
and of course desserts. For lunch there was also a paella. While everything was
good, there was a lot of “sameness” to the food. If we were staying longer it
would have gotten old fast. Breakfast was their best effort. Lots to choose
from and everything very tasty. Unfortunately, I was having a bit of lower GI
issues during our stay and I wasn’t that thrilled with eating anyway.
Next morning we were up
early to drive back to Achiote Road. It was a rainy start to the day, but it
cleared up and was a wonderful day. We saw tons of Howler monkeys with babies. We
saw a few birds, but not a lot. We stopped back at the CEASPA and the “mirador”
(hike to the lookout) was not much. The girl that worked there showed us a film
on the Canal and the impact it had on the local villages. She tried to get us a
guide for that day, but he was not available. So, we went and hiked the Trogan
trail on our own. Heard lots of stuff, but didn’t really see much. We did see
some Yellow-backed Orioles and a new Motmot. We drove back for lunch and then
drove back to the San Lorenzo National Park area and we saw quite a few birds,
monkeys and 2 kinds of sloths on the drive to Fort San Lorenzo. Got a great
picture of a new Trogon for us. We saw Capuchin monkeys, but didn’t get any
good photos. We saw another different Toucan though the pictures are quite
backlit. We stopped at a bridge over “the French Canal” and there were
literally hundreds of Orange-chinned Parakeets in the trees and flying between
the trees. There were 2 guys fishing and one brought in a tiny ray. He was
trying to get it off the hook without getting hurt. He eventually did and tossed
it back in the water. We got back late to the hotel and cleaned up for dinner
and then early to bed. On our last day the weather was perfect. No rain! We
drove back to the San Lorenzo National Forest and stopped a lot and walked the
road in search of new birds. Then, back to have lunch and check out of the
hotel. The hotel was busy Sunday and fewer people on Monday, but on Tuesday we
were what appeared to be the only guests there. Here’s this huge buffet and no
one else came in the whole time we were there and we were the only car in the
parking lot. (kind of cool and creepy all at the same time)
3 Toed Sloth
2 Toed Sloth
3 Toed Sloth
Howler Monkey
young Howler
young Howler
me in front of huge tree trunk
trail
white mushrooms
red mushrooms
village of Escobal
Castillo San Lorenzo
Collared Aracari
White-tailed Trogon
Great Black Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-billed Motmot
pair of Ruddy-breasted Seedeaters
Great Kiskadee
Bowling Alley near hotel
We stopped at PriceSmart and stocked up for another month
before driving home. We had hoped to see more new birds, but as our numbers
grow it’s not that we don’t see birds, just not new ones. We commented that we
see lots of beautiful birds so often it’s like they are Sparrows. It was a nice
get-away.
I finally booked the hotel
for the 2 nights in Manaus, Brazil prior to the Amazon River Cruise. They
finally released some really good rates. We got both nights for 2 people for
less than the tour company wanted for 1 person for one night. (they charged per
person instead of by the room) So, the only thing left to do for that one is to
get the Brazil Visa next month and a visit to a travel clinic for malaria
pills. We already have all of our other shots up to date. We leave for that one
on January 22.
I also booked the Antarctica
Cruise. After doing tons of research I had narrowed down the choices to about 6
different ships/itineraries. I knew I wanted to include South Georgia and
really didn’t care if it actually crossed the Antarctic Circle. IAATO rules and
regulations state that no more than 100 people can be on a shore landing at a
time. So, to maximize time on land a smaller ship seemed to make more sense. Reviewers
mentioned if they had it to do over again they would have gone with less
passengers.
I had finally narrowed it down to 2 different Quark
ships, The Ocean Endeavor (20 day that didn’t cross the circle)
which has around 198 pax and the Sea Adventurer (23 day) with 117 pax. The Endeavour was a
“good deal” as it included the internal airfare from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia
and 1 night hotel in Buenos Aires and a short tour of Ushuaia before boarding
the ship, but the one with less passengers won out.
While I have no doubt the larger ship wouldn’t have been a bad
experience, we’ll only do this once and wanted to maximize our time there. So,
we booked the Sea Adventurer Epic Antarctica 23 day itinerary. There will be 20
kayakers so everyone should be able to go ashore without splitting the time. We
will fly to Buenos Aires and spend some time and then fly to Ushuaia where we
will spend the night and catch the ship the next afternoon.
The cruise starts on December 18, 2015 and ends on January 9,
2016. Yep, my birthday, Christmas and New Years in Antarctica! The itinerary
is:
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Day 1 — Ushuaia, Argentina
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Day 2 — Embarkation Day
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Day 3 — At Sea
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Day 4 — Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
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Day 5 — Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
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Day 6 — At Sea
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Day 7 — At Sea
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Day 8 — South Georgia
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Day 9 — South Georgia
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Day 10 — South Georgia
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Day 11 — South Georgia
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Day 12 — At Sea
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Day 13 — At Sea
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Day 14 — South Shetland Islands and Antarctic
Peninsula
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Day 15 — South Shetland Islands and Antarctic
Peninsula
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Day 16 — South Shetland Islands and Antarctic
Peninsula
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Day 17 — Antarctic Circle
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Day 18 — Antarctic Circle
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Day 19— Northbound along the Peninsula
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Day 20— Northbound along the Peninsula
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Day 21 — Crossing
the Drake Passage
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Day 22 — Crossing the Drake Passage
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Day 23 — Disembarkation in Ushuaia, Argentina
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The clothes shopping for this one will be “fun”. YIKES! I’m a
tropical gal after-all.
I've added 3 albums to Picasa.
Until next time……
