Friday, April 29, 2016

Coronado, Panama

April 9 - 30

We were pleasantly surprised that when we got home from Boquete we had water 24/7 again. Sure made the chore of doing laundry after the trip easier. I suspect since the “snowbirds” have gone home, we now have enough water for the few of us that are left here year round. It hasn’t rained so that’s not why. They actually are drilling a well, so that should help for future droughts.
We still have some birds to identify, but our current count is around 420 species for Panama.
I have gone through every port for the world cruise to see if there were any emails that I needed to return or follow up with the tour guides. I firmed up a couple of the ports, but most were done. We have a few deposits to make, but that can wait until we get home from our trips in May.
We had a group lunch and 6 of us were able to attend. We tried a Chinese place in a nearby town.  We had hoped for “real” Chinese food, but alas it was Panamanian-style Chinese food. Good, just not “go back good”. However, the good company more than made up for the disappointment and the slow service. One dish at a time came out with so much time in between each dish that the first couple was done eating before the next one was served and both done before we got ours. Too funny. We joked that maybe we should donate another wok to them.
 
 
There was a fire that burned quite a bit of the woods where we walk most mornings. It’s pretty sad to see it, but once the rainy season gets underway it will bounce back quickly.


We did have a couple of days with some rain this week. So, we are hoping that the dry season is at an end. I am definitely ready for the wind and the dry hot heat to end. It has felt more tropical the last few days and feels cooler to me. The birds on the trail this morning were quite active so I guess they appreciated the rain as well. Here are a few of our local birds and critters:
 Rufous Nightjar
 lizard
 Pale-vented Pigeon
 Red-legged Honeycreeper - male
 Eastern Kingbird
 Great Crested Flycatcher
 the Striped Cuckoo thinks he is hiding.....
Mourning Dove
 Scarlet Tanager
 Yellow-olive Flatbill
 Squirrel Cuckoo
 Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
 Streaked Flycatcher
 Short-tailed Hawk
  Short-tailed Hawk
 young Panama Flycatcher
 Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
 Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
 Rufous-browed Peppershrike
 Groove-billed Ani
 Crimson-backed Tanager - male
 Striped Cuckoo
Striped Cuckoo calling

Since the trail was kind of smoky smelling, we walked the streets for a couple of days instead. We visited a pond that we have not been to in a long time. One small corner had water, the rest was dry and grass growing tall.
 tall green area is normally water

There’s another pond nearby that has some water, but it’s very low. We could count upwards of 40 caiman, a couple were pretty big. There were a few birds there as well.
there were over 30 of these "bumps" in the water

 great optical illusion with the Caiman in the water looks like the other one has swallowed it

 Anhinga with a broken wing

 Green Heron
 Purple Gallinule
 Black-crowned Night Heron
 female Amazon Kingfisher
Black-crowned Night Heron
We are pretty much packed for the next 2 trips. With only 2 days in between them we needed to be ready to go for the second one. Luckily, it’s totally different clothing.
All hotel arrangements have been made for Scott & Sonya’s trip, plus a couple of the tours and the ferry to Contadora Island. Now we just have to wait for June to come!
We leave Sunday for the Darien so my next post will be talking about that area. Seems people have either never heard of it or if they have and they fear the worst…….
 

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