I’m really behind in posting
last months’ update. I got caught up in planning the Antarctica trip trying to
weigh the different itineraries and ships.
With no major trips planned
this year we have been taking quite a few 1, 2 and 3 night trips. Our short
trip to Contadora had us appreciating a cruise vacation in that you come “home”
every night to the same bed and all of your stuff travels with you. The short
trips seem like a lot of “work” compared to packing for a cruise and you travel
in comfort from place to place. We enjoy the short getaways for seeing Panama,
but I think we enjoy long (or even short) cruises the best. When we return to
the States to RV around the country and Canada we think it will be a bit of the
same experience with no packing and unpacking and our things will travel with
us.
The good news is, “its Mango
season” and the bad news is, “its Mango season”. It’s been Mango season for a
while now. When we are out walking there are tons of rotting Mangos and the
smell is awful. There are just so many Mango trees that despite everyone
picking them up and eating or selling them, a lot go to waste.
We drove up to Altos del
Maria in the mountains near here and did some birding. We saw quite a few birds
and had a nice lunch at Los Senderos. (it used to be Mary’s Café) We also found
a couple of new ponds close to here. One of the ponds had the most Wattled
Jacana in one place than we have ever seen. We also saw Black Bellied Whistling
Ducks, a Sungrebe and lots of other birds. At the other pond we saw Purple
Gallinule, caimans sunning and what appears to be a tree that is a rookery for
Anhingas. It was full of young ones. One young Gallinule came running out of
the tall grass right towards our car. Goofy looking little guy….
Purple Gallinule
Green Heron
immature Black Crowned Night Heron
Purple Gallinule
Anhinga having a bad hair day
Anhinga Rookery
2 caimans sunning
Snowy Egret
Snowy Egret
female Red-legged Honeycreeper
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Thick-billed Euphonia
One day while walking
Sendero Eisenmann, we came across a journalist for a newspaper in La Chorrera. He was here
in Coronado covering an annual festival and expected to find lots of people to
interview on the trail. It’s pretty rare that we ever encounter anyone else on
the trail. He took our pictures and asked us a few questions. That weekend we
also saw the rare sight of a few guys picking up trash in the neighborhood. I’m
sure it was just for the festival, but would be great if they kept it up.
We’ve seen anteaters a couple of more times. The first
one we saw was a big one and then we saw 2 medium ones and the last one we saw
was not much bigger than a large house cat. Here are a few oy my favorite shots on the trail.
Lance-Tailed Manakin
male Blue-black Grasquit
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Scrub-Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Seedeater
female Thick-billed Seedfinch
interesting mushrooms...
Grey-headed Chachalaca
Orange-chinned Parakeet
Squirrel Cuckoo
Scaly-breasted Hummingbird (tongue out)
Picasso reopened and she has a new menu. Many of the old
favorites are still on it with some new things. We normally just have pizza,
but her fish and chips and her chicken curry with coconut rice is quite good as
well.
Claire may cancel her Spanish Chat Club since sometimes
only 3 or 4 of us show up. She put out an email blast and about 13 people came
so she continued, but last week there were only 3 of us and we just talked and
she didn’t hold a class. We’ll see what this next week brings, she may need to
suspend until the high season when more people are here. (they now are
officially canceled)
My stove went out in the middle of cooking dinner. I was
trying a new recipe for a Mole-style Pork Tamale Pie, so I tossed all the
partially cooked stuff in the fridge. We appreciate being renters when fixing
something is not our problem. It turned out to just be wiring and it was fixed
the next day. Luckily, my dinner still turned out OK a day later.
I had an appointment to start my dental implant, but the
surgeon wasn’t able to remove my existing bridge without breaking it so they
stopped and made an impression so they can get a temporary bridge made for me to
use while the implant takes hold until they put the individual crowns on. So,
I’m waiting until the temporary one gets made and they can schedule the surgeon
to come to Coronado from the city.
At our usual pond we saw a new bird to add to our list.
The usual Ringed Kingfisher was there, but we saw a smaller, greener one that
is an Amazon Kingfisher.
Amazon Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher with fish
Ringed Kingfisher female
Ringed Kingfisher female
Last Monday we went to El Valle to hike Cerro Gaital for
the second time. They had graded the road so it wasn’t as bad a drive to get
there. On the ride to El Valle we saw a tarantula in the road. We turned around
so I could get a picture (with nowhere to pull off) so we just stop the car in
the road to get the photo with Greg telling me “you’re going to get us killed….hurry
up and get the shot”.
Red Rumped Bird-eater Tarantula
cute goat....
After we parked at
the trail entrance we followed a pretty loud singing bird. We never saw it, but
Greg recorded it and a guide that pulled up listened to it and confirmed it was
a Strip-headed Sparrow. Greg also saw a large bird in the distance on top of a
tall pine tree. We had heard parrots and were looking for where they were and
found the one on top. It was a Blue Headed Parrot. The same guide that was
there with his client confirmed with his scope that it was a Blue Headed
Parrot. We saw quite a few birds at the start of the trail including a Hepatic
Tanager which is also a new bird for us. Not many birds seen on the rest of the
trail, but on the way back down we kept hearing one that had a distinct whistle
and Greg whistled and it would answer. We never saw it, but it followed us most
of the way. I told Greg that the bird would be really upset to find his “amour”
was a human. We had a much clearer view at the top than last time. However,
just after we reached the top it started to rain and it continued for our whole
hike back to the car. At the top we ran into a couple with the same guide we
used when we stayed at Campestre. They didn’t look like they had ever hiked
before.
Blue-Headed Parrot
Whip Tailed Lizard (Ameiva Leptophrys)
bromiliads
ladder to viewing platform
viewing platform
view from the platform
close-up of hotel Campestre from the picture above
This past Wednesday the Coronado Rotary had a benefit at
Picasso to raise more money to buy wheelchairs to be delivered to those in need from Penonome, San Carlos,
Coronado and down to Chame in March of 2015. Local musicians John July and
Bobby Henderson played songs throughout the evening. The Rotary Club of Playa
Coronado has set a fund-raising goal of $30,000 by September 15.
A couple beach shots:
Spotted Sandpiper
beached Stingray
Our next short trip is on
September 21 and we will be spending 2 nights at Melia Panama Canal Resort to
do some birding on Achiote Road (there and Pipeline Road are world renown
birding spots) and visiting Fort San Lorenzo.
I have added a couple more albums to the Picasa site. The pictures are easier to see there as they can be made bigger.
Until next time….
