Our month
started out rather slow with the first couple of weeks chock full of lots of
Panamanian holidays. It actually wasn’t too crazy here at the Bay.
We went
birding again with Jane & Walter and this time we visited an area called El
Chiru where a local cemetery is. It is always adorned with lots of flowers, but
since the Day of the Dead was a week or so prior there were a whole lot of
extra beautiful flowers on all of the graves. We had hoped to see the
Red-breasted Meadowlarks that have been reported there, but didn’t spot any. We
saw the usual Eastern Meadowlarks and a few other birds there.
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark
House Wren
Then it was
off to the rice fields aka Juan Hombrón. We really saw a LOT of birds there.
There was an area with a few trees that were filled with Brown-throated
Parakeets, but alas we couldn’t see any. A few flew out and back in and we
still couldn’t see them after they landed. Greg walked down the road a bit and
saw 2 beauties in a tree and they were quite photogenic. We also saw a Wattled
Jacana that had 4 eggs. (really pretty eggs) We saw several Yellow-headed
Caracara and Crested Caracara as well as a few hawks.
Brown-throated Parakeets
This one is eating a flower
Hey, your head was there a minute ago....
they really liked each other
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Roadside Hawk
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egrets
White-bellied Whistling Duck
Ringed Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher
Wattled Jacana with eggs
Short-tailed Hawk
rice fields
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Gray Kingbird
immature Roadside Hawk
Great Blue Heron
We had
planned to go to Carlito’s for lunch, but they were closed. Jane remembered a
place called Bay View that she said was really good, so we headed there. It
appeared to be closed, but there was a second place there that we tried. Very
nice shrimp wraps in a nice setting. Then we went to check out Bay View for
another time and low and behold it was open! There were chairs leaned into the
tables and it didn’t look open, but the actual restaurant was up the stairs. It
sits right over the water and would have been the better choice. Next time!
American Kestrel
Our group
dinner made a return to Los Camisones. It was quite tasty as always!
Our 24th
wedding anniversary (together 29 years) was the 22nd. Not wanting to
do any “serious” travel so close to our Antarctic trip we decided to spend a
couple of nights at the Radisson near Gamboa Rainforest. We have stayed at
Gamboa Rainforest Resort several times and have been to the Melia near Colon,
so thought we would check out the Radisson. That way we could take a day and go
to both places.
lobby
Rufescent Tiger-Heron - immature
Rufescent Tiger-Heron - immature
Plain Wren
pond
Cormorant
Striated Heron
After the ammo pond we went to the Discovery Center Trails. First we visited the hummingbird feeders.
Then we walked the trails.
Agouti
Dot-winged Antwren
Howler Monkey
Capuchin Monkey
fungi
fungi
dragonfly
Dot-winged Antwren
Yellow-throated Toucan (formerly Chestnut Mandibled)
Song Wren
Howler Monkey with baby
Speckled Mourner
Blue Morpho Butterfly
After lunch we went on Pipeline Road. It was pretty muddy, so we walked a short while before returning to the Discovery Center trails.
Spotted Antbird
Spotted Antbird
Black-striped Woodcreeper
Slaty Trogon
Squirrel
White-whiskered Puffbird
Howler Monkey
female Manakin
Broad-billed Motmot
Golden-collared Manakin
Golden-collared Manakin
Whooping Motmot
We walked around the grounds of the hotel until it got dark.
golfers
Mono Titi
Panama Canal Railway
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - female
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - female
The next day started with us trying to save a little mouse from being eaten by birds and then from drowning in the swimming pool. Then, it was off to Colon where we drove over the new set of locks across the canal to get to the San Lorenzo area.
morning view from our room
construction area of the Panama Canal
crossing the new set of locks
Tropical Kingbird
Little Blue Heron
Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Achiote Road & town
we walked a short while on the trail
Greg on the bridge
huge tree trunk
male Howler with baby
Broad-billed Motmot
Fort San Lorenzo
Northern Barred-Woodcreeper
Coatimundi
Black-breasted Puffbird
Black-breasted Puffbird
Blue-headed Parrot
White-necked Puffbird
White-tailed Trogon
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Shelter Bay Marina
Fort Sherman
crossing back over the Panama Canal (old locks)
we were behind this Diablo Rojo Bus
Capybara
The next morning we walked the grounds of the hotel and saw a lot of activity. We had breakfast and took one last drive to Gamboa before returning back to the city.
Collared Aracari
Southern Lapwing
Lineated Woodpecker - male
Lineated Woodpecker - male
Lineated Woodpecker - male
Saffron Finch
Saffron Finch - immature
Red-lored Parrot
Garden Emerald Hummingbird
Fulvous-vented Euphonia - male
Fulvous-vented Euphonia - female
Keel-billed Toucan
Gray-headed Chachalaca
Palm Tanager
Rufescent Tiger-Heron - immature
We stopped at Discovery Center to shop for a few things. The Christmas music was fantastic. Then, we stopped at Westland Mall for lunch before going to PriceSmart for shopping.
the mall was decorated for Christmas
lunch
"∙ Comfortable,
crap-free relief of occasional constipation
∙ Convenient
∙ Easy-to-swallow"
OK, it should have said "cramp-free". However, I guess crap-free works too? Gotta love a good typo!
Here are a few photos from our morning walks:
little crab on the beach
Blurry-striped Longtail Butterfly
gi-normous cat on the trail
Ameiva Festiva Lizard (he had just backed out of the hole)
rainbow over the ocean
mushrooms
Orange-chinned Parakeets
Great Kiskadee
Black Vulture
young Roadside Hawk
Orange-headed Lizard
ants taking leaves down a hole
We are just 14 more days until we fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina! (December 14) We will return on January 14.
My next post will be on the researching and choosing what type of cruise to take to Antarctica, in case it helps anyone else who might be considering such a trip.
Until next time.....
