Boquete, Panama Day 4

April 4

Boquete is located on the highlands of Panama, in the province of Chiriqui. The town is within sight of Panama's best known volcano, Volcan Baru’. The volcano is 3,474 meters high and at its summit the lowest recorded temperatures are around zero Celsius, the only place in Panama with such temperatures in natural form.  

One of the best things about Boquete Garden Inn is having breakfast with the birds. They put out lots of fruit and the birds entertain us while we eat. The breakfast is quite nice with coffee, tea, juice & cereal for the first course and then they bring a lovely fruit & yogurt platter and then your choice of a main breakfast. (could be omelets, eggs any style, pancakes etc.) Very good and the server is very efficient and pleasant.

 Red-legged Honeycreeper - male

 Snowy-bellied Hummingbird

 the squirrels like the fruit too

 Cherie's Tanager - male

 Black-striped Sparrow

 Tennessee Warbler

White-naped Brush-Finch

our fruit plate....



Their grounds are beautiful and full of flowers and birds. The 2 story buildings are nestled amongst the trees. We had an upstairs room and there was a nest outside under the eaves. There is also a small kitchen.

 front gate of the Garden Inn

 our room



We met our bird guide Rolando after breakfast and he took us to the same trail that we hiked 6 years ago. It’s called the Pipeline trail (not to be confused with Pipeline Road in Gamboa) and is also known as the Waterfall Trail.  On the drive to the trail we went past the Rock Formation. The Columnar Basalts are rock formations resulting from the quick cooling of lava flow. Fractures form in a random cellular network (similar to soap bubbles, organic cells, etc.), though the average distribution of sides is six, giving the hexagonal structures an eerie man-made appearance. 

 

The trail is very scenic and we took our time as we spotted birds everywhere. Once we established what type of birders we were, he left his spotting scope behind since we all agreed it’s not helpful unless you have a bird sitting for a long time. I spot with binoculars and Greg uses his super-zoom camera screen. Rolando uses both. It’s only our second time using a bird guide and we noticed that instead of being a “guide” they seem to just bird with us. When we have encountered birding groups with guides (in other locations) many of the people are just standing around and don’t seem to actively be looking for birds, they just wait for the guide to point one out. In fact in Volcan on the Quetzal Trail there was a guide with a group and he stopped to chat with us and asked us what we were seeing and even got out his bird book to identify one for us. His group barely stopped, they just ran up the trail. I guess he caught up with them eventually. Haha. Rolando was really impressed with Greg’s camera and he even asked to use it. He was an excellent guide and photographer as well.

 Yellow-bellied Elaenia

 trail

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 Acorn Woodpecker

 Panama Flycatcher

 Ngobe-Bugle woman on the hill with bananas (she was high up on the hill)

 Black Phoebe

 Greg & Rolando

 Red-headed Barbet

 Red-headed Barbet

 Woodcreeper nest

 Red-tailed Hawk

female Tanager 

 bromeliads

 Elegant Euphonia - male

 Elegant Euphonia - female

 Rolando on one of the bridges over the creek

 Green Hermit Hummingbird - male

 Rolando on another bridge

 Greg on bridge

 some of the pipes

 this pipe had a leak

Rolando & Greg ahead on the trail



We eventually made it to the area where he knew that a pair of Resplendent Quetzals were nesting. He said if we come earlier in the morning that we might have a chance to see them in the nest. (in the stump of an old tree) So, we planned to do that in a couple of days.  A young couple were behind us and we let them go ahead of us, but Rolando was worried they would scare the birds away since they were moving quite quickly, probably just to get to the end to see the waterfall, so he asked if they wanted to see the Quetzals and to hang back with us. They did, even though I don’t think they could care less about seeing them.

Rolando spotted a female in the trees and said the male must be close by. I just started scanning the trees in search of him and found him. The couple moved on and we stayed with the Quetzals quite a while and then returned back to the van. It was well past lunch and he needed to go. (we only booked him for a half day). We enjoyed his guiding and asked if he was available for Thursday and he said he was so we booked him again for an hour earlier. He planned to take us to the start of the Quetzal trail so we planned to explore other areas over the next 2 days.

 Resplendent Quetzal - female

 Resplendent Quetzal - female

Resplendent Quetzal - female 

Resplendent Quetzal - male

 Resplendent Quetzal - male

Resplendent Quetzal - male

 Yellow-bellied Elaenia

 do turkeys count?

house belongs to the owners of the land

 Rolando getting into the van

where you pay the admission

 



We went to a Peruvian Restaurant that the owner of the Inn recommended and it was very good. We had coupons (that the Inn gave us) for free Pisco Sours which I was sure I wouldn’t like since I don’t care for anything sour, but for some reason it was really good.

 my shrimp and mashed potatoes



Greg's seafood

After lunch we went for a drive around the town to see how much the area had changed and maybe find more birds.

 cabbage farm

 Scarlet-thighed Finch



After the happy hour at the Bohio where we met 2 new couples, we went to Georges Grill in Fireside Inn. It was the worst meal of our trip. The owner was wonderful, but my coconut shrimp tasted nothing like shrimp or coconut. Like old grease or something. The vegetables were OK, but the only really good thing on the plate was the piece of cantaloupe the shrimp were stuck into with skewers. We did have the Egyptian sampler appetizer and it was pretty good. The other thing was my encounter with some kind of critter in the bathroom. As soon as I found the light switch and flipped on the light, I saw this good sized thing running in circles around the commode. It went so fast I never could tell what it was. Larger than a mouse, but smaller than a rat. (I’m guessing it perhaps was a large lizard…who knows.)

 my shrimp

Greg's curry



Tomorrow we are hiking the Hidden Waterfalls Trail since Rolando recommended it as did several other sources.