Friday, July 22, 2016

Canopy Tower Birding Tour - Days 1 & 2


July 11 - Grounds of Gamboa Rainforest Resort & July 12 Pipeline Road
Canopy Tower background (from their website):
“The structure destined to become the Canopy Tower was built in 1965 by the United States Air Force to house a powerful radar used in the defense of the Panama Canal. By 1969, the site was jointly used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to control air traffic in the area, and by the Panama Canal Commission (PCC) as a communications tower.
In September of 1988, the radar tower received an important new assignment when it was activated as Site One in the Caribbean Basin Radar Network (CBRN). This network of radars was used by the United States government to detect airplanes suspected of carrying drugs from South America. The tower played this role until June of 1995 when it was closed and left vacant waiting for better days.
In November of 1996, the radar tower and the Semaphore Hill site, consisting of approximately 35 acres of rainforest within Soberanía National Park, was transferred to Panama in compliance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
In August of 1997, the government of Panama signed a long-term contract with Raul Arias de Para to transform the site into a center for neotropical-rainforest observation and ecotourism.
In January of 1999, the Canopy Tower was inaugurated and the rest, as they say, is history.”
The Canopy Tower, sitting at the summit of Semaphore Hill, is almost 1,000ft above sea level. Nighttime temperatures often drop to the mid-to-low 70s°F (21°C). Daytime temperatures range from the mid-70s°F (23°C) to the upper-80s°F (31°C). Due to the elevation there is often a nice breeze.
Information on the room we chose:
Blue Cotinga Suite
"Our finest accommodation, the Blue Cotinga Suite, is on the second floor (2 floors above the ground floor lobby), 28 feet high and situated at the canopy level of the  trees.  It has an area of 366 square feet, two big windows overlooking the forest, two ¾ beds (which can be joined together to make a queen bed), a desk with a chair, a place to put your clothes/luggage, an overhead fan and a private bathroom with a window. It also has a hammock and a small balcony with a Brookstone hanging chair.
This is one of the favorite spots in the Canopy Tower. You can see lots of birds real close from your personal balcony and, if you are lucky, see monkeys during the day and kinkajous at night."

Day 1
We stopped at the Discovery Center Store to see if they had rubber boots that fit, but we did not find any. We knew the Pipeline trail would be muddy and they would have come in handy.
We didn't think our package included lunch the first day, so we had lunch at the City of Knowledge. (Scott & Sonya, we stopped there with you guys) There are a lot of different food stalls there and it was packed with students.
Here is a cute sign we saw in the parking lot:
We drove the short distance from there to the road to Canopy Tower at the top of Semaphore Hill.
 the road

 Coati along side of the road
 arrival at Canopy Tower
 The Tower


Upon arrival we were greeted by Carlos and Jen (we met them both during our Darien trip). We were shown our room and asked if we wanted lunch. (not thinking that was included the first day we already ate) We were greeted by a Puffbird outside of our room. We were shown around the tower to see where we would have meals and the observation deck on top. Cute little 3 toed sloth outside of the dining room. Then we came back to the room to unpack and there were Howler monkeys outside of our balcony.

 sign on the door to our room
 our "suite"



 Black-breasted Puffbird
 Howler Monkeys



Three-toed Sloth
 social/dining/library room on the 3rd floor

 our room was on this floor (second floor)
 pictures on the walls around the tower


 the entry way
 entry way & second floor

 stairs to all floors
 their largest tour vehicle
smaller tour vehicle

We had an afternoon tour with Carlos, which was around the grounds of the Gamboa Rainforest Resort.
 Common Tody Flycatcher in nest
  Common Tody Flycatcher


 Tropical Mockingbird

 Buff-throated Saltator
 Fasciated Antshrike - male
 Fasciated Antshrike - female
 Fasciated Antshrike - male
 immature Slaty-tailed Trogon
 immature Slaty-tailed Trogon
 immature Slaty-tailed Trogon
 Tropical Wood Pewee
 Piratic Flycatcher
 female Thick-billed Euphonia
 Variable Seedeater
 children playing with a hose
 driving across the one-way bridge


We also got to go inside the animal rehab center there and saw a beautiful Jaguar that was rescued when really young and nursed back to health. They wanted to use the guides powerful flashlight to do surgery on a caiman, so while we were waiting they let us see the animals they have rescued.


 rescued Agouti
rescued Sloth
Back at the Tower we still had Howlers outside our room and the dining room. There were 5 of us at the Tower. John, a very nice older gentleman from Maryland and a couple from California that were leaving the next morning.




Day 2 - A.M.
Carlos was our guide again in the morning. We met up on the observation deck at 6:30 and found birds galore. Then we had breakfast at 7:30 and afterwards we hiked on Pipeline Road.
 very wet Three-toed Sloth from the observation deck
 view from the tower - quite misty
 Collared Aracari in the mist
Pipeline Trail Morning:
  White-breasted Wood-Wren
 Slaty-tailed Trogon

 mushrooms
 Short-billed Pigeon
 Cocoa Woodcreeper
 Cocoa Woodcreeper
 Black-throated Trogon
Black-throated Trogon 

 Red-capped Manakin


 Cydno Longwing

 Dimorphic Skipper
 Ocellated Antbird
 It's 2 bad photos of the Streaked-chested Antpitta, but the best we saw him all trip.

We came back for lunch and then after a break where I sat out on the chair on the balcony and read and watched for birds & monkeys. We went back to Pipeline road and went a bit farther on the trail. Domi (from the Darien trip) was our guide in the afternoon. It was great to see Domi again. He really is very enthusiastic and just has a knack for finding the birds. On foot when we have hiked Pipeline on our own, we only go a short distance because of the mud. The Canopy vehicles can drive a long ways so we got to see parts of the trail we have never seen before.
 while we were having lunch this little guy entertained us





 he was in the tree with the sloth


 view of the city from the observation deck
 Palm Tanager
 Female Green Honeycreeper

 Blue-chested Hummingbird


 baby iguanas just a few inches long outside the Tower


 Long-billed Hermit Hummingbird
White-vented Plumeleteer
Pipeline Trail Afternoon:
 waiting to cross the one-way bridge

 immature Sslaty-tailed Trogon
 Red-capped Manakin

 Greg, John & Domi on the bridge

 Crimson-crested Woodpecker
 Band-tailed Barbthroat
 Band-tailed Barbthroat
 Broad-billed Motmot

Black-crowned Antshrike 
Black-crowned Antshrike 
 Blue-crowned Manakin
stream
A family arrived tonight, but they were doing “their own thing” for tours.  They were a family of 3 (mother and 2 almost adult sons).
After dinner we went to the observation deck:
view of the Century Bridge over the Panama Canal
Every evening the guides do a checklist with everyone to keep track of the birds/mammals seen that day, while having appetizers. Then, everyone eats together at one table. Exhausted, we were ready for bed.

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