Last Leg

We returned to upstate, sunless, cold, rainy New York State about a week ago. Warm sunny weather was rushing towards us, but it took several days, and we were in severe withdrawal from the tropical sun of Panama. Now the sun is shining, it has been practically hot, and there is still another whole chapter of our trip that has not been told. Before the onslaught of serious gardening, local bird migration, and deep sighs of relief at the end of another winter, I had better tell it.

On March 25th, we left Soberiana Lodge for Torti (see map) in far eastern Panama Province after lunch and stopped not far from Gamboa along the road to see a Great Potoo sitting high up in tree right on the road shoulder. It was a very dignified bird, moving its head only slightly to allow brief views of its eyes and beak as it rested for its nocturnal rounds of insect-gathering. In this photo (not taken by our group ), the potoo looks like a stub on a tree branch. This is how it almost always looks - like bark. An amazing camoflage job!!! You can imagine how hard it is to spot one of these guys.

Next stop was Old Panama City. Both Guido and Rey knew so much about the city that we really got a good feeling for its history as we drove between newly-renovated homes and old ruins. It looked a lot like New Orleans, with a distinct French influence, and is sometimes referred to as "New Orleans."

In fact, the first to try building the Panama Canal were the French and they have had a presence in this city since at least the late 1800s, when they attempted a canal dig but gave up in the face of diseases that killed multitudes of workers. We stopped here to see the birds that forage on the huge stony flats at low tide. The tidal range on the Pacific coast is 18 feet - huge!!! Note the New Panama City across the bay - high rises galore, including a new one by D. Trump - outrageous!

Here is Ron, trying a raspado - an interesting, refreshing, and original treat made of shaved ice, fruit syrups (many flavors available), sweetened condensed milk, and malt syrup. And here is the vendor, using something like wood plane to shave the ice from a large block on his portable stand. We enjoyed our raspados across from the current French Embassy (below). Also note the sweat band on Ron's wrist - it was HOT, HOT, HOT!

Next stop: a small hamlet about one hour east of Panama City. We found the banos and hopped back into the cool van and contuinued on to a bridge just west of Tortie to do a little (and I mean little) birding: Bat Falcon, Green Heron, a few others. Onward to the east. Once it got dark, Guido noticed that the houses normally lit up at this time of day were dark, except for a few lanterns. Sure enough, the power was out, due to a defective turbine at the local geothermal power plant, as of 2 PM that afternoon. So, we arrived in Torti at our hotel in the pitch black. We had been told that our lodgings were primitive (something to the effect of "there won't be scorpions in the unsubstantial beds, but be sure to check your shoes in the morning"). As it turned out, the Hospedaje Torti was very clean, with cool showers (see photo to the right - a pipe sticking out of the wall with cool water only, which was what one wished for in this hot, humid place) and air conditioning (when the power was on). We learned all of this via our headlamps and minny flashlights. No scorpions reported.

The next order of business was dinner - we were starving! (Well, a relative exaggeration, but forgive the gringos... We were pretty hungry by 8:30 PM.) Guido walked from the hotel to the restaurant where he had planned to take us, but it was dark and deserted. So, we all piled back into the van. We drove to the next restaurant up the road, and Guido and Rey knocked to again find no one around. (Surely SOME restaurant had cooked a bunch of pollo by 2 PM and was hoping to sell some of it!) The next place brought good fortune - the lovely owners of the Parrillada Restaurant answered the knock and cheerfully warmed up the grub via the gas stove, then served us by flashlight and headlamp. (Most of the light in this photo is from the camera flash - it was really dark. Rey and Sue consulting about light sources OR red wine???) Applause for Guido and Rey!!!!!!!!!! As usual, they took very good care of us. Pollo, arroz, frijoles, y ensalada - perfecto. (Chicken, rice, beans, and salad - perfect.)

At about 10:30 PM the power came on, and most of the night was quite comfortable with our air conditioner going. The next morning, we were up early and back to the Parrillada Restaurant for breakfast. The eggs laid by the free-range chicken could not be found, so we settled gladly for canned pineapple juice, left-over pollo, holgades (the tasty fried dough so common here), and tortillas Panama (quite unlike the Mexican-style thin, broad corn things). And coffee, of course. The strong, black coffee that is served everywhere here. (Some add milk; everyone seems to add several spoons of sugar. Cream of any kind was absent from the landscape. A near-future blog episode all about food.)

So, fueled up and getting warm, we buzzed up the road to a dirt track that led out through some grassy fields to rolling hills and steamy jungle.

Many wonderful birds were seen out here - they seemed to love the 90 plus degree heat! The White Hawks kept returning to fly over us, calling frequently. A tanager we hadn't seen yet - the Grey-headed Tanager -  showed up, along with the apparently ubitquitous Crimson-backed Tanager and friends (Plain-colored, Palm, and Blue-grey Tanagers). The Great Antshrike - the striking fellow on the right with a bright red eye and bold black-and-white plumage - lurked along the track in the shrubby vegetation. We got good looks at two black-somethinged trogons: the Black-throated and Black-tailed. In spite of their brightly-colored bellies, they are surprisingly hard to spot because they sit so still for so long, often with their backs turned to the curious birder. 

Here is a digiscope photo (taken with my little digital camera through the spotting scope) of the Black-throated Trogon. If you look past the leaves, you can just see a bird shape with a green back and just a sliver of its yellow belly. I like the effect, and although it's not much of an ID photo, it gives me the sense of how it feels to find birds in the thick green vegetation.

And, really, some of those birds are practically impossible to see! Take the Black-crowned Antpitta, one of many species in this group of secretive birds. Our guides found one of these elusive skulkers on a densely-vegetated slope near the trail. Everyone scurried for a vantage point near Guido, keeper of the magic Green Dot. Once he knew the approximate location of the bird, he shone the laser pointer to the general area while everyone scanned with binoculars for a glimpse. Once spotted, directions were given to help all find the bird, but it kept moving along the forest floor so that one felt really lucky to even see one feather.

Finally, the Antpitta parked on a branch close to the ground, apparently feeling safely-hidden behind some leaves. Thanks to Guido's Green Dot and much coaching by those who had good views of the bird, everyone finally got to see it. It felt like a huge accomplishment. In fact, the event inspired a few on our Team to do the Antpitta ChaCha in celebration. Shirley and Rey were captured on camera but I suspect others of similar behaviors...

By this time, it was approaching 11:30 AM, so we started back to the van. That was when it happened - the birding highlight of the entire trip for me.

As Rey and I trailed along at the back of our group, Rey thought he heard an interesting call and we stopped to see what was around. It turned out to be a trogon, which was very close and conspicuous. But then as we stood still, we heard the sounds of a manakin (several species of tiny skulkers). They are quite spectacular little birds, because the males put on impressive courtship displays of sharp snapping sounds made by their wing feathers and by bouncing around like popcorn on the forest floor. There were at least 4 or 5 Golden-collared in the area, and we could clearly see 2 of them apparently competing on a lek (the courtship territory). Not only was their jumping amazing, the throat feathers of these little guys stood out from their necks to make a large ruff that nearly hid their bills. (You can see this on the White-collared Manakin in the link above. Also, here is a short video clip of the WC Manakin, showing behavior very similar to the GC Manakins we saw.) Rey got the birds in the spotting scope and took a couple of quick photos - a little fuzzy but you get the idea.

Back to Torti for lunch. The restaurant was sweltering - what a steamy place it is down there at low elevation and a latitude of about 7 degrees and change! Once we got back in the van, we headed west for our final destination of Panama City, with a few stops along the way.

Every little way, there were bunches of green plantains piled up along the roadside. Turns out it was Plantain Sale Day out there, so of course Guido stopped, Rey hopped out and then returned with three huge stems of plantains to take back to Soberiana Lodge, all for a pittance. One got stashed under our feet. Most of the sellers appeared to be Kuna people, and their thatched houses were seen along the highway over a long distance. One of the sellers at our stop was this lovely young Kuna woman with her child. She is wearing the traditional wrapped skirt, colorful blouse with molas on front and back, and winnies on her forearms and lower legs. These are long strands of beads wrapped so that patterns are shown when completely finished.

We stopped again at a bridge over the Rio Ipiti. The river was lined with wooden dugout boats, some still loaded with plantains, and on that hot afternoon, most of the people were in the water.

The next stop was an Embara village. The Emberas are another native group, one of several in Panama. While the Kunas are known especially to tourists as makers of the beautiful mola textiles, the Embera seem to specialize in beaded work and baskets. In the village we visited, the women and children came out to greet us and to comunicate in Spanish (if we were able) and a little English, especially by the children. All were lovely to us. Dress was much simpler than we saw with the Kunas - a simple wrap skirt and perhaps some beaded necklaces, from the very simple to quite elaborate. This seemed very practical and much cooler than our layers and long pants. In addition to offering us their handwork (beaded jewelry, baskets, and carvings) for sale (for much-needed school supplies), they offered some of the lengths of fabric from which their skirts were made, all very colorful. Those of us who bought the fabric were given immediate lessons in how to wrap it! Here I am in my new skirt, with a friend. Both the Kunas and Emberas are quite short and compact. We felt huge next to them! Below is a traditional Embera house, raised off the ground and with a thatched roof. And of course, we looked for birds there - best one was the Barred Puffbird.

Next stop: the Posada Agua Miel  in downtown Panama City. It was elegant and welcoming, and it was located in a safe neighborhood that allowed us to walk to dinner later. This was it - hard to believe it was over for now. We reluctantly said good bye to Guido and Rey. And we were glad for the dinner with our birding buddies. These experiences always bind a group together, and we look forward to birding with them over in Massachusetts this Spring, probably listening for those toucans in the distance.

As time permits, I plan to add a few more posts to tell you about some topics I didn't have time for while traveling - things like our lodgings and how to contact each place, some considerations if you want to do a blog while traveling, some recipes for typical Panamanian dishes, etc. We would recommend traveling and staying in Panama and hope to return sometime soon. It was beautiful, friendly, easy, inexpensive, and very birdy!!! Hasta luego!