Day Two of my marvellous Panama adventure courtesy of Raul Arias de Para and the staff at the superb Canopy Tower - the world-famous radar station turned birder’s wonderland sat high above the rainforest of the Soberanía National Park (and probably the only place in the world where I’ll ever be able to watch Keel-billed Toucans flying against a backdrop of the Panama Canal!).

Obviously that last statement would only work in Panama as nowhere else has the Panama Canal cutting through it, BUT it does kind of sum up what it feels like to find yourself somewhere unique watching great birds and thinking to yourself “That’s the Panama Canal down there that is” (which is probably enough about canals. Seen one, seen them all as a Venetian blogger would write…)

So, once again, I’m up late at night after a very long hard day in the field (because, frankly, a promise is a promise and I promised Raul and Carlos I would get something online tonight if it killed me, which would of course be fairly counter-productive as I wouldn’t be able to then write about the ,Canopy Lodge, at which I’ve just arrived and which even in the dark of near midnight feels like an exciting place to be…and not just because it’s designed and created by Raul himself or because it sits inside a huge volcanic crater near the town of El Valle, Cocle Province about 120 kms west of Panama City: no it’s exciting because it’s in the Panama Highlands, and the Panama Highlands are really very good for birds (and birders).

Talking of birds, let’s get back to today - what did I see, what did I photograph?

Dawn - listen hard enough and you’ll actually hear Howler Monkeys…

Keel-billed Toucan Ramphastos sulfuratus

To begin with it was back on the observation deck of the Canopy Tower at dawn (drinking gallons of tea and watching said Keel-billed Toucans, a Bat Falcon, a migrating Short-tailed Hawk, Scaled Pigeons, the regular Blue Dacnis family and the regular Scarlet-rumped Caciques, Paltry Tyrannulet, a flock of Chimney Swifts, and parrots, oropendolas and more), followed by a few hours with the ‘group’ exploring the lower part of the forest the Tower sits on (amazing birding - see below), then back to the Tower and ten minutes later back out with Carlos for an incredibly enjoyable two hours (from both a birding and the company points of view) along sections of the 19km Pipeline Road (where we saw my “bird of the trip” so far) before returning to the Tower for lunch. Yes, all that before lunch!

The afternoon was spent with another of the guides, Jose Soto, along the road to the Gamboa Resort which follows the Chagres River from where it joins the Canal back inland about 1000m. Whilst the birding here was again excellent, unfortunately the weather wasn’t and we spent a fair bit of time sheltering from the rain and not able to bird much - which was a shame as the potential certainly looked good but I only took a few photos, and - you know - I’m going to blog about this morning now and update the post with the afternoon’s highlights (which included Red-crowned Ant Tanager, Yellow Tyrannulet, Buff-breasted Wren, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Common Tody-flycatcher, Thick-billed Euphonia, and that whole raft of similar-looking members of the Tyrannidae which include Greater and Lesser Kiskadees and Boat-billed, Rusty-margined, and Social Flycatchers) in a couple of days time because I need to finish this before I pass out…

Chagres River (Panama Canal behind me)

Mangrove Swallow Tachycineta albilinea

Lesser Kiskadee Philohydor lictor

 Straight after breakfast we all jumped/climbed slowly into the converted flat-bed “birdmobiles” and set off down the steep, winding road towards the lower part of Semaphore Hill. Carlos stopped the vehicle just after a pontoon bridge about 2/3rds of the way down as he’d heard a Black-faced Ant-thrush calling (and remember that anything out here with “ant” anywhere in its name is going to be a good bird). Despite some gentle persuasion via an iPod and the ant-thrush equivalent of ‘come hither my lovely’ the ant-thrush remained vocal but unseen, but the same patch slowly yielded up amongst others a beautiful Song Wren, an even more beautiful (but very quick) Black-bellied Wren, a mother Blue-capped Manakin feeding two young, Orange-billed Sparrow, Southern Bentbill, singles of both migrating Canada and Bay-breasted Warblers, and a gorgeous (and large) pair of Crimson-crested Woodpeckers.

Song Wren Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus

Crimson-crested Woodpecker Campephilus melanoleucos

We left the vehicle here and made our way down the hill to the main road (about 1000m) before walking into a scrubby area of secondary growth where we had another fantastic run of birds including an absolutely stunning Purple-throated Fruitcrow (which has a ruby red throat not a purple one, and isn’t a crow but a cotinga, but otherwise is about correctly-named), a pair of Fasciated Antshrikes, Dusky and White-bellied Antbirds, and Brown-capped Tyrannulet.

Male Dusky Antbird Cercomacra tyrannina

Purple-throated Fruitcrow Querula purpurata

We could simply have turned away at this point and died happy, but as it was only about 09:30 and we were all full of life and energy (unlike now) we of course walked on into the forest - where to be honest we fared less well (sometimes forests are quiet, that’s how it goes of course), though we did see a splendid pair of Broad-billed Motmots, Plain Xenops, Western Slaty Antshrike, had very brief views of Golden-crowned Spadebill, and heard but again couldn’t see (as it was WAY up high) the endemic Yellow-green Tyrannulet…

Broad-billed Motmot Electron platyrhynchum

As we had to get back to the Tower by 10:30 to drop off a couple of departing guests we headed back to the vehicle only to run into a small party of woodcreepers, which included a Plain-brown, Cocoa, and the enormous Northern Barred, as well as another Plain Xenops…we were a little late because of it but no-one seemed to mind very much!

Plain-brown Woodcreeper Dendrocincla fuliginosa - much lovelier than it sounds…

A rational person might have decided to rest up a little at this point, but Carlos was up for more birding and so was I (naturally). We drove back down the hill and towards the famed Pipeline Road, and had a really very interesting conversation all about eco-tourism, his beginings as a birder, working at the Canopy Tower etc - so interesting that I asked if he’d like to do an interview which hopefully we’ll get online in the near future…

Anyway, back to the birding. We headed for a hummingbird station at a site called the Discovery Centre, which was alive with White-necked Jacobin and Violet-bellied, Rufous-tailed, and Blue-chested Hummingbirds, and one each of Long-billed Hermit and Black-throated Mango. Not only were the hummingbirds excellent but we also had good views of Long-billed Gnatwren and - finally - the absolutely gorgeous Black-bellied Wren which is so much more beautiful than its rather prosaic name would suggest…

Long-billed Gnatwren Ramphocaenus melanurus

Black-bellied Wren Thryothorus fasciatoventris

White-necked Jacobin Florisuga mellivora

Blue-chested Hummingbird Amazilia amabilis

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Amazilia tzacati

Long-billed Hermit Phaethornis longirostris

 After the Discovery Centre we drove down the legendary Pipeline Road, which again was fairly quiet except for getting our fifth trogon species in 36 hours: a calling White-tailed which Carlos called in…

So which of that little lot was my “bird of the trip” so far? Actually none of the above (despite some strong contenders). On our last stop of the morning, having almost driven back to the Discovery Centre and slightly bemoaning the lack of ant swarms Carlos pulled the “birdmobile” over to where he often hears Spotted Antbird, looked into the undergrowth and suddenly said the words I’d been longing to hear, Streak-chested Antpitta!

Streak-chested Antpitta Hylopezus perspicillatus

A bird that looks like a tail-less young thrush, a brown tennis ball on long legs, the sort of bird that non-birders would look at out of curiosity but soon move on from and forget instantly - but a species I have wanted to see for years…and did it ever give some good views. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my “bird of the trip” so far, and with that it’s 01:30 and I’m off to bed…

 The Canopy Tower’s Stimulus Plan for The International Birder is valid from June 01 to Sept 15, 2009. Details can be found on the Canopy Tower website

*Update: I’ve now posted a full Trip List (listing 214 species) at Panama Trip April 17-21.

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores