PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

June 12, 2003

We left on time, which is always a notable event when you're dealing with airlines. The New Orleans to Miami leg was quite turbulent, but I took a motion sickness pill and really didn't experience any dizziness. The woman behind us on the leg from Miami to Panama City coughed the entire flight, which caused the plane to be held up on the ground at Panama City while she was checked for SARS. Our driver was waiting to whisk us into town. We had a beautiful night view of the large ships on the Pacific Ocean, the Panama Canal, and the city itself.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which was in the banking area of town. I'm afraid it had Holiday Inn food at Holiday Inn prices, but it was late, and we were happy to enjoy our complimentary Cuba Libres before heading for bed.

June 13, 2003

The breakfast buffet was more impressive than the dinner. I enjoyed a freshly cooked omelet from the omelet station. We then decided to stroll over in the direction of the Parque Natural Metropolitano, which is the only park containing a tropical rainforest in a major Central American city. It was hot, humid, and raining, but the birds were active, and we quickly observed Amazons flying low overheard and an adult Yellow-Headed Caracara sitting on top of a store. The park was fenced, and it wasn't immediately obvious where a person could walk in, so we ended up hopping into a cab that stopped for us and having the driver take us to the ranger station. He didn't speak English, but he had a bilingual passenger who was happy to help. The cost was "uno cincuentas" (I think I have that right) which turned out to be $1.50.

We took one of the nearby paths that circled through a heavily forested area and around behind a nursery. Here we had our first encounters with some birds we would see regularly, like Keel-Billed Toucan, Orange-Chinned Parakeet, the spectacular and omni-present Crimson-Backed Tanager, and several of the flycatcher species. We saw our only White-Shouldered and White-Lined Tanagers here, as well as our only Mangrove Black-Hawk.

In early afternoon, our driver picked us up to take us to Gamboa. He stopped and showed us a Sloth that was eating as it hung upside-down from a tree -- the only Sloth we would see that actually appeared to be awake when we were observing it. He also showed us two very large iguanas, one of the more colorful type, one of the green type. As we entered the resort in Gamboa, we observed a mystery raptor, which appeared to be a big-eyed young bird not pictured in our guide. (Later, we would learn that it was a young Yellow-Headed Caracara.) We also saw some large non-iguana type lizards that our driver called water dragons.

The resort was impressive -- a true luxury hotel with huge rooms, room safes, mini bar, fridge and coffee maker, the obligatory telephone by the toilet, a porch with a hammock on it, and much more. I could look out the glass door onto the patio and see two Muscovy Ducks drop by. Just walking around the grounds, I quickly met my first Rufous-Tailed Hummingbirds, Red-Crowned Woodpecker, and Thick-Billed Euphonia. There was even free internet service in the lobby.

In late afternoon, suspecting that it would rain, BF and I reported to the bar, where we could enjoy some (admittedly resort-priced) cocktails while watching the rain pound down. For dinner, we went down to the restaurant overlooking the Chagres River, where we both had some very good seafood dishes.

It was full dark, except for the full moon, at 7:30, when I joined a complimentary night tour being offered by the resort. The guide was not a birder, and I wasn't able to figure out which species of nightjar we were seeing, but I enjoyed seeing them, as well as the Common Pauraques. They would sit right out on the road, as did huge frogs bigger than a man's balled-up fist. One very special sighting was a capybara family with the baby carefully kept herded between the two adults for protection. We also saw the glowing eyes of a caiman.

June 14, 2003

Having tumbled into bed at an early hour, I woke at 5:30 in the morning and heard the beginnings of the dawn chorus. We strolled around the grounds, before and after the buffet breakfast, enjoying such birds as the talkative and abundant Orange-Chinned Parakeets (Brotogeris), Streaked Flycatcher, and a nice-looking Black-Headed Tody-Flycatcher adult feeding some demanding fledglings. We thrilled to our first Blue-Chested Hummingbird when its colors flashed in the sunlight.

Our trip included an aerial tram that took us to the top of a mountain, where we then climbed a tower so that we could look down on the trees of the rain forest. We spotted a large troop of Keel-Billed Toucans playing in the trees, as well as a quiet Common Black-Hawk which seemed to be contemplating the valley. A pair of Blue Dacnis was another spectacular find. We also toured the small exhibit area, which included a building where beautiful tropical butterflies were being raised and another building where we could get close-up looks to compare caimans (rather rounded noses) with crocodiles (long skinny noses).

We had lunch on the deck of the restaurant overlooking the marina. The grouper I ordered was my best meal of the trip. We noticed that a couple of crocodiles, some caimans, and a large number of giant water turtles had gathered and, while we were the first to arrive for lunch, we quickly figured out that these creatures expected to be fed. However, I was hesitant to drop any food and draw these fierce animals closer, for there were two separate families loitering under the deck -- two proud Purple Gallinules with three very recently hatched fluffy black chicks, and two very loud Common Moorhens with three slightly more advanced (by a day or two) black chicks of their own. Eventually, a graduation party arrived, and the kids began throwing bread with abandon off the dock to the various large reptiles. When I saw that the Moorhens and Gallinules were actually crowding in to get their share, I realized that they must be expert at evading their predators, and I joined in with throwing bread. What a thrill to watch a loving Purple Gallinule parent carefully place a piece of dinner roll in a fluffy baby's bill!

We didn't get the drenching rain of the previous day, and we could not resist putting in some time around the pool. The water was refreshing, and the crowds very light, because it was the Panamanian "winter," or rainy season, and I alternately dipped in the pool, did some aquatic aerobics, and emerged to sip a very pleasant Malibu Rum with Coke. Heck, I may have even sipped two.

In late afternoon, I got a burst of energy and left BF in the bar overlooking the river while I wandered around on a private bird-finding tour. Sometimes I need time to myself, to figure things out at my own (slow) pace. I checked the powder puff trees in the parking lot every time I passed and was rewarded with lots more Rufous-Tailed Hummingbirds, a wonderful male Blue-Chested Hummingbird, and a Southern Beardless Tyrannulet who tickled me by erecting his head feathers into a funny little crest. Further down the street, I encountered my first Buff-Throated (sometimes called Cocoa) Woodcreeper of the trip and, most excitingly, several close-up looks at Gray-Headed Chachalacas.

June 15, 2003

I'd ordered a trip to Pipeline Road for Sunday morning but, when we arrived at the appointed time, we discovered that it had been cancelled through some mistake. I'm not sure what happened, but I have an idea that I was supposed to actually pay for the trip in advance, and I didn't realize that. I thought if I gave the room number, they would put it on my credit card. Fortunately, the fates were with us, for our guide from the previous day offered to go ahead and take us on the trip, and we ended up being only eight minutes late in getting on the road.

I'd already started birding in the parking lot, enjoying a dawn chorus dominated by large numbers of Red Lored Amazons flying over, but with many other notable birds like my first Black-headed Saltator. On the way to Pipeline Road, a short distance from the park, we stopped to check a tree which contained, among other birds, a nice close-up look at a Red Lored Amazon. We also checked some ponds, where we encountered a wonderful Rufescent Tiger Heron to knock your socks off.

It was a warm, muggy day -- raining at times -- and the light could be challenging, but we walked for about two and a half hours and saw many exciting new birds. The ideal situation would be to backpack into this area and explore the road for several days. Just our small taste of Pipeline Road was enough to get the juices pumping, as we encountered such striking species as Blue-Crowned Motmot, Broad-Billed Motmot, Slaty Tailed Trogon, Black-Tailed Trogon, and, perhaps my personal favorite, a very bold White-Vented Plumeteer. (Don't you love the names of the hummingbirds? Plumeteer. That is a new word as well as a new bird for me.)

We got back just in time to catch the last of the breakfast buffet.

Since I was still cranked up with the excitement, I decided to take another private afternoon walk, this time walking behind the hotel and along the river past the marina and almost to the guard station near the canal. I practiced on some of the confusing flycatchers, taking my time and checking each point of identification, which was actually not difficult to do when I took my time, as the flycatchers as a group tended to be very bold and comfortable with being near an observer. Near the marina itself, I spotted a sleeping sloth and made a note to bring the BF back to see it.

Then, a little ways past the restaurant, I spotted a troop of monkeys. Several of them faded back into the trees, but three of them played like children on a branch overhanging the road. Of course, I did not have a guide to the mammals, so I scribbled down their field marks, thinking to myself as I described the bright color on the nape that, "If that color were on a bird, we'd call it rufous." Later, I'd use the resort's internet service to google the primates of Panama, and I learned that the animals I'd seen were called Rufous-Naped Tamarins. Absolutely wild.

But this special afternoon walk wasn't over yet, for when I headed back, I observed a large family group of Chachalacas with at least three adults and nine half-grown young birds. I really felt a little guilty that I hadn't nagged the BF to come along, but who would honestly expect to see this number of birds and other animals in the middle of the day?

Then, somehow, it was back to the BF and the pool -- and those naughty Malibu Rum and Cokes. As I exercised in the pool in a shaded corner, with cigar plants tumbling over the sides of the waterfall, a Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird actually came and fed from the flowers right over my head. Just another moment of magic in a luxury rainforest resort.

At dinner the previous evening, I had observed that a nearby tree seemed to attract large numbers of Red Lored Amazons flying in for the evening. Therefore, we asked for a table on the deck outside, where we could relax with a local beer called Balboa and watch the show. The resort makes no attempt to capitalize on the comings and goings of the Red Lored Amazon, as some places do with the comings and goings of macaws, perhaps because they perceive these parrots as "common" birds. But, the truth is, parrot lovers from all over the world would get a kick out of watching these Amazons gather for the evening. We watched a tree fill up with birds, until one bird actually landed on another's back, which started a squabble, which resulted in several annoyed birds leaving the tree for more peaceful territory, which started a stampede out of the tree to the "better" neighborhood. We didn't see what happened at the new roost site, but it was probably a similar situation, for suddenly a flock of dozens of Amazons returned with much squawk and comment to the original roost across from the restaurant.

June 16, 2003