This was certainly an exciting and interesting conference! My anxiety built up the week before as to whether or not I would get down to Panama having flight reservations through Houston on 25 Sep. However, the flights went - a 4 hour flight to Houston, a break and then a 4 hour flight to Panama City. All went smoothly. Western Washington was well represented among the 90 attendees with 2 people from Sequim, one from Leavenworth, 2 from Puyallup, and me from Olympia. My only complaint was the weather. For the entire trip (25 Sep through 1 Oct) the 90 degree temperature with 100% humidity was quite unbearable for me. Between sweating and fogged up glasses viewing anything was a challenge! The accommodations and food were good, but I wouldn't recommend sack breakfasts. ABA fixed me up with a great roommate from Brunswick, ME. Everyone got to go to all the trip sites on alternating days. On Monday we birded around the Gamboa Resort grounds were we stayed. It is located in the rainforest and there was lots to see. The next 4 full days took us to El Valle De Anton (an extinct volcano in the mountains near the Pacific Ocean), Achiote Road (near the Caribbean coast), the famous Canopy Tower, and the almost equally famous Pipeline Road and Metropolitan Park in Panama City. All of these locations are in central Panama.

I have my list completed, but have not totaled the number of birds yet. ABA provided a 5 page with 3 columns each bird list for Central Panama for the trip. My group saw 4 species that weren't included on the list (snail kite, pygmy antwren, little cuckoo, black swift). Some of the notable birds I saw were great tinamou, capped heron, boat-billed heron, striated heron, king vulture, bat falcon, yellow-headed caracara, white-throated crake, great ani, mealy parrot, spectacled owl, lesser swallow-tailed swift, green hermit, strip-throated hermit, violet-crowned woodnymph, green-crowned brilliant, trogons (white-tailed, violaceous, black-throated, slaty-tailed), American pygmy kingfisher, motmots (blue-crowned, rufous, broad-billed), puffbirds ( white-necked, black-breasted, pied, white-whiskered), collared aracari, keel-billed and chestnut-mandibled toucan, plain xenops, northern barred woodcreeper, fasciated antshrike, dot-winged antwren, dusky antwren, spotted antbird, bicolored antbird, streak-chested antpitta, purple-throated fruitcrow, greenish elaenia, yellow tyrannulet, paltry flycatcher, southern bentbill, olivaceous flatbill, tropical pewee, cinnamon becard, white-thighed, mangrove and southern rough-winged swallows, song and rufous and white wrens, long-billed and tropical gnatcatchers, green shrike-vireo, tanagers (dusky-faced, white-shouldered, flame-rumped, plain-colored), red-throated ant-tanager, fulvous-vented euphonia, blue and scarlet-thighed dacnis, honeycreepers (green, shining, red-legged), blue-black grassquit, bananaquit, yellow-bellied seedeater, saffron finch, thick-billed seed-finch, streaked and black-headed saltator, slate-colored grosbeak, red-breasted blackbird, yellow-backed oriole, yellow-billed cacique, and crested and chestnut-headed oropendolas. Had enough? This is only part of my list and I missed lots of birds. We also saw several birds that we have here in the states. It was nice to see something I could identify and pronounce!

Other critters that I saw included capybara, agouti, spectacled caiman, 3-toed sloth (males and a female), mantled howler monkeys, Geoffroy's tamarins, anoles, northern tamandua (anteater), common tent-making bats, Jesus Christ lizard, Central American whiptail, ants (fire, leaf-cutting (awesome), aztec), turtles, and variegated and red-tailed squirrels.

The butterflies and dragonflies were unbelievable!!! I saw many blue morphos and one magnificent owl butterflies. The blue morphos are big and have a very soothing way of flying, especially when several are around. I also saw several damselflies, but by far the most impressive dragonfly or damselfly I saw was the helicopter damselfly. This damselfly has a blue body about 8 inches long and a wingspan of about 10 inches!!! It flies somewhat like a helicopter, so I guess that's how it got its name. We saw one devour an orb-like spider.

There are no Panama butterfly or dragonfly/damselfly ID guides. For butterflies, the Costa Rican guide was recommended to me. Dennis Paulson could fill a void in Panama.

All-in-all a great trip and I had great time. I would love to go again but for the heat and humidity. I would also get contacts. No chance of them drying out!!

Fun facts - Where we stayed (Gamboa Resort) the sun rose over the Pacific Ocean and set over the Atlantic (Caribbean) Ocean. Really!!
Panama is approximately the size of South Carolina, yet has over 950 species of birds - including about 145 species of flycatchers!!
This ABA group was the biggest birding group that Panama has hosted. The previous big group numbered 45 people.
This ABA group had the highest number of birds seen - over 327 (if I remember correctly) in 5 days. Previous high was 319 in 7 days.

For those interested in ALL the birds that were seen on the ABA trip, ABA should have the species on their website in about a month. The next ABA Conference is in Bangor, ME June 19-25, 2006.

On Oct 1 I stayed overnight with friends in Houston. Sunday morning we went birding around Houston. It was hot, but manageable. Saw some good birds in a couple of hours including red-shouldered hawk, northern shrike, blue-gray gnatcatcher, least sandpiper, roseate spoonbill, tri-colored heron, northern mockingbird, green heron, little blue heron, snowy and great egrets, yellow-crowned night-heron, ruby-throated hummingbird, doves (mourning, Inca, white-winged), belted kingfisher, and white ibis.

Other critters in Houston included 2 species of squirrels, turtles, bullfrogs, several species of dragonflies including roseate skimmers, and the following butterflies gulf fritillary, sulfur orange, giant swallowtail, long-tailed skipper, and black swallowtail.

Valerie Elliott
Olympia, WA
VElliott at msn.com