Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Panama birding
Date: Dec 4 12:33:44 2007
From: m.egger at comcast.net - m.egger at comcast.net


Rebecca, Richard & others who may be interested,

You already heard about Ridgely's awesome Birds of Panama (the ONLY book you will need) -- but be sure to look for the 2nd edition -- it is substantially updated. The first edition still discusses the "Canal Zone", etc. I agree that birding in Panama is superb, and VENT will show you lots of stuff you might otherwise miss. The previous advice about heat in the lowlands is very accurate. It was unbelieveably hot and humid, but the tour will probably take this into consideration. Hopefully you will get to visit the highlands of Chiriqui Provence, which has an almost perfect climate and very moderate temps. Many higland birds occur there & nowhere else in Panama. Still, the thrill of birding primary tropical forest at places like Pipeline Road & Achiote Road more than makes up for the loss of bodily fluids from the heat. After your first army ant swarm with attendant antbirds or mixed species foraging flock in which almost every bird you see will be a different species, you wil!
l be ho
oked for life!

Oh, and you asked about chiggars. They are definitely the bane of lowland birding (not an issue in the highlands), the only advice I have is to avoid walking in very grassy, brushy areas, stay on the trails, etc. Of course, I never pay any attention to that advice, and I always bring back lots of the little nasties in my legs. There are the usual suggestions about tucking in your pant legs & duct-taping the tops of your boots, sulfur powder, etc., but who wnats to smell like sulfur and have tape-sealed pants when it's 95 and humid! Tigar balm smeared on the itchy chiggar sites is a traditional treatment for the itchiness, and that oatmeal-based stuff I can't remember the name of also helps a bit. Don't worry, though, you will surely get some chiggars and they WILL go away eventually.

Have fun,

Mark

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