Tweeters:

All this cold weather might bring some of you, like myself, to giving thought to warmer climes. Last year I lucked out with a Panama trip, getting some great ideas from folks out in Tweeterland, beforehand. The birding was nothing short of incredible--thanks to the very commendable AdventureTours, run by Guido Berguido out of Soberania Lodge in Gamboa. Those of you who've birded with me know how I like to "beat the brush"--so this was dogged, bird-until-you-drop quest led by local experts. We covered an enormous amount of ground in just over 8 days, detecting 362 species along the way--and yet this was almost without covering areas west of Panama City!

The original plan was to spend most of the trip in the eastern half of the country, then spend a couple days west of Panama City, in Chiquiri, closer to Costa Rica. But even after having found an astonishing number of regional specialties, there remained so many birds to find in range that I asked--at the end of Day 5--to limit the drive and cover our original area longer, to the delight of Rafael Berguido and Luis Paz, excellent guides working for Guido.

Running into new genera and new families was exciting enough, but certain species remain etched forever in the brain. One of those was the BLACK OROPENDOLA, a bird without an analog in our North American avifauna. Its pale-blue facial patch concealed a bizarre beady eye above; the bill had a distinct orangish tip. The golden-yellow tail was a sharp contrast to the black body, and was as rich a yellow as I'd ever seen, but most odd--the legs and feet didn't even seem icterid-like (or even bird-like) to this observer:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14115261 at N05/46938001222/in/dateposted-public/

Also defying easy categorization also was the RED-BILLED SCYTHEBILL, a bird that seemed built for scaling trees like our Brown Creeper at first glance, but instead showed off a really long, evenly downcurved bill:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14115261 at N05/42697343622/in/dateposted-public/

And nearby was still another utterly unlikely species, from a wholly unfamiliar family, the much-sought DUSKY-BACKED JACAMAR. With a name like that, who could resist devoting some time to finding it? This bird also had a bill seemingly far out of proportion to the head and body, but this time it was straight, very sharp-tipped, and held high:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14115261 at N05/42214423601/in/dateposted-public/

Although rustic, Soberania Lodge is ideal as a home base and quite a large number of birds can be found right in the yard, with its ample feeders, as well as in the neighborhood and down the hill in forest along a stream. And nothing beats being serenaded at night by Pacific Screech-Owls, Com. Pauraque and the geckos, the latter occasionally chirping from inside!

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens

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