Costa del Este

One of the premier birding spots in Panama City is Costa del Este. This area on the Pacific Ocean is filling with high-rise condo/retail buildings. To the south away from the construction, the rising tide brings in a large number of wading and water birds.

Cindy and I counted the birds here during the 2009 Panama Pacific Christmas Bird Count. And we got lifer Collared Plovers, to boot.

On a February day we stopped for a few moments on our way to other appointments in the city. There had been reports of Black-skimmers seen here earlier and we were hoping to see these graceful flyers in action. We were happy to find 17 of them roosting on the mud-flat. As we were leaving, Cindy saw one arcing over the water, floating on the air with long wings. The shaky-cam video of roosting birds was shot through my binoculars. But, you can see a bird stretch a wing, showing how far they reach out.