Two Toes Are Enough

Suzanne and grandson Eric

Our excellent friend Suzanne Cogen, from Occidental CA, visited us at Casita Naranja a few weeks ago. During her stay, we ranged around Cerro Azul and the Panamá City area showing her some of the birds and any other wildlife that happened along the way.

Rufous-crested Coquette

She also went with us to the house of our pals Bill and Claudia one afternoon, where a female Rufous-crested Coquette was coming to one of their feeders.

Rainforest Discovery Center

See Suzanne's photos of a few highlights below.

Panamá City

While relaxing on the terrace, Suzanne was often distracted by some of the birds at our feeders.

Blue-gray Tanagers

Golden-hooded Tanager

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Two-toed Sloth

We also went to the visitor's center of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on the Amador causeway, where a family of Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloths (Choloepus hoffmanni) was lounging in a tree in the middle of a busy walkway, within arm's-reach of the passers-by. Marco shot some footage of one of the sloths as it scratched and groomed its long blonde fur. Having tourists walk by so close must not have seemed like a threat to this animal. According to the text in "A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico" by Fiona A. Reed, "If the vines around it are disturbed while it rests, it will advance and slash with the forelimbs or attempt to bite savagely." Admittedly, nobody disturbed the vines or limbs around it, but if the smile on its face was any indication, none of us were in any danger.